48re Acting Really Stupid

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Bruno2

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Jul 23, 2008
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141
Today my transmission started acting up. It just happened all at once and no other symptoms until today.

My truck has the HO motor in it. I really dont abuse it(that much). I have about 120k on the clock. I have a 96 OBS that does all the heavy work. I bought the Dodge new and probably havent pulled trailers with it more than 30-40 times and that is just local stuff.

I havent experienced any odd behavior except for a strange feeling under WO throttle when getting on the HWY between 2 and 3. It has done this since I have had it though.

I drove the truck to my shop this morning to get in my work truck(OBS 7.3) like I always do.I didnt have a problem in the world with it. I get back in it at the end of the day to go home and the tranny acted up pretty bad. I didnt want to move the truck. It was like it was in neutral. I went through the gears manually trying to get it to do something, but nothing. I went into neutral and back to drive and it caught and started moving.

Then it wouldnt shift up and also acted like it wasnt staying engaged. I tried to go through switch positions to see if it made a difference as well. I went to tow/haul and nothing. I went to OD off and nothing. When I got it moving again I put the pedal on the floor and it fought the shift into 2, but went in and then drove normal until I came to a stop again. Once stopped it was the same scenario.

It was raining today and I know that sometimes causes ground issues. I also sort of think it is electrical because the tranny just up and went nuts all at once.If the tranny was wearing out I would think it would show symptoms and gradually go to hell in a handbasket, not all at once.

Could it be a filter plugged up from the residue of clutch and steel wear?

Do these trannies have electrical issues?

Thanks for all the responses in advance.
 
So I took the truck over to my buddy's house that knows a little more than I do.We test drove it in order to see exactly what the symptoms are. The truck doesn't like to shift from 1-2. Sometimes it will shift it free wheels like it is in neutral. Sometimes when it shifts it will skip 2 and right into 3.

Also the TC acts like it isn't locking either. On the hwy when the TC should be locked if the brakes are hit it doesn't increase the RPM as if the TC was unlocking.

I have experienced a couple episodes of really bad shudders when stopping the truck. Usually its like a hard brake that does it.

It threw the CEL as if it had a code now , but I couldn't read with the scanner available. I need to have it scanned by something that could read it.

Does it still sound like governor solenoid and transducer?
 
Stock TQ? Stock VB? Sounds like a bad connection at the tranny remove and clean the plug. If that doesn't work change all the soleniods maybe even upgrade the Pressure soleniod to the GM style. Sounds like a bad lock up soleniod but the erratic symptoms sound like a harness issue. Also adjust your front band. You'll know if you have hard part issues when you drop the pan!
 
I'd drop the pan and check out what's going on. Remove gov pressure solenoid and inspect solenoid and housing. Look for clutch and band material caked up in crevices and fluid channels.

Being it's wanting to skip 2nd gear, I'm betting you front band is probably shot. Not a bad idea to change out sensors and harness like dangerous06 mentioned, but I bet the front band is most of the issue.

Check out the last three pics in the first post on page 1 and the post #60 on page 2. Good info.
http://competitiondiesel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168500
 
That is a really good thread! That guy did an excellent job of documenting the build especially for guys like me.

Thought I was going to get to the tranny this weekend, but looks more like next weekend. I figure I will get the governor solenoid and transducer so that I can drop the pan and install it. However, if it looks like the tranny has to come out according to whats in the pan then I will put it back together. If the tranny is bad I want to pull it at my shop and take the tranny over to my buddies house to work on. This way he doesn't have a dead truck in his drive until we get it sorted out. I ordered a manual for the 46re,47re and 48re transmissions off of Amazon. I figure this will help for adjustment procedures as well as everything else.

We will see pretty soon what we are up against.

Thanks for all the replies and help guys!
 
I didn't see your post Red until I had already bought it. I think the wholesaler I used may have gouged on me on it too. I see them new for sale for about half of what I payed. However, the transducer only cost me about half from them as what I am seeing it on the web for.

A fliter, transducer and a BW 22958HD solenoid ran me $132.00 after tax.

I am going to do the work tomorrow and see if there is a bunch of junk in the pan. I hope there isn't. The pricing got me to thinking that maybe I need to shop the web over for pricing on the rebuild job if needed before I just go back to OTS and spend more than I need to.

I found this place: http://www.probuiltautomatics.com/Mopar-48RE-Rebuild-Kit-Heavy-Duty-2003-And-Up-Gas-And-Diesel.html

I was reading that the BW intermediate band has more rivets and less failure rate than the other styles. Then I heard to go with a 727 intermediate band. Are they the same or is one better than the other?
 
So , today James and I dropped the pan on the Dodge to look into the tranny issues I was having. I watched videos and read threads for a few days before we went after it. James was concerned because he hadn't watched and read all the info I did.However, when we got rolling the entire job was a cake walk. Friday I went to OTS and picked up the HD upgraded governor pressure solenoid, a new transducer, filter, drain plug kit and some ATF +4. The fluid was dirty , but there wasn't hardly any sludge at all in the bottom. The magnet had trash on it. The trash was just normal wear though.

We installed the parts, adjusted the intermediate band as well as turned the line pressure up 5-6 PSI. Buttoned it up and went for a test drive. The truck drove out and shifted perfect. It was just due for a little maintenance. I spent a little under $200 for the fix and I am extremely happy with the outcome.


I am still not 100% sure I am getting a good TC lock up though. That still needs some further investigation.
 
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