mtofell
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2014
- Posts
- 2,648
- Reaction score
- 2,293
- Ram Year
- 2014
- Engine
- Hemi 6.4
Yes.
The valve body takes the inputs from the solenoid and applies it. It's basically the brains of the transmission so it tells what pressures it wants when and where. Mopar OEM quality is bad on their VBs AND there are lots of areas in the VB where the quality affects the pressure. These losses of pressure cause clutch packs to not lock up when they're supposed to be locked up. When this happens it's just wearing away the clutches and cause excessive heat build up, both of which can destroy the transmission.
Due to these reasons a VB upgrade was one of the first things I did upon purchase of my 2500. It's a crap shoot, some are better than others but unless you constantly monitor your CVIs you'll never know unless there's a change in operation and then it's most likely too late.
Great explanation and all makes sense but one question - if the clutches are burning up how come the fluid still looks okay basically right up until it fails? After my first failure I kept a pretty close eye on the fluid and it was bright purple right up until it blew up.