The truck: ’99 Ram 3500 24v 4x4 173,000 miles

The problem(s): Auto tranny with shifting problems. Very erratic shifting.

When cold the tranny shifts from low to 2nd without a problem, but from the 2nd up it will not shift unless I go into Neutral, back off the throttle, drop it back into gear, then it will upshift. Once the truck is “warm” the shifting up from low no longer works and I go through the Neutral, back off, drop into gear for all upshifts.

When coming to a stop the tranny will not downshift into low. It seems to downshift into 2nd and I can pull away from a stop in that gear but it has to be rough on the tranny. It will downshift if I manually shift the selector into low.

Once in the upper gears the truck runs down the highway without problems.

Previous tranny maintenance:

Approximately 5000 miles ago I changed tranny fluid, filter and adjusted the bands.
I have cleaned the grounds coming from both batteries.
Fluid level is right where it should be.
De-tuned back to stock settings.
Not showing any codes currently.

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Throttle positioning sensor? Might be shift linkages. My linkages were really stiff from my truck sitting for a long period and it wasn't going completely into drive and was causing slipping. Lubed up the linkages and no more slipping. Your symptoms sound more like TPS though.

 

Symptoms sounds like a bad governor solenoid.

I would have to hear more before knowing for certain, but that's a likely place to start.

Dave

 

The solenoid is a good possibility. The probability of needing overhaul is great also. Taking off in 2nd or direct if very hard on tranny.

 

have you changed the tranny filter and oil? When doing so, adjust the bands. I don't know if this is the problem but if you have that many miles and the bands were never adjusted, that might be a posability. I no expert on this though.

 

sorry, i didn't finish reading the whole thing. I guess you did all that.