My wife wanted a truck and I knew this guy who had one for sale, So I got it for her. It is a 1990 Ram350 reg. cab long bed.

She was driving the other day and said that the trany was slipping. I took it for a drive and sure enogh OD was sliping. You would let off the gas and it would hook up in a lower gear, shift into OD and slip out again. I told her to drive with the OD off to get back home. When we got home she said that it was slipping in all but first. I took it out and sure enough it was. My wife is not a car person but she knows when a trany is sliping.

Here is were the problems start. I climbed under to see what trany it was and the ID plate is missing. Can any one help me. It is an factory OD auto attatched to a 360 gas TBI. I don't know these trucks as it is the first dodge I have ever owned. I got the Chilton manual in hopes that it would help but the section on tranys is a paragraph- worthless. What trany could I have and how do I tell.

Second what is wrong. Someone told me that it is the torque converter but I thought that they never went bad. Some one else told me that it is probably the filter being cloged.

Help Please.
Thanks
Z

 

a 1990? Sounds like your looking at a rebuild...

 

yea, being that old..but then again...

It could be the convertor- does it have the proper amount of transmission fluid of the right type? Thats what i'd bet on. Couldn't find the model number of the transmission from back then (I'll research around some more for you).

 

How many miles on the truck? It should be an early 518, basically an early 46RH. Torque converter problems are common in them. If it's slipping that bad though, it's probably clutch packs or bands that have gone out. If one clutch pack went, that will cause enough extra heat to burn up the rest on the way back home. If this is the case, it needs a rebuild or a replacement.

One of my machinists went thru this last year with a similar year truck. I have to talk to him in a little while anyway, I'll ask him what model his was. I know there's some major issues with those trannys.

If you want to fix it for good, I can step you thru converting it to a 5-speed.

 

Whoops, wrong button... I need coffee...

 

You might try one thing before you run it into a tranny shop---they are very expensive. I had the same thing happen on my dakota w/318 auto. Change the tranny fluid and filter. Once I did that to mine, it ran great, and I haven't replaced it yet 205k miles so far.
I had a friend that mechaniced for a chrysler dealer years ago, told me to change the fluid and filter every year and no problems...
He was right!!! The trick is, the first time you remove the pan, get a 1/2 or 3/8" black pipe coupling, cut it in half, drill a hole in the bottom of the pan and have someone ( or you) weld or braze the coupling in and you now have a drain for the future, and its much easier the next time. Hope this helps