99 Dodge Ram lockup convertor issue

From : nicholas cass

Q: greetings all! the truck mentioned is a 99 ram 1500 2wd 318 engine and here is the problem when cruizing down the highway and the cruise control is set between 50-70 mph the engine will surge. by surge i mean the tach will suddenly rev 200 rpm and come back down. i am thinking the lock-up torque converter is kicking in and out. it rarely surges when the cruise control is off although it will do it on very cold days. problem two after the truck has sat overnight and gotten completely cold i can leave my driveway and be in overdrive about 1/4 mile away from my house even when it is 10 degrees outside. i dont think this is normal as every other chrysler trans i have had didnt hit top gear until the motor had warmed up some. is this an issue with the transmission fluid temp sensor or something else. i have taken the truck to a trans shop and they found nothing; no fault codes or anything recorded in the pcm. has anyone else had this issue i ask because a friend of mine has a 2000 dakota 3.9 and it does the exact same thing. i havent had a mechanic hook a scan tool up yet to monitor the trans fluid temp sensor readings as i thought if it didnt work it would throw a code. any thoughts thanks for your help!! nick .

Replies:

From : nicholas cass

dave thanks for the tip. bought a tps from work and installed it. fixed this very annoying issue!! i always wondered what is was like to have a truck with working cruise control.... thanks again for the advice! nick dave wrote had the same thing with mine. it was the tps. 15 minute fix to change out the sensor. somehow the tps wares out in the spot where your throttle sits most of ther time. dave greetings all! the truck mentioned is a 99 ram 1500 2wd 318 engine and here is the problem when cruizing down the highway and the cruise control is set between 50-70 mph the engine will surge. by surge i mean the tach will suddenly rev 200 rpm and come back down. i am thinking the lock-up torque converter is kicking in and out. it rarely surges when the cruise control is off although it will do it on very cold days. problem two after the truck has sat overnight and gotten completely cold i can leave my driveway and be in overdrive about 1/4 mile away from my house even when it is 10 degrees outside. i dont think this is normal as every other chrysler trans i have had didnt hit top gear until the motor had warmed up some. is this an issue with the transmission fluid temp sensor or something else. i have taken the truck to a trans shop and they found nothing; no fault codes or anything recorded in the pcm. has anyone else had this issue i ask because a friend of mine has a 2000 dakota 3.9 and it does the exact same thing. i havent had a mechanic hook a scan tool up yet to monitor the trans fluid temp sensor readings as i thought if it didnt work it would throw a code. any thoughts thanks for your help!! nick .

From : dave

dave thanks for the tip. bought a tps from work and installed it. fixed this very annoying issue!! i always wondered what is was like to have a truck with working cruise control.... glad i could help. its about time i was able to contribute here. thanks again for the advice! nick dave wrote had the same thing with mine. it was the tps. 15 minute fix to change out the sensor. somehow the tps wares out in the spot where your throttle sits most of ther time. dave greetings all! the truck mentioned is a 99 ram 1500 2wd 318 engine and here is the problem when cruizing down the highway and the cruise control is set between 50-70 mph the engine will surge. by surge i mean the tach will suddenly rev 200 rpm and come back down. i am thinking the lock-up torque converter is kicking in and out. it rarely surges when the cruise control is off although it will do it on very cold days. problem two after the truck has sat overnight and gotten completely cold i can leave my driveway and be in overdrive about 1/4 mile away from my house even when it is 10 degrees outside. i dont think this is normal as every other chrysler trans i have had didnt hit top gear until the motor had warmed up some. is this an issue with the transmission fluid temp sensor or something else. i have taken the truck to a trans shop and they found nothing; no fault codes or anything recorded in the pcm. has anyone else had this issue i ask because a friend of mine has a 2000 dakota 3.9 and it does the exact same thing. i havent had a mechanic hook a scan tool up yet to monitor the trans fluid temp sensor readings as i thought if it didnt work it would throw a code. any thoughts thanks for your help!! nick .

From : dave

had the same thing with mine. it was the tps. 15 minute fix to change out the sensor. somehow the tps wares out in the spot where your throttle sits most of ther time. dave greetings all! the truck mentioned is a 99 ram 1500 2wd 318 engine and here is the problem when cruizing down the highway and the cruise control is set between 50-70 mph the engine will surge. by surge i mean the tach will suddenly rev 200 rpm and come back down. i am thinking the lock-up torque converter is kicking in and out. it rarely surges when the cruise control is off although it will do it on very cold days. problem two after the truck has sat overnight and gotten completely cold i can leave my driveway and be in overdrive about 1/4 mile away from my house even when it is 10 degrees outside. i dont think this is normal as every other chrysler trans i have had didnt hit top gear until the motor had warmed up some. is this an issue with the transmission fluid temp sensor or something else. i have taken the truck to a trans shop and they found nothing; no fault codes or anything recorded in the pcm. has anyone else had this issue i ask because a friend of mine has a 2000 dakota 3.9 and it does the exact same thing. i havent had a mechanic hook a scan tool up yet to monitor the trans fluid temp sensor readings as i thought if it didnt work it would throw a code. any thoughts thanks for your help!! nick .