Ok first of all thanks so much for allowing me to ask questions and giving me your time.

I have a new to me 95 dodge ram 4x4 with 360 engine in it.

Friday I had the tranny fluid changed at a shop and they did a pan drop and filter change. Friday afternoon as I left town on a trip the transmission started shifting funny. Mostly it seemed in the ranger of 30 to 42 mph or so. It was like it wouldnt shift out of the gear i was in unless i eased up off the gas. Then i could ease into the next gear.

I know now that i need to check to see if they used the right fluid and filter.

Any other suggestions?


Second issue. The oil pressure gauge has not worked in years according to previous owner. If I come to a stop in drive sometimes the oil pressure engine light will come on. If i change the rpms at all ( neutral park or touching the gas ) it goes off.

Am I looking at a sensor issue? Oil pump issue? Horrible issue that makes me cry?

Could this be caused by an idle that is too low?

Any help would be HUGE!

Thank you

 

yeah, you're going to want to check that fluid most ricky-ticky.. pan drop and DRAIN FOR AT LEAST A DAY.. replace it with AT+4 ... go back to the shop that did this to you, and escalate force until you get the results you need.. you maybe can get a new tranny out of it..

I'd think your oil issues are sender related- but that is something you don't wanna screw around with.. you can get a new pump for under $50 and spend a few hours putting it in, but I'd get a new sender in there first just to see..

 

Spend 20 bucks on a cheap mechanical gauge, screw that in where the sender goes, and drive around for a while, see what your oil pressure is REALLY doing. Sometimes I think the PCM gets confused on what it is supposed to be doing there.... My lite will sometimes come on when the gauge is still showing 40 PSI...... Not one of my favorite design features that chrysler came up with......

I agree with drew on the fluid change, again....

 

Make it ATF+4 and you'll be good to go.

In all seriousness, if it's a 95, change the oil pump. And with that old of an engine, I'd recommend a high volume pump. It will push more oil through the engine, and older engines tend to have looser tolerances between the bearings, which more oil, or thicker oil can help fill. Those looser tolerances can also cause the oil pressure to drop, as it cycles through the block faster than it should.

 

How many miles does your rig have? Did you ever get that temp issue sorted out?

 

She has 200k. Yes the temp has now settled nicely at 195/200ish since I replaced the radiator and burped it.

The truck runs so smoothly until this tranny issue.


On the oil pressure issue, does the sending unit affect the gauge? Cus the gauge doesnt work at all. Only the dummy light.

 

Gauge and lite are both driven by the PCM, which gets its cues from the sensor. I suspect you have more than one problem there.

 

Talked to the guy at the oil change place. He said he used Penzoil Multivehicle ATF. He brought out the specs and said it covered dodge vehicles as well as all the others. Said it costs more but he cant keep everything for every vehicle in stock. Said he has done hundreds of dodges without issue and this surely cant be my issue.

On a side note he said it sounded like a solenoid to him and he would do it free of charge with just the part cost if his transmission guy said thats what he thought it was.

Not sure what to do now other than pan drop myself and put in atf4. My question is also , if a pan drop only changes about 5 quarts as oppossed to a flush changing all of it, would only having 5 quarts of this multi vehicle atf cause this kind of issue?

 

another quick question, was your rad leaking? how did you know you needed a new one?
as far as the multi-vehical fluid is concerned, our tranny's don't like that stuff. get as much of it out as soon as possible.

 

Yes the radiator was blowing steam and fluid out of the side of it.

I will get the atf 4 in there tomorrow. I did the whole code thing with the check engine light and it it looks like i have code 37 which is a solenoid issue possibly.

Im taking to a pretty good AAMCO dealer i have used before, tomorrow morning for a free diagnostics.

BTW where is the OBD1 port on my 95 Ram? Cant see it under the dash.