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Comments
*Low fluid level
* Low hydraulic pressure caused by clogged transmission filter, transmission cooling lines, or anti-drain back valve.
*Governor electrical circuit fault, defective Governor Pressure Sensor or Solenoid.
*Valve Body problem: Clogged passages, stuck valves, or worn plunger bores.
*Front Servo stuck or damaged
*Kickdown Band burned
Regards,
Dusty
The P0218 is a transmission over temperature code.
The P0740 is a torque converter clutch circuit failure code.
Hard say about this problem. Sounds like the transmission is overheating, but within one mile of a cold start? Pretty severe problem if true. More diagnosis needs to occur, like a DRB3 scan and actually live pressure test. A person would need to know the Clutch Volume Indexes and other data from the TCM. At this point it could be a lot of things.
I think you're going to have to trust your tech. Isn't this vehicle in warranty?
Regards,
Dusty
What year is the vehicle and how many miles is on it?
Which engine do you have?
Regards,
Dusty
As an aside, in my opinion all bets are off with this one since you added another fluid type to the transmission. ATF+4 is easily destabized by the introduction of other types of fluid. I've seen this before. I highly recommend not adding any aftermarket fluids.
Good luck,
Dusty
It's hard to judge from your sympton description, but you may be just feeling the torque converter locking up. You could have a rough spot on the Throttle Position Sensor, although I haven't seen any replaced on new 4.7 or 5.7 Rams. I believe there is at least one Transmission Computer Module reflash that's been released since your truck was manufactured.
Best regards,
Dusty
Without knowing which engine you have I can't determine which transmission you've got. But in general there is a good possibility the symptoms are the result of relatively non-evasive things.
Possibilities:
*Low fluid level
*Low hyraulic pressure: transmission filter, cooling lines, or anti-drain back valve clogged.
*Throttle linkage dirty, sticking, or binding.
*Transmission Throttle Valve cable binding or sticking; misadjusted. Throttle Valve Lever sticking.
*Electronic governor circuit malfunction. Defective Governor Pressure Sensor or Solenoid.
*Dirty transmission valve body, sticking valves or worn plunger bores.
*Loose front band or out-of-adjustment.
Regards,
Dusty
2001 ram quad cab 4x4 with a factory off road package, 5.9 liter v8 and a 46re
transmission. Recently while drive on the highway the truck would not lock up in
overdrive and fault code p0740 tcc solinoid circut would become active. The trans
pan was removed, no debree found in the pan. the 3/4 and lock up solinoids were
tested and working fine. There is a boost pressure plate in the valve body that
requires a larger bleed hole to be installed. The boost pressure plate was replaced and valve body reinstalled in trans. While road testing on highway same fault
occured. Brought truck back in shop, with scan tool attempted a lock up stall test.
The torque convertor would not lock. Inputs from tcm to lock up solinoid were tested, all inputs were ok. At this point transmission was removed, when disassembled, rear bearing support was damaged, overdrive clutches and steels
were burnt, overdrive planatary and intermediate shaft were also damaged.
i completly overhauled the trans with new torque converotr and pump also installed.
Inside the trans cooler lines is a one way valve to prevent torque convertor bleed back, the one way valve was removed because of a possible restriction. Reinstalled the trans and reroad tested. On the highway same fault occurred,
when returning to the shop the trans temp light came on and overdrive was disabled
I pulled over and waited for it to cool down. After restarting and driving when the
trans shifted from first to second the rear wheels locked up solid, two clutches applying at the same time. At this point it had to be towed back. I reremoved and disassembled the valve body, no probelem found, all valves were working properly.
Tans was the removed again and disassembled, the exact same damage was found
in the overdrive unit. The rear bearing support is fed fluid directly from the return side of the trans cooler. I hooked up a trans coolker flush machine with a pressure gauge and checked flow pressure, pressure was 45 psi, it should be no more than 15 psi. Anyway long story short a restriction was isolated to the radiator cooler, not the auxillary cooler. The radiator was flushed, aux cooler flushed, all rubber
portins of cooler hoses replaced, Trans was reinstalled and is now working fine.
please check for a restirction before doing any repair on your trans. remove the
one way valve in the cooler hose, and disconnect your return cooler hose from the
trans(rear one) runyour engine in neutral at 2000rpm and check you trans flow,
you should get a gallon in about 20 seconds, basically drain the pan. If the flow is a good amount less then you probably have a restiction. The pumps and valve bodys in these trans are solid and the issue is usually some place else. I found out he hard way, rebuit trans twice in the same week.
04617015, it has a larger bleed hole and prevents you lock up convertor from
kicking in and out.
Your unfortunate story reinforces the need for routine maintenance. Industry statistics clearly show a correlation between the level of maintence and the level of transmission problems. Yet, the vast majority of us will religiously change engine oil at 3000-5000 miles, yet completely forget about the transmission. In the vast majority of cases that I see or hear of, lack of routine maintenance is usually associated with transmission problems.
As noted in many of my posts, poor fluid flow or loss of hyraulic pressure due to debris problems are predominate to many transmission issues. That's why I often list clogged cooling lines and the anti-drain back valve as a prime suspect on Mopars.
The one thing I might suggest to reconsider is the permanent remove of the anti-drain back valve. This valve was added to later A998s, A999s, A500s, A518s and A618s for a reason. Torque converter syphoning can be a problem on these transmissions, especially if one lives in a climate where day-to-night temperatures range considerably. The anti-drain back valve prevents this. If the filter is replaced and the ATF is refreshed routinely, the likihood of having excessive dirt and debris in the ATF is very low. They can be replaced very easily and should be periodically as well.
Chrysler has the anti-drain back valve built directly in to the transmission of the RFE series, and uses a Cooling Return Filter to ensure that the anti-drain back valve doesn't get clogged. However, the filter itself can become clogged and produce the same problem as a clogged anti-drain back valve.
ATF does become oxidized, collects moisture and dissipates the friction component over time. Fluid condition is probably the single most important characteristic of an automatic transmission. This is especially true on Mopars since their ATF+ series is a very specific and unique recipe.
Best regards,
Dusty
Thanks
G2
I will get this fixed and let you know what the final resolve was.
have a great day
Regards,
Dusty
Just another note, before I got the level right I misread the stick(fluid smeared on stick instead of actual level) because I didn't think I had got all the fluid out and had added about 9 quarts and was worried about overfilling. Well it through 0740 code when I got on the highway the first day. I thought great now the TCC is shot but when I checked the fluid level after nice and hot and several dips to be sure I ended up a 1 1/2 qts low, got that straight and haven't seen that code in a day so got my fingers crossed.
Not sure how long I have because I seen very fine shavings on magnet and glittery substance in bottom of pan and on filter and I've read anything from this is normal to you don't have too long left on your tranny.
Any clue what the glittery substance is from, is that clutch material maybe or just metal particles.
thanks.
also what do i need to do to get better mpg?? only avg.12.6 combined ???
Changing transmission filter and fluid periodically will usually prevent serious problems.
Regards,
Dusty
I hate to be a nag on this sublect, but change filters and fluid regularly and problems become far less likely.
Please keep us posted. Best of luck
Regards,
Dusty
If it slips out of gear the gearshift cable could be out of adjustment. This is not uncommon with units that have been removed for service.
Regards,
Dusty
PS it's 2002
Regards,
Dusty
Thanks!
Ski in TX
so i changed the filter and fluid (atf+4) and took it for a test drive . it shifted fine for about 2 miles , then 3rd was gone again ! just 1st and reverse. i checked the cooling lines both were cold ! when i changed the fluid i blow out the lines till no trans fluid came out . i also tried to blow compressed air into the line conection on the trans the top connection would accept air to a point then blow fluid back out . the lower would not take any air , like there was a one way valve ? is the trans toast or should i check something else ? i also have a p1740 code coming up .
thanks for your help !!
Kevin
Dodge is no different than Ford or GM in this respect, although I don't believe it happens with any degree of regularity. Each vehicle is dyno run, so some problems may not manifest itself until driven, although a certain percentage are test track inspected. If a fix is available at the factory, they always hold them. The oil sludge problem with our last Toyota was a known issue before we bought the Avalon. Whether Toyota didn't have a fix ready or not is questionable, but our Avalon wasn't recalled until it was too late.
I checked with three Dodge transmission tech. regarding a shutter problem on 2009 RAMs. None have had any problems whatsoever. A check on Chrysler's Technical Network yielded none...repeat, no service inquires regarding a transmission problem on a 2009. There have been no TSBs or software updates issued against '09 transmissions. The 545RFE used behind the 4.7 or the Hemi is far from new. This rock solid design has been around since 2000, and in all these years torque converter shutter complaints have been almost non-existant. My guy here in town said that none of the 2009 RAMs they've sold so far have come back for anything.
What may appear to be torque converter shutter could be something else. On RFEs, a DRB3 diagnostic check should reveal anything abnormal. Sometimes a PCM clean & reflash will solve unusual issues.
Regards,
Dusty
the auxillary cooler(factory). When my happen it damaged the rear bearing support
and the over drive clutches and planatary gear set. It took two overhauls where the
same damage happened before I replace the factory cooler with a aftermarket one.
I also replaced my torque convertor as it was burnt front fluid starvation. Check
your flow on the return cooler line(rear). It should drain your trans pan in about
30 seconds. If you have poor flow, check and replace your cooler, i reccommend
a aftermarket one as it does not flow through the fins. I also recommend checking
the over drive unit and the rear bearing support and drum.
Hope this helps
Robert
The valve body by its very nature is prone to the effects of debris as the passages are very small. They also contain check balls which can become impacted with silt that affects operation. Pistons and valves and their bores become scratched and worn. On high mileage transmissions, many shops just elect to replace the entire valve body assembly that contains new parts.
Now as far as purging the cooling lines and system of debris, I tend to agree that this is more likely an area that misses attention by shops, although the better shops are more conscious and thorough. It's to any shop's avantage to do the job right the first time. I wouldn't spend eight hours or more on a rebuild, cleaning and installing new parts, and not check the cooling lines for silt or blockage. The job isn't going to last very long, probably less than 1000 miles, and you're going to be yanking the tranny back out again and also have one pissed off customer. Now the guys that do sloppy work like this will usually say, "something else failed" and charge you for another repair, or just blame the design. And after all, not many people understand the inner workings of an automatic transmission to know the difference.
Anyway, I hope this resolves the problem for you. Perform routine maintenance on that transmission and you should get another 150,000 fairly troublefree miles out of it or more.
By the way. My Dodge tranny guy just did a first rebuild on a 46RE in a '94 Ram at 221,000 miles. The front band finally broke. This customer did regular filter changes and flushed the transmission once at 150K.
Best regards,
Dusty
The nearest transmission shop is 65 miles away. Any ideas on a cause or fix?
so i changed the filter and fluid (atf+4) and took it for a test drive . it shifted fine for about 2 miles , then 3rd was gone again ! just 1st and reverse. i checked the cooling lines both were cold ! when i changed the fluid i blow out the lines till no trans fluid came out . i also tried to blow compressed air into the line conection on the trans the top connection would accept air to a point then blow fluid back out . the lower would not take any air , like there was a one way valve ? is the trans toast or should i check something else ? i also have a p1740 code coming up .
thanks for your help !!
Kevin
If the same symptom keeps manifesting itself, I'm suspicious the problem was never in the transmission to begin with.
If the Front Servo and/or the Kickdown Band are okay, and there are no issues with the valve body, it is most likely a governor problem. The governor includes a sensor and a solenoid. I don't know if these items have been replaced, but...the Jasper had a different governor. The only thing common to the two different governor's you've had is the governor electrical wiring and the PCM/TCM.
Remove the electrical connectors from the transmission and check for signs of moisture, corrosion, or bent terminals. Check the wiring to the PCM and check the electrical connectors there, too. If everything checks okay, I'd suggest putting a DRB2 scan tool on the system and check the PCM/TCM for codes.
Regards,
Dusty
*Low fluid level
*Clogged filter, cooling lines, and/or cooling tank
*Clogged or worn valve body and components
*Internal leak:valve body separator plate, valve body seals, input shaft seals, etc.
*Broken band, band achor, strut or band lever fell away
*Overrunning clutch defective
*Worn pump
Regards,
Dusty
ps i used dextron 3 help my e-mail is wvrd@aol.com
Using Dexron-3 has likely ruined your transmission and you are looking at a rebuild or replacement.
kcram - Pickups/Wagons Host
I will check it out and let you know what I find.