My truck has 193k miles on it, obviously the tranny has been rebuilt at some point. I know 46re's aren't known for reliability. Its a 1998 1500 5.9L 4x4, just to clarify.

My question is should I change the fluid? Im trying to guess how many miles its had since the rebuild. If its over 70-80k miles I think ill leave it.

It is shifting hard at 1-2, 2-3. 3-OD has always been smooth. However, 1-2 used to be smooth around 3/4 throttle.

I am assuming this is from sticking throttle body valves from old fluid. My dilemma is since it is an old tranny and I don't know the history of it. If I change the fluid this could cause it to fail prematurely because the clutches have broken down in the fluid and they need this friction material.

its happened to me twice where ive changed fluid in a well used auto trans and a few weeks later it fails completely, so this is from first hand experience.

its my DD, and my only vehicle so its kinda important.

edit: ive owned the truck for a year now, bought it with around 183k miles. I also had 37" SSR's on it for about 6k miles with stock gears if that matters.

thanks for any help

 

In the past week I have heard two people say this. I have never understood why or where people get his idea from. You can change the fluid and filter, it is, however, not a good idea to FLUSH the system. These are two VERY DIFFERENT things.

Fluid breaks down, protects less and causes more damage then needed as it gets older. You have had that fluid for 10,000 miles, probaly more. Would you not change the oil in an engine if you know it not been changed in 10k, it is the same damn thing. My truck has 180k on it and as far as I can tell, it is the original tranny.

 

average lifespan is 1-150K miles lol.......ive heard of some lasting over 200K...i have a 46RH, and it last to 178K....

and JackJ, i feel the same way about ALL my fluids...i do diff fluid changes every 10K, tranny/filter 10K, oil 3K, coolant 20K, power steering 25K, and brake, well i still need to flush this.

 

I think it is relative, in the way you treat the transmission. I've gotten 210,000 miles out of mine and still going strong, knock on wood. I change the transmission fluid religiously every 20,000 miles.

 

I know towing does a great deal on the trannys....if you are towing, get a tranny temp guage...overheating is how 90% of our trannys blow usually...you may not consider towing beating on it, but IMO if you tow regularly, that worse then burning out hear and here, and racing.

 

Seems like the pressure governor solenoid or pressure sensor (transducer) is going bad..

Both a accessible without pulling the valve body and about a $100 for both parts from - http://www.transmissionpartsusa.com/...rts_s/1602.htm

 

I used to use my truck for nothing but towing my horse trailer up until about 2 years ago and the tranny's got 240,704 on the clock all original. But like old dodge said, I change my tranny fluid religiously about every 20-30k. Get a second tranny cooler and get rid of the check valve and be sure to use atf-4. Wrong fluid is another big tranny killer.

 

Where is the check valve and why would I delete it? Sorry I don't know a lot about automatics.

I wanted to get an aftermarket cooler, but the lines have a fitting on them and dont seem like they would extend well beyond the stock location, what do people do to extend them? just cut off the fittings and use rubber clamps to add hose?

 

pretty much. rubber hose and hose clamps is all that holds mine together. i even fixed one of my leaking transmision lines by cutting it and sliding on a piece of rubber hose and clamping it.

 

I'm a little different, I change my tranny fluid every other oil change, or Ill forget to do it all together, Diff oil every 3rd, ain't done power steering fluid yet, been meaning to, and did my brakes last Monday.

I do my tranny like this because when I did it the first time after I bought there wee a decent amount of metal shaving on the magnet and pan, and we all know metal on metal contact is bad right? So I want to catch bad before it catches me.