I am hoping to get the advice needed to get my 2001 Black Ram 1500 back on the road soonwith the least amount of money and additional wrenching required.


Problem: The46RE transmission doesn’t engage at all. No forward or reverse. No limping,clunking into gear, zip.


History:


Stage 1: Uponpulling up to my mailbox on the street, I stepped on the brake & may or maynot have put it in park. When I went to pull away I had no drive engagement inany gear. It would engage in reverse and if I would then quickly shift to driveit would crawl / limp a bit forward. I managed to get it in the driveway thisway. After checking the fluid, dropping the pan, changing out the GovernorPressure Sensor, Solenoid, & Filter, there was no change. Reverse was then gettingmuch weaker every time I attempted the reverse/drive shift to re-position itaround my driveway.


Stage 2:Suspecting the transfer case may be at fault, I swapped it out with the onefrom my winter / parts truck which is also a 2001 Red Ram 1500 w/a the same 318and 46RE combo. I bought the rust bucket solely because it had a fresh trannyand got it for less than it cost the guy to replace it. Since then I have probablyonly put 12,000 miles on it. Unfortunately, the transfer case swap wasn’t anyhelp.


Stage 3: Ithen pulled both transmissions and installed the one out of Red truck into myBlack one. I paired it with the transfer case originally paired with it out ofthe Red truck. I also paired it with the lines out of the Red truck to thecooler. After fixing some leaks, I was in business and everything seemed to beworking fine. My excitement was short lived however as when I jumped in todrive it to work the next day, I started backing up, thought I heard a strangenoise ( a clunk, whine, I can’t be sure over the radio), now there was onceagain no engagement in any of the gears. I quickly checked the linkages, vacuumlines, and connections with couldn’t find the issue.


Stage 4: Whilescratching my head, over the past week, I put the new Pressure sensor, Solenoid,& filter I installed in the original failed tranny & put it in thereplacement tranny, emptied, cleaned, & replaced the pan, put an additionalmagnet in the pan to hopefully trap any trace evidence on what could be wrong,applied a light (10-20 psi) flow of air pressure to the cooler lines &ports, checked for ATF flow at the same ports while attempting to engage thetranny in any of the gears, and found there to be zero ATF flow through them.

Some points that may or may not be relevant but I suspect are follows;

• With the engine running, column shifterin the drive position, if I move the 4X4 lever on the floor towards the 4X4 LOposition, I can feel & hear the meshing of TC gears. If I move the column shifterto park and engage the floor lever into any of the 4 Low / 4 Hi / 2 Hi positions however, there is no movement.
• When I first installed thereplacement tranny, the was a rhythmic clunk, clunk, clunk emitting from thebell housing of the tranny which diminished greatly at first & then all togetherafter shutting it down, adding additional ATF, and letting it sit and run for abit. (I suspect the torque convertor was not full).
• Getting the tranny lined up and bolted backtogether by my 50+ year old self was a bit of a feat, I believe I got everything in line but maybe not.
• I lost the rubber boot that surrounds thespeed sensor and installed it minus it planning to buy one once I can.
• I tried to use he separate oil coolerthat was on the Red truck but one of the lines cracked on removal. Thus I plumbed it to the cooler that’s inside the rad on the Black truck. Containments logged in it could have polluted the ATF in the replaced tranny once it was hooked up to it.
• Fearing contamination, when I dropped the pan on the replaced tranny, there was more crap hugging the magnet in the pan then I would have expected. Thus, I applied the light air pressure to the cooler and ports as well as added a second magnet and filtered all the re-claimed fresh ATF though double stacked coffee filters. Of the 8 stations onthe drip tray I built, only one had a small amount of dark grains in the filter/s. Clutch plate residual?
• I believe the ATF level in thereplaced tranny may have been a bit too high. What kind of damage or failure symptom can this cause?

Thanks, to anyone who can offer any helpful advice. I admit my hopes are high as this forum has saved me more than once.
MUCH APPRECIATED!!

 

Did you change out the torque converter as well when you changed transmissions?

If you leave the 8 pin connector disconnected from the trans, will the truck actually move? (in either direction) Bear in mind, the trans will have ZERO automatic function. It will go into the gear you tell it to, and stay there, till you tell it something different.

 

I disconnected the 8 pin connector but there was no difference / movement.


I did not change out the torque convertor as the tranny out of the Red truck was functioning fine and I didn't fear contamination and tried to keep everything matched up that was original to the Red truck's drivetrain. Tranny, cooler lines, & torque convertor. Unfortunately I wasn't able to use the oil cooler out of it as one of the lines had a crack.


While unplugging te connector, I pulled the other 2 as well and cleaned all the connections with contact cleaner. I also checked the ATF level again and it is still showing to be at the MAX Hot level.


I did find there is a TICK, TICK, TICK sound emanating from the bell housing area. Perhaps the speed sensor isn't positioned correctly or something isn't lined up perfectly. It's not very load / noticeable but I am looking to take off the shield and investigating further.


Side note, I checked for oil flow in the upper cooler line and still found there was none. Perhaps the pump has failed or isn't primed. I don't know enough about trannies to speculate.


Any insights are appreciated.


PS. The only error code I am showing is an EVAP leak code - any connection? I doubt it as I have been trying to locate the leak for quite some time while the truck was still running fine.

 

The sensor on the back of the bellhousing is the crank sensor. It helps the PCM run the engine. If it was damaged, or out of place, you would have engine issues, not trans. Still, would be good to find out what the ticking is....

The fact that the trans doesn't behave any different when it is unplugged is not a good sign........ Unfortunately, it indicates an internal failure......

You won't get any flow thru the cooler in park. Have to be in gear, or in neutral for that to happen.

 

The tranny was in gear w/ no oil flow.

It just seems strange the two trannys exhibited the same condition. The second within just a day and w/a clunk while backing up in the driveway.

What internal issue are you suspecting?

 

Sounds a lot like a failed pump..... did it go together nice? Any problems with the torque converter?

Just out of idle curiosity, do you still have the check valve in the cooler lines for the trans?

 

As subject line states, I didn't know about suggested removal of the check valve when I installed the replacement tranny.
I have been following the step by step video on YouTube and now have the original tranny completely torn down. The reverse drum ID is damaged beyond belief. The pump doesn't appear to be at fault or has any damage. The intermediate shaft housing ID however does and will need to be replaced. I have to go thru the diagnostic portion of the videos now and I am confident I will get the true root cause of the failure.
I am planning to remove and teardown the second tranny I had that crapped out after a day and while I expect to find a similar problem, I'm hoping to savage the parts I need to end up with a functioning tranny. I plan to purchase a new tranny cooler, new lines, and torque converter as well.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

Bought a rebuild kit yet? There are some nice ones on EBay for a good price.