2000 Dodge Ram 1500 Trans shifting to 2nd then back out
Asked by clubcab Dec 03, 2014 at 12:41 PM about the 2000 Dodge RAM 1500
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Something weird has been happening to my truck. Its very consistent at this point.
The automatic Trans will be in 1st and go to shift into 2nd, I fell 2nd engage for a few seconds then it feels like it goes to shift again. But this time it doesn't shift to a different gear just back into 2nd. If I put a certain amount of throttle it will keep happening. Almost like its bucking.
When on a long trip at highway speeds in overdrive, it seems like its not locking. If I hit a bump or most the throttle it will come out of overdrive for a half second then go back into it. I figure its just a matter of time before I burn out my torque converter.
Not sure if these problems are related but they seem similar.I've got no check engine light. filter and oil changed about a year ago. New to me throttle valve and TV cable in the trans about a year ago.
Please help.
8 Answers
Sometimes you have to think outside the box. If your truck has a Catalytic converter it may be partially blocked causing high back-pressure and downshifting ... shot in the dark but if all other remedies fail then check it. Hard acceleration should trigger it
Governor solenoid, pressure solenoid in the transmisson valve body.
Thanks for the quick response guys. Tom, wouldn't a clogged cat cause the engine light to go on. It could be broken too but I could be wrong all together. A hard acceleration would trigger a down shift? I does that but its suppose to. ytlas, if I had an issue with the governor or pressure solenoids would they be able to be detected by a scanner? Not the cheap ones autozone uses but the good ones?
I don't know if a scanner would pick that up because it's all hydraulic. All my cars are pre OBDII. When you have things start going south in the valve body, the trans can slip, hard shift, skip, odd things. ATF flows through your valve body down narrow channels, by springs, check balls, valves enabling your transmission to shift. If the flow of ATF is disrupted the transmission isn't going to shift properly.
I never got a light ... you should get a light if the oxygen sensor senses high CO ... What I got was lost power and downshifting when I tried to accelerate ... at first I thought the trans went south. Like I said "Shot in the dark"
Tom I think I tried what you suggested. got into 2nd gear it popped out hen back in. after it was in I floored it but no down shift. Also it seems like the od pops out when it gets warmer. Ytlas I just had a good valve body, tv cable, lock up solenoid, and governor solenoid about a year ago. I just found the receipt for the work. sorry for the misinformation. I guess I'll have to go digging around down there but before I do that could it be anything else like bad bands, torque converter, getting too hot, etc. The 2nd gear shift problem I can live with for now. but I have a 450 mile drive to do in a week and most of it will hopefully be in overdrive. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys
I'd recommend you do a search on Dodge transmission problems so you can locate a Dodge Forum where hopefully there will be other Dodge owners who have experienced similar problems and found solutions. Who knows, you might actually run into a Dodge transmission expert.
You may want to cancel your question and post it again ... sometimes others will see a post that has a few answers and assume it's been solved. If they see a new post with no answers they may answer it. Good Luck
