Last night I was driving to my girlfriends house and noticed engine RPM was going up and down like converter was unlocking and locking back up, I accellerated and it downshifted, felt firm, everything back to normal, so I thought it was just a one time gremlin. But after turning onto back roads to get to her house, suddenly it was like the engine was completely disconnected from the driveline, it won't even try to go. The rear end if fine, also in Park and Neutral there is a lot of noise coming from what sounds like the converter or pump area, it's sounds kind of like a pump cavitating, plus some mechanical noise also. My bet is it's the torque converter, but wanted some other opinions also, the truck has 83K on it, would be tempted to go ahead and rebuild the tranny if I have to take it out. I've rebuilt a couple 727's and 904's, plus a 604 in a LeBaron, so I don't think the 46RE would be too bad to do, just hate the Ram down time, my GTO hates this weather, snowing today. Thanks.

 

My 94 Ram did the same thing at 110,000 and 248,000. The first time I had the tranny rebuilt; $2500. The second time I figured the heck with it and found a low mileage 95 with a 5 speed. I'm a mason contractor and do a lot of heavy hauling. These automatic transmissions are notorious for failing especially in trucks that are used for what trucks are designed to be used for. The fine folks at the transmission repair shop had nothing good to say about these transmissions except that Dodge Ram owners give them a lot of steady buisiness. I don't know that this helps you much there's my take on it.

 

Ck the fluid level, if its okay then remove the pan and ck for metal. The problem could also be the front or rear carrier and sun gear.

 

The fluid level is fine, no burnt smell, thanks for the ideas, I'll pull the tranny this weekend.