I just purchased a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 QC 4x4 with HEMI and 5 speed automatic transmission. When I test drove the vehicle at the dealer it seemed fine. However, after I drove it home that day, I could tell something wasn't right with it. I was in a parking lot and reversed to pull out of my parking spot, then put it into drive again to go. At first it would go forward but very slowly, even under acceleration. After some time it finally jolted forward and seemed to move like it should. I kept having similar problems and took the truck in to the dealer to get a bedliner installed and a bug guard. I told them about the problem and they said that it was typical for that transmission, because it is made to not move much until the line pressure is up to prevent damage to the transmission. I was skeptical that this was true, but I went with it.

Shortly thereafter, I had my truck at home for about a week of not driving it (I have another vehicle that I split driving time with). When I got in the truck and started it, it ran fine. However, once I put it into drive, the engine started going under a load and seemed like it was close to dying out. I think that the transmission was loading the engine heavily. I have to go up a hill to get up my driveway. The truck sputtered up the hill. I stopped at the top of the hill and then my engine died. I put the transmission in park and started it again and let it run for a minute or so. Put it in drive and didn't have any problems. No MIL's. I continued to have the slight slip issue. The other day, with about 1,000 miles on the ticker, I started the truck in a parking lot and pulled to the street and stopped to let a car pass. I then accelerated to pull out and the truck didn't hardly move, but this time it was for a longer period than usual--it slipped for about 5 seconds or so. I then got to the top of a hill and had to stop again to make a right. I tried pulling out but I could only move very slowly. I was pressing on the accelerator pretty good and the engine revved probably to 2,000-3,000 rpm. At that point I knew something was really wrong so I let off on the accelerator and just inched along. Once I got on flat ground it seemed to move correctly again. This time the transmission MIL lit. It also seemed that the transmission was not shifting correctly (stuck in 2, limp-home mode), so I pulled off the road and turned it off and restarted. After that it seemed to run correctly, still had transmission MIL lit. When I got home, I checked the code that it was throwing and got a P0700, Transmission Control System Malfunction.

I then took the truck in to another dealer to have them look at it. They checked the transmission for faults and found a P0876, which is UD Pressure Switch Sense Circuit. They determined that there was indeed low line pressure, and replaced the valve body, stating that it had an internal defect. They then cleared the DTC's and road tested it. So far it seems fine to me. We will see how it holds up.

So this is basically just an FYI... If you have similar transmission problems it could be a bad valve body. If one bad valve body was produced, there will probably be more.

 

Good looking out thanks for the info.

 

that pretty much sums up the post i made the other day. I'm having the same problem! mine is a 04... seems like the 04-05 4x4's suck for some reason.

 

Thanks for the info. Very useful. Something in the valvebody probably wasn't put together right, or something was obsructing the fluid flow. I'm sure you'll be okay at this point.

 

interesting info. Thanks for the heads up.

 

What makes it more interesting is that I would think there is a possibility of having this problem without getting a MIL, which makes it difficult to convince the dealer of the problem. It is somewhat one of those intermittent things. I think the dealer I took it to actually did a line test with the pan off--probably to make sure it really was low line pressure and not a sensor going bad. I might have gotten lucky that the problem got bad enough to where it actually set an error code. Others may not be so lucky.

 

I guess I've got to take mine in...starting out in first it sounds like a drum brake dragging, but it's coming from the trans/tranfer case area. Other than the sound which you only hear at taking off for a couple of secs, it seems to run fine. Doesn't sound like the same issue as yours.

 

I had something simular happen with mine.
at around 700 miles it started shifting really hard in and out of OD.
I finally showed a check engine light so I pulled over and had it towed back to the dealer.
It was an issue it the valve body (they called it valve pack).
they replaced it and I haven't had an issue yet. 25k miles now

 

Great. I have a good chance that this has fixed my problem. A little reassurance never hurts.

 

Hey I am new to this site and this is my first time doing one of these fourms. So bare with me. I bought my first ram used from a dealer in Oregon in Feb of 2005 with 36k miles. It is an 2003 1500 2WD full size with the 5.7 Hemi. I am experiencing this same problem it has happened about 7 times and each time I have just pulled over and turned off the engine and restart it and off I go. But each time I think it may not go anywhere. I was wanting to know if the same fix will work for me.

Also I have another problem that has happen and it is with the cruise control not coming on when the button is pushed. Again I turn off the engine and restart it and this seems to clear the problem. Anyone seen this type of troulbe and if so what was done about it?

03danwin