99 dodge ram 1500 4x4 5.9l (46re)
Right Now truck is in a parking lot, won't stay in gear, &right before got stopped the "trans temp" light came on... I need to know what now on the tranny is wrong!

I will make this as short/simplified as I can but I figure, with all the headache this tranny has given me piece by piece, I'd better give the run-down from the beginning (though I will only put the major past problems/parts/repairs.

Bought truck Aug 3 (still making payments). In October, tranny started going to hell (1st &2nd gear), totally going out Oct 31st. Replaced the bands (which had totally disintegrated).* Seemed to run good except sometimes wouldn't shift from 2nd to 3rd unless you quickly manually bumped it to Neutral then back to Drive. About 3weeks 2later had to replace the filter AGAIN when it suddenly wouldn't go anywhere when driving home from work. In early December lost Overdrive. Really soon thereafter, it suddenly wouldn't hardly even stay in anything but 1st (sometimes 2nd) on way to work. Changed filter again (but NEVER got overdrive again). Ran really quite good with exception of no overdrive for few weeks (did not run it hard or above 2700rpm at all). Few days before Christmas started slipping so put some non-slip stuff in it. Pittman Arm Seal on PowerSteering went out about Christmas so have been trying to drive it as little as possible. January 20, drove truck to end of drive twice to dump some stuff w/no problem. Stopped about 2/3 way back (40ft) (turned it off) for about 4minutes, started it up &had no gears AT ALL. (I had noticed a whine from torque converter the day or 2before too). Never got it in any gear until took off Valve Body &did the Filter again.Test drove it and had Reverse, 1st, &2nd (2nd was a little rough shifting @first but nothing unexpected) but wouldnt quite shift to 3rd. Drove it to store &back 6-7times (1st/2nd great but no 3rd). Suddenly 1/2 mi from house it just shifted into 3rd. Next store trip shifted into 3rd too . Yesterday,* had to pickup check about 15mi away, pulled out &shifted into 2nd then suddenly tried the crap of going back into 1st. Got it to shift back into 2nd &it* went into 3rd for few miles then 1/4mi after stoplight it wouldn't even stay in 1st. Pull off onto shoulder then it'd finally grab 1st (&usually 2nd too). Go sometimes just another 1/4mi or as much as 3/4mi then lose all gears again until it'd decide to go again. Did this for about 5mi, then it straightened up &even shifted into 3rd for about 5mi. Turned @our 3rd stoplight, got about 1/2+mi &started it again(&as bad if not worse). If I turned it off, it would shift @first when I'd restart it(NO where to pull off street +traffic backed from rollover wreck ahead &it quickly got where the ONLY way I could get it back in gear was to restart it). Right before I got to a parking lot I could finally pull into, the "trans temp" light came on. After a few minutes I also noticed it had leaked a small puddle of fluid(which was no surprise).


P. S. SideNote- No, through ALL of this, the tranny hasn't ever leaked &it is EXTREMELY strong (for when &what gears are working at the time, lol)



Thank you for any suggestions of where to start now. Don't have much money &its our only means of transportation.

 

If you had to replace the bands because they were worn, and then the second set also fell apart, I would venture a guess that your clutches are also worn..... did you ever do anything with the governor pressure sensor/relay while you were in there?

 

I was totally broke at that time (after forking out the $ for the bands) so the best I could do at that time was remove it &clean out the screens :-(

 

I think it's time to start looking for another trans, or pricing out a rebuild..... if you are mechanically inclined, there are some DIY's for it in the faq section.

 

How did you replace the bands? One can be slipped in (sometimes) but the rear on - don't think that is possible.

The damage done when bands went bad also creates the same adverse effect on frictions in the clutches. Seldom (if ever) does one thing like bands go bad, and clutches remain good. I think your ckutches are shot. And the "non-slip" stuff probably did not help matters much.

I suspect what you may think is not staying in gear is actually clutches slipping, causing further damage.

Go to the FAQ/DIY section and download service manual. Read through tranny section, and search here for transmission rebuild threads. There are several, complete with photos. If you are mechanically inclined, have some patience, one can rebuild these. Take your time, take photos, make notes.