Attention: TDR Forum Junkies Hi Guys,
Several weeks ago, I posted about the 47RE transmission abrubtly coming out of lockup for a second. This would occur sporadically, but much more frequently when when the temperature dropped. When it was warm, I could go a week without it happening at all. So I posted, and got some good responses and suggestions. The problem is now fixed, and tested, and it runs like new.
Here's what I did, some of which is suggestions from members:
1. We regrounded all connections to fresh metal, and sprayed everything with LPS #3 for protection. I think we did a total of 7, but I'm not positive. Especially the PCM ground, which we thought might be the culprit.
2. Removed all plug connections, visually inspected for corrosion, applied fresh silicone dialectric grease, and reseated. This also had a dual purpose, as any brass pin connections can oxidize and lose electrical conductivity over time.
3. Check battery voltages, check charging voltages, all excellent.
4. Genesee Valley Motors did a lot of this work, with me helping a little, but they also contacted Chrysler, and in the end, Chrysler approved replacement of the entire Throttle Position Sensor under warranty, as they have had some of these responsible for this problem. The main problem the technician had with this is seeing the problem himself. While he did believe what was happening, he couldn't replicate the problem, and every time he took it for a drive, it didn't act up. But it was warm...
5. Cleaned battery terminal connections.
6. Put the electrical system on an O-Scope, and the whole system was noise free. (RFI)
After all this was done, I still had the problem. Then the next Saturday, it was 55 deg, and the truck never did it once in the morning. Within about 2 hours, the temperature dropped to 20 degrees. I had a 15 mile drive, and it started doing it every 1 - 2 seconds, and got so bad I thought the transmission would be damaged by the time I got home.
So I rushed it down to the dealer, we took it for a drive, and it didn't do it once. I volunteered to take a lie detector test, but no machine was available at the Dealer ;-) He left the hood up to cool down, I rented a car and left.
I received a call Monday morning from the Service Manager, and he said everything was ready to go.
It turned out to be a defective drivers-side battery. The mechanic drove the truck in the cold, after hooking up a couple of pieces of test equipment, and noticed that every time the pre-heater would cycle on, the PCM would send a command to the transmission to unlock from Overdrive.
So the mechanic, armed with the Chrysler Solution Number Documentation K11636560, put the battery through a severe load test. The result of the test was the passenger-side battery had only been depleted 20%, while the drivers-side was depleted 80%.
The InterState battery folks were very cooperative, and replaced the battery, which was purchased a year ago with a new one. Since then, in the cold, no problems have occured since. And I even have a new DTT Noise filter that I never installed, and don't need now.
The Solution Number I mentioned above is titled "Vehicle Surges in And out of Torque Converter Lockup, and is for model years 1998 - 2004. It's a pretty well organized procedure for tracking down and eliminating the source of the problem, and there are several possible sources.
FWIW guys, and thank you for all your help, as always. I am now at 100,256 miles, and officially out of warranty, and free to accessorize to my heart and wallets content
Thanks,
Robert
Several weeks ago, I posted about the 47RE transmission abrubtly coming out of lockup for a second. This would occur sporadically, but much more frequently when when the temperature dropped. When it was warm, I could go a week without it happening at all. So I posted, and got some good responses and suggestions. The problem is now fixed, and tested, and it runs like new.
Here's what I did, some of which is suggestions from members:
1. We regrounded all connections to fresh metal, and sprayed everything with LPS #3 for protection. I think we did a total of 7, but I'm not positive. Especially the PCM ground, which we thought might be the culprit.
2. Removed all plug connections, visually inspected for corrosion, applied fresh silicone dialectric grease, and reseated. This also had a dual purpose, as any brass pin connections can oxidize and lose electrical conductivity over time.
3. Check battery voltages, check charging voltages, all excellent.
4. Genesee Valley Motors did a lot of this work, with me helping a little, but they also contacted Chrysler, and in the end, Chrysler approved replacement of the entire Throttle Position Sensor under warranty, as they have had some of these responsible for this problem. The main problem the technician had with this is seeing the problem himself. While he did believe what was happening, he couldn't replicate the problem, and every time he took it for a drive, it didn't act up. But it was warm...
5. Cleaned battery terminal connections.
6. Put the electrical system on an O-Scope, and the whole system was noise free. (RFI)
After all this was done, I still had the problem. Then the next Saturday, it was 55 deg, and the truck never did it once in the morning. Within about 2 hours, the temperature dropped to 20 degrees. I had a 15 mile drive, and it started doing it every 1 - 2 seconds, and got so bad I thought the transmission would be damaged by the time I got home.
So I rushed it down to the dealer, we took it for a drive, and it didn't do it once. I volunteered to take a lie detector test, but no machine was available at the Dealer ;-) He left the hood up to cool down, I rented a car and left.
I received a call Monday morning from the Service Manager, and he said everything was ready to go.
It turned out to be a defective drivers-side battery. The mechanic drove the truck in the cold, after hooking up a couple of pieces of test equipment, and noticed that every time the pre-heater would cycle on, the PCM would send a command to the transmission to unlock from Overdrive.
So the mechanic, armed with the Chrysler Solution Number Documentation K11636560, put the battery through a severe load test. The result of the test was the passenger-side battery had only been depleted 20%, while the drivers-side was depleted 80%.
The InterState battery folks were very cooperative, and replaced the battery, which was purchased a year ago with a new one. Since then, in the cold, no problems have occured since. And I even have a new DTT Noise filter that I never installed, and don't need now.
The Solution Number I mentioned above is titled "Vehicle Surges in And out of Torque Converter Lockup, and is for model years 1998 - 2004. It's a pretty well organized procedure for tracking down and eliminating the source of the problem, and there are several possible sources.
FWIW guys, and thank you for all your help, as always. I am now at 100,256 miles, and officially out of warranty, and free to accessorize to my heart and wallets content
Thanks,
Robert
