545RFE problem? Odd noise.

[Racer9]

I've been chasing a grinding type of noise for over a year, it sounds like fine splines slipping as if the slip yoke was bad. It only happens just as I start rolling, the truck seems to jerk a bit and the ABS light comes on, but doesn't throw any other codes. I've only experienced it after being parked for 15-30 minutes after driving for at least 30 minutes. So it needs to warm up and then cool slightly. It usually happens when I back out of a space, shift to drive and just start rolling. Since I had a TrueTrac installed that was my first suspect, I pulled the cover and looked it over but could see no damage to anything, no flecks in the oil, and it spins freely making no odd noises and doesn't get hot. I also went to 85/140 oil from the 80/90 I initially installed.
I replaced all 4 wheel bearings, re-checked all the bolts and inspected the parts from when it was lowered, and removed the sway bars. I checked the u-joints when the shaft was out, they were good.
Someone suggested maybe the trans wasn't going fully into gear, or getting hung between R and D. I did install the deeper pan and of course fresh fluid, Valvoline +4 synthetic.
Unless someone suggests something different I'll try adjusting the cable to make sure it's fully shifting into D.
Any other ideas to try?

 

[mdc1990zr1]

I've been chasing a grinding type of noise for over a year, it sounds like fine splines slipping as if the slip yoke was bad. It only happens just as I start rolling, the truck seems to jerk a bit and the ABS light comes on, but doesn't throw any other codes. I've only experienced it after being parked for 15-30 minutes after driving for at least 30 minutes. So it needs to warm up and then cool slightly. It usually happens when I back out of a space, shift to drive and just start rolling. Since I had a TrueTrac installed that was my first suspect, I pulled the cover and looked it over but could see no damage to anything, no flecks in the oil, and it spins freely making no odd noises and doesn't get hot. I also went to 85/140 oil from the 80/90 I initially installed.
I replaced all 4 wheel bearings, re-checked all the bolts and inspected the parts from when it was lowered, and removed the sway bars. I checked the u-joints when the shaft was out, they were good.
Someone suggested maybe the trans wasn't going fully into gear, or getting hung between R and D. I did install the deeper pan and of course fresh fluid, Valvoline +4 synthetic.
Unless someone suggests something different I'll try adjusting the cable to make sure it's fully shifting into D.
Any other ideas to try?

Only time I had ABS lights come on was when I had wheel bearing problems. One time had a shop insist on an "equivalent" brand that kept tripping the ABS light. Warrantied the first unit and put another in. Kept clearing the code and after driving 50-100 miles the light would come back on. Shop owner kept insisting it wasn't the hub. He wanted to start changing the ECM. I got so tired of his BS that I parked it the shop driveway and sat on the tailgate and said I wasn't moving till he put an OEM hub in. OEM hub solved that problem. That was the last time he ever did any work for me.

 

[Racer9]

ABS light has been on and off for a while, Autozone says the left rear has "erratic" readings, so tonight I pulled it and looked it over, no obvious damage to sensor or wiring, connector might have been a bit dirty, cleaned it and pushed some dielectric grease into the connection, we'll see if that helped. If not, I'll get a new one, they're only about $10.

 

[Racer9]

Cleaning the connection didn't help, bought a new sensor from rockauto, NTK makes Mopar sensors, got that one. So far so good!
I also dumped in about half a bottle of Transmission Fix from Lucas. Problem hasn't returned...YET!

 

[caulk04]

Could you be hearing PWM solenoids doing their thing? Used to be fairly common to hear this sort of thing from the trans.

 

[Burla]

Put in neutral with ebrake on, rfe spins fluid in neutral and not park, go under truck and see if any noise I N.

 

[Racer9]

I knew that older Dodge trans didn't circulate fluid in park, I thought they had fixed that.
Why would the trans make noise in neutral if it's just circulating fluid?
It is difficult to make this happen on demand, just does it when it wants to.

 

[caulk04]

They do circulate fluid in park, just not through the cooler circuit. A common issue with the rfe is drain back in the cooler circuit, the band aid is to idle in neutral for a few seconds. This has translated over time to people thinking no fluid flows in park.

 

[Racer9]

OK, I think I get it. I used to put my Mopars, especially my 12v Cummins, in neutral upon startup to allow fluid to circulate for a minute before driving.

 

[Racer9]

Update. The odd noise has not returned, and the TCS/ABS light has not illuminated since, other than on startup.
I'm convinced that the issue was in the bad wheel speed sensor, causing ABS to activate when not needed.

 

[Sherman Bird]

Only time I had ABS lights come on was when I had wheel bearing problems. One time had a shop insist on an "equivalent" brand that kept tripping the ABS light. Warrantied the first unit and put another in. Kept clearing the code and after driving 50-100 miles the light would come back on. Shop owner kept insisting it wasn't the hub. He wanted to start changing the ECM. I got so tired of his BS that I parked it the shop driveway and sat on the tailgate and said I wasn't moving till he put an OEM hub in. OEM hub solved that problem. That was the last time he ever did any work for me.

That story of human nature is one I've seen repeated more times than I can count. It is also the reason that I stay so busy diagnosing vehicles after they've been to numerous shops/dealers, spent thousands of dollars in many cases.....

ALL because of preconceived notions! E.G.: "I JUST replaced that part; how could it be bad?!"...

One of the silliest ones was a guy bringing his 2007 Toyota 4Runner with a 4.7L V-8 over 200 miles to me... It would intermittently run VERY rough, the check engine light would illuminate, and DTC's would come on... P0300, and misfire codes for the entire bank2. Additionally, the P0174 "bank2 lean" was there also. This was a consistent, yet intermittent problem for over 2 YEARS!
After several thousand dollars were spent, he was at his wit's end!

Others had replaced the timing belt, all the coils, injectors (several sets of injectors), coils, catalytic converters and all of the oxygen sensors, a new fuel pump, and many many other things.

I diagnosed it and narrowed it down to the "New genuine Toyota fuel pump".

Just as your previous guy did, my customer was convinced that the fuel pump could NOT be the culprit. Turns out that he had bought a counterfeit "OE" part on line. I replaced the fuel pump, and the truck was fixed.

Just because a part has been replaced doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't faulty. It's a shame that he thought he had to go 200 miles to find a competent diagnostician.

 

[Sherman Bird]

Update. The odd noise has not returned, and the TCS/ABS light has not illuminated since, other than on startup.
I'm convinced that the issue was in the bad wheel speed sensor, causing ABS to activate when not needed.

Oh, I'd wager that it was! I've seen that quite often!