2012 Ram 3500 blown transmission at 50k?!? Help!

[Noa Shaw]

Hey all, new to the forum but need some help.
Currently have 2012 Ram 3500 dually with the 6.7 and just clocked 49,000 miles on it. I have had three rams/dodges before this one. I guess you could say that Im a loyal ram customer, but recently, I regret, that has been challenged.

Went on a road trip to NC pulling 30ft travel trailer. Pulled fine all the way down there. Next morning, 5 mins into a drive and...no power. 10mph tops up a hill and just barely make it to a nearby dealer.

Long story short, the EGR valve went, but took a whole week to repair so I had to rent a truck (I still had the trailer and we were moving campsites). Rented a Ford f250 6.7. Never much of a ford fan but had no other choice.

Get back home with our Ram and 2 weeks go by. Driving about 40 and suddenly lose all power. CEL on, and then Im limited to 10mph on a flat road, nonetheless hills.

Bring it to my mechanic and pulls out dip stick for tranny and smells it. Smells horrible. He says blown tranny immediately. bring it to another shop and there's metal shards in the fluid.

Clearly the tranny is toast.

Now what? Tranny should not be going at 50k. Have you guys had any experience with a tranny going at 50k? Should I expect more problems? What is going on with this truck?

 

[Zack02]

Now what?

What was your CEL for? Sounds like you went into limp mode.

If you really think the trans is toast, I would have the shop drop it, and see what happened. 68RFE failures aren't as common as they were on the old Dodges trans. Either for a repair or swap, they still have to drop the trans. You're ~4,000 for a new one, plus labor...Still cheaper than a new truck.

Seems like there's a lot of missing history on the truck from this post- any history you can expand on? Good luck with your repair.

 

[Noa Shaw]

Hey thanks for the help. Not sure why CEL came on other than tranny was acting up. It all happened in less than a minute, as soon as the tranny acted up the CEL came on. I should've been more clear with the speed, I don't believe it was an electronic limit. The engine would rev up high at around 25mph so I kept it at 10 or 15 not wanting to go past much more than that until I could get to the shop down the road.

As far as history with the truck its pretty simple. No problems until last month, when the EGR valve went, then obviously the trans. Took it on a cross country road trip last year and a few smaller trips in between.

One thing to notice is that before the transmission blew, the tranny would have a very slight knock when reducing speed from say 50 to 40. It certainly didn't happen all the time and from my experience with rams, this is somewhat normal. Even the Ford I rented did the same thing. What's weird is that the tranny blowing was totally out of the blue. There were no other enhanced symptoms of a bad tranny before this.

I've heard good things about the Aisin tran and would like to have that in my next truck. Kind of waiting on mechanics now and well see what happens.

 

[Fast69Mopar]

Are you sure your trans is an Aisin AS68RC and not a 68RFE? Is your truck a Cab & Chassis 3500?

 

[16RamHemi]

Are you sure your trans is an Aisin AS68RC and not a 68RFE? Is your truck a Cab & Chassis 3500?

i think he is saying he has heard good things about the Aisin and wants one in his next truck. doesnt have one now

 

[MADDOG]

So I'm curious about the service history on your truck.

Are you the original owner?

Have you serviced the transmission at any time during your ownership?

That 68RFE should not have gone **** up at that mileage unless it was abused or neglected.