2001 Ram 1500 4x4 Quad cab. I bought it new, got the 6yr - 100,000 powertrain warranty...Thank God! Here's the problem: Transmission has acted funny since I bought it. Torque converter would unlock and lock just for the heck of it cruising down a flat road at highway speed. Told dealer several times, they checked, said this was normal. At 41,000 miles the tranny came unglued - dealer replaced torque converter and rebuilt tranny. Noticed converter unlocking itsself momentarily once in a while when hitting severe bumps or bridge approaches on the highway. At about 55,000 the unlocking and locking became quite annoying and more often. At 60,000 took it to a different Dodge dealer - tranny was junk again, they replaced torque converter, rebuilt tranny again, and replaced the valve body. Drove it about 100 miles over the next 3 days with no problem, then while driving home from work a rough bridge approach unlocked it again and it unlocked and locked again on the next 3 or 4 bumps. No problem on the way to work next day, but again on the way home a dip in the road started the problem again. Took back to dealer, technician rode with me with his computer attached, had the problem again. They called me the next day, told me the right front brake was hanging up, causing the computer to think there was extra load on the truck and causing the problem. I took the truck to a local brake shop for a 2nd opinion - there is no evidence of one brake sticking. I need new rotors, cause they are warped (I'm fixing that tomorrow), but there was no discoloration on either one, so I find it hard to believe this is the tranny problem. Please Help!!!! Truck is not driven hard, I'm the only one who drives it. I drive 25 miles 1 way to work, mostly on the interstate. I have had numerous other problems with this truck - but this one is the one that's driving me NUTS! Oh, and please don't tell me to trade it, the wife is getting a 300C. I have to keep mine a while longer! Any advice on fixing this problem is appreciated - as the dealers are stumped. No codes, sensors read normal. Thank You! E-mail me at racinfan_83@yahoo.com

 

There is a inline check valve in the lower radiater hose attacth to rad..that sometimes doesn't open right ..getts stuck...like when a thermostate getts stuck etc..anyway you can check that or replace it....or get a GOOD aftermarket trans cooler..and bypass or remove that sucker all together...Hope this helps...GOOD LUCK..BILL

 

Hey Bill99....are you talking about the lower RADIATOR hose ( as in the one with anti freeze in it ) or the lower line from the tranny to the radiator.....Thanks for the reply!

 

I think it's the hose...check this forum..page 3..towards the bottom..there was a guy with similer problems..I think he had 11 responses...I did look in my haynes manual...but it doesn't mention anything about it...I'm still learning about these trucks myself...had chevy and GMC for the past 15 years...needed a torque converter once..alt ...battery brakes..exaust...gas tank..fuel pump..tires...that's it nothing major...sold her with 145,000...and she was a animal....I really like the look of the 2nd gen ram that's what sold me...I'm not very happy bout the mechinics of it though...seems I need to do alot to get her right...and she was takin care of..I'll talk bout all that on later posts...but hope this helped..GOOD LUCK

 

Seems hard to believe that the tranny would be bad that soon after a rebuild. My dad use to work for the government and they had a truck (think it may have been a ford but can't remember) but the transmission kept acting up on it. The dealer changed the tranny and still didn't work right. Finally they changed the computer in the truck and my dad said it shifted better than when it was brand new. I don't know if you could find a dealer that would change the computer but you my give it a try. Could be a faulty computer from factory.

 

I changed the Rotors and pads on the front, drove to the race track Sat. night, it still unlocks like crazy. So, yesterday I put a new TPS on it and unhooked the battery for an hour to reset the computer. Hopefully this works - I should know in the next couple of days after driving to work. Thanks for the suggestions - I have more things to try if this doesn't work! I will post again if this fixes the problem.

 

UPDATE #2 - After driving to work for 4 days, 200+ mi, The problem has not reoccurred. It appears that the TPS and computer reset did the trick. Thanks

 

After a month - the problem has not reocurred. TPS fixed it. I added a tranny cooler - https://dodgeforum.com/m_286895/tm.htm I took the pressure line apart at the splice between the hard line from the tranny and the rubber section - the "check ball" is there in the rubber section of the line. It was free, so I put that line back together. I added this to this post after reading the suggestions about maybe the check ball was stuck. I also left the bottom cooler line loose and started the truck in neutral to check for fluid flow - so I know the check ball was not the problem.