Hey guys,

I've got a 2001 Dakota 4.7L V8 4X4 Quad Cab with an automatic transmission and 70k miles. Up til now everything's been running fine. Yesterday I drove it all day with no problems. Last night I drove it maybe 3 miles up the street to grab a burger, and when I cranked it up to leave I noticed the Malfunction Indicator Light (as its called in the manual) stayed on. I put it into Reverse and noticed that the gear indicator on the display (that shows what gear you are in) wasn't showing up. Normally its a little box around the P or R or D, but now there was no box. The P,R,N,D,2,1 was showing up fine, just not the box.

I cautiously put it in Reverse and backed out of the parking spot I was in, and dropped it down 2 clicks into Drive and gave it gas. The engine revved and I moved forward slowly, but it was like the truck didn't want to move. I double and triple checked to make sure the parking brake was off, so that's not it. It gradually built up speed and seemed to eventually catch up, but I parked it again in another part of the lot and shut the engine off, hoping that maybe it was just a computer glitch and letting it sit for a few minutes would reset the chip.

But when I restarted it, it was doing the same thing. I put it back in gear and pulled to the exit of the lot (onto what is normally a fairly busy stretch of street) Luckily traffic wasn't that bad and it let me experiment. I pushed the gas down to pull out (enough that it normally would have taken off quite quickly), but it just eased out and slowly built up speed. I also noticed as I came up to about 35mph that I didn't hear it change gears. It felt and sounded like it was in the same gear the whole time. I immediately thought that maybe it was stuck in a high gear (I had that happen in an old Cavalier once), but I quickly realized that the engine hadn't bogged down the way my Cavalier had when I tried to take off.

I came to a stoplight and, trying to still figure out what was going on, I dropped the shifter into L1. When it went green I gave it gas and it seemed to take off normally, when the RPMs hit the shifting point, I bumped it up to L2, but didn't notice any difference, so I bumped it up to Drive and it finally up-shifted and seemed to run normally. I left it in Drive as I turned into my neighborhood and when I gave it gas, it was still lagging, and I could never hear it change gears.

When I got home I let it set a few minutes and popped the hood. Its overdue for service, so I wanted to check the fluid levels to see if maybe the oil or transmission fluid levels were at critical. Oil was fine (maybe a tad low, but not bad) and from what I can tell, the transmission fluid levels were good (although the fluid was quite transparent and it was hard to see exactly how far up the dipstick the fluid was).

I let it sit for about an hour and went back out to see if at least the dashboard display had gone back to normal (the MIL and the gear selector), but they hadn't. I'm probably going to take it to a mechanic today, but being in a new town, I don't know or trust anyone here in the area, so I wanted to see if anyone here might have an idea of what's going on.

Thanks in advance,

-BB

 

get codes
1 try reseting the comp by taking off the negitive terminal drive if it comes back on go to step 2

2 unplug your rear O2 sensor tape your conectors reset comp if it doesnt come back change the O2 sensor


If you have questions I have yahoo IM or email kota981@yahoo.com
Rick

 

Ok, I did some checking and figured out the diagnostic codes that were causing the light to come on. 1698 and 0700. I found a website that explains the codes for 2001(http://www.ptcruizer.com/computer-codes.html). Granted, that is for the PT Cruiser, but I think all Chryslers use the same codes (from what I was able to find out, anyway).

Anyway, here is what it says for each code...

1698 - No messages received from the electronic transmission control module or the Aisin transmission controller.

700 - The automatic transmission computer or Aisin computer has a problem - ask it what's going on. I don't know. All I know is that the transmission asked me to turn on the MIL (malfunction indicator light). I did it, didn't I? So why are you bugging ME? ... you may have error code 1776, too. I'd check for that. It's patriotic and more informative.

It looks like my problem has something to do with the transmission controller, or the lack of communication coming from it. I have since taken my truck to a local dealer to be checked out. They called me back and said the TCM had failed and would have to be replaced. The price they quoted me on the phone was somewhere around $750 (to be honest I was too busy clutching my chest from shock when I heard the "seven hundred" part of the price to catch what came afterward....could be "fifty", could be "thirty"....but you get the idea)

I've spent the morning searching the web to see if I can find a transmission controller online to see if the dealership is shafting me or not. Unfortunately, I can't find anything giving me a price for a replacement. All I can find are places talking about reprogramming the controller. At this point its probably too late to stop them since they already ordered the part. I'm just curious as to whether or not this is a fair price for the part (I'm assuming its including labor...at least it better). If anyone can help out with this, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

- BB