Good Morning!

1998 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2L 2WD Automatic - 226K original miles on Transmission

Been a moment since I have posted, which is probably a good thing. Since my last thread my truck has been running perfectly. I have had almost no issues with it. Long story short, make sure the dealership really gives you a Mopar sensor.

Just ran into an issue that started Sunday. Truck started up and was idling rough - No stalling but RPM would sit around 1K and go up to about 1.2 and fluctuate. I let it sit and it didn't seem to want to calm down so I took it for a quick drive and noticed immediately that I could not shift into 2nd gear until the RPM's were at 3K. The truck sounded like it was struggling around 2.5 (as if it was saying please shift dammit) but the truck normally shifts around the 2K mark into second. Monday I drove it some more and the same thing, every time the drive shifts from 1st to 2nd the RPM's need to be very high and occasionally from 2nd to 3rd the RPM's will reach well over 3K.

Whats strange is that when it does shift its not a hard shift and does not jolt into the gear. Its smooth. I checked the transmission fluid which was a little low and I topped it off. No codes are being thrown. I went ahead and replaced the battery and the terminals and checked all my grounds. I serviced the transmission fluid about 7K ago by dropping the pan and replacing the filter. Standard material around the magnet no chunks and no metal shavings. Fluid looked good. I did not replace any sensors.I took my throttle body off and cleaned all of the sensors and the leafs.

While I was doing some research on the issue I found a thread HeyYou suggested unplugging the 8-pin transmission shift connector on the driver side and take it for a ride. So I unplugged it and started in first gear. On a straight road I got her up to about 2.2K RPM in 1st gear, moved to 2nd gear and nothing seemed to happen, the RPM's continued to go up until about 3K as if it never shifted, so I went into D (I think thats 3rd gear) and the RPM's did go down like the truck shifted and I had power to keep driving. I did not feel a shift into 3rd. So I started to slow down and went into 2nd, nothing noticeable no RPM change and finally back into first. So I plugged the connector back in, let the truck cool and drove it again and I counted the gears. I count all 4 gears when the shift sensor is plugged in, unless its skipping 2nd gear and going into 3rd gear somehow. I just wanted to get some opinions on what is going on before I start throwing money at parts.

Here is a small video of 1st gear to 2nd gear which also includes the 2nd to 3rd gear high RPM shift (does not happen all the time) mind the note my girlfriend left me...

 

Check TV cable adjustment, and that it operates freely. When is the last time the bands were adjusted?

 

Howdy HeyYou! How have you been? I will check the TV when I get home and have my GF shift through the gears while I watch. I will be honest the linkage down there scares me, looks overly complicated. I actually do not have a clue when the bands were adjusted last. I do know there is a band on the inside that can only be adjusted by dropping the pan. I have no issues dropping the pan again to adjust them if you don't think this looks a major mechanical issue.

 

I've been doin' good.

I am hoping it is just a sticky linkage, or cable..... TV cable really isn't all that bad. When you step on the throttle, the cable pulls a lever down on the trans. If it sticks, the trans thinks you are stepping on the gas harder than you really are, and raises shift points. Of course, you should also get a firmer shift if that's the case..... Check it, see what ya think. If it's ok, probably time to drop the pan, and have a look, see if anything obvious presents itself.

 

I purchased a spare transmission for my truck used - It has 160K and no torque converter. Guy tells me it was running perfect but I have no way of knowing. I found some 5.2 torque converters from Monster Transmission which looked pretty good, not sure if you have ever heard of them. I have watched how to pull the transmission a couple of times and the only area I really see that would be a tad bit difficult is the linkages. I read that if you don't adjust them properly you can kill your new transmission pretty quick. I mean 226K miles on an original 46RE is not bad I guess.

**EDIT**
So after reading some additional threads it looks like a transmission cooler is the way to go. I found 2 oil cooler lines on rock auto that looks like they fit the transmission cooler. Does this mean that I bypass the radiator completely and the transmission cooler handles everything or is there a line that still needs to go from the transmission to the radiator?

 

Whether you use the in-radiator cooler or not is up to you. If you live someplace where you experience winter..... leaving it in the loop really wouldn't be a bad idea. (helps warm the fluid quicker, supposedly..... not sure I buy that.) Don't forget to get rid of the check valve in the line running to the cooler though. They like to clog up, and smoke transmissions.

 

Hey HeyYou, sorry to post in an older thread but I figured I would pick back off where I was. So I was in the process of replacing the transmission (decided to rebuild mine) but just waiting for another check or two before I can get the rest of my parts. My truck developed another issue that I think might stem from my transmission but wanted your opinion, just looking for some pointers as to where to look because I am not 100% sure my truck refuses to send codes. I have let it act up on the side of the road to try and get it to code and I can clearly hear it misfire occasionally but not even getting pending codes. I can also smell this... dry? Exhaust smell its extremely weird to describe.

So what is the issue? Truck will be driving fine, for upwards of 30min and randomly out of the blue I will have absolutely 0 throttle response. Gas pedal to the floor and nothing. The truck doesn't stall, it does buck a little bit, I hear a faint pop or two and I have to pull off to the side of the road. I can turn the truck off wait a min and start her right back up and drive fine for another 30 min or so sometimes even longer. Video below, I am mashing the gas pedal and no fluctuation on the RPM's engine does not do anything but the engine does not shut off and truck does not stall. I'm so lost.

 

I know the smell you're talking about. Does it smell like a junkyard? lol that's not supposed to be a knock at your truck, but I used to work in a yard years ago and every now and then I can catch that smell. It almost has a funky thing going on where the interior is smoking

 

Just from your last post I would look at either clogged cat or burnt valves

 

Check your fuel pressure!