I have a 2000 Dodge 2500 with AT. Here is what happened. I towed about 10,000 lbs over a mountain pass here in Colorado and while on the way up had to pull over several times to let the engine cool down. From the tranny perspective everything functioned ok during the pull (although it may have gotten hot - I don't have a tranny temp gage). Next day while hauling the empty trailer it did not want to shift out of 1st into 2nd. If I took it to higher RPM and let off the accelerator it would up shift to what I thought at the time was second but now after talking to a mechanic who drove it we think it’s going to 3rd. A couple of other items to note.

- If you start out in 2nd on the shifter it will go through 1st and if you let off the accelerator it does not up shift (because 3rd is not available when in 2nd on the shifter) telling me 2nd is out.
- If driving in third and you manually shift to second there is NO engine braking (until 1st grabs), possibly telling me my band broke or the servo is not working.
- When accelerating it goes through three gears plus over drive so it is missing one gear.
- There are NO CODES when the shop hooked up to it even while driving
- Yes fluid was good, tried changing it (I did forget to clean the filter though)

The mechanic tells me that that 2nd is gone completely. I read an idea to check and see if the servo is broke by using the band adjustment screw to tighten the band manually instead of the servo tighting it (just to eliminate the band possibly being the piece that is broke. I ran this idea past the mechanic and he said that all the band does is provide engine braking and it has nothing to do with engaging the actual 2nd gear to give forward motion? Is this true?

I'm not opposed to digging into things this weekend but don't really know what to look at first. I really don't want to buy a rebuild for 2000 bucks if I can replace a piece. If you have questions please ask and I will respond.

THANKS!

 

Sounds like your governor pressure sensor is gone.

Here are some part numbers.

Axiom governor pressure sensor and solenoid Part number 12415B and 12432A


By the way, you need to find a different mechanic.

 

Probably the governor Solenoid. A month ago, mine would only shift from 2nd to third if I let up on the throttle. New solenoid solved the problem.

Sometimes bad solenoid won't let 47RE tranny go into 1st when it stops! Have seen several strang combos...all solenoid related.

$100.00+/- and about a 1/2 hr job! Very easy, other than taking a ATF bath!

RJ

 

i have an 03 the 48 version. the connecting link to the band from the adjustment screw fell into the pan and I wondered why i was shifting from 1st to 3rd. The shop wanted something like 200$ to drop the VB and put it back in. Needless to say, I was tight on cash and didn't do it. I still haven't had time to put the dam little thing back in myself and really haven't had a problem with it not being there. That was 84000 miles ago. I have a "powerglide" with OD and convertor lockup ! LoL

Mileage doesn't seem to mind it either.

Just a quick comment on the subject of 2nd gear gone. Couldn't help myself.

db

 

Alright tell me if this makes any sense. Today I dropped the pan again and changed the filter this time (I forgot to do that a week ago) and also cleaned the magnet. Noticed that the filter was oem (scary). I've owned it for 30k.
Anyway - that didn't do anything and I really didn't expect it to.

So after that I went after the kickdown band. After taking off the lock nut I started turning in the screw for quite a while. It did not start to get tight until it only had about 1/8 inch exposed past the exterior of the tranny casing. When I put the lock nut back on the screw is actually below the surface of the lock nut (the lock nut being about 1/4 high). Now for the fun part (hopefully not temporarily) it now has 2nd gear. But I feel like it is too good to be true as I do not think the adjustment screw should be that low. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm guessing they didn't design the adjustment screw to get so low that the lock nut can not catch its thread which is almost where I'm at.

Any thoughts.

Nate

 

How many other threads have you put out? See your other post. By the way, buy a FSM and gain a little knowledge about how trans works.

 

My thought is to get to a trans shop and have them drop the valve body and see if you can repair the trans. If you bent the strut rod you may have also burned up the band. Both of these items could have been checked when you had the pan off....and in your case, same as cdennyb, simple trans maintenance would have prevented this.