99 1500 5.2 4x4 46RE 3.55 gears and 265/75/16 tires

That being said, I know I'm not exactly set up for pulling. Took a long trip yesterday, 300+ miles, to trade my neighbors ATV for a camper. On the way there we didn't have any problems. Did the swap and the first part of the drive with his 28-30 ft. Camper was really "hilly". Steep, winding curves. Got about halfway home and the CEL flashes at me. No trans temp light, minimal power and engine temp less than 210*. Pulled into a gas station, turned it off and popped the hood. EVERYTHING WAS HOT! Even the plug wires, 1-3-5-7 felt like they could be mushy-melty. 2-4-6-8 were hot but not like the others. Let it cool for a bit and did some moving of the wires, haven't re-routed yet per the TSB doing plenum, timing chain, plugs and wires Saturday. Started back up and no CEL. Another 60-70 miles goin uphill the trans downshifts to 3rd briefly then to 2nd @ 4000 rpms bam, CEL flashes, trans shifts back to 3rd then 4th and CEL stays on this time.

My belief is, due to my stupidity, I was using cruise control for the first part of the haul and it caused the tranny to shift to 3rd and 2nd, unnecessarily, for 75 miles during the start of our trip, causing the motor to work really hard and get hotter than my gauge reads. This would have been during the really "hilly" part of our journey. Made it home, CEL is still on, no coolant lost. Oil level seems ok, trans fluid ok.

Why the flashing CEL? Last time, when I first got the truck, was dues to #8 misfire, did a tuneup and it went away. Now I know the actual cause of the misfire was ultimately my plenum, but what about this time? Did I just kill my wires? Sorry if this seems like a jumbled mess, and any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome, Thanks!

BTW - wires were not the cheapest set I could get, but not 8mm...I don't remember which plugs I used either.

 

Flashing light means you're cadamging the converter by driving, usually a misfire is the only thing to cause a flashing mil. Given that everything was hot underhood I'd bet it was running lean or the cooling fan is doing little to nothing to help.

 

You shouldn't tow in OD.

 

O/D was off entire trip

 

Oh well you said it donwshifted into third haha

 

I thought it was a 4 speed w/ od meaning a shift into 5th or also the tc locking. I don't know much, just enough to get myself into trouble. So od off means top gear would be 3rd? If so my tranny at times would have downshifted all the way to first. Can you briefly explain this tranny to me? Also cat was removed by PO.

...feeling dumb...

 

4th is overdrive no 5th. The lockup only changes the rpm about 200 and it's not a gear. Pulling a camper up a hill is going to over heat everything! Especially the trans! It only has the cooler in the radiator that is already hot. If you plan on towing this kind of stuff in the future i would install a large trans cooler and electric fans for the radiator. You did have enough scene to turn off the overdrive so you did good there. I have see others do this with the od on and wonder why their tranny is toast.

 

Flashing CEL is Engine miss. Read the codes, you probably have a selection of 300 series codes.

 

You guys are my life line for my truck on here. I'll let u know how things go Saturday after the update. About mid July I'm thinking a new reman trans. Any suggestions on that?

 

You should find and fix the engine miss first. Your trans could be fine. It also could be not. Contrary to popular belief they aren't literally as fragile as glass.

if you decide to rebuild anyway. There are several options that are affordable and greatly help the lifE Of the rebuild.