I finally got one! Today i bought a 96' Dodge Diesel 2500HD, i've been looking for quite awhile for one. I had an 89' Chevy 2500 and was very excited to get the all mighty Dodge diesel! I found this truck on ebay with its description stating that the tranny works great except it will not shift into OD. Knowing nothing really about diesels and figured that my chevy didn't have OD, so i figured i could live w/o the OD working. i figured that the rpm's would be running a little higher than i'd like but i'd be okay. When i test drove the truck i never made it over 50mph, i was very suprised at how under horsepowered the truck was. My chevy that i thought was slow with its 350 would toast this truck. i know the Dodge will be able to out tow the chevy no problem but after reading so many articles about the dodge diesel i thought i was going to be thrusted into the back of my seat when i dropped the pedal, sadly i yawned.
Anyways, after i left the dealership i was driving up a decent incline at 50 or so and had the truck floored, it wasn't going any faster "are you flippin kidden me?" then when i got onto the highway i was on level road and still had trouble making it over 60mph and the rpm's were getting very close to the red. great i thought, i can't even go faster than the speed limit. Then i started to descend down a small hill on the highway and the truck shifted into OD and took off! i then proceeded to coast at 75-80 with little effort...
then i slowed down for slower traffic and it all happened again, i tried pumping the gas to ease off on the tranny in hoping it would shift but it wasn't until i had another descending hill did it shift into od. I thought maybe the fluids low??? then i aproached a toll booth and sat there for a minute or two and as traffic moved ahead i stepped on the gas (can i still say that anymore?) and the engine reved up and the truck didn't go anywhere for a second then it launched forward. so now i'm definatley thinking that the fluids low. after getting home i let the truck sit for an hour or two and check the fluid and it's a little higher than the max line. now what do i do? should i be worried? i was planning on making this truck a beast with my goals being in the 500hp neighborhood but before i do anything to the engine i need to fix this tranny. i was planning on getting a new converter and a racing/towing valve body before i do all my engine mods but i can't really afford to do that yet. what can i do now on a limited budget? thank you

 

First of all you should check the tranny fluid level with the truck warmed up running in N, it will probably read ok.
Might want to do a search here for TPS, there are several free fixes you could try that might take care of your problem although it sounds like it may need a bit more. TPS is good place to start though.

 

Welcome to DTR and congrats on your purchase.

No, to be P/C it is an accelerator since they don't run on gas and diesels don't have throttles.

Is the fluid foamed up at all when you checked it? A little high is OK but but more than a little is very bad. Truly it wouldn't be a horrible idea to just change the fluid since you don't know the last time it was changed anyway.

If you're lucky the TPS may just be way out of adjustment but no guarantees there.
http://dodgeram.org/tech/transmissio...TPS_adjust.htm

 

First of all drop the pan and replace filter and adjust bands. Next check temp sensor, sensor is located in the two lines that are clipped together running across in front of tranny. I have also seen quite a few 96's with bad OD switches, intermittent. Also check your gear ratio depending on original owner you could have lower gears, just because you have an auto doesnt mean you have 3.54's.
Good Luck

 

I have found that the truck has absolutely crap for power on the highway at 50-65mph. i have to floor the "accelerator" just to maintain 60! BUT... as soon as it hits 66mph it shifts into OD and the truck starts hauling! I can here the turbo kick in and whine. then the truck runs fine, i can cruise at 80mph with no problems. when i'm flooring it the rpm's are around 2800, as soon as it goes into od it runs under 2500 up to 2700 but with much more power. for some reason before i hit 66mph the turbo isn't doing anything. IT"S LIKE I'M DRIVING A DELORIAN, IN BACK YO THE FUTURE! i had to drive in quite a bit of traffic today and after i struggled to get up to 66 which takes awhile and typically a declining hill, as soon as i have to slow down to 65 the od turns off abruptly and the engine revs high almsot like driving a standard and downshifting. also when i was leaving a parking lot today the tranny was hesitating quite a bit. and when i floored it out of the toll booth i noticed as the speedometer went higher and higher my rpm's stayed the same for at least 20-40mph or so. is that normal? i am going to take apart me tps now, i hope it's very very dirty! thanks for the help.

 

another symptom is that my cruise control doesn't work either.

 

Most cruise problems are caused by battery corrosion eating up the either the vacuum line, electrical or the servo located under the driver's side battery.

 

As for lack of power it is due to the truck defueling from 2400rpms up, with the stock governer it really lacks power there. Eventually it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a 3k gsk but since that doesn't solve the shifting problem....

About the cruise, there is a common failure that the battery acid drips on the vacuum hose which stops the cruise from working. Take a look into that. ( Bill, 3 minutes... )

 

I had a problum a little like yours , OD and cruse , mine a 94 , there is a switch that does 3 diffrent things turns on brake lites,turns off cruse and unlocks T.C.-O.D. I did a little dash Divin to look at the switch , saw that it wasnt ajustable like almost every other combination switch I have seen so I hot glued 2 small washers on the switch to give it a little more through becouse it was just at the point that if you breathed on the pedle or ran over a bumb inthe road the cruse would shut off and or turn off the O.D. in addtion to that maybe ajust the cable to trans. to change shift points if that doesnnt help find a good tranny shop to do some testing, good luck.

 

Well I am having the same prob to a degree. Saw Chip Fisher at Bluechipdieseltuning.. We put the datalogger on and tried to find the prob.. after 6 runs we came up with either the Software is corrupted or there is a sticking 4th gear valve/solenoid that is intermittent. Running in 3rd is a real pain but we have 2 VW TDI's that take up the slack. You are not too far away as I am in Hampstead..

 

i checked my TPS today, in idle position the voltage read only .55 at wot it read 5.14 it seemed to move up in voltage smoothly as i turned it. i drilled the holes out to 5/16 which only adjusted the voltage to .72or so and then files quite a bit to get it to .95volts. it didn't seem to make much of a difference in the tranny though. Does anyone know why it won't shift into OD unless i get to 66mph in 3rd gear which is very hard to do because i have to get the rpms to 2800. what does this mean? I'm going to get a new TC and valve body next and if it's not to difficult i will replace any thing else in the tranny while i'm at it. someone mentioned a 4 gear solenoid, is that in the valve body? thank you