OUCH!! Hope this isn't permanent.........

my 93 with a 318 is better on MPG than my 94 with a 3.9/ but I have never had one 9 MPG-bad. except my 88 D 100,318, 1st year they had TBI.
My 94 (3.9 auto reg cab short bed 3.55s) got a best ever of 18-once- usually 17 on a solid highway run, 14 in the winter in mixed driving, my 318 one (club cab, converted to 5 speed by me, also 3.55s) gets 20 on the highway and 17-18 in mixed driving. never did worse than 15, even towing, with this one. both trucks 2wd,
my 90 (3.9 pre magnum long bed also 2wd, 3.55s) got 16 in town/20 highway, like clockwork.

I stand corrected after some research. I thought the trans temp sensor only caused the trans to drop out of OD when it got too hot. not when it was cold. Isn't that a 1998 and newer thing?

Yes, the OD is working, and so is the lock up. In certain situations, its noticeable enough that it feels like a 5 spd.

As I mentioned in another thread, I think the previous owner thought the trans was 'bad' because the truck doesn't have the 'snap' of a new vehicle. To me, it feels fine. It shifts as it should. To me, it actually shifts better than the 2002 I used to have. With the '02, I practically had to mat it to get it to drop a gear and pull (like if I slowed way down and wanted to get back up to speed quickly). With this,same scenario, and it drops down a gear without even coming close to matting it, pulls hard up to speed, upshifts, OD kicks in and you're at cruising speed. No fuss, no muss.

My '96 ext cab v-6 got around 15ish around town, 19-20ish highway. I once--and only once got 22 on a 600 mile round trip after it was given a full tune up. I owned the truck from 54,000 miles to 135,000 miles(9 years). Obviously the older the truck got, the worse it got, but it was pretty consistant to the end.

Sounds as if the T-stat is a little faulty, replace it---factory 195 is adequate IMO.

my '89 dakota goes into overdrive, as soon as i get up to speed. temp is not a factor.

Any of the Dodge trucks I've owned with an OD trans will not shift into OD when it's cold. I've had a 90,95,96 all do this, even my 05 does it. My brothers 96 and my dads 98 do it as well. And by cold I mean -25C (which is about -13F) and I haven't let it warm up at all (yes I know that's not good for a vehicle but sometimes you have no choice)

On my 05, if it's colder than about 25F outside the converter stays unlocked for the first mile or two of freeway driving.

It's good to hear that my old is behaving "normal"!

Are these trannys any more complex than a 727 (besides the OD)?

The internals of the transmission no not really. They use the same clutches, and hard parts.

Main difference is in the valvebody with the OD solenoid, and electric lockup (If applicable).

And by cold I mean -25C (which is about -13F)

If it ever gets that cold around here, the OD or even the truck itself will be the LEAST of my problems.....

Over in the Q&A section, I had a lot of guys disputing me that the V6 does crap for mpg. Less power than the 5.2, same mpg. I think it just takes a certain amount of hp to drive these things down the road. But 9 is bad, worse than it should be. You should at least be seeing teens mpg. Have you checked it fill to fill straight highway driving? Town driving, warm-up, short trips, etc will kill mpg.

FWIW, my buddy and I took his 97 ram 1500 extended cab 5.2 4x4 auto on a 3000 mile round trip. When we were on the flat lands in North Dakota, we ran a tank full of gas at 75mph on the interstate, got 13.5mpg. Slowed down to 55-60 for the next tank and mileage perked up to 18.5mpg. We stayed around that speed the rest of the trip. On the way back home (1500 miles) we were towing my boat/trailer, combined weight about 2200lbs. The poor 318 struggled with the extra weight and drag behind it on the hills coming up through the Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska area. Constantly shifting up/down unless I let it slow down going up the hills or went fast enough to keep it reving higher in 4th. Either way mpg was crap, don't think we broke 14mpg towing. Maybe once we hit the flat lands it had the chance to pick up a little.

My 94 Ford Explorer 4.0L 5sp manual 4x4 would do 17mpg on the highway when towing the same boat. She was real low on power doing it but got the job done. Good thing the highways here are flat and boy did the 5sp ever make towing better. That would have been a miserable tow rig if it would have had the auto trans.

My 99 Ram 2500 5.9 cummins 24v auto 4x4 long box extended cab truck towed the same boat at a consistent 17-19mpg on the highway.

Then later on same buddy bought a minty low mileage 2001 ram 2500 v10 5sp 4x4 extended cab long box. I borrowed it when going to pick up a dart sport I was buying. On the hour drive dragging the tow dolly out there, the overhead console showed a typical 12-13mpg. On the way back with the car on the dolly the mpg remained unchanged and I sure never felt the car on the back.

So basically if you're only getting 9mpg, that's worse than a 3/4 ton v10 truck with 3x the power and towing capacity.

We had three days of temps in the upper 70's, my gas gauge basically didn't move for three days.

Today, the temps dropped back into the 30's and my gas gauge is just free fallin' towards empty.

Gee, could it be a temp issue?


I got my tax refund, so, I went ahead and ordered the hughes kit (not burning oil, just preventive measures while I have the $$$). I'm also gathering up the rest of the parts for a tune up and to change the T-stat out.

Now I just need a couple of clear days.