I have a 1999 Ram 2500 V10 with about 400K miles. I was driving on the interstate at about 70mph, and the tranny seemed to just quit delivering power to the driveshaft.

After hearing my description over the phone, my local transmission shop quoted me their price for a rebuild (1850.00).

My question is - how does he know that the transmission needs to be rebuilt? Are there not other things that might cause the same symptoms?

400k is a lot of miles, but the tranny has never slipped, and this happened kind of "out of the blue". Also since I got the truck at 250k, I guess I always figured that the transmission had been out of the truck before.

Is there a way I can check to see if there might be something fixable? Or can someone explain how a massive failure like this might happen?

 

Could be any of a number of things... but, a quick and easy test is to unplug the 8 pin connector on the trans, ('about halfway back, drivers side, plugs straight down into the top of the valve body area.) and see if it will move. There won't be any automatic function, so, you will have to shift it manually. If it goes into the gear you tell it to, when you tell it to, its just an electronic problem. If it still exhibits undesirable behavior, it is indeed time for a rebuild.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try.

 

You can also take pressure readings that may help with a diagnosis. A bad pump is a lot cheaper to replace than a whole rebuild.
http://www.atraonline.com/manuals/se...0/2000_154.pdf