have a dakota 4x4 and only has 7,700 miles. During the summer, it would hesitate going into gear by a second or two. Thought is was just normal lag. Now that it is cold out (1 degree this morning, 15 yesterday) this started yesterday abd was really bad this morning. It would slip once I would get going. I would put it in reverse, wait 10 seconds for it to engage and then backup. The put it in drive, start rolling forward and give it gas. It would start, slip out of gear, rev and then drop back in gear. Causing a whiplash effect on me and my wife. This morning it was worse. Called the dealer and they said it "could" be low on fluid. To bring it in and they would put it on the computer. I asked if I could use the dip stick to check the lever and they said it was not that accurate. So tomorrow I will be dropping it off at the dealership and they will look at it Monday. ANyone have any ideas what could cause this?

 

if you dont garage your truck it could very well be that you dont warm it up enough, but with the new technology they say to let truck warm up no less than 30 seconds. you made need to put a heater on or near the tranny to keep the fluid warm at night.it could be that the tranny fluid is jelling up at night.

 

not sure how accurate this info is, but in talking to the service manager today, he told me that the tranny will not warm unp until the truck is actually in gear and moving. The newer modles will not warm up even if you try to warm it up in neutral. You must be driving for it to warm up. But if that is the case, can I do harm in leaving it outside and driving slowly until it does warm up?

 

i just got back from driving my truck and it is 6 degrees out. i leave mine out all the time, in the begining i tend to drive slower because of the neighbors but once i get on the main road i have no issues.it should not slip unless the frt pump is shot already. some trucks came with bad pumps from the factory.

 

Uhmm.. first off, no duh the tranny won't warm up if it's not in gear.

The gears are just sitting there, take an example...

You are standing waiting for a running race... just, standing. What happens, your legs get cold. When you start running, what happens? Your legs get warm again. Same thing happens to anything that moves.

... it has to be moving for the tranny to work.

Sorry, just thought I'd let you know that.

Yay for 1000 posts too!!!

 

if the dipstick is not an accurate way to check the fluid level then why is it there?? what a stupid thing to tell someone. Make sure the fluid is warm (drive for at least 15 miles) have the truck in either park or neutral (it says right on the dipstick what the gear selection should be) and check the fluid yourself

 

checked the fluid and it is good, going to drop off the truck today and they will hook it up monday. Hopeing it is something easy, quick and covered by warrenty. things I have done to it are remove the air filter box and put in a CAI to the resonator box, removed the back resonator for the exhaust, nothing else for the mechical, tow hooks, nerf bars, tonnau cover, LOF liighs and removed badges.

 

picked it up tonight, runs great. Better then when we first got it. Had 2 TSB's for the julian date of our truck. so both wre applied. Two filter kits had to be replaced.

 

Good to hear your problem was fixed.

Oh, and Frenchy, to an extent, the transmission fluid can be warmed up without the transmission actually being in motion. In any drive gear or neutral (I don't know about the new transmissions, but the old ones don't pump fluid in park), the pump moves fluid through the radiator, so if warm coolant is flowing through the radiator, it can heat the transmission fluid a little bit.
Of course, not a lot of people actually warm their vehicles up long enough to effectivly warm the transmission fluid, as well.