Hello,


I just bought a 2002 Ram Van 3500. I was driving it around town to learn all its clanks and quirks. It was a fairly hot day. I was going up a hill and noticed some power loss and slipping. Then the Trans Temp light came on. I pulled to the side and shut it off to let it cool. I've also noticed that the area around the accelerator gets pretty hot while driving (basically giving me a hot foot!) I waited roughly 20 minutes for everything to cool down, then limped the van home.


I know I'm probably gonna have to take it in for a transmission service, but what are some of the "red flags" I should be focusing on? Thanks everyone!

 

Yeah it does sound like the tranny is shot, unless it's just low on fluid. For the hot foot, assuming the heater isn't blowing hot air down there, I suspect the engine cover is not sealing and air is coming off the exhaust right into the side of your foot.

 

Hey Alloro,


When you say "shot", how bad do you think it's shot? Is it "replace transmission" shot or "change coolant hoses, filter, fluid" shot? I gonna call a transmission shop today and I really don't want to get taken to the cleaners!


As well, does the "hot foot" problem have anything to do with the transmission problem or is that simply the engine cover not latching down properly. One latch doesn't stay secure (the one right by the accelerator) and the next 2 are missing.

Hey, thanks for the responses, Alloro!

 

By shot I mean rebuild time. Once the clutch plates start slipping like that they become boat anchors. The hot foot is just the latch and nothing to do with the tranny issue.

 

That at least gives me an idea for what to watch out for when I take it in to the shop. Thanks Alloro!

 

So I took it to a Transmission pro shop. They ran an OBD on it ($130.) It popped a P1762 and P0455. They wanted to replace the governor transducer, pressure solenoid, and gas cap -- and charge me $910 (money I simply did not have!) I asked them if there was anything else wrong with it, like the torque converter or plates. They said no. That was good information.


I could be wrong, but I think the P0455 was because of some compression problem, which is why they wanted to replace the gas cap (at $35!) I went to O'Reilly's and bought one (with a lock) for $20.


I then took the van to one of my backyard mechanic friends (which is what I should've done in the first place.) He serviced the trans (changed filter, gasket, fluid, checked the solenoids) for $200. We then ran the van around the block while he had it on the OBD and it ran like a champ!


I'll still be monitoring its performance, but I really don't think it will give me anymore problems.

 

What's their hourly rate? 400$??? I mean, how long does it take? 10-20 minutes max, right? This is insane... you could get your own OBD reader for that ...

 

Most any place charges at least $100 just to connect the reader to the vehicle.

 

I knew the reader was gong to automatically cost me about $100. But like any other pro shop, they just wanted to rebuild the whole thing and charge me (an arm and a leg) for it.

When I told the guy $900 was a little out of my range, he basically pulled the "Used Car Salesman" ploy -- he told me he'd go back to re-crunch the numbers to see if he could get it a little lower. He came back, said he'd forgo the gas cap and would just do a basic service (change filter and fluid) for $750, but hinted that this might not fix the problem. I told him I'd have to see if I could get some money together and would reschedule an appointment the following week.

That's when I called my mechanic friend. I should've just went to him in the first place. He charged me $200 and did the job in a little more than an hour (the pro shop had me waiting for 4 hours!) And the van's been running fine since.

Oh well, live and learn.

 

The transmission's best friend is an additional cooler mounted on the radiator, in addition to the one inside the radiator.

AFT+4 only, none of this universal fluid crap with an additive which supposedly turns universal fluid into a Synthetic.

I have a magnefine filter on one of the hoses to the cooler, but it weeps fluid extremely slowly. I'll be replacing it with a Derale remote mounted filter.