Hi, new to the forum and a new Dakota owner. I've been doing a lot of reading and searching and so far I haven't found anything particularly related to my experience. I'm hoping it's an isolated situation caused by the previous owners driving *really* slowly.

I just bought an '02 Dakota Sport* Quad Cab, 3.9 V6, automatic. When it gets up to the last gear, in O/D or not, it doesn't shift until almost 6000 or 7000 RPMs, much higher than in the lower gears. Anyone else seen or heard of this behavior? Is this something that I reset by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes and then taking it out on the highway (I seem to recall that being a solution on an old Ford Explorer I had). At the moment it's more of a nuisance than anything else, but I'm worried about it being a harbinger of future problems.




*I'm sure I could Google this, but while I'm posting I figured I'd ask, what exactly -other than the sticker- is different in the Sport model from the standard or SLT models?

 

you may need a modulator, could have a possible air leak some where. have you had the tranny flushed at any time. just might need a fluid change. cost about 100.00

 

I do need to make a correction. I double checked today and the high shift points are actually around 4000 or 5000. I was incorrect before.

I don't know when the fluid was last changed. I'll probably start there...thanx!