I bought a 1997 Dodge 1500 4x4 5.9ltr from a guy last weekend. Test drove for about 5 minutes and it drove fine other than vibration when shifted to overdrive. Knucklehead said this was the driveshaft probably got warped and he did tell me that he had to put the vacuum lines back on transmission because they came loose.
I bought the truck anyway and drove about 20 miles on the interstate and it lost drive power. Motor still running fine but would not move. I tried reverse and all forward gears, 4 wheel drive and 2 wheel drive but it wouldnt move. With the truck sitting still it would whine or kinda grind sound come from right behind the engine under the floor when I would shift from a gear back to park.I called the knucklehead I bought the truck from and described the problem and he said thats your problem and hung up.I had the truck towed to a friend who is a mechanic on 18 wheel diesel trucks. He started the truck yesterday and said it drove fine other than the vibration when shifts to overdrive. What could the problem be and does the vibration have anything to do with why the truck lost drive power? This is for my 16 yr old son and it was his money that bought the truck so I really need a solution. I am in the dog house with the wife over this.

Thanks for your help,
Keven

 

Welcome to DF. Sorry you are in the doghouse man. I hate that spot....... (funny that I end up there so often though...... hhhmmm.....)

In any event, how many miles on the truck? Trans fluid up to snuff? Right color? (gotta check level in neutral, a quirk of the dodge trucks....)

Since it works great when cold, and starts having issues as things warm up, I would take a hard look at the governor pressure solenoid, and the transducer that tells the PCM what's up. They are known to clog/fail, and cause no end of trouble.

The vibration in overdrive is another issue entirely. (maybe....) When I had that problem on mine, most notable at about 45 mph, when the t/c locked... it was because of a bad spark plug, and the engine miss was transmitted VERY well thru the drivetrain. Changing out the plugs fixed it.

Now, keep in mind, I am NOT a transmission mechanic. If you want a REALLY good answer, post in MonteC's thread, stickied at the top of the forum. He actually works on these things for a living.

 

Thanks HeyYou. I posted in MonteC's thread also.

 

it could be worse though. It may be your transfer case. i remember mine had a leak that I didn't spot (hard to spot when you have skid plates collecting fluid).

I ran it bone dry and it made driving rough. I junked it because of that and didn't have the conscience to sell it to anyone.



--Dan

 

I would start with the transmission output speed sensor first - the part is less than $10 and takes literally seconds to change.