Help! No Reverse.

So today I upgraded my 65rfe valve body on my 2014 ram 1500 with the sonnax accumalator pistons and the tango shift kit. I also upgraded to the metal thread to install a better oil filter. After everything was installed i finished it off with a PML trans pan and 10 quarts of redline atf. As of right now my fluid level is good and the truck seems to run just fine in all gears but reverse. I have absolutely no reverse. It seems to shift or atleast sounds like it does but goes no where. Any help would be much appreciated.

Damn, sorry to hear this. Since you have good od gears, my guess is possibly reverse isnt getting psi. The shift kit include a gasket? So you saw the check balls? You might have to open it again, I use a mightly pump it gets most of the trans fluid out, you can pump it in original containers if you still have them and reuse it. Have to research this one, come up with a plan.

Maybe the top of valve body isn't seated correctly, or seal is failed? That or reverse piston seal failed in some way, but I think that piston is shared, so you would have issues with 4-6 gear. If you removed valve body you could see if pistons are still sealed and holding compression.

you put a new sump filter on? the funny looking one? And you put a rubber seal on first? did you take the seal out of the hole? trying to ascertain if you have only one seal on the top of the sump filter?

Burla said:

Maybe the top of valve body isn't seated correctly, or seal is failed? That or reverse piston seal failed in some way, but I think that piston is shared, so you would have issues with 4-6 gear. If you removed valve body you could see if pistons are still sealed and holding compression.

you put a new sump filter on? the funny looking one? And you put a rubber seal on first? did you take the seal out of the hole? trying to ascertain if you have only one seal on the top of the sump filter?

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@Burla appreciate the help. To answer some of your questions; yes new sump filter installed and yes old seal removed before installed new one. Im not very educated on mechanical things but the install seemed pretty straight forward. I was hoping there was some other options before I went to emptying the pan but if that's what's got to be done then I guess that's it. Thanks again for the help especially over the holidays.

There is a line pressure sensor that can cause this, but you see the issue here I'm sure, this happened right after you dropped the VB, so the chances it is outside the VB would be rare, especially if it is not random reverse issue. Plus, I'm pretty sure if that was it you would have issues with od gears as well.

have you hooked up your obd2?

I see someone says try a quick learn, just something I read.

When you are in r, does it read r on dash?

The LP sensor is located at the very rear of the main transmission case, just above the oil pan, on the passenger side. It is usually behind a heat shield.

They do have a line booster, sonax I believe, could perhaps increase psi enough to maybe engage, I thought maybe you would have done that anyhow with this upgrade?

If you can wait a day or two and avoid having to use R, it might be beneficial. You never know with line pressure issues, it might just solve itself.

If you want to try something before dropping pan, use a scan tool and check psi's.

Burla said:

I see someone says try a quick learn, just something I read.

When you are in r, does it read r on dash?

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It does read R and it even seems like its going into reverse but no movement.

Burla said:

I see someone says try a quick learn, just something I read.

When you are in r, does it read r on dash?

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I was under the impression the alpha obd could perform a quick learn but when i select gearbox it only displays 2 transmission options, the 8 speed and some other aisin(something like that) but no RFE.

My guess is line pressure, maybe go to a chain trans shop and get a quick learn? Or invest in the alpha obd. Could be leak though, as harsh as this is, best way forward might be to bite the bullet and brush up on installing vb, different thing but detroit city guy has something where he installs VB after fixing linkage, maybe worth a look for putting vb back. Pretty much end of vid 1 below, just take a look.

vid 1

vid 2

Burla said:

My guess is line pressure, maybe go to a chain trans shop and get a quick learn? Or invest in the alpha obd. Could be leak though, as harsh as this is, best way forward might be to bite the bullet and brush up on installing vb, different thing but detroit city guy has something where he installs VB after fixing linkage, maybe worth a look for putting vb back. Pretty much end of vid 1 below, just take a look.

vid 1

vid 2

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I tried with alpha but no option for 65rfe transmission relearn. Thanks again for all the input. Regarding line pressure im pretty sure jay greene already increased my pressure via tune but do you think the sonnax line pressure would still be ok?

Burla said:

If you want to try something before dropping pan, use a scan tool and check psi's.

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What kind of ranges should I be seeing? On a good note the truck is running smooth as ever through all gears.

LoadedExpressRam said:

I tried with alpha but no option for 65rfe transmission relearn. Thanks again for all the input. Regarding line pressure im pretty sure jay greene already increased my pressure via tune but do you think the sonnax line pressure would still be ok?

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DO NOT put the Sonnax line pressure booster on if you're already tuned!

I believe the accumulator piston thats separate from the other 4 is the low/reverse piston. My guess is its losing fluid pressure on that piston.

Have you driven it thru all the forward gears?

Hemi395 said:

DO NOT put the Sonnax line pressure booster on if you're already tuned!

I believe the accumulator piston thats separate from the other 4 is the low/reverse piston. My guess is its losing fluid pressure on that piston.

Have you driven it thru all the forward gears?

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I have and it seems to shift perfectly. Thanks for answering that question on line pressure.

LoadedExpressRam said:

I have and it seems to shift perfectly. Thanks for answering that question on line pressure.

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No problem, I actually asked Jay about that a while back and he responded almost immediately telling me not to. Apparently part of the tune increases line pressure and adding that will trick the pcm into adding more line pressure which can cause cross leaks inside the valve body. Or worse, it damages the valve body.

Interesting, because I believe the reverse piston is the same one that's for 1st gear.

Did you at any time separate the valve body or just install the pistons on the side of the valve body?

Reason I ask is became it sounds like a check ball escaped.......

Hemi395 said:

No problem, I actually asked Jay about that a while back and he responded almost immediately telling me not to. Apparently part of the tune increases line pressure and adding that will trick the pcm into adding more line pressure which can cause cross leaks inside the valve body. Or worse, it damages the valve body.

Interesting, because I believe the reverse piston is the same one that's for 1st gear.

Did you at any time separate the valve body or just install the pistons on the side of the valve body?

Reason I ask is became it sounds like a check ball escaped.......

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Nope just replaced pistons with sonnax billet kit( which were way tighter than factory) and upgraded plate. Other than that a deep pan from pml and redline atf

just a heads up. i used to rebuild transmissions for dodge Chrysler and jeep dealership before i joined the military. if you replaced the filter which i know you also mentioned and it doesn't seal correctly you could have this issue especially if you did not use the oem metal spin on filter. if it wont build enough pressure can cause the no reverse. also the pistons you replaced inside the valve body could be too tight and not allowing the piston to move correctly in the valve body sometimes they get burrs in the passage way or installed incorrectly. i prefer and always recommend oem filters as some or most aftermarket ones cause issues. also when i built my ram 1500 transmission i used the same kit your talking about i bet and i had to run the sonnex line pressure booster adapter in line with the transmission sensor. all it is is basically the correct resister so the pcm sees the correct signal. but my guess is since you messed with the valve body something is incorrect inside there. did you put everything back in how you found it and made sure springs were good etc. its been years now as i have almost been in 14 yrs this januaray i cant recall off the top of my head if there was any check balls in the valve body if you took the valve body apart and put the balls back in incorrect spots would cause issues as well.