Hi all, new member here. I love this forum! I only discovered it recently, and I wish I had found it years ago. I have learned so much by reading here over the past few months thanks to all of the great contributors here.


I have a 2001 Ram 1500 4x4 that I have owned since I bought in 2005 it from CarMax with 44,000 miles on it. Since then it has been my daily driver/work truck, and it now has about 168,000 miles on it. It does not have a hitch so I have never towed with it, and I rarely haul any sort of load with it. I am a construction superintendent, so I use it to keep my tools in and drive from site to site. It has lived a pretty easy life. I have changed the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles, though I believe the first two changes were actually "flushes" - this was back before I knew better.


Recently it has seemed to be getting more and more sluggish in shifting as I accelerate. It has never once exhibited signs of slipping; instead, the RPMs just tend to build to a higher than normal level before the transmission shifts to the next gear. It also does not appear to be going into torque converter lockup, though I can't really tell for sure.


I recently (within the past 1,000 miles or so) did a filter and fluid change (not a flush!), and installed a drain plug. The magnet in the pan had a fair amount of black "sludge" on it, but no metal shavings whatsoever (photo below). Since the fluid change, I have not really noticed any difference in the shifting behavior. So, from the extensive reading I've done here, it appears the next best things to try first would be:


1) Check the TV cable - it appears to be adjusted properly, but I'm not totally sure. When the gas pedal is totally released, the TV cable should have just a slight bit of tension, right?


2) Try adjusting the bands - I have never had this done since I've owned the vehicle


3) Replace the governor pressure sensor and solenoid - these are both original

EDIT:


4) Test the throttle position sensor - I've read this can have an effect on shifting. How do you go about testing it?


Any other suggestions? Should I try these in this order?


Thanks for any input!

 

Have you done your plenum yet? May not be a trans problem at all. Trans gets all it cues from the PCM, which pays attention to what the motor is doing to decide what it does with the trans. If your cat is starting to clog, that will give lower than normal manifold vacuum readings (PCM won't see as much vacuum) and it will interpret that is greater load on the engine, and hold gears a bit longer.

Does it do it all the time, just after warmed up?

 

Yeah, forgot to mention I just did the Hughes plenum repair within the past 3,000 miles. The problem had started to manifest before that, and I was hoping the plenum repair would alleviate it. Unfortunately, it did not...but oh well, the plenum was definitely shot so it needed to be done. At first I was concerned that maybe I didn't get a good seal on the plenum gasket, so I pulled the air box off the throttle, opened the butterly valve and peered down in there with a light and a mirror. It was squeaky clean, so I at least know there's no oil getting sucked in there right now.


However, I did notice tonight when I got home that I heard sort of a hissing/squealing sound from under the hood. After poking around for a few minutes, I seem to have isolated it to the hose coming going from the intake to the PCV valve. When I push down on the top of the PCV valve, it quiets down. When I let go, it starts again. The valve is only a few months old, but maybe it's gone bad, or maybe the rubber grommet is shot and air is leaking by? You are right, a bad vacuum seal could be the culprit too. The problem seems to happen all of the time.


Maybe I should buy a vacuum gauge and do a test? What should a normal vacuum reading be?


Thanks for the help!

 

Update: I had a few minutes to snoop around under the hood this evening and the whistling sound I'm hearing is definitely coming from the PCV valve. Does that mean it is shot? This valve is only a year old, but being as the part is very inexpensive, I'll plan to put in a new one.


With that said, would a bad PCV valve that is letting too high a volume of crankcase gases by into the intake have a perceptible effect on driveability?

 

Vacuum should be 18 to 20psi range. The needle should be steady. Get a pcv valve from dealer for proper flow, about 8.50. It could be extra air getting sucked into the intake.

 

Too high of a flow rate will indeed cause some interesting issues. It's a cheap part, as you say. Get one from the dealer. They are actually the correct flow rate.

 

I seem to be having the same problems as DodgeFanMP, I have a 1998 Ram with 139k miles and mine is shifting at really high rpms.. kind of worried about it. Check engine light is on for some spark plug codes so I'm going to get that out of the way but did you every figure out your shifting issue? I'm also hearing the same noise so I will check my PCV valve. Hoping that its the throttle position sensor causing our issues? Or at least something not transmission related.

 

This is an older thread, but I wanted to share that I have achieved much better performance from my transmission. I know I am a little late to the party with regard to Auto-RX, as it seems there are many well-stated opinions on that product from several years ago, but I only recently discovered it. Not having had any luck with my transmission and feeling that I didn't have much to lose, I decided to try adding Auto-RX to the transmission fluid in hopes that it would free things up and return normal shifting performance. I didn't really expect much, but thought I'd give it a try, as the truck was getting too annoying to drive regularly. So, I ordered some Auto-RX, added about 8 oz. to the transmission fluid, and also added two full bottles to the crankcase as part of the manufacturer's "fast track for engine sludge" cleanse, and then drove 1,000 miles per the directions.


1,000 miles later, I am truly amazed at how much better the truck shifts. It is shifting as well, or better, than when I purchased it 9 years ago. I never expected such dramatic results, much of which were achieved within the first 100-200 miles after adding Auto-RX to the transmission fluid.


I am in no way affiliated with the manufacturer of Auto-RX and have nothing to gain by touting their product, but I am a believer in its abilities. With that said, it is not a miracle worker and will obviously not magically fix broken internal parts. However, if your transmission is simply gunked up, has clogged solenoids, etc., I do believe you can benefit from the use of Auto-RX. But, don't just take my word for it....do your own research and come to your own conclusions.


Now, on to my new problem. In my last post, I referenced a whistling sound that I was hearing from somewhere in the engine bay. I had thought it might be coming from the PCV valve, and several of you suggested replacing the PCV valve with a new part from the dealer. It took me a while to get around to it, and the squealing seemed to subside for a while, but I recently finally decided to give this a try. So, a few weeks ago, I purchased and installed a new PCV valve and rubber grommet, as well as a new breather elbow fitting and rubber grommet for the passenger side valve cover. A few weeks passed and I didn't hear the squealing, so I thought the issue was put to rest. Then, on Friday, the squealing came back and stayed. As soon as I started the engine, the squealing would begin and was quite loud, however it was only present at idle. If I gave it some throttle, the squealing seemed to disappear (and I don't mean it was just drowned out by the noise of the engine revving - it actually seemed to go away).


So, today I had a few minutes to poke around under the hood. My first thought was that perhaps the intake manifold gasket was leaking again, so I tried spraying liberal amounts of carb cleaner (with a fire extinguisher handy just in case) all around the manifold and the vacuum hoses, but I noticed absolutely no change in engine idle. Then I noticed that when I removed the breather hose from the passenger side valve cover, the suction was quite strong, but if I blocked it off with my finger, the squealing totally silenced within a few seconds. I also removed the oil fill cap and noticed strong suction there, as well as the fact that I seemed to be able to hear the squealing sound inside the valve cover. Then I decided to remove the air filter housing, thinking maybe the seal where it connects to the throttle was bad or not tight. I tried starting the engine again with the air filter housing removed, and the squealing was still present, except now I noticed that it seemed to be coming from the throttle itself - either from the butterfly valves or from the idle air control valve.


So, now I am thinking that perhaps the IAC valve pintile might be stuck shut, and air is being sucked through a very tight orifice and creating the squealing sound. I also thought that this could explain the strong suction from the crankcase breather hose (i.e. - the engine is not getting enough air through the throttle at idle, so it is pulling it from the crankcase through the PCV). I had thoroughly cleaned the IAC valve when I had the manifold off in September, but I have since installed a K&N air filter, and I'm wondering if perhaps the oil on the filter has gunked up the IAC pintile?


I didn't have time to remove the throttle today and re-clean the IAC valve, but does my reasoning make sense to anyone? Does anyone have any other suggestions?


Thanks in advance, and I'm sorry for the novel-length post.

 

If the IAC doesn't open, the engine won't idle. At all.

Disable your PCV system. (pull the valve, put tape over it, pull the breather on the other side, tape over that as well.) Take off the oil fill cap, and start the engine. If you still have vacuum there, your plenum gasket is indeed blown. Need to fix that.

 

Great suggestion, HeyYou. I'm not sure why I didn't think of trying that yesterday. I did exactly as you said today, and unfortunately the oil fill cap opening was still sucking air like a mother. So, apparently my intake manifold gasket is leaking again Looks like I'll be doing that repair again this weekend, for the second time in 9 months. Ugh. I'm really wondering what I did wrong last time. I bought the kit from Hughes and took my sweet time. The only thing I can think is that maybe the silicone in the corners failed. I think I used orange...maybe I should have used black?


I guess the good news is that this time, I should be able to do it more quickly, and hopefully I won't have any manifold bolts break off since they've only been in there for a short time (fingers crossed). Also, I'll probably change my fuel injector O-rings while I have the fuel rails off since I didn't do that last time, and I'll replace the thermostat housing, which has been leaking recently.


Any other parts I should replace while I'm at it? Last time I also replaced the distributor cap and rotor, spark plug wires, coil, and valve cover gaskets.


Thanks again for any input.