First I have a 1997 1500 2wd 318 with a 99 318 automatic trans and motor in it. Everything works fine except the speedometer and temp gauge, but it runs and shifts smooth.
Ok, here's what happened and what I think needs to be done. On Tuesday I was taking the kids to a movie and I hadn't gotten 2 miles down the road when I noticed it hadn't shifted yet (i tend to drive slow with no speedo!). So I turn around to go home and when climbing a hill the rpm shoots up to 4000 and still no shift. Park it, and my dad just happened to be there, so he takes it for a spin. Still no shifting, when he comes back he can't get it into park. I helped my husband some with the install of the motor and tranny, so the first thing that came to mind was the linkage. Husband gets home and friend comes over to distract disappointed kids and we looked at external linkage and steering column. Everything looks ok.
My research said parking pawl and sprag are not working properly, so husband drops pan and looks. That seems to be the problem, can't manually engage it into park. Won't start in park, but still in neutral. My husband has never removed a valve body and we (it's my truck) are worried about this repair. What do we have to do to replace or reengage the pawl/sprag assembly? Everything looked clean and no parts fell out when he dropped the pan. Any help would be very appreciated, at the moment this is the only vehicle the whole family can fit in! Thanks in advance!

 

The valve body drop in not difficult.

I did a write up on it in the DIY section under "sonnax Sure Cure kit install". Sorry I can't do direct links to it on the phone.

 

Man, Aim. Good write-up

Question: What is a pawl? Someone told me that could be the reason that the truck will not shift into Park. Park Pawl.

 

Okay, did some research on Google. The pawl is the pin that stops the transmission...in a nutshell. If it is damaged, from some of the research I have found, THE ENTIRE TRANSMISSION NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OUT!! Is that true? Or can we just remove the VB and repair it then. Our driveway is a steep incline and whenever I park there I never use the parking brake. Believe me once this fiasco is over I will utilize my parking brake.

 

some of the stuff that makes it work is available thru the valve body. The actual parking pawl is back further in the trans though, so, if you don't see an obvious problem at the VB, well..... out comes the trans..... Might just as well rebuild it while you have it out.. There are some REALLY good resources collected by j415 in the FAQ section.

 

As far as the no speedo goes, you may try replacing the ABS/Vehicle speed sensor. Simple to do and cheap. Just did it today to my 2000 Ram 1500... cost me $30 for the sensor and took 5 min to unhook the old one and put the new one in...