Ok so here goes: 2001 1500, 5.2l 4x2 Auto

wont engage reverse. Acts like it wants to but it’s as if the parking brake is on, which it’s most def not. I’ve got the truck up on stands all around, and I can spin the tires but the driveshaft only goes counter clockwise in any gear other than park. I’ve been to a wrecking yard and those spin both ways. I’ve dropped the pan- no shards of metal, no visible damage.

previous to this happening, my gear indicator never worked and I never had overdrive- well, maybe once ina blue moon not not regularly. Near the end, it seemed to be burning thru tranny fluid.

what do I have? Bad torque converter? Need a new tranny?

 

Getting any codes for the trans??

 

Was it leaking out somewhere? If you have the pan off you may want to drop the valve body and get a better look. Band anchors have been known to fall out.

 

Hi guys, thx for the fast replies:

it’s showing no codes at all. Before indroooed the pan but after I got the wheels off ground, I ran it for a while, trying to diagnose. Not one code showed and even now nothing.

also, no leaks by the tranny, however, the differential has a slow dripper. Shows maybe a qtr-50c piece sized drip-footprint after a good days’ driving…. It doesn’t overheat. I think I forgot to say it had been starting to slip a bit in forward lower gears, but nothing clunky. Meaning, it didn’t seem to be searching for a gear then finally finding it with that sharp thud, it was more or a wind-up and that mostly happened when it was cold.

i hope that helps!

 

I think you have a couple different problems. You didn't find anything untoward in the pan when you dropped it? I would almost expect to find some chunks of the one-way clutch......

 

I was very surprised that there wasn’t much of anything foreign in the tranny juice. And no chunks of anything, not even on the magnet. I took off the filter, and it seemed fine too. It’s odd AF. I’m a relatively good mech, not much tranny exp though, but I know something has gotta be outta whack if it’s not working. I just don’t know what all to look for. I’m thinking about filling it back up and checking the pressures. Question though- since I have the pan off, should I adjust the rear band thingy? The locknutted thing that you do two full turns or 1 7/8 turns or whatever? Couldn’t hurt, right? And if I am not deeep enuf to see broken stuff , what do I take off further?

 

Yeah, adjusting the bands sure wouldn't hurt. I think you would have to pull the trans to get much deeper into it. If you put it in neutral, can you turn the driveshaft both directions?

 

The band adjuster near the bell housing just adjusts the front band. How much oil do you have in the transmission? What color is the oil? There is an adjuster for the rear band inside the transmission, but you would have to drop the pan to get at it. I use the older 727 transmission filter on my 46RE transmissions, as they are higher flow and cheaper. If the transmission is toast/done, the filter/pan will be covered with clutch/steel/aluminum material.

FYI- the 46RE transmissions are prone to the overdrive snap ring failure, once they break, you will loose the rear gear and over drive. Being an 2wd truck, you can easy pull the overdrive unit off, without pulling the transmission. My truck has the OD snap ring failure and is doing the similar operation.

 

no, not at all. Like I mentioned before, when I was on the ground trying to reverse, it tried, but it seemed like the parking brake was set because it did move, a bit, but then bounced back once I took the power off. And going forwards wasnt exactly free flowing either. It did, but it struggled.

as to the color of the fluid- it was fine. Most likely because it was overall fairly fresh, due to having to add more during its last few weeks of “normalcy”

 

After further inspection, that one spring that everyone breaks is broken.


shoukd I just get the rebuild kit and do it up?