Hey guys this is my first post on here so bare with me. So I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 5.9 cummins and 48re transmission. About 2 months ago One morning my truckstarted off in third gear no first no second no overdrive so I put it in park and turned it off then turned it back on began to run normal the rest of the day. The next morning same thing except this time it didn't go away... I downed the truck immediately but drove it around the block a couple of times while trying to diagnose... On every test drive I had the same symptom of being stuck in third but on maybe two of those test drive when I put the truck into drive it bucked forward and stalled out. I then started it back up put it into drive again and again began in third gear. i read all about limp mode and a common problem of these symptoms and decided to change the governor pressure solenoid and transducer. I did that changed the filter and fluid and adjusted my bands to spec and truck began to run perfectly fine again... About six weeks later I was driving down the highway when all of a sudden it felt like my truck went into neutral so I pulled over put it into park and this time I start off in second gear and it will shift into third and overdrive but won't go into first. Yesterday I took it for another test drive and found that if I go directly from neutral to first I can catch first gear but once it up shifts it won't go back to first unless I come to a complete stop and pop it directly into first again...please help I have been racking my brain for much too long on this.

 

Interesting enough My 2003 is in the shop for something similar.
Mine too is stuck in 3rd gear. This is a rebuilt tramsission from last June. Trans guy is saying it's electrical being my shift indicator doesn't show anything except in park or neutral. If you made any progress please post as will I

 

The update on mine. Mechanic found the relay feeding the PCM stuck closed He went ahead and replaced it and the truck drove fine for over 100 miles. He was about to give me the truck back when he pulled into the shop and the truck returned to limp mode. He now thinks its either a ground or the power lead on the harness causing the issue. I'm week 5 with no truck and it really starting to bum me out.

 

this is my first time posting to a forum but after alot of research through them and so on i figured i would list the problems i was having with my 2003 dodge 2500 5.9 Cummins 47re trans, no performance aftermarket parts. this may be kind of long but i feel it may help someone down the road having similar issues. a few months back my speedometer and only the speedometer started to bounce at random, during start up and in reverse and occasionally in drive so i figured it was a loose connection and i made sure all the connectors on the trans were all the way in. nothing, still did it so over some time i just let it go and bam all at once it stopped. haha well it came back a few weeks ago like a hurricane, the gauge would bounce then the trans would jump between gears and so on. the only code that was showing up was a p0700. i took it to a couple local shops and they told me that they could not link up to the system so i was thinking i had to dump the money on a new PCM. well i checked all the grounds and cleaned everyone of them and it was still doing its thing, i was to the point of getting ready to pull the intire wire harness out and check every wire but then i finally got a code that would lead me to the problem, a P1652 (short to Ground). as i was under the vehicle checking my cab to chassis ground i noticed the ground that runs from the motor to the firewall was frayed. as i moved that out of the way i saw a group of wires that runs from the main harness to the ECM had been sawed into by the ground. BINGO!!!!!!! i made the repair to the wire and made sure there werent any other wires cut and let me tell ya, she runs perfect.

 

Mine is fixed!!
It was a break on the wire due to corrosion between the c130 wire and the PCM. Tech cut out the bad section spliced and heat shrunk and all is well. Can't thank the boys at NJDRP in Great Meadows NJ for taking the time to really dissect and correct the issue for me. Good luck to any others working on this issue.