Hey guys, new here and have an issue with an 01' 1500 with the 318 and 46RE tranny. It is 4WD and has about 90,000 on the odometer. To make things short, buddy and I just put a shift kit in the tranny, a shift kit from Trans-Go performance, and about a few miles after the kit was installed, the tranny has no 1st gear when in Drive with Overdrive still on. The tranny starts out in 2nd and takes 2 1/2 years to get up to speed and obviously this ain't good for the trans. For the time being we've been manually shifting the trans starting in 1st and working our way up, sorta reminds me of driving a 59' Ford with three on the tree, but this is no good manually shifting an automatic tranny. I have not figured out what it was that is causing no first gear. Also at one point we would set the cruise going about 70 mph, and the tranny keeps jumping out of lock up, and I suspect that the governor pressure valve maybe at fault, but not sure.

Also CE light comes on and a code P1764 comes up, indicating governor pressure sensor voltage is too low. We put a resistor in the trans that came with the kit to try and correct the other tranny code that had indicated the governor pressure sensor voltage was too high. How can we correct this? This has me stumped and have never seen something like this before. I'd really hate to have to take the tranny all apart to fix burnt clutch frictions and burnt bands and such because of small problem like this. Any help would be awesome.

Thanks, Pat

 

I am not a transmission person at all and therefore I would sugest taking it to a shop and let them fix it but be prepared to pay for a rebuild.

 

Sounds like a combination of gov selenoid, pressure switch, and your lockup selenoids. I replaced all of these parts on my ram about 3 months ago and it's like a new tranny even with 110 k on it. I also installed a shift kit.
You'll have to drop the valve body again,and the TC and over drive selenoids are on one bracket and replaced together. The pressure switch is located by thegovenor selenoid.
Get rid of the funkyresistor you installed too. I never heard of a shift kit requiring one. Well, the one I installed didn't . If everything is working correctly, you shouldn't need it. A CEL regarding pressure voltage means something is outside its parameters.

 

Thanks man, it makes sense about all the solenoids and what not. Do you know how much new solenoids are going to cost? At this point I don't mind taking things back apart again, I have another truck to drive. Plus I have taken apart numerous other Chrysler RWD/4WD transmissions. I will also get rid of the resistor. And dsertdog56, what kinda shift kit did you install in yours? Cause we got this kit from Trans-Go, and it seemed to have all the parts and peices and we followed every step correctly. I am assuming once we installed the kit, everything was OK, then a few miles later, one thing didn't agree with the other and now the trans has no first gear, tranny bounces in and out of lock-up, but hopefully after checking and possibly replacing the solenoids and getting rid of the resistor, things will be better.

 

Mine was a Fairbanks, or the generic equivelant. I spent about 150 bucks for everything, but I got a deal because the parts were aftermarket replacements not OEM. My "tranny guy" prefers the aftermarket gov selenoid because if is not as easily gummed up as the OEM.
Also you need to make sure your TV cable is adjusted right or the tranny won't shift properly either.

 

I would take the shift kitout that you put in, that maybe the problem.

 

We adjusted the TV cable according to the service manual, because the the TV cable had about 1/2 and inch of slack in it, due to a throttle body spacer that was also installed weeks before the shift kit, so that is take care of.

Now before we started to drop the pan and take a look at things, the tranny started out fine, and had first through fourth and even lock up, so we didn't pay any attention to it at first. Then later today it started to repeat the same thing, no first gear, but lock up was still there. It seems the tranny only does all of the above once the tranny and motor has reached opertaing temp.. Also the CE light spit out a different code saying P1757 which states the pressure wants to reach a certain pressure, but hasen't or something of that nature. So at this point, we need to get in there and start looking at all swithches and solenoids, but have no idea what will happen if we do replace all of the above.

Do you know what valves were replaced in you r shift kit, and springs and so fourth, and did you have to drill any specific holes? The kit came with a video that was based on older 42-47 REor RH trsmissions, and we just folllowed the instructions that have been "updated" according to Trans-Go. This would seem to be an intermittent problem.

Thanks again, Pat

 

Sounds to me like the tranny is in limp mode. If the tranny throws a code, this will often happen.

It sounds to me that the shift kit increases governor pressure and the resistor fools the computer into thinking it's lower, but in this case it's overcompensating. So maybe a hack would be a lower resistance. What size is the resistor you are using? Maybe a trip to Radio Shack is in order for a different resistor. If you can see the color bands on the resistor or measure it with an ohmmeter, I might be able to suggest a size to get.

 

Diagnosing things over the intrernet is dicey at times.

I let my tranny guy do the work while I assisted by holding things and such. He's been rebuilding trannys for about fifteen years and seems to know his stuff. He was happy to explain what he was doing while he was doing it.
Anytime you add a hard resistor into an electical system you are attempting to fool the PCM. There's an IAT mod like this on Ebay, and it doesnt work either, because current is measured as line pressures increase or decrease. The hard resistor may make certain voltages too low because it messes with the variable voltages the sensor sends to the PCM. Perhaps the resistor is on the wrong wire, and the PCM can't send a signal to the govenor selenoid to tell it to shift.
The function of a "shift kit" is to increase line pressures in certain areas so clutches and bands do not "slip" into gear. This slippage results in smoother shifts which most people prefer. So increasing line pressures to reduce slippage makes for a "positive" and firmer shift. That's done mechanicaly. The selenoids only open up passages to tell the mechanicals to shift.
Did you confuse any of the directions for the 46H with the 46E?
Before you change out the shift kit, I'd make sure you're internal linkage isnt out of adjustment. Did you reinstall all the steel ***** correctly? You may have put one of the gaskets in wrong.
HOWEVER... If it doesn't work once temps are reached,I'd suspect your electricals. Once you've double checked your work, then I would move on to the components we've discussed. My tranny guy reminds me that he always replaces the pressure switch because if they aren;t bad, they will be. The TC and OD dropping in and out is most likely a selenoid. The govenor pressure selenoid, because it is magnetic, picks up all the metalic particles in the fluid which eventually gums it up.

 

Thanks,I think we realized the problem. When we pulled the pan the first time to do the shift kit there was sludge, or "metallic" parts on the magnet in the pan. I think by doing the shift kit and rasing the pressure, this forced the remaining "metallic" parts into the govoner, therfore gumming the govenor and causing these intermeddiate problems.