What's up with my 2011 Ram? 70K miles, suddenly this morning it won't go into gear...i.e. the engine starts, column shifter moves just fine, will shift into Neutral but not Reverse or Drive...meaning, the shifter moves to R and N and D but the truck stays in Neutral the whole time, won't even attempt to engage R or D! Ugh!

I've got the extended warranty thru Mopar, bought this truck new in Nov 2011, and it's at the dealership now getting looked at...but just curious as to what Moparts members might be able to tell me about this...?

I checked the fluid and it's clean and does not smell bad, and full. I scanned this myself at home (just scanned, did not clear the code) and the code for Low Transmission Pressure came up.

Any ideas? Will the fix be something simple or new transmission? Any guesses?

JS

This is odd...the filter came loose inside the pan!

The tech has replaced the filter, flushed the trans and re-filled with ATF, out test-driving now. I hope that is all that is wrong!

JS

never heard of that before. bizarre

Sounds like a trans service gone bad.

If its the 45RFE or 545RFE trans then it can happen as the main filter in the pan (it has 2 filters) pushes up into the valve body and has a seal that pushes in the valve body first then the filter neck pushes into the seal which is a metal outer coated housing so the seal ring stays pressed in the valve body. But may times I have seen either a tech did not install the seal right in a trans service or the factory did not get it in right and the filter neck does not seat right and just sucks in air since the filter neck is above the fluid level. The filter can fall out or its just not sealed because the seal is not in right and it does not suck any fluid into the pump because its just pulling in air from the loss of the sealing at the filter neck to the valve body and it will of course set that code since the pressure switch will see no trans fluid pressure. Ron

Yup, that's what happened! All is well now, new fluid, filter and she goes like new! 545RFE behind a 5.7 in a 2011 Ram 1500.

What is the recommended service interval for this transmission? And, does this one still use ATF+4 or something else?

Thanks!

JS

Thanks! Runs great now, no issues after this repair (under warranty, too boot!)

JS

The fix for that is to use a GM 125 filter seal instead of the stock one. It will seal the filter tighter and help to keep the neck from coming loose. We do it on all builds.

Pat