Firstly, I have a 1997 Roadtrek 190 Popular which is built on a 1996 Dodge 2500 van with the 318 and, presumably, the 46RE. Posting here as I've gotten no meaningful help elsewhere, and this forum seems to have some knowledgeable members.

A little history on the issue, I purchased the RV earlier in the year, put maybe 1200 miles on it, and gradually it started to develop a hesitation on the highway, which then developed into a large clunk, and a noticeable but very brief lurch, almost like the brakes were being tapped. Occasionally it would seem like the converter wouldn't lock or that I was losing 4th.

Pulled the codes via the dash light: crank angle, vehicle speed, and cat all came back bad. Bought new sensors, arranged to have a new cat installed, only to find the ground that runs from the head to the body was not on. After grounding that the issue seemed resolved but returned after about 100 miles (prior to that it would always happen after about ten minutes on the highway). When the van is cold there is a very faint whine audible at lower speeds, and during deceleration.

Did a bit of research, and decided to change the fluid and adjust the bands, for the bands I used this link:
http://dodgeram.org/tech/transmissio...T_band_adj.htm

Dropped the pan, the rear band pivot arm had nearly half an inch of play, and the front about .25 inch. Adjusted them both (after adjustment the rear has about .25 inch of play, and the front has none. I can pull it back a bit but it never has an air-gap between the piston and the lever), changed the filter, added back an amount of ATF +4 equal to what came out and took it for a 20 minutes ride. Initially it would stumble and nearly stall at lights, and had some hesitation at moderate throttle angles, but was fine just puttering along. After the initial ride I got the van on level ground, ran it through the gears, left it in neutral and added fluid until it reached about 70% up the "ok" part of the dipstick, running it through the gears about every half quart or so. It took about another 1.75 quarts to reach capacity.

After this on test runs about town the van was transformed, ****s were firm and very positive, no stumbles or hesitations. Put about 40 miles on it all in-town, with speeds up to about 55. All seems good, save that the whine is still there and now there is occasionally a very faint whirring sound on decel.

My first attempt to get it on the highway there is a hesitation, not sure if it was the 2-3 or the 3-4 shift. After a few miles the original hesitation returns, and would occur frequently over 65 mph. So I turn around to limp it home, and the hesitation eventually started to happen at a lower and lower speed, so I got off the highway. I got stuck waiting for a train for about 8 minutes and the van nearly stalled a number of times. All told I put about 35-40 miles on it this trip.

My first thought is I fouled up the band adjustment, but I went through the procedure twice, and even went so far as to verify the torque setting with two torque wrenches.

My list so far of next steps:

Check adjust throttle linkage
Check adjust shift linkage
Check adjust front band
?
?
Drive the van off a cliff

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

I wouldn't recommend driving off a cliff. That can be rather detrimental to your health.

I wonder if you have a trans problem, or an engine problem. If you have the typical 'kegger' intake manifold, chances are good the lower gasket is blown, which will give you all sorts of interesting running problems. Fouls O2 sensors, clogs cats, fouls plugs, etc. (sucking oil into the combustion chambers. see the stickied thread at the top of this forum for more info.)

How many miles on the engine? Last time it had cap/rotor/wires/plugs changed? What brand plugs?

Cleaned the throttle body lately? (another victim of blown plenum.) IAC bore gets crudded up, and you get idle issues.

 

Two things come to mind...

These trucks seem to be picky about their sensors (and spark plugs). Go to a dealer and get OEM, if that is not what you used the first time. While you were in the trans pan, did you replace the gov. pressure sensor end solenoid?

And, make sure you are checking trans fluid levels in NEUTRAL, not park. In park, you will get a false reading.

 

@HeyYou, I read about the manifold, definitely on my short-list to check in the next few weeks. Service history is unknown, mileage is showing 116k, which given the condition of the vehicle I do believe is accurate. Mileage on consumable components are unknown, I reckon I'll give it a comprehensive tune-up when I check the manifold gasket.

@dbbd1, I didn't replace the sensors, so I can't say what they are. That said, from a visual inspection the crank-angle seems to have been replaced at some point, as it is spotless clean, and the insulation on the trans speed sensor (both wires) was worn through due to contact with the tranny mount. I removed the plug end, used heat shrink on the wires, and rerouted the wiring to prevent further contact with the mount. I'm confident with my electrical repair, but still suspect of the sensor, and the trigger-ring. But, no codes after grounding the wire I mentioned in the original post.

Fluid was checked and topped while on level ground and in neutral. That's a negative with the governor sensor and the solenoid. What can I expect if they've failed?

 

Governor stuff will give you late/no shifts, gear skipping, and all sorts of other rudeness. I don't *think* that's your issue though, but, I am not exactly in a position to test drive it either.

Need to make sure the engine is running right, before you can troubleshoot any trans issues. Do that first, and see if the other problems don't just dry up, and blow away.

 

A quick update, that will be difficult to convey. Mucked about a bit and found A problem, but maybe not THE problem. Although the quick test drive seemed promising, I will need to wait for someone to follow me to take it on the highway for a real test, as I am leery of a catastrophic failure leaving me stranded.

In adjusting the throttle linkage it was about 2mm out of spec, so I addressed that. After disconnecting the cable end from the throttle linkage I could freely slide the threaded portion of the cable in and out of the cable sleeve, and in turn, after removing the yellow retaining clip, I could freely slide the cable sleeve back and forth within its mount.

After getting it to spec, I gave the routing a look and saw that the cable was routed beneath the wire harness, which I wasn't too fond of, and I decided to reroute. Disconnected the cable end, unclipped the cable assembly from the metal mount, rerouted the cable above the harness, and reattached the assembly to the mount. Now, when trying to adjust the cable end, the sleeve had to be held in place as it was being acted on by a spring, which I assume to be the return spring on the tranny mounted linkage. This tells me that something was causing enough binding in the cable to prevent it from moving freely prior to it being rerouted.

In my quick test drive, which included 3 full throttle runs up to 65, the van has ***** it never did before, and the idle was mirror smooth. Fingers crossed, and all that.

 

Interesting. I wouldn't think that a TV cable adjustment would have any effect whatsoever on idle though...... But, if it drives nice, it drives nice. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

A few hours after my last update I took the van on a quick test run on the highway, nice clean shifts up until 80 miles an hour, then I backed off and cruised for a spell at ~70. Had one incident of hesitation, then, when trying to accelerate quickly to 80 it would breakup around 75. I did this twice and turned around, another hesitation, again cruising around 70, but all else seemed fine.

Two days ago I tested the TPS and the MAP sensor, both passed. But I did find oil in the intake manifold, but no varnishing whatsoever, so I *think* it might be a relatively new failure, which *might* explain how things have rather rapidly gotten worse. Also found this little bugger to have failed:



After replacing the failed fuel pressure regulator reference hose, on the test drive the breaking up at 75 was gone, but still had the hesitation while cruising at 65-75. Fingers crossed that it is the intake manifold gasket and not a tranny issue, as I'm set to tow a vehicle from Orlando to Vermont in a month.

Going to research options on how to fix the gasket, any advice is appreciated.