I have the drive train, computer & wiring from a 96 Dakota in my old Dodge truck.
The auto trans (which I assume is a 46RH?) has around 48,000 original miles on it now. It had 44,000 when installed into the truck, and I've driven the truck about 4,000 miles since. The transmission was working great, but the original aluminum & plastic radiator started leaking. I've installed a new cross flow aluminum radiator with the trans cooler in it. I believe everything was working well, but the weather turned colder shortly after the radiator install (low teens for high temps). The truck gets driven little during the winter, and I need to drive it across town (about 3 miles) before it starts warming up operating temp with the 195 stat (pretty normal around here), so the trans fluid probably barely reaches 160 degrees until I turn around and come home. Its all in town, so things like OD or torque converter lockup are pretty hard to notice.

About a month after the radiator install, I blew a trans cooler line off, but didn't know it until I was almost across town and the trans started slipping. I stopped driving (more accurately it stopped moving) about a block later where it was the only place I could get off the street. I reattached the cooler line, and put in 8 quarts of ATF4 from the Oreilles that was walking distance from where I stopped. It started up and drove it home, where I added another quart of ATF4 to bring it up to full. The transmission seems to still shift very smoothly, but leaving a stop it seems to slip (feels like letting a clutch out) until it starts rolling, but then feel fine, but I don't think the OD has been working since.

Now that the weather is warming up, I'm driving the truck a lot more. I'm pretty sure the OD does not work. Last weekend, the temps were in the mid 40s. I started the truck cold, and drove it about a mile on the highway, then stopped for about an hour, the drove it about a 1/2 mile (highway) and turned onto a bypass where I drove the truck about 10 miles at between 65 and 70 mph. The (factory) tack reads 3,000 rpm at 70 mph, 3:55 gears, motor at operating temp.

When I ran it out of fluid, did kill the OD, OD switches or the clutches in the trans? The fluid still looks good.
What do I need to check and fix? I have not yet dropped the trans pan, if I need a solenoid or something I'd rather order that and have it here before dropping the pan. Ideas?
Thanks
Gene

Does your wiring still have the OBD port? If so, see what , if any codes you get.
1996; is that OBD 1 or 2?

1996 should be OBD 2 and have the electronic 46RE transmission. I'm not sure what the cause of your issue is but running it dry till it stops in never good for an auto. A scan tool with full diagnostic capabilities might give some insight to operations provided the OBD port is still in the harness.

The port is still in the harness, my buddy has a full read scanner, but he was too busy to get to it this afternoon. We were discussing if it was OBD 1 or OBD 2. I thought the 46RE started in 97.

Running it out of fluid sure wasn't in the plan. I was unaware it blew the line off until the trans slipped the first time. I was cruising along at 30 mph and hit a hill before the trans first showed any sign of an issue, and I pulled over as soon as I could. Truthfully, I was pretty happy that it still moved after I added the fluid. It wasn't until I was driving it home that I saw the trail of ATF on the ground. When I saw where it started to dump the fluid, I was pretty surprised it went as far as it did.
Thanks guys, I'll post what we find out.

What is your "old Dodge truck? You may want to drop the pan and look for any obvious issues. You can always run a pressure test to see what is what. If you have the "check engine light" hooked up you can do the key dance to get codes.

https://www.allpar.com/threads/the-1980s-1990s-chrysler-computer-codes.229009/#post-1085223107

Pressure test is on the last page...
https://www.trucktransdiag.com/downloads/technical-data-for-dodge-transmissions.pdf

There is a build thread here on Moparts, in the street rod section: "49 Dodge pickup on a 96 Dakota 4x4 chassis." See pic below.

i used the entire drive train and wiring harness from a 44,000 mile 96 Dakota 4x4. Everything is intact from that Dakota pickup I pulled everything out of (the bottom half of the frame was rotted away).
My buddy has a full range scanner, but it will be mid week (this week) before he can get to it to make the scan. I'd rather have an idea what to expect, if possible, before I just drop the pan and have a look. Ordering parts online myself to have on hand costs about 1/2 of what things cost to have someone else order them online here locally The truck is still transportation for another couple of weeks. Gene

94 was the first year for OBD II and 96 was the first year for the RE..

Nope 96 was 1st obd-2. My 94s were still obd-1.

Not sure if the same, but on my '96 Ram I have both the OBDII under dash and the Chrysler diagnostic connector under the hood. Most times I have to use the Chrysler connector with any decent scan tool to read powertrain values or even accurate DTCs. In my opinion, OBDII had very limited ability that year.

The wiring on this truck has whatever Dodge gave that 96 Dakota from the factory, nothing has been altered. I know it has the under dash connection, and I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't another connection under the hood (I just don't remember). The scanner my buddy has is a full scale scanner that he buys updates for each year. His isn't some piece of junk you pickup at HF or Autozone.

I also understand that the early OBD2 didn't have all the abilities of the newer stuff, but at this point, all I need it to do is determine if the electronics inside the trans are functioning as Dodge made them to function. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday we can get it connected to the scanner.
If the weather cooperates, after Friday I can drive the coupe as transportation, so I can get the truck fixed. At this point, the only sure thing the truck trans is missing is the OD.

So a 1996 has an Chrysler style OBD-I connector under the hood by the PCM computer
plus an OBD-II plug under the dash?

Update:
To answer a few questions, the 96 Dakota has the plug for the scanner under the dash, I did not look to see if there was a connecter under the hood. It is OBD2.
I got 3 codes:
P1765 Relay control
P0711 Fluid temp sensor
P0748 Governor pressure solenoid circuit.
According to google, all could have been tripped by low fluid, guess that makes sense, I ran it out of ATF-4 the day the cooler line blew off.
We have reset the computer and I will drive the truck a couple days and we will see what comes back, we will address what we have then, unless you guys have a better plan. Gene

I hope it's that simple...and it sounds plausible. Yeah, let us know...

sounds like the solenoid pack... comes with gov solenoid and torque converter solenoid. not taht hard to change.
Sonnax (among others) used to have a kit to repair the governor solenoid.... there's a screen within that plugs up as I remember, the kit I remember (not that you need that many) came with enough to do 10 of them, but a new solenoid isn't terribly expensive.

It would probably be a good idea to price out the solenoid pack and find out how long it will take to get one here. I think I replaced the solenoid pack in that trans that was in my 39 I tried to save that didn't work.

You are correct, my mistake.

There isn't a solenoid pack, there is a solenoid and a transducer, they should be replaced together.

Thank you. The one time deal with the 39 was a couple years ago, the old memory isn't so good anymore.

ok... not a solenoid "pack" as in like what an A604 would have had.... just 2 solenoids involved in a 44/46/47 RE, but still sold as a pair, bundled together in 1 box...... I don't think they are available seperate. I've always bought them as 1 part. Not that expensive and not that tough to put in but you do have to drop the pan.

I had a chance to look over the electrical end of things outside of the pan this afternoon, the wiring and connectors on this harness is all very clean. I'm also pretty sure the only things I'm missing are the OD and converter lock up. The truck has a factory tach, according to it, I'm doing about 1300 rpm @ 35 mph, and 2500 at 55 mph, the truck has 3:55 gears with 235/75/15 tires, so I believe its at least shifting into 3rd. It used to run 2500-2700 at 75 mph. Now 70 mph is 3500 rpm.
The trans shifts so smoothly, you really have to be paying attention to tell if it shifts, but you can see the tach drop around 25 mph. I haven't been over to see my buddy to see if the codes have come back, but OD still isn't working, so I expect the next step is the solenoid and transducer. Will change the filter and adjust the bands while the pan is off. Might even put a drain plug in the pan. I intend to make this the last truck I will need.