BillandMary
Junior Member
Hey all ,
New to the forum and at wits end with the tranny issues on my 18 3500 DRW. I have the 68RFE in it and it completely fell apart starting at 32,000 miles. Up to that point I didn't have one issue with it. To start out I tow a 42' fifth wheel that is approximately 16,000 pounds loaded so I'm under my towing capacity. I meticulously take care of my truck so there are no neglected parts, assemblies or ever a overdue fluid change. It all started one day when I was slowing down around 30 miles per hour and it felt like someone bumped me from behind in their car. I didn't think nothing of it and thought maybe I ran through a little pothole or something as I live in North Dakota where the roads are farm equipment weathered. Over the next week it progressively got worse like someone was hitting me at 20 miles an hour and then started to upshift really hard. I would be slowly coming to a red light, it would downshift hard, then the light would turn green before I got to the light so I would step on the gas and the truck would slam back into forward. I took it on June 18, 2019 to my local Dodge dealer where I bought it and the tranny tech went on a test drive with me and said this tranny is not working right (dugh). Now this is a Dodge dealer that specializes in selling large quantities of 2500 and 3500 trucks with the 6.7 cummings for farmers and the oil fields. So the tranny would also downshift harder with the tow/haul shift mode on. I left my truck at the Dodge dealer and they did a quick learn on the tranny. Got the truck back and it shifted great for about 3 months and started shifting ****** again. Took it in again on Sep 19, 2019 and they contacted the star center which recommended a flash update of the PCM and another quick learn. Tranny worked great for 2 weeks then out of the blue it started downshifting shifting worse. Took it back to the dealer on October 2, 2019 and they verified my tranny issues and opened a star case. Star recommended that the tech correct active code C151D-00 as it may be causing the TCM to adjust the shift strategy. Tech did what Star recommended and tranny still shifted hard. Star then recommended to change the valve body and it didn't fix the issues. Star then recommended to change the tranny which they did with a brand new 68RFE from Dodge. Truck ran great for a a little over one month and guess what came back? Shifting hard issues. Took truck back to dealer on Nov 14, 2019. Tech changed the PCM per STAR. Truck ran great again. Guess what happened a month later? Don't even need to tell you. So on Dec 9, 2019 I took the truck back in for the same issue now 5 times. Tech contacted STAR and STAR response was that there were no computer updates available at this time and closed my case. Its like they were tired of dealing with my tranny. Of course I was pissed and spoke with the service manager. He stated that there wasn't anything further they could do to try and resolve my tranny issues. I need to mention that my dealer was 110% helpful every time and took great care of me. Additionally, only one code has ever been found with my tranny issues and that's the one I mentioned earlier. So I was really pissed and hired a lawyer who sued FCA, Dodge and whoever else they could for breach of warranty under the Federal Magnuson-Moss warranty act. My truck didn't fall under the lemon law because it just timed out for how new it needed to be. This act states that the vehicle must be fixed within a reasonable amount of attempts which 5 attempts isn't reasonable. Fast forward two months and FCA decides to offer me a settlement (not very much $$$) but not take the truck back which they could have also done and which I wanted them to do. So as of today, Aug 1, 2020 I still have the truck and it still shifts ******. Dealer tried to do a quick learn yesterday out of the kindness of their heart but it didn't work. So here I sit with my $65K truck that has a ****** tranny. Anyone else out there with any ideas what's wrong with my tranny? Sorry so long but just know that just because a person has a warranty the warranty only applies if Dodge wants to honor it otherwise your screwed.
New to the forum and at wits end with the tranny issues on my 18 3500 DRW. I have the 68RFE in it and it completely fell apart starting at 32,000 miles. Up to that point I didn't have one issue with it. To start out I tow a 42' fifth wheel that is approximately 16,000 pounds loaded so I'm under my towing capacity. I meticulously take care of my truck so there are no neglected parts, assemblies or ever a overdue fluid change. It all started one day when I was slowing down around 30 miles per hour and it felt like someone bumped me from behind in their car. I didn't think nothing of it and thought maybe I ran through a little pothole or something as I live in North Dakota where the roads are farm equipment weathered. Over the next week it progressively got worse like someone was hitting me at 20 miles an hour and then started to upshift really hard. I would be slowly coming to a red light, it would downshift hard, then the light would turn green before I got to the light so I would step on the gas and the truck would slam back into forward. I took it on June 18, 2019 to my local Dodge dealer where I bought it and the tranny tech went on a test drive with me and said this tranny is not working right (dugh). Now this is a Dodge dealer that specializes in selling large quantities of 2500 and 3500 trucks with the 6.7 cummings for farmers and the oil fields. So the tranny would also downshift harder with the tow/haul shift mode on. I left my truck at the Dodge dealer and they did a quick learn on the tranny. Got the truck back and it shifted great for about 3 months and started shifting ****** again. Took it in again on Sep 19, 2019 and they contacted the star center which recommended a flash update of the PCM and another quick learn. Tranny worked great for 2 weeks then out of the blue it started downshifting shifting worse. Took it back to the dealer on October 2, 2019 and they verified my tranny issues and opened a star case. Star recommended that the tech correct active code C151D-00 as it may be causing the TCM to adjust the shift strategy. Tech did what Star recommended and tranny still shifted hard. Star then recommended to change the valve body and it didn't fix the issues. Star then recommended to change the tranny which they did with a brand new 68RFE from Dodge. Truck ran great for a a little over one month and guess what came back? Shifting hard issues. Took truck back to dealer on Nov 14, 2019. Tech changed the PCM per STAR. Truck ran great again. Guess what happened a month later? Don't even need to tell you. So on Dec 9, 2019 I took the truck back in for the same issue now 5 times. Tech contacted STAR and STAR response was that there were no computer updates available at this time and closed my case. Its like they were tired of dealing with my tranny. Of course I was pissed and spoke with the service manager. He stated that there wasn't anything further they could do to try and resolve my tranny issues. I need to mention that my dealer was 110% helpful every time and took great care of me. Additionally, only one code has ever been found with my tranny issues and that's the one I mentioned earlier. So I was really pissed and hired a lawyer who sued FCA, Dodge and whoever else they could for breach of warranty under the Federal Magnuson-Moss warranty act. My truck didn't fall under the lemon law because it just timed out for how new it needed to be. This act states that the vehicle must be fixed within a reasonable amount of attempts which 5 attempts isn't reasonable. Fast forward two months and FCA decides to offer me a settlement (not very much $$$) but not take the truck back which they could have also done and which I wanted them to do. So as of today, Aug 1, 2020 I still have the truck and it still shifts ******. Dealer tried to do a quick learn yesterday out of the kindness of their heart but it didn't work. So here I sit with my $65K truck that has a ****** tranny. Anyone else out there with any ideas what's wrong with my tranny? Sorry so long but just know that just because a person has a warranty the warranty only applies if Dodge wants to honor it otherwise your screwed.
