So I bought my truck a few months ago running fine and dandy, no problems 185k miles smooth truck. Well last month the Transmission was not wanting to upshift (classic solenoid clogged symptoms) unless you played with the pedal. Well It started doing it again last week so I went and cleaned the pan and magnet (fluid looked good) everything was well, cleaned the solenoid again(clogged again) shifted like a Cadillac. So a week later it starts doing it again but I finish my 15 mile drive to school. It wasnt that bad just some pedal play to get it to upshift. So on the way home it gets really really bad and starts slipping or gear searching everytime i hit the pedal. I managed to manually shift it and coaxed it home and re cleaned everything but now the fluid is purplish(not burnt) but very dirty with small metal shavings. I cleaned the magnet and ran a bunch of fluid through the magnets to clean it (had to reuse it).

I'm A full time welding student with 2 part time jobs and I cant afford to buy 100$ worth of fluid if that wont fix this problem. I damn sure cant afford a rebuild though.

I have heard in the past from tranny guys talking about dodges that the torque converters are not fed fresh fluid when the truck is at cold start. There is an aftermarket deal they install to let the fluid flow more freely so you dont run the converter dry for the first 3-4 miles. I have no idea if thats true but just wondering.

So WTF should I do? I should have just purchased a 90's chevy and everything would be so cheap. im thinking of just stealing a used one for cheap and rocking out. But if that fails im screwed and time is not on my hands.

I live in Thrall Texas, maybe somebody can help a college kid out? Maybe somebody has a known good tranny I can buy?

I can maybe scrap together 200+ dollars but its gonna absolutely kill me.
I have no parents (on my own since 15) and I live with an old hippie couple with plenty of tools. The old man has my exact same truck and it costs 900 dollars to have his rebuilt ( on his 3rd one) 265k miles).

I HATE DODGES
/end rant

TLDR: F*** my life

 

Sorry to say but the tranny is toast. Once the Gov solenoid starts getting clogged all the time, the bands and or the TC is shot.

 

185,000 miles out of a 46R? Don't bitch, man, it lived a long life and got a lot of good miles behind it.

90's Chevy? My idiot father's '97 GMC half ton ate its automatic transmission at less than 120,000. He was traveling down in your neck of the woods, on his way to San Antonio, when it went BAM! and then made no more sounds forever. "Like A Rock", indeed. Problem was he needed it to be like a truck.

To answer the "WTF should I do?", question: Be happy that you don't live in snow country with all the walking you're going to be doing. And while you're walking, consider that most kids who end up on their own at the age of 15 don't get to go to college at all at any time in their lives, so you got precisely not one damned thing to cry about.

 

You could swap out the hippie's transmission for yours.
I understand your frustrations. I'm having issues with mine.

 

Thrall? No one lives in Thrall! I am looking at a house about 3 miles or so from there. Between Elgin and Coupland.

Standard parts to overhaul tranny is just north of $200. Start saving a few bucks now.

 

If you cant get into college in America, it's because your a retard. I have no financial help at all and Im putting myself through college just fine.


So I get out of school from dec 6th to Jan 6 so I have decided to help out a fueling company for some extra cash.
I will rebuild the transmission and continue to drive the Ram. The old hippie was able to get his rebuilt for 900$ from a guy in waco with a 1 year 12000 mile warranty I believe. Is this a good deal? The hippies truck shifts just fine and everything looks good. Except he installed the down shift spring backwards. I told the old man but he was like "as long ad it shifts fine, dont fix what aint broke" so I was like okay.

@ gdstock
Taylor is so ghetto, Coupland is nice but small, but the area is full of good people for the most part. I live off of 619 and cr 472-473 area. If you have any questions about the area just shoot me a PM.

 

Not necessarily. There are many different ways life can shake out leaving one unable to attend college. It's the fourth Thursday of November in America, man -- be thankful that life didn't shake out for you in any of those ways.

A grand for a rebuild, if they actually do everything right and it includes removal/replacement, is an outstanding deal right on the bleeding edge of too good to be true. If it doesn't include R/R, then it's merely a good deal.

 

+1....Most shops charge 1200 or more....

But make sure you get a list of what they do for the $900. Make sure you get a new torque converter. THis may be where they are cutting the price.

 

And if it's in the reuse of the old converter that they're shaving the price, run away from that very crappy deal! The few places I've seen that don't steadfastly insist upon converter replacement have among their warranty terms an exclusion for transmissions that fail due to torque converter or cooling failures. So the thing pukes, you take it back, they tear into it, and say: Nope, not warranty because the converter grenaded. It'll be X dollars to haul the thing out of our shop disassembled, or Y dollars plus the cost of hard parts to rebuild with a new converter. And the customer says damn, I shoulda just bit the bullet last time around so this is all my fault and I might as well pay up with a smile on my face.

Unlike, say, the GM Turbo-HydraMatic 400, reusing a high mileage torque converter in a Chrysler 46R is begging for trouble. Downright demanding it, even.

 

Not meaning to hijack, but why so bad to reuse a torque converter in a dodge but not a chevy?