Another Transmission Issue - 4th Trip to Dealer Advice...

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vengeanceasx

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So I've read through all of the transmission issues on here for the last 7-8 months and I need some advice. I have a 2015 Ram 2500 6.4L Hemi and my transmission started acting up last June while towing my travel trailer about 600 miles from home. I was towing up a pretty steep grade and my transmission got stuck in 4th gear. I was pretty dangerous as I was at highway speeds and lost my ability to downshift. I checked the transmission temp and it was around 188, so I pulled to the side and idled for a bit and everything cooled back down. I went to take off and It would only shift from 1st to 4th and again, no downshifting, so I pulled over again and shut everything off. That seemed to reset it and I continued another 20 miles or so to my destination. I figured it was a glitch and set up camp. Wile heading to dinner that night, it got stuck in 4th again and wouldn't even shift into 1st, so I called around and found a dealership about 45 min away that told me to bring it in first thing in the morning. So the next morning I headed to the dealer and didn't have the issue anymore after sitting all night and the dealer told me to drive it home and make an appointment with my local dealer ASAP. So, that's what I did. I couldn't get in for a couple of months due to COVID and on Aug. 3rd they took my vehicle for a little over a week and replaced the valve body and shift solenoid. I have the MAXcare warranty until 125,000 miles and May of this year. My issue started at about 100k on the truck, so I only had a $100 deductible and I have them do a full transmission service as well. The truck drove fine for the next few months and then it started with the same issues around December/January of this year. It would do it every time I was hooked up to the trailer or when I was travelling though the mountains unhooked. It was usually fine on flat ground. On Feb. 2nd, the dealer took it in for a little over 2 weeks until they could replicate the problem and determined it was the solenoid shorting out. They replaced that under parts warranty and didn't charge me anything. So I had the truck back all last week and went to the mountains for some fishing this last weekend and it got stuck in 4th gear again. I have another appointment next week (they rushed it in due to it being a previous issue). Sorry for the long story, but my main concern is how much of this can go on before it causes damage to other parts of the transmission? I am approaching 110K on the truck and only have a couple months left of my warranty. I have a few trips planned this spring and summer with my trailer totaling close to 10K miles and I need a dependable vehicle. What should I tell them at the dealer? At which point should I be fighting for a new transmission? Truck is pretty much stock on 35s and I tow a 6K lb trailer, so it's not abused. Any advice from those with experience in this is greatly appreciated. I had a 2003 Ram 2500 with the 5.7L before this truck and I wasn't scared to take it anywhere. It made it to 200K before eating a valve seat. I hate having a truck this nice and being scared to travel far from home.
 

mtofell

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First off - the stuck in 4th gear isn't really the problem, it's a reaction to something else. That's what is called "limp mode". For some reason the tranny is programmed to lock into only 1st and 4th when it senses trouble. I imagine that saves additional damage.

What the dealer has done so far is logical. The main thing I'd be fighting for is some written assurance that your warranty coverage of this will extend past the expiration since this is clearly an issue that came up well before the end of coverage.

I have the same truck (but a 2014) and am on my 3rd tranny with a Lifetime Maxcare warranty. Honestly, if not for the warranty I'd have sold the truck before the end of the warranty due to the issues. It still doesn't feel right to me but generally gets me down the road so I live with it. I haven't been in limp mode since the last rebuild so technically I suppose there is nothing wrong. Once thing I can tell you with FCA is that if the truck moves and isn't on fire they think everything is fine so it can be tough to get them to do much.

Overall, I'd say problems are rare but those of us that have them seem to have a lot. The valve body is definitely a weak spot so it makes sense they replaced that. I can't remember but it seems like when it goes into limp mode it stores some codes but I don't believe they show up on the dash. At least that's my recollection from bringing it in after problems. I do remember the first time it failed I was on the freeway in heavy traffic and had to drive quite a ways to an exit. It was slipping and slamming back and forth into gears and I eventually lost all forward gears and had to reverse to my final resting spot. Almost comically as I came to a stop the CEL finally came on.
 

ScubaSteve178

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The problem lies in the valve body. Basically all the problems with these transmissions are valve body related and the poor machining and casting quality of the components resulting in leakage. The rest of the transmission is generally pretty stout, with no real concerns, to the best of my knowledge. The fix to the trans is either a Sonnax valve body or upgrading to a billet channel plate and accumulator pistons.
 

ScubaSteve178

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OP's was replaced and he still has problems

Sure. And they replaced the solenoid pack, too. Twice, because the replacement was defective. You're on your third transmission. Just because it was replaced doesn't mean it's not defective.

As I mentioned before, the majority of the problems that occur in these transmissions are rooted in the valve body and the crappy quality control, so odds are that is the problem, especially without any error codes to go off of. The aftermarket has solutions for these problems. Anything else and it's probably electrical such as circuit pressure sensor, but again without any error codes, and there would be if it was sensor related, its hard to tell.
 
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vengeanceasx

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Just an update: I dropped it off with the dealer this morning and has a long talk with the Service Manager. I recorded what was happening and played that for him. He said he is going to try to argue for a transmission replacement at this time, but unless they can duplicate the exact issue, it's going to be hard to get approval. He said they'll tear into it, but unless it has more than 70% wear, then they might have to rebuild it. I gave him permission to take it up into the mountains. I even told him to hook up to one of their flatbeds and go climb a long steep grade with it. It sounded like that is what they will do. He said he should have some information on their plans this week. I like what was said, above, about the written assurance and I may see if they can extend the warranty for a year if they can't replace the transmission. I definitely feel like they are on my side and are just fighting with warranty, so we'll see. I appreciate all the input and I'll keep you all updated.
 
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vengeanceasx

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Another update. Dealer recommends a new transmission, but MAXcare has to send someone out to inspect it and approve. Has anyone heard of this? I thought they could just send pictures or something. Seems like a lot of extra work on their part.
 

mtofell

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Another update. Dealer recommends a new transmission, but MAXcare has to send someone out to inspect it and approve. Has anyone heard of this? I thought they could just send pictures or something. Seems like a lot of extra work on their part.
Through both of my failures (one was factory warranty, one Maxcare) it was just phone/email from dealer to the mothership. Granted, they just did rebuilds for mine but still with the (Ram's) cost of a tranny vs. rebuild I don't see how it makes sense to pay someone + travel expenses to come look at it. Have they not heard of Zoom?.... lol. Especially, if a % of the time they will end up going for the replacement anyway.
 
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vengeanceasx

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Through both of my failures (one was factory warranty, one Maxcare) it was just phone/email from dealer to the mothership. Granted, they just did rebuilds for mine but still with the (Ram's) cost of a tranny vs. rebuild I don't see how it makes sense to pay someone + travel expenses to come look at it. Have they not heard of Zoom?.... lol. Especially, if a % of the time they will end up going for the replacement anyway.
Right? And they've already spent a lot of money replacing parts the last two times it was in. I'm thinking they are missing the parts for a rebuild and maybe have a new tranny in stock?
 
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vengeanceasx

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Well, It's just been approved to rebuild my transmission. I don't know what parts are going into it, but They mentioned a new pump and torque converter. When I get the parts list, I'll post. Hopefully, this fixes the issue. I'm going on 1 Month without my truck and I don't want to do this again, but this will at least extend my warranty on the transmission out for 1 year and 12,000 miles. I guess that counts as a silver lining.
 
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vengeanceasx

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Well, I have my truck back! They replaced clutches, pump, torque converter, and valve body. All covered by the maxcare warranty with $100 deductible. It seems a lot better and is shifting fine. I will be taking it out through the mountains this weekend, so we'll see if it goes into limp mode again.
 

MN-Ram

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I’m having similar issues with my truck. The warranty inspector just came out and approved the warranty coverage for a valve body and the associated parts. I hope they dig deeper and confirm there are no other issues before they do the work.
 

Wulf

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Well, I have my truck back! They replaced clutches, pump, torque converter, and valve body. All covered by the maxcare warranty with $100 deductible. It seems a lot better and is shifting fine. I will be taking it out through the mountains this weekend, so we'll see if it goes into limp mode again.
Not that this was necessarily your specific issue, but there have been issues with the GM line of variable cylinder shutdown systems (in their V8s) forcing into limp mode while at highway speeds and causing a whole bunch of issues. It would be a shame if MOPAR was fighting the same type of bugs as GM has been having with those systems.
 

mtofell

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You can get brand new $*** parts that have the same production issues as the parts that caused the original issue.
You can also get struck by lightening twice in a day but it's pretty unlikely. I get it that the factory parts are crap but with that in mind the fact remains there are millions (billions?) of miles being driven on said crappy parts. The chances of having a bad valve body replaced with another bad valve body are statistically EXTREMELY unlikely. And with all of that in mind, this is the type of things warranties are made for. I get it that people want to wrench aftermarket parts in their garages and feel better in the end (and I'd agree they are in a better position) but for someone riding a warranty and the dealer it's a pretty good bet just getting it repaired/replaced under factory recommendations.
 

Wulf

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You can also get struck by lightening twice in a day but it's pretty unlikely. I get it that the factory parts are crap but with that in mind the fact remains there are millions (billions?) of miles being driven on said crappy parts. The chances of having a bad valve body replaced with another bad valve body are statistically EXTREMELY unlikely. And with all of that in mind, this is the type of things warranties are made for. I get it that people want to wrench aftermarket parts in their garages and feel better in the end (and I'd agree they are in a better position) but for someone riding a warranty and the dealer it's a pretty good bet just getting it repaired/replaced under factory recommendations.
"Statistically EXTREMELY unlikely" is apparently very likely, then. On different vehicles, at different years in my life, I have had brand new replacement parts crap out immediately, like right after install and testing to see how they work. And I am sure that other people have had the same problem as well.
 

Robert Mc

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You can also get struck by lightening twice in a day but it's pretty unlikely. I get it that the factory parts are crap but with that in mind the fact remains there are millions (billions?) of miles being driven on said crappy parts. The chances of having a bad valve body replaced with another bad valve body are statistically EXTREMELY unlikely. And with all of that in mind, this is the type of things warranties are made for. I get it that people want to wrench aftermarket parts in their garages and feel better in the end (and I'd agree they are in a better position) but for someone riding a warranty and the dealer it's a pretty good bet just getting it repaired/replaced under factory recommendations.
My valve body was replaced after my third trip to the dealer. The truck had 85K miles on the clock. I'm at 110K miles on the clock and I'm going to need another valve body. All of their valve bodies are cast the exact same way so they all have the same inherent problems. They all have the potential to warp, the piston sleeves all wear out, the valves all have an excessive amount of slop in the sleeve, and etc etc. If I design a poor valve body and I make them all the same way there's a higher likelihood than not that they will all have problems. Some don't use their trucks for much more than driving down the road. I have 110K miles on the truck and 100K of these miles there has been a trailer behind me.
 

Robert Mc

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"Statistically EXTREMELY unlikely" is apparently very likely, then. On different vehicles, at different years in my life, I have had brand new replacement parts crap out immediately, like right after install and testing to see how they work. And I am sure that other people have had the same problem as well.
Replaced many a bad alternator with another bad alternator. QC seems to be an afterthought these days. Also, just went on a car club run/drive. Fellow had a brand new NAPA battery in his car and when he got to the hotel the car wouldn't start when he went to move it after check-in. Took it to NAPA and the battery had a bad cell so they replaced it with a new battery because the other one was a week old. We spent three days at our event and on the way home his battery quit. It too had a bad cell.
 
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