48RE recall?

[JSchutz]

Ran into this on MS-NBC, (sorry if it's old news).



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9623452/



Pertinent paragraphs:



Chrysler also said it was voluntarily recalling about 283,000 Dodge Ram pickups from the 2003-2005 model years equipped with diesel engines and automatic transmissions to correct possible inadvertent movement of the vehicles.



Although no vehicle defect has been identified, Chrysler has found that some drivers are not fully placing the shift lever in the “park” position. If the driver leaves a running vehicle without placing the shifter fully in “park,” the vehicle may roll away or, after a delay, move rearward.



Dealers will install, at no cost to owners, an alarm that will sound if the driver tries to exit the running vehicle with the shifter not fully placed in the “park” position. In the interim, owners are urged to always remove the key from the ignition and engage the parking brake when exiting the vehicle.



Happened to me just yesterday. Pulled over to talk on the cell and noticed "click, click click... ". Sure enough, I was rolling backward. Jeff

 

[FATCAT]

And did you put the shifter fully in Park? I'm sure you did, just like milions of other people ... . I love how DC trys to put the blame on the "Driver" and not on the transmission.

 

[Walker]

Test drove an 06 a few weeks ago. Put it into "D" (not N cause I looked) and the truck just sat there and reved. Put it back into P and then dropped it down again and it finally worked. I even mentioned it to the salesman sitting there with me. The first thing I thought of is was what I'd heard about the Park position problems. Didn't think it had anything to do with Drive position though. Sounds like serious selector spacing issues. Hope it's working on my ordered 06 better than just putting a stinkin' alarm on it.

 

[Buffalo]

Walker,



I don't know if this is the answer to what you experienced but, I have a couple of Dodge products with auto's and when parked (like overnight) the torque converter will drain, at least, some of its transmission fluid. When you start the truck up, put it in gear and step on the accelerator, it just revs-up and doesn't go anywhere, for a couple of seconds. During this time, the TC fills up and then the truck will move.



Everything i've heard suggests this is normal. I even had an ATS transmission with TripleLok TC installed in my '91. 5 W-250, and it does the same thing.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[mberry]

Buffalo,



DC implememted a check valve to prevent TC drainback in '03 I think. There was a recall or something like that because they were sticking and preventing proper fluid flow. I don't think they took that away.



On the other hand, it may have sat long enough with a leaking valve to let the TC drain.

 

[juicedcummins]

Had mine in 2 days ago for this and all they did was adjust the cable. Chrysler Canada has been and still is saying to me that this problem does not exist for over 6 weeks. They found mine out of spec and still refuse to pay for my rear bumper!

 

[Matt400]

I think if you notice. . you can move the lever just till the "P" lights up on the dash and that is not park. You have to move the lever far enough so that it falls away from your hand, toward the dash where it then locks the lever in park.

 

[bigflatdaddy]

Gee. Maybe they can install some chimes, or a nice cow bell on this piece of crap - when you put it in drive and it really isn't.....

 

[SThorud]

It's probably not much of a different setup than the vehicles in the 80's which used a small steel cable attached to an orange indicator and teathered down to a housing around the steering column. When you moved the lever up and down, the housing rotated, thus pulling tension on the cable or vice versa. If that teather point came loose or wasn't locked in at the right position, the indicator wouldn't line up with the gear letter in the dash.



I'd be willing to bet the mechanics of the lever are fine and it does have positive lock points for each position, its just the indicator calibration is off. So instead of recalibrating the position sensor or whatever they're using to illuminate the dash light, they're just taking a signal from the transmission to tell you if you're in park or not.



If I had an automatic, I'd just tear into the dash and reengineer it.

 

[ThomasLawrence]

It's probably not much of a different setup than the vehicles in the 80's which used a small steel cable attached to an orange indicator and teathered down to a housing around the steering column.

The 48RE uses a Transmission Range Sensor (TRS) to sense the position of the manual (shift) lever on the valve body of the transmission. The manual lever moves a plunger on the TRS, which communicates the position to the instrument cluster, which lights up the indicated gear. The actual operation of the manual lever is cable-operated by the gear selector on the steering column.



This is a picture of a 48RE valve body. The manual lever (thing that looks like a rooster's crown) is currently in the Park position. The beige plastic piece on the bottom of the lever is what rides against the plunger of the TRS, pushing it in as you go through the gears.



This is a picture of the TRS (black square-looking thing with the 5-pin electrical connector). The plunger extends inside the case, towards the manual/throttle valve assembly. As far as I know, there's no adjustment for the positioning of the TRS.



-Tom

 

[Cattletrkr]

Dad's '03 has a problem with the lever. It sounds like all of them have the same problem. the problem is that the lever needs to go forward to be fully in park. When shifting dad's into park, I just go up until it stops... not good enough, ya gotta push it forward. It's a lousy design that most people aren't accustomed to. Technically it is "driver error", but the real problem is the design.



Mine does not have this problem.

 

[TRLRTRSH]

Another Alarm

Yep, isn’t that just great, another alarm the driver will have no control over, kinda like the lamp out chime?? I think I’ll pass on this one.

 

[2Gen3Gen]

Am I to assume that they are just installing a alarm that will go off as your truck is rolling down the street? Why don't they get a real FIX for the problem?

Just called the local dealer. they claim that the "media" has blown this way out and is causing total panic. They also claim that no one has had any fix that their dealership as of yet. I told them if it was in fact a "fix" and not a idiot buzzer, sign me up after they have done a few dozen. Otherwise, I will just continue to slam mine totally in park and set the brake.

 

[BRayls]

the rooster comb has the plastic insulator on it, which shields the two positions on it, which is for park and neutral correct? so assuming the fix it just telling you buy alarm that the manual lever is not in the park position if the vehicle is running. you should still be in the vehicle to hear the alarm and put the lever in the park position. which is what you only assumed it was before. like said not DC problem, only in that its a bad design. I would and do make sure my auto vehicles are resting against the park paw before I leave them. if you have ever seen one you would not let your ride slam against it either.