Hi, I just joined the forum/website yesterday, deciding to do so with just recently putting my dad's 1993 Dodge W350 diesel on the road. I have looked at many many posts here before I joined and I know it's going to be a helpful and informative message board. Our truck is a 4WD 1 ton dually with a 135" wheelbase and is a factory cab/chassis model. It's a single cab with the 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission and has just over an original 93,000 miles on the truck. I just started driving it just last weekend and for this work week (so far) after being off the road for a few years. It definitely looks like the truck could use a new, better replacement Borgeson steering shaft (as the factory unit has a lot of play and steering is hard at slow speeds). The one and only (main) issue the truck has had in the short time I've started driving it is it won't shift into overdrive at all. After driving it for 5 straight days it has not wanted to shift into the overdrive 4th gear at all. It stops at 3rd gear and my top speed is only about 55 mph. My drive to work everyday is about 45 miles one way and mostly highway, so I really need that 4th gear. I've searched and read info on here about the no overdrive gear issue and looks like it could be a few things. The truck's trans shifts great in all gears, the fluid level is fine, and I've made sure the O/D off push botton switch on the bottom of the dash is always not light (or on). With just over 93,000 miles on the truck I'm sure the transmission is still tight and hopeing it's more of an electrical issue then anything else. Don't have a 1993 Dodge factory workshop manual, so it's a good reason why I joined up here on the forum to get much needed help from knowledgeable, veteran members. Glad to be a member here and looking forward to learning a lot more on what you can do with the 1st gen 89-93 trucks.

Salvy

 

Welcome aboard bro,you have come to the right place,these guys have helped me countless times and saved me a ton of cash.Enjoy the ride dude.

 

Welcome to DTR. A 1st gen with 93,000 miles? Must be very clean, please, please keep it that way! These trucks are getting harder to find in good shape, almost like the old musclecars.

Although I'm no 1st gen auto tranny expert, I'd suspect that your TPS (throttle position sensor) is needing an adjustment, check in the sticky for instructions. Also make sure that your throttle linkage is getting full travel as well, that can become a problem with these trucks.

Get yourself some gauges and hope like heck that the slippery slope of bombing isn't too steep.

 

Welcome again and I hope you have good luck with your new machine, hes right they are getting rarer

 

Ram W350-welcome,have fun...it's a long nite once you start looking though posts...but I can sleep @ work

 

welcome from florida if you got a question on a dodge someone will have the answer or know where to find it!!
have fun

 

howddyy, and welcome, well i was workin on a truck with the same type of problem, if you look from the front of ur truck on the drivers side just behind the injector pump where the 3 lines come up to a holding area, there is the throttle linkage, then beside that is the TPS and on the back of that mechanism where it is held onto the rack type thing there is a little plastic lever that can be flipped up and you can move the whole linkage in or out, if you play with that you can speed shifting up or slow it down, im not sure whitch way it was but i believe if you pull it forward toward the pump it speeds the shifting up, hopefullly that helps you some
Gregg

 

Sounds like the TPS is bad or misadjusted. Take a look in the stick for details on how to fix that.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the warm welcome and my dad and I are going to try to tackle it this weekend. I'll post more questions if I need any more help.

 

welcome aboard

 

If you slide the shift cable forward towards the grill, and mess with the TPS adjustment, it will prolong the 3 to OD shift. Mine is all the way forward as far as it would slide (3/8" from spec) and if you turn the TPS adjustment nut(10mm open end wrench) counterclockwise this combo will firm up the shifts, allow kick down, and as mentioned hold 3rd from shifting to OD later, which will give you more speed and less lag that comes in handy when passing and entering freeway on ramps. The TPS adjustment will have to be played with until you find YOUR sweet spot. Too much counter clockwise will give you no shift whatsoever and possibly keep kicking down into 3rd from OD with hardly any throttle pressure, which is not good. I would look in the sticky as everyone says, and properly set your TPS and cable to spec, then tweak it from there, and make sure you reference mark/scribe the cable at the proper setting that way it would be a quick fix to get it back to spec. I have mine shifting from 3rd to OD at around 52 MPH, which allows me to drive like it was a manual drivetrain. Kickdown only happens on a grade at WOT. good luck!

 

Hey guys, first off we've found that the double coil spring running from the injection pump shaft connecting to the kickdown cable that goes down to the transmission is broke. The outer coil of the spring got rusty and broke, thus the spring doesn't have its original tension as it should. Will that affect the way it wants to shift into overdrive? I do see how you adjust the TPS sensor and it's pretty straight forward. Had a question though, when you unplug the 3 pin connector from the TPS sensor body what is the best way to test its middle pin with a digital voltmeter? I read both links on the how-to for the TPS and I didn't quite understand how they wanted you to do it. Either way I know I'm going to have to buy a brand new spring from Dodge or Cummins before I go adjusting the TPS. Or anyone know of a suitable replacement spring to buy to replace the factory one? Thanks for any help.

Salvy