Well that kinda sucked this morning.

2011 Dakota, 4.7, auto, 2WD.... Only 29k miles on it.

Was just driving down the road and felt a thud and what seemed like the trans downshifted to third. Noticed at the next light the trans never downshifted back to first. Sure enough. Check engine light and limp mode in 3rd only. Pulled over and pulled a P0750 code. Solenoid failure.

It will start back off in first when you restart the truck but immediately jolts then shifts back into 3rd and limp mode. Just dropped it off at the dealer.

To be honest it never has shifted as well as the other Dakotas I've had with the 4.7 and automatic trans combo. Maybe this issue has always been lurking and just waiting on the perfect day to surprise me. At least it did it under warranty.

 

Glad you got a warranty!

 

Thats an early failure for sure. Has it been abused? Or pulling a lot of weight?

 

Driving habits have been no different than all the other trucks. I only use it maybe once a week and those may be highway trips. Not a lot of stop and go abuse. I do tow sometimes and that is a 7x12, single axle enclosed. Load is light. Maybe 2200lbs total. And that would be mostly interstate also at about 60-65mph.

I think this was just a **** happens situation. No mechanical failure. Appears to be a faulty solenoid pack. Fluid smelled/looked OK and level was fine. I was caught off guard by the failure too. Always thought of the 4.7 and 545RFE and being a pretty solid combo. They've never left me stranded. And I guess this one actually didn't either. Still was able to drive to the dealer.

 

Was just the solenoid pack. Picked it up this afternoon. Should have been a quick fix but the holidays and not having the part in stock added a few days to the fix. Shifts better than it did before. Either a placebo, just the new fluid or the old solenoid pack was always a little flaky causing the jerky and inconsistent shifts.

Glad to have it back. Was using my brothers 2002 Tundra for a few days. That thing is junk.

 

I am guessing it was just a fluky part. These transmissions have been really good units, unlike the old 46RE and 42RE that they replaced (used with the 3.9L V6, and 5.2L/5.9L V8s). Those transmissions were complete unknowns... some could be abused and last 300k, and some could be babied and last only 50k.