Transmission / Shifting
From : jem
Q: has anyone had the same experience i am relatively new to dodge truck. i have a new 04 ram 1500 quad cab with 4200 mile on it that is kept in a heated garage. tuesday i went to work... the truck was out in the weather the temp never got above 5 degrees all day. when driving home the trans mission wouldnt shift into the highest gear until the truck was driven at least 2-3 miles. for a heavy dutytype vehicle i would have thought a little cold wouldnt have effected it. has anyone else experienced this is it a problem that that should be grought to the dealer maybe just leave the truck outdoors to tougen it up ; thanks in advance for your response. jem .
Replies:
From : mike simmons
if you are looking for a magic potion from a can forget it save your money sounds like possibly bad valve stem oil seals or the intake manifold plenum gasket is bad.. no 09-05-00 subject spark knock and engine oil consumption due to intake manifold pan gasket oil leak date feb. 25 2000 this bulletin involves the replacement of the engine intake manifold plenum pan gasket. note this bulletin applies to vehicle equipped with a 3.9l 5.2l. or 5.9l gasoline engine. symptom/condition an engine intake manifold plenum pan gasket oil leak may occur on some v-6 and v-8 style engines. the oil leak is internal to the engine so no external oil leakage will be present. two symptoms of this oil leak condition may be present. the vehicle operator may experience an engine spark knock during acceleration and/or an increase in the amount of engine oil consumed by the engine. diagnosis inspect the positive crankcase ventilation pcv valve. shake the pcv valve to verify that the pintle inside of the pcv valve is free. replace the pvc if the pintle is not free. if the intake manifold plenum pan gasket is leaking an additional vacuum source will be created inside of the engine at the location of the pan gasket leakage. engine combustion blow-by gases oil vapor and air from the crankcase filter/breather may be drawn past the leaking pan gasket and into the intake manifold. in most cases when this condition occurs an engine at idle will create the highest vacuum and lowest amount of engine blow-by. 1.. allow the engine to reach normal operating temperature. 2.. stop the engine. 3.. disconnect the breather hose from the air cleaner. 4.. attach a vacuum / pressure gauge to the end of the breather hose figure 1. 5.. disconnect the pcv valve hose from the intake manifold. 6.. seal off the intake manifold pcv valve hose port opening. 7.. seal off the open end of the pcv valve hose figure 2. note during this diagnosis it would be normal for the engine to develop pressure within the engine crankcase. this is due to the normal process of exhaust blow-by gases leaking past the engine piston rings and accumulating in the engine crankcase. do not allow more than 3 psi 20.7 kpa of pressure to build within the engine when performing the following diagnostic procedure. 8.. start the warmed engine and observe the vacuum gauge. 9.. allow the engine to idle for approximately 30 seconds. do not allow more than 3 psi 20.7 kpa of pressure to develop in the engine crankcase. 10.. if the attached vacuum / pressure gauge does not indicate that a vacuum is present in the engine crankcase then the intake manifold plenum pan gasket is good and no further internal engine vacuum leak diagnosis is required. 11.. if an internal vacuum leak is present then perform the repair procedure. 12.. remove intake and install plenum gasket i have a 1995 dodge dakota with the 3.9 v6. i have changed the oil religeously in it every 3k since it was new and now has 139k on it. recently it has started to smoke when i start it and is using oil. is there anything cheap or like and additive i can put in it to solve this problem i know it needs rebuild but i cant afford that. john .
From : transurgeon
hi help me if you can! it is time to replace my shocks on my 2001 ram quad 2500 with tow and camper packages. i bought over the shelf shocks and they feel almost as weak as the factory shocks i am replacing. where can i find the specs on the factory shocks and replacement shocks so i can do an equal replacement thanks .
From : jimbo
it sounds like your fuel pump is on the way out. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving all im having a strange issue with my 95 ram 2500. ive taken it to two shops one couldnt find the problem the other blamed the starter which i replaced and it didnt help. basically there are two issues; first when i try to start the truck the starter spins the engine kicks a bit and doesnt start. if i crank it over a few times turn key let starter run for about a second stop repeat it fires up. when it starts it runs very rough for about 5 seconds then revs up to about 1k and drops back in to a smooth idle at 700. my guess is a sensor somewhere in the start/ignition systems but i cant figure out which. the other issue is at highway speeds the thing stalls out occasionally. basically ill be driving along at about 60 all of a sudden pushing the gas pedal starts doing nothing to my speed. the best i can explain it is that when i tap the gas the rpms actually go down a bit when i let back up the engine revs up for a second then stops. pushing the gas makes it sound like the timing is off knocking/cylinder misfires letting the gas up makes it sound better. at that point when i pull over as the speed approaches 0 so do my rpms and i stall out. if i let the truck sit for 5 minutes or so it starts up again and runs fine. both of these things started yesterday morning and i had a great drive home pulling over every 5 minutes to get the damn thing started again. i put a scan tool on the truck -- no codes none at all. i went to two shops last night one had no clue the other said starter. i replaced it last night it didnt fix anything i didnt expect it to. help!!!!!!! .
From : nosey
my p/u has a strange problem. when you turn on the heater / a/c on high the blower motor is blowing at high speed but the air coming out of the ducts fills like medium at best. also the heater temp is not very hot at all. i live in north texas so one day i need the heater and the next day i need the a/c. .
From : bob ring
now when i stop at a light the check gauge light comes on for a sec or two. it seems to go away when i start to roll again. loose wire bad contact behind dash anyone have any experience with this before .
From : nosey
compression quick question gary. i have a 99 2500 cummins/47re with a leaking transmission cooler line where the hard line is crimped to the hose just before the cooler. i want to cut the hard line just before the crimp and use a compression fitting and barb connector to connect a new hose from the repair area to the cooler. the factory hard line looks like 1/2 aluminum tubing. will a compression fitting work here or would it be better to flare it and use an fittings .
From : transurgeon
you folks getting any snow the weather channel is talking about a real nasty storm sat. into sun. predictions are 12-24 with blizzard conditions. hopefully it will be over by game time. care to join with me or are you going with the iron heads roy we got a couple o inches yesterday just enough so i didnt get any sleep last night. i gotta love it working all day on about an hours snooze. g came home got a bite to eat and hit the couch for a few hours. its supposed to start snowing again after midnight tonight and not stop till tomorrow afternoon sometime and then the 35 mph winds will pick up. depending on who you listen to could get anywhere from 6-11 inches. the weather was updated this morning. now it is a blizzard warning with accumulation over over 1 foot to 2 or more feet. drifts are supposed to be 10 to 15 feet. already had a couple of friends call wanting me to plow with their equipment. dont think im going to. got out of it for just this reason. gonna be a 48 hour deal by the time clean up is done. got a few inches real early this am and then stopped. started plowing at 230 and was doing good till about 4am and then it snowed its ass off. had to do most of it over again and will go out tonight to do touch ups. wc is calling for 35 mph wind and another few inches so it may be interesting. i gave in. a friends driver couldnt make it so i went. used a 03 dodge 3500 extended cab 4x4 dually. cummins of course. went out at 6pm last night and just stopped at 10am. now i remember why i got out of it. so far there are over 2 feet on the ground and it should go on until 4 this afternoon. the wind has been in excess of 40mph all night white out most of the time. no way to keep up with it. going to have to use loaders tonight as there is no place to plow it to. time for a few hours sleep before the game. go pats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! roy go steelers!!!!!!! bg if the pats make it to the bowl then ill jump on the bandwagon.. have some balls and jump now. damn fair weather fans vbg my balls are tired and wants to take a nap. maybe theyll feel like jumping tomorrow if it dont snow too much more. go steelers!!!!!!! denny .
From : jerry
quick question gary. i have a 99 2500 cummins/47re with a leaking transmission cooler line where the hard line is crimped to the hose just before the cooler. i want to cut the hard line just before the crimp and use a compression fitting and barb connector to connect a new hose from the repair area to the cooler. the factory hard line looks like 1/2 aluminum tubing. will a compression fitting work here or would it be better to flare it and use an fittings .
From : rw
on sun 23 jan 2005 024045 gmt tom lawrence tnloaswpraemnmcien5g@earthlink.net took up his/her discourse and spake the problem im having is at step 4. after following the first three steps and opening the drain cock the illustration calls it drain fitting nothing comes out. a lot of times sediment will plug this drain. try sticking a pipe cleaner or suitable alternative up the drain fitting and see if you can loosen anything up. alternately if its easy to get to you can remove the lower radiator hose and drain some coolant that way. you only need to drain 1-2 quarts out - not the entire amount. just enough to bring the level of coolant below the height of the thermostat. however if the coolants fairly old its better to drain the whole amount and re-fill with new mix. whatever method you choose make sure to squeeze the upper radiator hose and force as much coolant out of it as you can - this will lessen the mess youll make when removing the upper radiator hose from the thermostat housing but no matter what some coolant is going to spill cool! thanks for the tips. .
From : tom lawrence
despite the wiplash on this subject. starting your truck a little earlier to warm it up and placing the shifter in n while it warms will help to shorten this. i expirenced the same faults on my used no manual 94 3/4 4x4. this helped to get the oil circulating in the tranny by heating it up. once it got warmer i did a complete oil change in the unit replacing the filter conducting maint as described in my new direct from the factory dodge maint manual for trucks with cummins engines. ebay special for $75. something to keep in mind is this the 904 / a500 / 727 / a518 / a618 family of automatics does not feed the converter circuit in park and only barely in reverse so if youre going to circulate the fluid it must be in neutral this is why dodges have the wont pull in reverse after sitting a few days problem; the converter drains back into the pan and doesnt fill in either park or neutral .
From : transurgeon
hi! im new to dodge not chrysler...im trading my 98 5.2l jeep zj in on a 05 1500ram 4x4 crewcab 5.7l. im falling in love with these rams and cant wait till i take delivery. right now im just doing my homework but was wondering how the margins at dodge dealers work. how much do they typically discount the msrp after financing incentives and cashback/rebates what about trucks that you order with your own unique set of options do dodge dealers usually operate off of the mfrs invoice sorry for all of the noob s but i guess thats exactly what i am when it comes to dodge. thanks tom .
From : tbone
you folks getting any snow the weather channel is talking about a real nasty storm sat. into sun. predictions are 12-24 with blizzard conditions. hopefully it will be over by game time. care to join with me or are you going with the iron heads roy we got a couple o inches yesterday just enough so i didnt get any sleep last night. i gotta love it working all day on about an hours snooze. g came home got a bite to eat and hit the couch for a few hours. its supposed to start snowing again after midnight tonight and not stop till tomorrow afternoon sometime and then the 35 mph winds will pick up. depending on who you listen to could get anywhere from 6-11 inches. the weather was updated this morning. now it is a blizzard warning with accumulation over over 1 foot to 2 or more feet. drifts are supposed to be 10 to 15 feet. already had a couple of friends call wanting me to plow with their equipment. dont think im going to. got out of it for just this reason. gonna be a 48 hour deal by the time clean up is done. got a few inches real early this am and then stopped. started plowing at 230 and was doing good till about 4am and then it snowed its ass off. had to do most of it over again and will go out tonight to do touch ups. wc is calling for 35 mph wind and another few inches so it may be interesting. i gave in. a friends driver couldnt make it so i went. used a 03 dodge 3500 extended cab 4x4 dually. cummins of course. went out at 6pm last night and just stopped at 10am. now i remember why i got out of it. so far there are over 2 feet on the ground and it should go on until 4 this afternoon. the wind has been in excess of 40mph all night white out most of the time. no way to keep up with it. going to have to use loaders tonight as there is no place to plow it to. time for a few hours sleep before the game. i think i now understand why you hung up your keys. i had a chance to put a little time in a 96 3500 extended cab rattler with a boss v blade on it. i really wanted to try out the blade so i tried it. talk about a pain in the ass.. first the steering is so damned slow on the truck it felt like the wheels never would turn. im gonna hug my quick ratio gearbox when i get a chance. then when the wheels did get cranked over it took a two acre parking lot to get the bitched turned around. that thing is good for mall parking lots only. i did two of my spots with it and gave it back. i think i love my quick turning little pos... i did like the boss blade. it just weighs too much for my truck so im still stuck with a straight blade. did i mention the heated seats didnt work in that long pos either i cant imagine what to do with two ft of snow. hell you cant even stack it high enough to make any spaces. do you have to haul it away or just pile it high and wait for it to melt go steelers!!! no bandwagon for me..... denny .
From : phyloe
you folks getting any snow the weather channel is talking about a real nasty storm sat. into sun. predictions are 12-24 with blizzard conditions. hopefully it will be over by game time. care to join with me or are you going with the iron heads roy we got a couple o inches yesterday just enough so i didnt get any sleep last night. i gotta love it working all day on about an hours snooze. g came home got a bite to eat and hit the couch for a few hours. its supposed to start snowing again after midnight tonight and not stop till tomorrow afternoon sometime and then the 35 mph winds will pick up. depending on who you listen to could get anywhere from 6-11 inches. picked up a new set of tires for the ole truck after work today hopefully ill get a chance to get em on tomorrow. got a set of revos lt285/75/r16 range d. i really wanted the e range but they dont make a revo in that. the d range is rated at 3000 lbs so i should be ok. time will tell. go steelers!!!!!!! bg if the pats make it to the bowl then ill jump on the bandwagon.. denny .
From : mike simmons
calf.... wrote had several different payment options... arm; leg; first born; second mortgage... opted to put it on plastic tho.... about the cost for a 3 point hitch impliment for tractor except itll be used much more often! ;o and for us city slickers how much does that come out to .
From : max340
replace the brake booster. that air leak sound you hear is air leaking past the diaphragm inside the booster itself the only way to fix it is to replace it. .
From : mike simmons
now this is something my daks done since i got it. at first i thought it was user error. there was a big gap between purchasing my previous truck 1991 and this one 2001 so i wasnt sure if it was a technology thing. over time i just got used to it. but i wonder sometimes... in first and sometimes in second gear when going really slow the truck will lunge forward a bit back to normal forward back. sometimes just a bit sometimes quite a lot. kind of like a dog lunging on a leash. not sure if its even particularly noticible outside the truck but sure is inside. hope i described it well enough. it doesnt do this at any other time just at the very bottom of first gear - if i went much slower itd stall - and sometimes at the very bottom of second as well. any thoughts jmc .
From : mike simmons
tapping noise from my 5.9lariet when i accelerate. oil level is good....any ideas thanks exhaust leak could be a leaky manifold gasket or the ball/socket joint at the end of the manifold. valvetrain noise could be a stuck lifter loose rocker etc. could be a bunch of other things but those are a couple of common causes. a mechanics stethescope could help you pinpoint the noise if you can replicate it while stationary. btw - what the heck is a 5.9lariet .
From : jason
brand may have something to do with it too. i drive two miles to get $1.83 diesel when i could drive 3 blocks and spend $2.15 for it at the shell station. shell tends to be more then the other stations around here too. people still go there though. there are actually some intersections where there is a different gas vender at each corner. shell chevron 76 and moble. and they all have different prices. .
From : transurgeon
i allready have a socket in the body lift but the wires doesnt match with my trailers lights and i want to know if the truck has a special socket some were to conect the body lift socket for the trailer. thanks all of you for your help. chris. john kunkel wrote i have a motorhome and i want to pull it with my dakota but in the dak the break light and the turn light are the same and my mobile house has yellow lights for turning and red ones for break. from were should i take a cable to separate the turning and the breaking signal evidently you want to pull a trailer mobile home with your dakota. you can purchase a receptical socket for your dakota that will plug into the rear wire harness of the truck and will accept the elecrical plug from your trailer. the different colored lights at the rear of the trailer will be powered correctly when connected to the truck socket. a dodge dealer will have the socket assembly and so will a trailer supply. .
From : greg surratt
sir an engine with 139k miles will use some oil due to ring wear etc. as i am shure you are aware blue smoke is oil and white is water. i had a 318 cid ram that started showing those symptoms that is small amounts of blue smoke when starting. it was leaking oil past the valve stem seals. the fix was to have the heads rebuilt any decent auto machine shop will do it. maxpower is also correct when suggesting not to use aditives. they indeed are a waste of money and can actually leave deposits thruout the lower engine and block passages. henry i have a 1995 dodge dakota with the 3.9 v6. i have changed the oil religeously in it every 3k since it was new and now has 139k on it. recently it has started to smoke when i start it and is using oil. is there anything cheap or like and additive i can put in it to solve this problem i know it needs rebuild but i cant afford that. john .
From : mac davis
i dont think theres a truck-driver in the whole bunch no one shifts gears anymore what you got automatics must have auto. steering also or a moma to sit on your lap while you go down the road dam heated seats electric windows you must have a car god bless america .
From : william boyd
had several different payment options... arm; leg; first born; second mortgage... opted to put it on plastic tho.... about the cost for a 3 point hitch impliment for tractor except itll be used much more often! ;o calf.... wrote greetings group i just had a webasto blue heat diesel fired heater installed on my 02 dodge cummins 2500 pick up last week. it puts out 17000 btus which does a nice job warming the engine and cab. the past 2 winters when down around 20 below the truck started hard and took quite a while to warm up. so far the coldest it has been is 10 above and am not sure what itll do when really frigid but impressed with it so far. a defrosted windshield warm cab quick easy starts with wait to start light out within a couple seconds and able to run the heater with engine running makes for a pretty comfortable cold weather package. the fuel line travels inside the frame rail and is tapped into the vent line of the fuel tank. it gets its power from the vehicle batteries which makes it a totally self-sufficient system. heater fan set on low and cab heat knob set to defrost itll turn the blower on when it fires. a three-event timer is installed with mine which has to be set for each use only one event to a time and i set it to run for an hour. now so long as the fuel doesnt gel.... o i thought id share this with the group as there were discussions on heaters in past posts. calf... ps. wife is almost a bit jealous as she is still scraping and brushing thanks for the report. how much did this cost .
From : mike simmons
mike simmons wrote indeed mike. as far back as 94 with an old v10 power factory the manual explicitly noted the transmission workaround for cold temps. ya gotta get in touch with the folks who do the writing of the manuals for dc and tell them to use more pictures. indeed! the truly sad part is i see this on an almost daily basis. perhaps im strange but i simply cannot fathom anyone who would spend something north of $30k and not take to time to spend some time reading about their investment. even though i work around these vehicles every day when i purchase one for my own use i read the manual from cover to cover and i never fail to learn something i didnt know. the best way to maximize your enjoyment from this major purchase is to take the time to read about it in the owners manual. your will learn how to work all the gizmos whats normal and whats not and most of all how to maintain it properly! my philosophy is that if it costs more than 50 bucks and it comes with a manual read the damned thing! climbing down from my soapbox thank you very much! mike but! but! but! now there are reasons not to know every thing that is in the owners manual. let me explain it with a similar situation. i have collected 380 movies and made a complete listing by name and actor. now i have found that i can view some of the movies and hardly remember seeing them before. the secrete is keep adding movies and age until you have reached the ultimate conditioning of being able to enjoy a movie any time you want to. do you suppose you can read the owners manual and forget some of the things that it contains due to the shear vast amount of the information coupled with age no body is getting younger you know. - bill p. very true hoppy... no one can be expected to retain all that info i know i cant but from time to time i will take the ol manual out of the glove box and take it into the restaurant where i eat lunch and glance thru it. i do the same with all the manuals that came with my stuff. i just like to know as much about the stuff i paid big bucks for as i can.. mike .
From : high sierra
extra extra hear all about it.... before it happens http//www.mixposure.com/song.phpsongid=1572 right click on download link at page save target as. a delightfull ditty. this every man for himself dog eat dog over-inflated ego extremely short-sighted hypercapitalist greed feed has a rendevous with that which takes every abusive hot shot down notches... it has already started. no turn... watch the burn... on present track one day not too far up the same talking heads that speak of iraqis as terrorists for wanting to rid their country of oil thieves will be going on and on inane reporting of the first nuke that goes off in a u.s.city as if the u.s. hasnt had a nuke me sign that it slapped on its own back.... the united states of animosity lip service to god while loving the buck... turn. if you already know better get on the ball and turn others. it is a numbers game. current trajectory is the u.s. playing the mystery babylon role. it is a numbers game. .
From : mac davis
on wed 19 jan 2005 110719 -0300 clt clr@clt.cl wrote my guess is that someone has changed the wires in either the truck or trailer... happens a lot with trailers as each owner does their repairs.. the best way is to buy or make a test light a bulb with 2 wires and have someone use the brake turn lights etc. while youre using the test light to see which wire is for each thing.. the wires on the trailer socket are usually held in by small screws and can be moved to the correct order for the truck.. i allready have a socket in the body lift but the wires doesnt match with my trailers lights and i want to know if the truck has a special socket some were to conect the body lift socket for the trailer. thanks all of you for your help. chris. john kunkel wrote i have a motorhome and i want to pull it with my dakota but in the dak the break light and the turn light are the same and my mobile house has yellow lights for turning and red ones for break. from were should i take a cable to separate the turning and the breaking signal evidently you want to pull a trailer mobile home with your dakota. you can purchase a receptical socket for your dakota that will plug into the rear wire harness of the truck and will accept the elecrical plug from your trailer. the different colored lights at the rear of the trailer will be powered correctly when connected to the truck socket. a dodge dealer will have the socket assembly and so will a trailer supply. mac please remove splinters before emailing .
From : transurgeon
tom lawrence is correct. have the same thing on my 03 and my father-in-law who is a dodge mechanic verified that this is how it is supposed to operate. jason .
From : jbob
i have this problem with a 99 dakota. i used lucas transmission additive and it seems to shift in od fine now. good grief .
From : mac davis
i drove a diesel for 30 years and i used alcohol i learned this from a wrecker driver in detroit city one cold night . midnite flyer god bless america .