Hey everyone! I am new to this forum, and to Dodge trucks, so I have a question about the transmission.

I bought a 97 Dodge Ram today, used, with 175,000 miles on it. The truck looks good, but normal wear and tear, and it seems to run really strong with no visable problems like smoking or oil leaks.

I am concerned about 2 things. First, when slowing down to stop, it feels like a small short jerk when downshifting into first. Oh, and it's an automatic transmission. It appears to upshift smooth though and it doesn't do this everytime. It is possible it could be something in the brakes, but feels like the tranny.

2nd concern is a missing line. On the passenger side, at the bottom of the radiator, there seems to be a line that had been cut off. Looking at some pics online, I am thinking it is the transmission fluid cooling line? Why would someone remove that, and could this maybe have something to do with the first issue?

I know this was a long post, especially for my first time. Thank you for any advice or suggestions on this.

-Tom

 

Ok, so ignore the new guy I guess!

 

Someone could have installed an after market trans cooler and cut the factory lines and bypassed the radiator. Its hard to say exactly what is going on without looking at it.

As for the jerk downshifting, you may have a sticky valve in the valvebody or a worn out valve. Try a bottle of red Smartblend.

 

Thank you for the info montec. I will look and see if they have been re-routed to an aftermarket cooler.

I will also pick up a bottle of the stuff you recommended to try for it.

Thanks.

 

<hijack> Is Smartblend available in auto parts stores, or only from lifeautomotive.com? </hijack>

 

I havent seen too many parts stores carry smartblend. We carry it at my shop, only because we use it in every transmission we build. We sell parts out the front and build transmissions in the back. So we also sell alot of smartblend to other shops and many off the street customers swear by it.

 

Nobody probably has it here in Fargo, then, I'd bet. I'll order some off of the website. My tranny is behaving similarly to his. Do you just add it to a full xmission or siphon some fluid out then dump it in?

 

Just dump it in. Its only 10oz. Make sure you shake it up well and only add to a fully heated transmission, then drive it for a good 15 minutes.

 

is it like pro-lube

 

Ordered. Thanks for the tip. OP-- thanks for the thread to hijack :P