One of the technical trainers for my shop brought this to light today and I thought I'd make a thread istead of answering the countless existing ones...

For all those reporting issues with the transmission seeming to slip or hesitate to engage upon first starting the vehicle, there seems to be a solution.

RFE TRANSMISSION FILTERS-DELAYED ENGAGEMENT AND RELATED ISSUES

Symptoms:

An initial delayed shift engagement from P to R or D following an extended off time, usually being left off overnight or for more than 6 hours. The initial shift engagement may feel like a delay or slip when a transmission gear is selected after startup. In some cases this can trip a check engine light or MIL. Some codes related to this issue are as follows:

P0868 Loss of hydraulic pump prime
P0731 Gear ratio error in 1st
P0736 Gear ratio error in reverse
P0841 LR Pressure switch rationality
P0876 UD pressure switch rationality

The delayed engagement and MIL condition may be caused by a suspect transmission cooler return filter with a part number of 04799662AB. The filter in question is the external spin on filter near the pan on 45/545RFE transmissions.

To identify if your transmission is part of the confirmed series of build dates for this issue. The identification tag is located on the drivers side of the transmision above the pan. The 20 digit build number uses the Julian date system, where the first four digits of the number indicate the date. For example, if the first four digits are 1015, the first three digits "101" indicates that the numbered day of the year, in this case 101 equals April 11. The fourth digit is the year it was manufactured, in this case 5 equals 2005. So the build date of 1015 means it was built on April 11, 2005.

Determine if the transmission was built on or between one of the two sets of julian date ranges below:

Julian Date 0425(feb 11, 05) to 0455(feb 15, 05) and 1015 (April 11, 05) to 2345 ( Aug 22, 05).

If it has the above condition and falls into these dates, this is confirmed as an issue.

Any application of the filter 04799662AB may be suspect of causing the above condition.

PARTS YOU WILL NEED

1 spin on transmission cooler return filter #0479962, ONLY USE A FILTER NOT MARKED WITH AN "AB" SUFFIX.

1 sump filter #05015267AC for 2wd models, 05013457AA for 4x4 models

4-6 quarts of ATF+4.

BOTH the sump filter and the cooler return filter MUST be replaced at the SAME TIME. The issue is caused by the suspect cooler return filter causing an overpressure in the sump filter, cracking the bond at the metal crimp, allowing fluid to drain back. BOTH FILTERS MUST BE REPLACED AT THE SAME TIME.






Thats about it, relatively straightforward procedure can be done in less than an hour. Be careful not to damage the thread adapter for the spin on filter. I pulled my 06 in and replaced the filters, hopefully it will fix the issue ive been having.

 

I replaced both my filters according to the TSB and still have delayed engagement after extended off time, so for me the fix did not work.

 

I did this same thing on my 06 hemi. Replaced with parts according to tsb. Stil have same issue

 

Owner's manual says it's normal for the torque converter to drain a bit under some circumstances and cause this.

 

I spoke with the trainer today and he said this is only confirmed to fix the issue if it falls in between those date codes. Didn't make any difference on mine either.