while towing less than 9k. It was on a twisty mountain road. For those of you that know it, it was the 168 from Big Pine into Death Valley. Air temps were in the 80's to low 90's. It's one of those roads that says something about kingpin to rear axle length over 28' not recommended. The road was not that bad and I went slow. The motor AND tranny got hot. I'm pretty sure the tranny was due to it not locking up and can/will be solved by an ATS torque converter, valve body and co-pilot but:

Did I hurt it? It happened once a few years ago and the tranny ended up getting re-built. The first time, the truck was stock. This time, it was set on Tow Setting for the BullyDog programmer. I did notice on one shift, it sounded like an empty coffee can was hit? Did not sound good.

Both times the engine got close to the hot line, I pulled over and let it run. I plugged in the programmer and put the rpm's around 1300 for more cooling. I also had to clear a trouble code the first time but stopped before the tranny light came on the second time.

Was the tranny hurt before this happened? Or after?

The trailer is was below what the truck should pull and the weather was not bad. The truck is a SO Cali model and even set at Tow Setting is still far below what the HO's are.

BTW, I'm at 84,880 miles and my extended warranty is good to 85K.

Sorry I've been away from the board for a while. I'll try and get caught back up. Looks like it's time to $pend money again...

To add, ALL scheduled services have been performed by the dealer and on time. I have always opted for synthetics where ever offered. I recently had the first non-dealer oil change performed by WalMart and used Mobil 1. Oil changes have been performed at 3-5k miles and I still get them free from the dealer.

 

ZZ,a couple of things, first check the trans fluid to see if its burnt(dark and stinks) change it right away. second as far as the engine getting hot, did u have your air conditioning on? the clutch fan wont come on unless the air in on, that will keep the coolant temps way down.dont know if u hurt it (the trans) or not, ive had false readings twice, the trans light came on while pulling my stuck buddy out of the sand so i went back to camp and crawled under the truck and felt the trans pan and it was barely warm? i dont know but i hope yours is ok. late

 

Yep, AC was on. At some point I will be switching to Evan$ NPG coolant in my truck and boat. I might also add a cooling/larger capacity trans pan...

I'm also considering a new MegaCab once the LB is available and $$$ is available.

Too many options.

 

we had a similar problem with our '03 on a 4000 mile trip. turns out the fan clutch was bad and was replaced under warranty.

 

Well, according to the dealer, no harm done. Time for tranny upgrades now....


$$$$

 

I am pretty sure there was a TSB for some 03 trucks that had something to due with a check ball in one of the tranny cooler lines. They can swell and limit flow, causing over heating.

 

TSB http://www.dodgeram.info/tsb/recalls/B33.htm