I have been having problems with the transmission in our family van and need help in trouble shooting. I'll start with the beginning and end with what it's doing now, so this might get a little long. Thanks in advance for those willing to read through to help.

A few months ago the van started to give us come and go issues in which occasionally when you were driving in low speed situations (35mph or less) when you let off the gas pedal, the van would stall. The first time it did it, I'd seen the voltage drop and thought it to have to do with that, so I took the van to a local shop and had the battery and alternator tested. They tested fine and then afterwards, it didn't do anything wrong again for close to a month.

It became something that would come and go untill a few weeks ago the check engine light came on. Finally, something to point us in the right direction. The code was a P0740 and to date is the only code it has thrown. With th e light on, the van began to die when letting off the gas regularly for a short time and then stopped and the light went off on its own. About a week later, it came back on and stayed on and now that I knew to suspect transmission, I began noting things, such as from about 18 mpg, the van was getting about 10 mpg. I've got a fairly sensitive feel and really had not felt slipping.

About a week ago, my wife went to get groceries and on the trip back (about 20 miles) the transmission was slipping. She got it home and when I got home from work, I got in it, put the van in D and gave a little gas and the van wouldn't move. In checking things out, when it was cold, we could put the van in 1st and it would lock in and go, then shift by hand to second and it would shift, then shift to drive and it would shift at the appropriate speeds. I was unable to get it to over 50 mph on our road to see if it would go to overdrive though. About a mile down the road is a park that I turned around and in Drive the van would not start back running. I shifted by hand to 1st and it locked in and went. When I shifted to 2nd, the engine raced (slippage) and then locked in. At the appropriate speed I shifted to D and it raced again and locked in, though with some slippage.

I talked to a rebuilder at a local Dodge dealership and he said that this was common with the transmission and that either the governer pressure sensor or the transducer was out, so I bought both and changed them. After finally getting them changed, the van does the exact same thing.

Due to my work schedule, I've been unable to talk to the rebuilder at the dealer again and today (sunday) is my only day off this week. I need to get the van back on the road since my wife and our older son has missed their first week of spring quarter at college due to the problems. I have been told many different possibilities, but really need to narrow it down since after the two parts replaced already took up about half of what I have to work with money wise. After the last bit, I checked again on the codes and the only one that has been thrown is the P0740 Torque convertor circuit.

Any help to help me narrow this down and get it running again would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

i hope the regulars dont get tired of me posting this.

 

Finally got ahold of the tranny guy at the dealership this morning. He said that the transducer and governor pressure sensor fixes about 90% of 46RE's that are throwing a P0740 code. If those don't fix it, it needs a complete rebuild. Now for the joy of figuring out if we can find a way for the two college students to get to and from school or if they'll have to drop out.