48RE Not holding 2nd, Help!

[theHulk]

Similar to another poster we're also having trouble holding 2nd gear. It will hit 2nd and downshift if I give it just a little too much pedal. I have to really ease into it to hold 2nd. If I can get to the next shift point it will hold 3rd on up. Pulling my fifth wheel it's a little trickier to get to 3rd. I had the dealer in Cody, WY check it out but no codes, pressures seemed within spec. Our next stop is Hill City, SD if we can make it through the Rockies.



We're at about 64K of our 7yr/70K mile warranty. Fluid and filter we're changed at 60K and bands adjusted.



Whose good in the Hill City, SD area to have the transmission looked at?

 

[cerberusiam]

Assuming your coming in on I-90, Scott Peterson Motors in Belle Fourche SD would be your best bet. Its about 30 minutes north of Spearfish SD.



Hill City is a tourist town, no dealer. From there it would be Dodge Town in Rapid City.



It definitely sounds like you have a problem with either the band or possible the direct clutches. To get to Hill City you will need to pull some pretty good grades. There will be several trailer parks in Belle Fourche to setup camp while the truck is worked on there.



The Techs are good at Peterson, how the warranty stuff s considering the upheaval at Dodge, well, good luck.

 

[theHulk]

We made it to Hill City, SD. I'll try Dodge Town in Rapid City first thing Monday morning. Warranty should (fingers crossed) work out. A week before the trip I had the entire drive shaft replaced under warranty to fix a leaky pinion seal at the rear of the transfer case.

It was a pretty grueling trip from Cody, WY to here, 12 hours. Did fine on I-90 where I could get a flat stretch and coax it through 2nd to 3rd. The mountains were painful.

 

[theHulk]

When I took the truck to Dodge Town in Rapid City, SD they pulled the pan and discovered that contrary to what my local dealer had stated regarding service at 60K miles that the bands had NOT been adjusted. I asked if anything appeared burned or otherwise damaged and they said no. The dealer installed new fluid, filter, and adjusted the bands, specially the 2nd gear kickdown band? They said that by the grease/dirt/etc on the adjustment bolt? that my local dealer had definitely not adjusted the bands.



This got us back on the road but now I have a hunt issue from 1st to 2nd and back again when idling along at about 10 MPH through a parking lot for instance. Also, on the long ride back home pulling the f'ver it seemed like the transmission did not want to downshift into 2nd when pulling a grade and the engine was obviously beginning to lag which forced me to have to shift manually into 2nd.



I'm back home now and next step is for me to have a "conversation" with my local dealer regarding the "servicing" of the transmission at 60K. #@$%!

 

[JBallou]

You might want to mention the 1-2 shuttle shift, it might be the solinoid. Others including myself have had this issue and replaced the solinoid and that fixed the problem. Could have been 2 issues... .



Servicing in some minds is just that, change the filter and oil, not adjusting the bands.

 

[cerberusiam]

Yep, complain about shuttle shift and get them to change the gov solenoid AND transducer. You probably need to adjust the TV cable a bit to help with that also, but, try the TSB route first. You can always adjust the cable later.

 

[WoodChuck]

When I took the truck to Dodge Town in Rapid City, SD they pulled the pan and discovered that contrary to what my local dealer had stated regarding service at 60K miles that the bands had NOT been adjusted. I asked if anything appeared burned or otherwise damaged and they said no. The dealer installed new fluid, filter, and adjusted the bands, specially the 2nd gear kickdown band? They said that by the grease/dirt/etc on the adjustment bolt? that my local dealer had definitely not adjusted the bands.



This got us back on the road but now I have a hunt issue from 1st to 2nd and back again when idling along at about 10 MPH through a parking lot for instance. Also, on the long ride back home pulling the f'ver it seemed like the transmission did not want to downshift into 2nd when pulling a grade and the engine was obviously beginning to lag which forced me to have to shift manually into 2nd.



I'm back home now and next step is for me to have a "conversation" with my local dealer regarding the "servicing" of the transmission at 60K. #@$%!

This is a perfect example of why I do all my own service.



BTW, the trans service including band adjustment is called for every 30k under the severe service schedule.

 

[Bigiron]

I am back from the trans shop in Colorado and am very pleased with the service and the new product. In talking with them it sounds like the second gear problem is common when towing heavy and high miles. I can say I gained 1. 5-2 MPG coming home. It is a huge improvement over stock. I've owned my truck since 32,000 miles and now have 107,000 and can say the trans never shifted as it does now. I do most of my own service work on my truck and changed fluid and filter and set bands every 30,000 miles and when it went bad it started out slipping occasionally and within a couple hundred miles it was gone completely. Hope to have no more problems. I have a 5year/ 500,000 mile warranty now.

 

[WoodChuck]

How in the bleep did you get a 500,000 mile warranty?

 

[cerberusiam]

How in the bleep did you get a 500,000 mile warranty?

Unbridled optimism??





. . or fat fingers. :-laf

 

[theHulk]

This just keeps getting better. Took the truck to my local dealer, Larson Dodge, here in Puyallup, WA and they found that the solenoid and transducer were bad. They replaced those, refilled with fresh ATF+4. Cost to me was the 7 year/ 70K mile warranty deductible of $100. Thing that frosts me is that in response to what the dealer in Rapid City, SD, Dodge Town, had told me, they stated that to them the fluid looked to be 4 to 5 months old as well as the filter. Dodge Town had claimed that the bands were not adjusted, that they had put in fresh fluid and a fresh filter. For that I was charged $160.

I know before I took it into Dodge Town the fluid looked pale and was at the top of the "full" indicator on the dipstick. Afterwards I checked again (multiple times) and saw that the fluid was still pale but this time well above the "full" indicator. Checked warm both times in Neutral.

My question is this, whom do I believe? I'm beginning to think Dodge Town is the one that was full of !@#$. Would overfilling the transmission get the pressure up enough to get it to hold 2nd and thus mask that the solenoid and transducer were the real issue?

 

[cerberusiam]

Its pretty tough, like not even doable, to tell the age of the fluid by its color. ATF+4 tends to loose the red color pretty fast and its still perfectly fine.



Since you were having shifting issues the state of the filter could very well be due to it flushing the clutch material out that was in there from the gears not holding well. You towed home, warmed things up and got eveyrthing flushed around again.



Evidently Dodge Town did something as it shifted correctly after that, an out of adjustment band will cause your observed problems also. Could be the solenoid and transducer went bad on the way home, again due to the clutch\band material possibly being moved around.



As for overfilling, no possible way it upped any pressures or did anything other than provide a little extra fluid. You can safely run the 48RE a quart to 1. 5 quarts overfull hot with no issues.



Tough to say who is right and who is wrong. Finger pointing is the dealer's favorite way of covering up and whne you invlove 2 of them all bets are off. If its fixed now consider yourself lucky and a little wiser.

 

[theHulk]

That's what I needed to know. It was a combination of issues then. The truck had the shuttle shift issue after I picked it up from Dodge Town. As we were on vacation and the truck was working well enough I let it be until we got back home with it. In hindsight I probably should have taken it back to to Dodge Town to have the work "completed". Oh well, that's the peril in having things go TU when you're away from home.

 

[Bigiron]

About the warranty. That is what ATS has for a warranty. 5 Year, 500,000 Miles. I got the paperwork when I left the company. Simple maintenance for the warranty to stay in effect. That's why I drove there from MN. Great price if you pay cash and one day service. I would recommend them to anyone.

 

[WoodChuck]

That's a bold warranty, last time i looked it was 150k miles.

 

[Denzin]

I too am having 2nd gear problems with my 05 4x4 2500 with only 117K 0n the odometer. The truck has been well maintained and serviced. I pull a 6K TT and this should not be a problem for this truck! The transmission started slipping in 2nd while pullin a hill on a dirt road up in the mountains. The fluid now smells and is starting to change color. any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Denzin]

A quick follow-up, I have a trans guage and the temp did reach210 for a short while.

 

[cerberusiam]

A quick follow-up, I have a trans guage and the temp did reach210 for a short while.

The temmp is not the problem, slipping the band is. Change and flush out as much fluid as you can using the cooler reutrn line. Check your front band setting and see where it is. If you haven't replaced the gov pressure transducer and solenoid its probably due.

 

[HBarlow]

ATS's warranty was not that good for a friend of mine who had a full built 48RE done on an '05 several years ago. The transmission was defective and put his truck in the limp mode every time he pulled a grade with a trailer. They tried several times to make it right but failed and eventually refused to help him. He went bk and the truck was repossessed. So much for ATS warranty.

 

[Denzin]

Thanks for the quick reply. Am in the process of finding a GOOD and reputable trans shop to give the transmission a diagnostic and prelim test to see what is wrong and needs fixin'. Any other recommendations?