Well. My 16 year old, 147k plus mileage stock trans is starting to fade. A couple problems as to where I dont know to start looking for. First I had the linkage tightened a year back and the shop was full of idiots. 9/10 times it wont engage in park and when I start it, i have to pop it in neutral to get her running.

Also. Three times in the past month, I had the truck In park (idling to warm up) and it put itself into reverse and idled it self to the snow burm by itself across the street. Very..very inconvenient.
And, when crusing st say 45-50 or any speed above 35 and give it some gas to accelerate, its a very violent jerking like it slips very rough and pops in and out of different gears. Like it almost cant decide what gear to stay in. Also, full throttle is a bit better than partial, but it jerks just a few times but acceleration and power seems hindered.

Obviously the trans, and its too cold to get under and inspect more. Simple stuff seemed fine, fluid full, driveshafts solid, no apparent cacks for leakage. Its not worth a fluid/filter change at this point and some cable adjustment thing you can do is temporary. I researched and figured that my torque convereter is falling apart internally and spitting pieces through out the trans. Or my teeth on the gears are losing teeth or something bad. Its sadening in any perf application. Am I due sooner than I expected for a trans build. BTW. 46re auto.

Thanks for advice as I know all dodge owners love there stock trannys

 

Only way to know if your transmission is messed up internally and eating itself away is to drop the pan and look at the filter, and the magnet and the bottom of the pan and see whats in there..

 

Get the linkage straightened out first, it could be causing the other problems.

 

It sounds like your linkage is misadjusted, but it could be a badly worn rooster comb, accounting for the park/reverse problem. If you disconnect the linkage and shift into park at the transmission itself, you should feel the detent engage. If it doesn't, then the rooster comb is suspect. If (as I suspect) on the other hand it does, just adjust the linkage as detailed in the factory service manual.

The shifting behavior could be something as simple as a throttle valve cable misadjustment. If your shift points are lower now than they used to be, or heck even if they're not, adjust the TV cable.

MonteC once said that most of the 46R's he sees coming in for rebuild have made it 140k to 180k before giving up.

 

I would like to apolagize fr my previous thread and thank you for this info. I dont get it because a few days later i stomped at a dead stop and squealed for two seconds before going.. and at 25 i left two 20 ft burm marks on the road before launching again. I think that cable is exactly what it is. And linkage is what ill have looked at. I will notify with an update when i try these

 

could a plugged filter hinder performance? Dont have the space to drop the pan yet. I refuse to pay someone to do that. It seems that under a set throttle and then giving it more to accelerate it hardly moves any faster and cant keep much of any acceleration and the gears seem to pop in and out. Its frusterating as im trying to save for schooling. What to do? Full throttle punches good but seems laggy and very held back

 

Thanks! And of course you're welcome.

I hope we can get to the bottom of this quickly, in case it's a simple and cheap problem that grows into something involved and expensive.

Was the squealing the tires, or the transmission?

Eh, well... yeah, it can, but what you'll usually see first is sloppy shifting and clutch slippage during hard acceleration from low RPM.

I'm having a heck of a time parsing that. Would you say that it acts more like it's just in too high a gear so the engine just doesn't have what it takes to accelerate? Or is it more like the engine RPM goes up quickly but the vehicle speed doesn't follow?

The gears "popping in and out": Is it just changing gears rapidly or is it actually hitting a false neutral (as if the clutches are not engaging)?

 

yeah. it was the tires that squealed. no more low end grunt so thats a faint memory. Its like the engine rpms running fast (as normal) and sounds strong but laggy acceleration. Trans isint following up. And like the clutches wont catch. seems like they're wearing. it spits out the lower gear after a few seconds. when i give it more gas. Assuming it normally drops a gear to use any rpms available then shift into the next for its entire rpm range correct? (on aggresive acceleration that is) It shifts hard still but jerks even as im in the middle of a gear. Daily slow driving is hardly affected.

Could a misfiring cylinder cause wierd engine jerks (tourques) that i might be confusing with the trans and throw off the power to the trans therefore confusing it? thats a faint thought on it

 

An engine miss will give you some pretty bizarre behavior. It is most apparent when the trans hits fourth gear, and TCC engages. You will feel each individual miss, the truck will shudder, and generally feel like it is going to fall apart. In 1st thru 3rd, it is more a lack of perceived power than anything else.

If engine RPM goes up, and speed does not..... that sounds like a slipping problem. Make sure fluid level is up to snuff, TV, and shift linkages are properly adjusted. If the problem persists..... time to drop the pan, and see whats up.

 

How do you find out if an engine is missfiring anyway ?