2005 Durango Limited 5.7 Hemi w/tow package

The truck has been running strong with no issues.

Suddenly, while heading up a hill to my house today, the RPMs wind out and I come to a stop. The transmission isn't going anywhere in any setting.

I was listening to the radio at the time and didn't notice any unusual sounds when it happened.

There's now a high pitch whine that varies with engine RPM. Sounds like a power steering pump that's low on fluid.

When I turned off the engine there was kind of a grinding noise that changed pitch as the engine came to a stop.

Any suggestions on what happened? I do have quite a bit of experience repairing cars but that was from the 70s/80s.

Thanks,
Duane

Torque converter broke?

I'll put my money on the converter, typical "Mopar" issue, it grenaded internally and flushed all the shrapnel thru out the transmission... DAMHIK

I suppose that means a complete rebuild will be needed.

Maybe you will get lucky and the flex plate broke. I am assuming the trans is full of ATF? A broken cooler line will empty a trans pretty quickly. Unless there is a fluid level issue, the trans will have to come out. If you go through the work of pulling it, you might as well rebuild it. Gene

Fluid still looks and smells good. I don't see any leakage.

Biggest thing is the cost. The last trans I had rebuilt (98 Cherokee. Suspension crushed a cooler line and the trans cooked) cost me about $3,000. I can't afford that kind of expense right now.

I have an 01 Durango 4.7 that was crushed by a tree back in February. Was thinking maybe I could do a swap but I think it has the 45RFE.

I plan on dropping the pan this weekend to see if I can spot any obvious issues.

Isn't there a valve in one of the cooler lines that can cause trouble Or is that another truck model?

The valve in the cooler line can get gummed up and keep the trans fluid from circulating, cooking the trans. Doesn't seem the fluid is burned here.

Throw any codes?

Is this a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Make sure nothing happened to the transfer case. Have someone start the vehicle up and place in drive and listen and feel the transfer case if equipped. The grinding could be a converter if it took out the turbine splines but that is not common on those units.

Tell that to my wallet, as I had a converter failure in my 99 Ram 4X4 that destroyed the trans in no less than 20 mins after the converter started it's "death cry"...

My 2010 Ram 4X4 suffered the same fate, my Daughter's 2003 4X4 2500 I traded it just as the converter started whining as I didn't need another tranny rebuild bill for $2K+ , and my buddy's 2005 2WD Ram died from the same cause...no more Rams for me, my tranny guy (funny I never needed a "tranny guy" until I started buy Dodge Rams) says this is a common problem he's seen with Dodge trannys over the years, junk factory supplied converters that can't hold up, that end up puking their ground internals thru out the transmission (none of these trucks ever towed a trailer, but eventually end up being towed! to the tranny shop)

I found when I would get them in with a loud whine when reving the eng it was usually the filter clogged and/or the cooler clogged. But what clogs them is the problem as I have seen converter clutch material do it many times. If it wont move at all I would check to see if the pump has any pressure at all as it may be caused by the converter. I have driven some with clogged filters that would just stop moving while driving and then when they sit about 20 minutes turned off it will start up and drive a bit again. Ron

Read my post again. - I'm talking about turbine spline failures - those are not very common. As for your experiences - sounds like you shouldn't be driving a Dodge.

Uhhh...my bad, I just saw "converter", missed turbine spline failure...

but your right also on "shouldn't be driving Dodges", I realized after blind loyalty of buying 4 Rams that I needed a truck that could be reliable so I bought my first Chevy Silverado 4X4, best truck I've ever had truthfully...

My daughters 2000 Ram 1500 has done the converter trash 2 times. GERRRRRRR

you can check to see if the front pump is pumping fluid by looking at the dipstick when cold, it should be above the full level, start the car and check again, the fluid should go down, if it stays the same level then the pump is not pumping.

Unless someone knowledgeable took your transmissions apart and fully understands failure modes I am having a hard time understanding how anyone could blame a trans failure on the converter. Whining does not automatically mean converter failure, nor does no drive with whining, and on and on. What does happen more time than not is where there truly is a converter failure and the trans AND the cooler are not properly repaired. Cooler flushing was a pissing match for a long time with the dealerships and what worked in the "old" days stopped working when we went to stacked plate coolers. In the end we had the tech line tell the dealer techs if you have a trans failure - replace the cooler. Seems all the repeat converter failures ended. The posts here do not mention transmission type. Many of the 42/44/46/47 lockup gas engine converters had issues with the lockup piston in heavy truck usage - that was fixed around 2002/2003 with a "positive taper" piston. Failures went to almost zero based on warranty return analysis. The RFE converters had issues in heavy trailer tow applications due to overheating causing the hockey puck to fail - it was made of phenolic resin. FWD units had some issues but mostly shudder related due to some quality issues along with software. Not defending Chrysler - just explaining things. And by the way - if you don't buy a Mopar Reman converter you DONT get the upgrades that were made.

Here's what is sounds like

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T5icpE7y8518BiaeMe3EdGygkDrRAu1o


I've found other posts with people saying the pickup or cooler return filter came lose on them, producing the same symptoms.

Getting ready to jack it up and pull the pan.

It's a 5-45RFE

Yup, it's broked.

From the audio it could be the pump.