Anyone have any insight in this problem?

Fresh trans rebuild, Mopar rebuild master kit and converter even new trans cooler to be safe

First converter was bad! No lock up. Second converter good.

Valve body bone stock with everything set to factory spec.

About 50% of the time pulling away from light will be in second.

Stomping on gas will cause downshift into first.

Manual shift into first and no problem.

Any thoughts? Governor pressure should be zero at dead stop, no fault codes, manual indicates "Look for stuck 1-2 valve or governor plug." or front piston cocked in bore or even band binding up.

Front band is 2 turns from 72 inch pounds.

After having this thing out twice due to a crappy Mopar converter I'm not in a great mood to look at it again. Try to do everything right and it bites you on the ass some days.

Valve body was meticulously cleaned and assembled (spent 5 hours doing so), even went as far as to measure each spring with micrometer to make sure in correct locations.

Suggestions?

Gary

Oh- And the servos air checked fine when assembled.

Year, model, and engine? Did you do any mods at all?

Sticky 1-2 shift valve in valve body.

If you can, shut the truck down when it's in the "stuck in 2nd" condition and remove the VB....the stuck valve will be apparent.

1998 Ram 1500 2WD 5.2V8 all stock aside from glasspack muffler.

Been driving the truck since '07, we know each other pretty well.

I'll try that next week, going to park it for the next several days so I don't risk damaging anything. My plate has been overflowing with work and the cluster flak with the converter blew a huge hole in my to-do list.

As always thanks for your insights, always appreciated! Anything else I should check while the pan is down?

Not sure what manual you are using - I doubt the Chrysler service manuals.
Front piston cocked ? That's the reverse high clutch - nothing to do with second.
All RH and RE operate the same - the only difference is the RE has an electronic governor. To launch in second gear on either - you need either governor pressure or a stuck 1-2 shift valve or governor pluug.

You tired of working on this trans?

Before you start yanking any valve body out I would recommend sticking a 0-80 pound gauge on the governor port and when the unit launches in second see if you have governor pressure or not. If None - valve body 1-2 shift valve or gov. Plug. If pressure at the governor port you likely have a bad governor solenoid. I don't see you mentioning you replaced it, nor why you had to rebuild the trans. The governor pintle and seat commonly get worn and scratched through operation which alllows erratic operation and leakage. It only takes about a pound and a half to launch in second.

See attached, I use nothing but Chrysler service manuals.

Chrysler does not have a specific tree for the problem, it falls between #2 and #3 of the attached image.



170,000 miles on it, surged at highway speeds, overheat light came on last road trip locking out overdrive till the temp dropped.

Opened up as would be prudent BEFORE race season gets rolling and found overdrive double overrunning clutch evidence of slipping (hence surge at highway speed and overheat condition) and snap ring for overdrive broken into 5-6 pieces as is typical.

Never had a problem taking off in second though.

Oh and yes I am tired of taking it apart- On the first day when lockup stopped working everything in the circuit was checked out, valve body was disassembled to make sure nothing was out of place or blocked, electrical circuits were checked to make sure PCM was actually calling for TCC, the trans was pulled and air checked again to finally determine that I got a bum converter from Chrysler.

While waiting for the second converter the valve body was disassembled again and checked by the book (down to checking spring wire diameter) to make sure everything was 100% so not to leave any chance for error.

The replacement converter showed up and was the wrong part number!! The dealer did not even check before delivering it.

So now I have a truck that has been tying up my lift for a week and if the truck isn't running I'm not making money. If I'm working on the truck I'm not making money either.

So yes I'm darn tired of looking at the transmission which was built spot on the first time and I get kicked in the nuts by Ma Mopar and her rebuilt by cheapest bidder parts.

When I inquired about the $75 worth of synthetic ATF that went down the drain due to their defective part I got shrugged shoulders from the dealer which does not help my mood either.

Sorry Gary - been a while since I had to use a Chrysler service manual for this issue. After reading it - I am amazed we put something this bad out there for techs to refer to. No mention of a governor test, and the front servo cocking - really? I would like to see that. 😳.
The piston with controlled load kickdown plunger prevents the servo spring retainer from cocking and vice versa. Impossible to cock. I know it's a pain sometimes finding a pressure fitting but if you want to properly diagnose this complaint ( where no codes are present ) you should consider checking for governor pressure. No gauge - you are just guessing. You said you were meticulous in doing the valve body - if you had everything clean and all the valves moved under there own weight then likely that is not your issue.

As for the bad converter - we only have one company that does the converters. They do an excellent job on all the converters. Each one - yes, each and every one is tested for lockup. If you did not take anything apart in the trans and just replaced the converter then it points to the converter. But if you took the valve body apart you may have had a stuck TCC valve - that will prevent lockup. I left Chrysler late last year - not sure who is managing the Reman program but when I was there we regularly audited each Reman facility -'the converter plant had a good reputation when I left. Of course everyone can have an issue- 😔

I assembled it and I would agree but would be remiss not to mention it since Chrysler did mention it.



Oh very much so, I already checked the line pressure to make sure it was in spec and will check governor pressure before cracking the pan again.

I despise doing something more than once, time is a precious commodity as I age.

Figured I'd toss this problem out there in case I was missing anything.

Don't do a lot of transmissions of late, they have been spaced out now that I'm no longer a line tech and its easy to forget the past as new projects crowd the mind and time erases the memory.

Sometimes the erasing is a good thing, other times a pain in the ass.

Its why it was taken apart and inspected to isolate the problem, even went as far to replace the solenoids on general principle as I had spares on the shelf.

No change was noted after inspection, recleaning of the valve body and replacement of solenoids.

Generally I have had good luck with Chrysler converters.. but one can't ignore the fact other Chrysler reman items have not covered themselves in glory in my experience.

Good to know that you replaced the solenoid. You didn't mention what year RE your unit is. Prior to 2000 we had the metal can governor transducer and 2000 and later we went to the plastic body design. There were a bunch of bad plastic units in the field - the part number started with a 6. If you got one of those - throw it in the garbage. Use the unit that starts with a 5 and ends in AD or AE. As for Reman - the rack and pinions, a/c stuff, control modules and such was less that spectacular in performance and durability. The auto transmissions and converters are vastly improved from those made prior to 2010.

Also, one extremely rare issue - electrical noise on the speed sensor circuit. The PCM uses speed sensor input to calculate shaft speed and then to run/modulate the governor solenoid. The transducer reads the pressure and then talks to the PCM, and it also reads fluid temp through a thermistor. Either one of those can cause issues like you are having. I think there is a splice in the harness where the O2 sensor can cause the same issue. If you didn't have this issue in the first place not too likely you do now. Just a heads up for you. Good luck.

5th post, 1998.

Will take some readings next week and post results, thanks for chiming in!

Gary

We sure had alot of eratic problems with the gov press sensor and solenoid. I dont see if you say if they were replaced ? I would see some of them read fine at times and then read wrong. I always liked to read the gov press on the DRBIII scanner and also live on my gauge and compare them and of course look for zero gov press at a stop. I know I saw a few of them read normal when road testing and when we could not find any other problem we replaced them and that fixed it. When ever I did a complete customer overhaul I always included them in the estimate and replaced them. Ron

Yep,

Just the OD and TCC solenoids Ron, cost me nothing as I had a known good pair on the shelf and could eliminate one possible failure item.

I'm considering just replacing the gov pressure sensor and solenoid on general principle as I value reliability above all else. The trans has really been flawless the whole time I owned the vehicle (aside from the identified ailments) so thought nothing about reusing the existing gov sensor and solenoid which have exhibited no odd behaviors.

Aftermarket parts have not covered themselves in glory either the last several years.

Even if it is a stuck 1-2 valve, will replace the 2 items.

I hardly ever had a O/D or TCC solenoid go bad but saw many Gov pressure sensors and Gov duty cycle solenoids go bad. So it's a good idea to replace the Gov sensor and duty cycle solenoid as its a good chance that will fix it since we had alot of them give problems. Good luck , Ron

I have had the odd OD solenoid go bad while working the line at the dealer...Picked up my Durango for a song when it was traded in as it had a bad one and a trans shop told the guy it needed an overhaul.