I think I may have pulled the pin on my grenade also known as a Dodge Transmission. I rarely ever drive the truck hard, but lately when I have to get into the gas the trans starts acting up. The shift points get a lot higher and when it does shift it shifts hard to the point of barking the tires. If I shut it off and let it sit for a couple of seconds then fire it up it returns to normal. It is a 98 2500 4x4 with 140K. I have only had it for the past 10K so I have no idea what work was done before me except that it looked like it had zero maintenance done before I got it. Any ideas?

 

have you done a fluid filter change?

how is the fluid?

check while running in neutral.

 

Yep the first thing id do is a fluid and filter change with a band adjustment and cable adjustment. Then see whats going on.

 

I have heard that it is a bad idea to change the fluid if it hasn't been changed regularly. When I changed the fluid in the transfer case and diffs they were nasty and I assume had never been changed. I assume the transmission is the same.

 

Old fluid brakes down and becomes less viscous and provides little to no protection. Why would you not change it when you know it is old?

 

He got caught up in the hype.

 

It can be bad to flush a system, but not change the fluid/filter.

 

How is that hype? It makes sense that there could be risks with changing the fluid. New fluid could have a detergent effect in loosening build up that would then flow through the transmission and could cause issue in other places. Not to mention that a new filter will not be as efficient as an old one. Remember filters increase in efficiency as they are used to the point of failure. Meaning that as a filter clogs up it traps smaller and smaller particulates. I don't want to risk changing fluid if it will cause more harm than good.

 

When I worked at a dealership, it was standard policy to warn folks that hadn't done much with their transmission for quite some time, that servicing it, may indeed cause it to fail. Reasoning there is, the dirty fluid allowed more friction between various parts, so, getting rid of the contaminants and such, would cross the threshold between 'enough', and 'not enough'. End result, time for a rebuild.

Its a crap shoot.

 

FLUSHING the system is a bad idea. Changing the tranny fluid, however, is a good idea. Just like JackJ & MonteC said. If you wanna fix your tranny but keep the same filter and crusty fluid, be my guest. It's your call. Me personally, I wouldn't take that gamble, I'd change the fluid and filter, then take it from there.