Well, I just bought my first ram, 97 sport in all black with custom exhaust.

Well while test driving it, when i put it in reverse it stalled. I chaulked it up to not having enough gas and just stalling because it hadn't been driving in 2 months. It drove fine in drive, and 4wd when in and out fine. So, driving it on the highway for about 20 mins all hell breaks loose and the truck looses all power, RPM's drop to 500 so i pulled over. The truck stalled as soon asi was slowing down. So i restarted it and drove it about 3 miles off the highway into a parking lot to check the tranny fluid. It smells burnt and its gone. So im like great, it was there before i left and now its not. So i get some lucas stop slip and atf at autozone and put it in. After that i drove it around and whenever it was in park or neutral it still stalls. So, I can drop it into drive and punch it and go like normal. This keep happening seeing i had to drive 80 miles home. I repeat these steps 4 times, about every 20 miles. Well now the truck sat for 2 hours, cooled down alot and bam, shifts fine, except it still stalls going into reverse. So, is the tranny messed up or is it the tq converter? Truck has 180k on it..

and i was thinking of rebuilding the tranny myself when it comes off for the tq converter, so is this a good kit http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/A518-...spagenameZWDVW and how hard is it to rebuild for someone whose never done it before?

Thanks

 

Trans is probably done. If you keep driving it will cause more damage. Auto trans overhaul is IMHO the most technically difficult job to do on your truck but compared to some other manufactures the 46RE trans is a cake walk.

Make sure you check or replace the trans cooler when you get it fixed

 

When its cold, the truck drives fine, i mean i don't really know why it'd work fine cold other than the tq converter is completely shot or the tranny is on the fritz. But I would do the overhaul myself. Does anyone know where i can get a shop manual so i can do the overhaul? Im gunna get a new tq converter with 40k out of 3500 diesel for $100 and that overhaul kit if its a good one. I just need instructions on how to do it so i can get it back on the road!

 

Could it possibly be a throttle position sensor? And is there anyway to test them?

 

Did all this happen on the test drive or after you had already purchased the truck?

 

id replace that first, its only like 5 bucks at advance, that way ur not goin through all that trouble to rebuild if its just the TPS. But it sounds like the trans is shot.

 

AfterI got it. I mean he told me the truck was solid, drivetrain was 100% fine. It started doing it 20 mins of highway driving, so i don't know it it was because it was sitting or if he knew about it. The only reason im not pissed off really bad is because i got it for $1300 and its not my daily driver so I am not stranded.

Will the tq converter from the 3500 diesel work fine.. maybe even be stronger? And im still a little nervous about trying to rebuild the tranny, but I'd rather do it for $120 than $1200 at a shop. But it'd be great if there was a write up or somewhere i could get a service manual for it.

 

you can get a Chiltons or a Haynes manual at any auto parts store. You could probably find one online pretty easily.