Boat freak
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2014
- Posts
- 16
- Reaction score
- 2
- Ram Year
- 2014
- Engine
- 5.7 Hemi
I have a 2014 Ram 1500 hemi, 3.92s, trailer tow options, 50,000 miles. We do recreational towing, a 21' 3,500lb pontoon boat.
So Wednesday evening we had a transmission failure on a rural highway in southern Missouri 200 miles from home and 60 miles from our destination (the lake). When pulling it hills we got a couple of loud "BANG" sounds when it tried do downshift, then the check engine light came on, shortly after we got a Trans Temp High warning message.. The trans temp gauge showed 280* before we were able to find a safe place to get off the highway.. We coasted into a parking lot. Ram customer care got a tow truck to us within an hour and it was dropped at the nearest Ram dealer that night, my father towed our boat the rest of the way to the lake with his 2017 Ram 1500 hemi 8spd (his trans temp didn't top 195 the entire tow).
Two days later (Friday) the dealer looked at it and diagnosed it with a bad valve body, they claimed they saw no overheat in the history. The dealer gave me a rental that I was not allowed to tow with.. I was at a lake with my family and my boat, my truck (bought new) which had every tow option as well as a powertrain warranty had failed, and even calling Ram customer care did not help me get a rental truck that I could tow with.
The dealer did a quick turn around which was impressive, they installed the new valve body Monday morning, along with a new filter/pan and 9 qts of new fluid, they did a short 10 mile test drive, then called to tell me it was ready to pick up.
I drove the hour from the lake up to the dealer with the rental, turned it in, got my truck back, and within 20 minutes of driving the transmission hit 212* with no load and no trailer on a 75 degree day.. I pulled over and called the service manager, asking if I should bring it back to him as I was planning to tow my boat the 260 mile trip home that afternoon.. The service manager told me "until it fails again Chrysler won't do anything". Frustrated at the answer I felt we had no choice, I continued back to the lake, hooked up my boat, loaded our luggage, and we headed out. While the truck made it home we frequently hit 230* trans temps and it never got below 217* even when coasting downhill or on very flat ground, which can't be right.
280* is hot enough to cause internal transmission damage, but how/why didn't that temp show up in their diagnosis? I really feel like the transmission should be replaced, but what are the chances of getting RAM to do that? I can honestly say that I have no confidence in the reliability of my truck right now.. and i'm on my 3rd boat & 4th truck (2nd Ram), I will no doubt be buying trucks for many years to come.. If Ram doesn't do anything for me, why would I ever buy another one?
I currently have a couple calls in to Ram Customer Care and hope to hear back from them today. Will Ram do the right thing here? I hope so, but I just thought I should share my story. Thanks for reading.
So Wednesday evening we had a transmission failure on a rural highway in southern Missouri 200 miles from home and 60 miles from our destination (the lake). When pulling it hills we got a couple of loud "BANG" sounds when it tried do downshift, then the check engine light came on, shortly after we got a Trans Temp High warning message.. The trans temp gauge showed 280* before we were able to find a safe place to get off the highway.. We coasted into a parking lot. Ram customer care got a tow truck to us within an hour and it was dropped at the nearest Ram dealer that night, my father towed our boat the rest of the way to the lake with his 2017 Ram 1500 hemi 8spd (his trans temp didn't top 195 the entire tow).
Two days later (Friday) the dealer looked at it and diagnosed it with a bad valve body, they claimed they saw no overheat in the history. The dealer gave me a rental that I was not allowed to tow with.. I was at a lake with my family and my boat, my truck (bought new) which had every tow option as well as a powertrain warranty had failed, and even calling Ram customer care did not help me get a rental truck that I could tow with.
The dealer did a quick turn around which was impressive, they installed the new valve body Monday morning, along with a new filter/pan and 9 qts of new fluid, they did a short 10 mile test drive, then called to tell me it was ready to pick up.
I drove the hour from the lake up to the dealer with the rental, turned it in, got my truck back, and within 20 minutes of driving the transmission hit 212* with no load and no trailer on a 75 degree day.. I pulled over and called the service manager, asking if I should bring it back to him as I was planning to tow my boat the 260 mile trip home that afternoon.. The service manager told me "until it fails again Chrysler won't do anything". Frustrated at the answer I felt we had no choice, I continued back to the lake, hooked up my boat, loaded our luggage, and we headed out. While the truck made it home we frequently hit 230* trans temps and it never got below 217* even when coasting downhill or on very flat ground, which can't be right.
280* is hot enough to cause internal transmission damage, but how/why didn't that temp show up in their diagnosis? I really feel like the transmission should be replaced, but what are the chances of getting RAM to do that? I can honestly say that I have no confidence in the reliability of my truck right now.. and i'm on my 3rd boat & 4th truck (2nd Ram), I will no doubt be buying trucks for many years to come.. If Ram doesn't do anything for me, why would I ever buy another one?
I currently have a couple calls in to Ram Customer Care and hope to hear back from them today. Will Ram do the right thing here? I hope so, but I just thought I should share my story. Thanks for reading.