Ok so im new to the forum but not to turning wrenches. Heres the problem, in 1st gear the trans seems to slip in and out of gear till shift to second around 2100 rpm's. then shifts to 3rd with no problems at all and at 2000 rpm's. then it stays in 3rd till around 2700 rpm till is shifts into 4th and it is not a "hard" shift. This started on Fri. So on Sat I went under and changed trans filter and but new ATF+4 fluid. This stopped the problem for about a day Sunday night the problem appeared again on my way home. I am now lost. I do not know if its a simple thing like a speed sensor or if there are solenoids inside the transmission. Has any body had this issue and if so what did you do to correct it. I pray it is not a sign of death and that a complete rebuild is in store no way i can afford 1500 for a rebuild right now but need the truck to get back and forth to work. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.
Also it is a 96 Ram 2500 5.9 2wd automatic

 

You might give a band adjustment a try. Since your ATF is new, try to save what you drain into a clean (very clean!) container to save a few bucks.

The factory-stock shift into overdrive is never crisp.

 

do a check valve delete if you have not done that yet. do a search here if you are unfamiliar with it. could be a contributing factor and should be done irregardless.

 

what about lock up?

 

Sorry I didnt reply, have been having internet issues. Heres what I found out on Thursday morning. I took truck to local trans shop and had them do a diagnotistic test. They hooked up computer took for test drive and said it was the solenoid and governor sensor switch. With that information I had my plan of attack. I then went back to house armed with parts and a new haynes manual and a three day open window. Dropped the pan and and in three days was surprised to see the magnet was "furry" and upon saving the new oil saw the kiss of death a 6 inch piece of band. Now I know what im looking at and I know there is now way that I'm taking on the idea of rebuilding my first trans on a vehicle that is going to be a daily driver and will be seeing about 500-600 miles a week. If it was a secondary car that if it broke down wouldnt realy matter i would have attempted it. I took it to a friends shop who said they could rebuild in 5 days and i think they saw my look like how am i going to get my equipment to my shows to continue to bring in the income. They said they would put a crew on it and worse case i would have it back monday afternoon. I just got off phone and thier found out thier trans guy came in last night around 3 a.m. and dropped the trans and as of 5 this evening trans has been totally rebuilt and is slated to go back in truck in the morning. All I can saw is wow looking like a 48 hour turn-around on a complete rebuild. So at least i will rest easy knowing that everything inside has been replaced correctly (all electronics, drum, torque convert, band, and two other aluminum pieces that where all gouged from the band) plus they said they will drill out the ball and remove the spring on the check valve. They did say the only issue that may arise from that is you may have to let the truck sit for a few seconds on intial start up for 30 seconds on cold days. They also said they do this on all rebuilds so in case there is crap in the line it will be filtered out.
Plus 12 month 12,000 mile warrenty on parts and labor. With as much driving as I do that is another plus. 3000 miles in under 6 weeks. I have saw all the parts and the band came unglued from the ring and the "hard" parts that were replaced looked like worn out rotors with rings in them. On another note the lot that i bought it from (as-is no warrenty) stepped up to the plate and agreed to pay half because after finding out what the issue was and that a band doesnt normally break apart like that they normally wear out they felt horrible which i didnt ask them to do but to me that speaks highly of a dealership when they do something like that. I will say I will go back in the future. Thanks for all your help. Now as the money gets back into the postve flow again maybe there will be some upgrades The one I'm looking at doing first is the hydrogen system for increased fuel economy.


We have a hummer running around here that is claiming they are getting 45 mpg gonna look into this more.

 

Glad to hear you are getting good service for your trans. I wish I had a place around here that was that on top of the game. On the side note of fuel economy, not much you can do to make it better. I've done alot of reading into hydrogen and in order to see any improvement it would take a generator the size of a trailer. I wouldn't worry with it, just my opinion. If you stick around the forum long enough you will find the best way to improve economy is the simple things like maintaining it well and keeping air in the tires. The best avg fuel economy I get is about 15mpg and usually it is more like 13.

Sorry for the ramble. Glad to hear you got the tranny fixed.

 

I would have told them to forget drilling out the check valve ball and just replace the lines and throw an aftermarket cooler on it...thats what I did on mine when I had a rebuilt unit dropped in. Glad it's getting fixed though.

I just went through a trans rebuild myself...however my trans shop does so many Chrysler trannys he has some already rebuilt and he swaps them out. unless he is doing a custom build.

 

[quote=. On the side note of fuel economy, not much you can do to make it better. I've done alot of reading into hydrogen and in order to see any improvement it would take a generator the size of a trailer.[/quote]

I tend to disagree. I been messing with electrolysis for around 6 months. Pretty much full time. Not just evenings or weekend warrior type.
I have spent at least a grand in parts. I have prob. 20 different designs.

Though I can't prove hydrogen on demand works, My mileage if I remember correctly went from 10mpg (always loaded) to around 19mpg.

My conclusion thus far is, Either hho improved my milage, or I'm getting a huge swing in fuel quality.

One thing that hindered further (hho on demand) research with me is,
My cells didn't last that long. 2-3 fill ups top!

Now that might change if I were to afford higher grade metal such as palladium. They say it doesn't wear out. But I think it's like 100 bucks a foot~!
Just some food for thought.
a2z