Archived automatic transmission died, electrical

[RCARON]

I have a 2001 dodge 3500 extended cab with the automatic transmission and 104,000 highway miles

on the way to work today, everything was good , then it dropped out of overdrive for a few miles, then it dropped out of third, then within a mile, no transmission power.

Pulled over, turned off truck, went 1st, 2nd,3rd, overdrive, and ran for a mile, then the same sequence of events as above.

Pulled over, turned off truck, and again it ran thru the gears for about 3 miles and again it stopped rolling.

I have a 50 mile ride home from work, any ideas?

 

[SRay]

Is it low on transmission oil?

 

[RCARON]

oil level is good, running amsoil with oversized transmission pan
Overdrive solonoid replaced at 70,000 miles with one from ATS

 

[SRay]

Is the truck towed?

 

[RCARON]

Limped it to a parking lot not far from work, and I am at work now.
Not sure i understood your question, but if it has to do with towing with the truck, yes i do tow trailer, last weekend a run from new england to Pittsburg with about 8,000 lbs, and had no issues

 

[SRay]

Sorry, was asking if you had the truck towed as you were on side of road.

Some of my friends are thinking the PCM in your truck is having issues with either ground or full failure

 

[RCARON]

Hmm, how do I check this?

 

[SRay]

Are there codes?

 

[RCARON]

there are no codes

 

[RCARON]

Ok so here is where i am at. Talked to Alan at ATS Transmission, feels that i may have allot of debri in the oil that is clogging the filter. when i shut off the truck the debri falls away from the filter, so that when i restart it allows me to travel until the filter reclogs again.
draining the pan at work, will pull the pan and look.

 

[RCARON]

ok still at work, pulled the pan, some metal, but i have seen worse on my other trucks though out the years.
any ideas?

 

[SRay]

Have you tried cleaning the PCM ground yet?

Try putting in a new filter.

I'm surprised someone else hasn't posted yet.

Cerberusiam is usually the go to guy for dodge automatics.

 

[JR]

Another possibility is the check balls in the transmission lines just below the exchanger that is mounted on the pass side of the engine block. They will get jammed or debris will plug the line and starve the trans. The only purpose they serve is to prevent the exchanger from draining back into the pan when the truck is shut off. The guy that built my trans highly recommended I get rid of them to save any potential failures. You remove the ball and spring and thread the body back into the exchanger, and the line threads into the body of the check, IIRC. Do you have a trans temp gauge? What did your fluid look like when you drained it?

 

[Sticks]

oil level is good, running amsoil with oversized transmission pan

Overdrive solonoid replaced at 70,000 miles with one from ATS

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There's your problem.



RE - plugging filter - The theory is sound, but it would have to be an awful lot of heavy debris to cause this.



The check balls up stream is also a sound theory, and would fit the symptoms. I'm not familiar enough with the 48re trans. Any way to put a pressure test gauge on the transmission oil pump? It does sound like you are loosing pump pressure.



One would think that the PCM would sense electrical fluctuations and set a code if you had a bad power supply or ground.

 

[cerberusiam]

If you can shut the truck off, restart, and the trans shifts fine it is an electrical problem. There is no mecahnical issue I know of will do that will do that.



Time for gov solenoid replacement anyway if you used the stock one, likely this is a transducer or VB harness problem. Replace the gov solenoid with the GM style and a new transdcuer to see if that will help.

 

[RCARON]

OK, thanks for all the help. here is what I did.
dropped the pan, removed filter, blew out the valve body with compressed air, disconnected and reconnected the solenoid wires, new filter and oil. removed PCM ground, looked good, and reconnected it.
had metal fines in the magnet and some shinny but tiny flakes in the pan.
Drove truck home (55 miles)
at home removed the pan and changed the filter again, figured that the small amount of oil i replaced with the first filter would help dilute the balance of the oil in the system, again some metal fines on the magnet.
Drove the truck around 45 miles mostly back roads.
Adjusted fluid level and now jsut drove to work
The only thing i notice is a slight shudder,rumbling when under load in overdrive, other than that it shifts fine.