Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) erratic 1-2 shift with light acceleration.

[BRI7070]

I have a shifting problem With my truck and it has always been there (except when taken to the stealer). What is happening is when crawling along in traffic and I approach 11-12 MPH the transmission will start to shift into 2nd gear. then jump back into 1st gear back to 2nd until about 18-20 MPH. If I stay in this speed range it will not fully shift into 2nd gear. What it feels like is going from 1st to neutral to frist . ect. ect. I have installed a Trans-go shift kit and now the problem is more noticeable. I have the TV cable adjusted so my WOT shift point is at 3100 RPM. Any Ideas?



Also the second problem I have is in the morning When I frist start the truck and back out of my driveway sometimes when I shift into drive, if I am not fully stopped the transmission grabs drive so hard it feels like I hit something. and when I go to take off there is almost no go. sometimes I have to go WOT to start moving. This clears up within 100-200 feet of driving. Also had this problem before the shift kit.



Thanks for your help

Brian

 

[Steve M]

Mine just started doing the eratic shifting today. Before today I couldn't brag enough about how it shifted. Time to go see the dealer.

 

[Steve M]

Service writer and parts man says it's a common problem. Most likely the speed sensor or governor. I'm scheduled for Monday morning to have whichever replaced under warranty. I'm kinda glad this happened when it did. It's under warranty and I'll learn something for the next time it happens when it's out of warranty. Today it started to shift through the gears while sitting still at a light. Then I'd take off in third until it shifted to O/D and clutch lockup. Then the next time it would start in 1st and shift like it didn't have a problem at all. I'll find out Monday...

 

[BRI7070]

When You get it back from the dealer let me know what it was.

Thanks

Brian

 

[jmadden]

BRI7070 -- when you get your erratic shift do you also get a brief spike in rpm? If yes, then you may have the same ailment my y2k (2500QC, 4x4, lsd) suffered from… Dodge built the transmission w/ the wrong parts.



Apparently as mine went down the assembly line they ran out of parts (some type of spring above the valve body as they described it... I'm not a transmission expert) for the diesel trannies, so they used what they had… 1/2 ton parts. The spring was fine until about 14k and then symptoms appeared similar to yours with a 200-500rpm spike in the shifting process. The dealer couldn't replicate the problem so about the 4th trip in I took them for a drive and they witnessed it first hand. On the 7th trip in for transmission service (yes, seventh) they had a new transmission ready to drop in when DC called and identified the problem… so they cracked open both trannies and swapped the springs. That problem seemed to be resolved, but the transmission has never worked right since they started working on it. Prior steps attempting to correct the problem included a new valve body and seemed to include detuning the engine since performance declined dramatically... although they denied doing that.



Good luck!!!



jm

 

[Steve M]

I dropped mine off this morning and picked it up an hour ago. It's back to shifting like it should. They replaced a shorted governor pressure switch and governor sensor. Said the transmission looked fine other than that. I had them install a new filter and gasket while they were at it.

Mine started out with erratic shifting at slow speed and even shifting gears while sitting still in D. By the end of the weekend it was staying in third from stop to 44mph when it would shift into O/D like it normally does.

I'm very impressed with the service department at Suncoast Chrysler Jeep here in Seminole Fla. They don't even sell Dodge trucks but they have the local competition beat when it comes to service. The guy at the parts counter knew what the problem was by my description alone. That's unusual.

 

[xcucv]

"They replaced a shorted governor pressure switch and governor sensor"



Steve M is correct, had mine replaced over a year ago and no more problems. Was not sure at first what was wrong and then had the DTT upgrade done, problem was really bad at that point with the higher fluid pressure. However once the two parts were replaced it been perfect. Not fun when in stop and go traffic.