Hi all,

First off its an 01 and I have no modifications to the truck and run a 3:55 gear. It’s a 2x quad cab short box.

My trans started acting funny about 2 weeks ago. I drive ~ 70 miles a day with it. The converter is shifting in and out under very light acceleration at 45-50mph. If I give it a little more throttle it stays engaged. It is very noticeable due to the fact I have a stretch of about 3 miles going to my house with 45mph speed limit. It kicks in and out A LOT along that road.

I drove in to work yesterday ~30 miles and parked it. When I left for lunch, I backed out of the driveway and went to drive off, but it tried to start out in 2nd gear. I kicked it in the butt a little and it down shifted, and worked fine the rest of the day. The lockup was still acting up though.

I doubled checked the throttle cable adjustment and its good. It is time for another fluid and filter change, so I will have the pan off sometime in the next couple of days.

I run unloaded 99% of the time, and since someone stole my car hauler, I have not pulled anything with it in a few months.

Here are my questions:

First, since the truck has 82k on it right now, is it still in warranty?

Will it void my warranty if I install a shift kit while I am in it to change fluid and filter?

Will it void my warranty if I adjust the bands and up the line pressure while I am in it?

What fluid and filter should I use this time?

I have built many automatics over the years (UTI grad in 1997) but I have never been into one of these. I am quite capable of building it myself if I need to, but if this is something that can be covered under warranty, I would rather have the dealer do it.

-Dave

 

2001 should be 3/36 with the cummins [motor only] warranty. have a dealer run your vin to be sure ther is no extended warranty or service contract.

get the codes pulled on the transmission. with it starting out in second it sounds like a governor problem. i have heard of failed governor solinoids. its a easy fix pull the pan and valve body. good time to firm up the shifts and service it. try these guys for advice and parts.

www.dieseltrans.com/

 

For what it's worth...I would recommend trying the following:

1. If your fluid is ready for a change, get it changed first.

2. I would next try resetting the APPS:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...n&onlynewfaq=1

3. If problem still persists...you may have a bad Throttle Position Sensor or as nitrousn states a bad governor solenoid ( in either case...checking for codes would help ).

4. For the record...I have been through all of the above at some time or another and my most recent shifting fix ( for soft shifts ) was getting an Aftermarket Valve Body...which made a tremendous improvement in shifting.

 

Well I picked up my filter, and a drain plug kit. But the parts droids couldn't decide which fluid I needed so I passed until I could hear from the board.

What is the fluid of choice for an 01.

-Dave

 

atf mopar plus4

 

Dave,

On the type of fluid, pay the extra $ for the ATF +4 as that is what it takes. You should only be able to get it from the dealer.

I'm not sure if it affects your year/model truck; but my truck did the exact thing. I called Joel at ATS Diesel and he showed me the proper fix for this problem. What you MAY have is a "Searching" problem.

Simply put: There is noise interference getting into a wire going from your PCM, through a plug/connector, then through your ECM, and then onto your APPS. It sounds pretty complicated, but I did the job in about 2 hours using the wiring diagram that Joel hooked me up with. I could do it in 1/2 hour now that I know what I am doing. You have to cut the existing wire, run a new wire from PCM to the APPS directly, then run a ground from the APPS directly to the battery. I had the same problem and it got worse until I did the rewire. Now my transmission shifts like new. No problems since then. I'm TDY (Temporary Duty) now in Albuquerque, NM and no problems the entire 1400 miles down here from Oregon. I just did the fix a month ago.

If you need any information on this, feel free to PM me for details...

I hope somebody can "chime in" and let me know if it is possible that you are suffering from the same problem as I describe.

Just so you know, the dealer doesn't even know about this fix. If you were to take the truck to them now and this is truly the problem, I'm 90% sure that you'd get a new APPS and the truck will still "search".

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

Sure sounds like the classic solenoid problem. I just turned 90K and my transducer went out. I went ahead and and replaced that and the governor solenoid also.

Roman

 

I had the same problem. Governor soilenoid was the problem. You need a scanner and a wet gaug to tell you if transducer or governor solenoind is bad.

dan

 

Thanks guys,

I have never reset my APPS so that is probably where I will start. The no downshift problem went away. Well at least for now. I put about 150 miles on the truck yesterday, and the only problem was it "searching" for lockup between 45 and 50 mph. anything below or above was ok.

I would love to pick up a shift kit for it here in town, but I dont know of any performance shops that would have it in stock in the Houston area.

Would the super chips programmer / scanner be able to give me the transmission codes? I was thinking about buying one of those.

-Dave

 

Dave, do the on/off trick and pull the codes that way. Let us know what it says .

Roman

 

Will do guys,

But it will be another day or two. I am trying to paint my 69 GTS sometime Sunday afternoon. I am almost ready to paint, and need to finish it this weekend.

Dave

 

http://www.atsdiesel.com/PDF/APPS%20...20Fix%20A1.PDF

This is the site for the APPS rewire for your "Searching" Problem.

Again, as Joel (ATS Diesel) stated: The Mech's at Dodge won't even know about this... IF you take your truck into the dealer, most likely they will replace your APPS! It will still search a while after that.

Hope this helps, it worked for me.

Pete

 

P.S.

Is there a drain plug kit for my pan? If so, where?

Pete

 

Pete,

I just went to one of the local O'reily (sp) and picked up one of the universal B&M drain plug kits. LOoks kinda out of place, but they do the job.

I will check out the fix McGyver suggested as well.

By the way I just finished water sanding the GTS. Looks like I wont be able to paint it today. I found two dings I missed, and need to fix. Oh well.

-Dave