66RFE Trans Fail

[U&A]

Lots of good things have been said here but I just wanted to point out that in my opinion hitting the gas in making the truck down shift from 6th to 5th is not going “WOT”.

The dangerous type of “WOT” downshifts are from 6th to 4th.

I know this does not help you any now but when I am merging onto a highway instead of the truck deciding when to downshift I manually select The lower gear that I want the truck to be in before getting on the gas.

I also drive exclusively in tow haul mode until I NEED 6th.

With my 4.88 gears and 35” tires ill run in 5th on the highway around 63 mph at 2400 rpm for a while. That RPM will not hurt the trans or engine. 6th gear is super short in the 66rfe. Almost useless unless you have a minimum of 4.88’s.

If I was towing all the time at highway speed’s of around 65 to 70 I would get 5.13’s with my 35” tires....with no hesitation.

Again I know this is really not much help to you but I’m just stating my opinion.


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[Burla]

When you bring a vehicle to the dealer never say ****. It is a lifetime fill tranny, if you didn't say anything they couldn't deny. If the filter was attached, I call ********* that would make a tranny fail, even if it was loose. Fill small claims.

 

[U&A]

When you bring a vehicle to the dealer never say ****. It is a lifetime fill tranny, if you didn't say anything they couldn't deny. If the filter was attached, I call ********* that would make a tranny fail, even if it was loose. Fill small claims.

100% agree


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[Kap1]

+1 don't tell them anything next time. If you say that you touched it or did your own maintenance, then they can blame everything on you with ease

 

[WY.Ram]

I bet my left nut that the tranny filter was not lose; they tried to pull this crap on me with my old 2013 5.7. Came to the stealership with rear end noise; 6 hours later they come in and tell me my gears are destroyed and my LSD had incinerated. Repair will be $2800 LOL... Went down the street to a local shop and it was the pinion bearing, $90 part.

I read your post last week and I about wanted to throw up. Your information is what motivated me to write about my trans. Straight thievery and caught in the act committed by a dealership is what really gave me the final belief that my trans failure had a lot more to it then a loose filter. I only believed them for about 30 min after the advisor called but that was because I had just woke up (and my lack of tranny tech). I went toe to toe with this place but I don't have the technical know on todays automatic trans to straight call his ********.

They could not produce any evidence at any time to support their diagnosis, I should have been more adamant with making them produce but I will be talking with the service manager and requesting evidence that this is even possible, even a tech writeup telling their own mechanics "make sure the filters tight when you do a tranny flush".lol I might even accept the filter torque spec, existence of, as the sole proof of possibility. maybe.
thanks

 

[huntergreen]

HoefuHope, there won't be a next time.

 

[HammerHead]

I read your post last week and I about wanted to throw up. Your information is what motivated me to write about my trans. Straight thievery and caught in the act committed by a dealership is what really gave me the final belief that my trans failure had a lot more to it then a loose filter. I only believed them for about 30 min after the advisor called but that was because I had just woke up (and my lack of tranny tech). I went toe to toe with this place but I don't have the technical know on todays automatic trans to straight call his ********.

They could not produce any evidence at any time to support their diagnosis, I should have been more adamant with making them produce but I will be talking with the service manager and requesting evidence that this is even possible, even a tech writeup telling their own mechanics "make sure the filters tight when you do a tranny flush".lol I might even accept the filter torque spec, existence of, as the sole proof of possibility. maybe.
thanks

I'm glad you decided to share your experience; I have a 2018 6.4 that is having tranny issues. I've been to the dealership two times and I keep getting the brush off. I was planning on dropping the pan but now I might not. Since I have documented services with codes errors I'm going to let them deal with it.

Did they rebuild your tranny or put in a new one?

 

[U&A]

I'm glad you decided to share your experience; I have a 2018 6.4 that is having tranny issues. I've been to the dealership two times and I keep getting the brush off. I was planning on dropping the pan but now I might not. Since I have documented services with codes errors I'm going to let them deal with it.

Did they rebuild your tranny or put in a new one?

Man you guys make me nervous.

Hammer,

What are your trans issues?


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[WY.Ram]

Lots of good things have been said here but I just wanted to point out that in my opinion hitting the gas in making the truck down shift from 6th to 5th is not going “WOT”.

The dangerous type of “WOT” downshifts are from 6th to 4th.

I know this does not help you any now but when I am merging onto a highway instead of the truck deciding when to downshift I manually select The lower gear that I want the truck to be in before getting on the gas.

I also drive exclusively in tow haul mode until I NEED 6th.

With my 4.88 gears and 35” tires ill run in 5th on the highway around 63 mph at 2400 rpm for a while. That RPM will not hurt the trans or engine. 6th gear is super short in the 66rfe. Almost useless unless you have a minimum of 4.88’s.

If I was towing all the time at highway speed’s of around 65 to 70 I would get 5.13’s with my 35” tires....with no hesitation.

Again I know this is really not much help to you but I’m just stating my opinion.


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Actually this is helpful, I think I roll with pretty much the same philosophy. You are correct too with the WOT down shift, I think it should be more accurately described has hard-pedal instead of WOT, my speed might have kept me out of 4th but no matter it still wasn't a straight masher on the throttle. I also drive exclusively in tow/haul, I like the way the truck responds in that particular mode even though I very rarely tow. The 5.13's are a set-up for my 37 to 38" goal but I have been enjoying the way the truck drives with the 5.13 and 35s that I find myself in no hurry for the larger tires and now I have a use for 6th gear. Best mod I have made to date is the gear swap, I like all the mod's but the swap is probably going to keep this an N/A powered truck whereas before she was gonna get whippled. Still might, but I find when crawling in 4-low and barely touching the throttle that she climbs easily whatever I am up against, I think a supercharger might be hinderance to me in off road conditions. I already have a tendency to overshoot.

As far as shifting in manual, I do it when I consider it my only option but I have that ******* button on the shifter and I have made more then one mistake with that thing. I seem to either not push it hard enough and miss the shift or I can't find it in urgent situations without taking my eyes off the road, things of that nature. I'll even admit to a couple late night, long distance drives where having a +/- button for my cruise, stereo, and trans all within 4" of each other proved to be a challenge, especially in the dark; finding my shifter ( - ) button in the dark is not a quick process, very paranoid about the whole thing. So I have become somewhat content with setting the top gear when I get in and staying off the shift button.
Is yours the same type, button on the column shifter? maybe I need to practice, I even thought of putting glow in the dark, embossed ink on the button so I knew I was throwing the correct shift, but so far it's all just peeled off. LOL

That shifter button is really the only thing I don't like about my truck.

 

[U&A]

Actually this is helpful, I think I roll with pretty much the same philosophy. You are correct too with the WOT down shift, I think it should be more accurately described has hard-pedal instead of WOT, my speed might have kept me out of 4th but no matter it still wasn't a straight masher on the throttle. I also drive exclusively in tow/haul, I like the way the truck responds in that particular mode even though I very rarely tow. The 5.13's are a set-up for my 37 to 38" goal but I have been enjoying the way the truck drives with the 5.13 and 35s that I find myself in no hurry for the larger tires and now I have a use for 6th gear. Best mod I have made to date is the gear swap, I like all the mod's but the swap is probably going to keep this an N/A powered truck whereas before she was gonna get whippled. Still might, but I find when crawling in 4-low and barely touching the throttle that she climbs easily whatever I am up against, I think a supercharger might be hinderance to me in off road conditions. I already have a tendency to overshoot.

As far as shifting in manual, I do it when I consider it my only option but I have that ******* button on the shifter and I have made more then one mistake with that thing. I seem to either not push it hard enough and miss the shift or I can't find it in urgent situations without taking my eyes off the road, things of that nature. I'll even admit to a couple late night, long distance drives where having a +/- button for my cruise, stereo, and trans all within 4" of each other proved to be a challenge, especially in the dark; finding my shifter ( - ) button in the dark is not a quick process, very paranoid about the whole thing. So I have become somewhat content with setting the top gear when I get in and staying off the shift button.
Is yours the same type, button on the column shifter? maybe I need to practice, I even thought of putting glow in the dark, embossed ink on the button so I knew I was throwing the correct shift, but so far it's all just peeled off. LOL

That shifter button is really the only thing I don't like about my truck.

Mine has the same with the up-and-down button on the column shifter. I’ve never had an issue but everybody does drive differently. There has only been one time where I accidentally hit down instead of up.[emoji23]

That is really the only mistake I made with the gear selector.

I would not say that I tow really heavy but I do frequently use the trucks high payload ability. Just got my 12th truck load (in the past 3 months or so) of wood today. Nice load of oak, probably about 3,000 lbs.

Im wondering if this is a hit or miss thing with a trans problem. Iv seen members that tow heavy all the time with no issues and then i see your post.

****** quality control i guess.

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[U&A]

Has anyone else fealt the same as me in the sense that the 6.4 and 66rfe combo almost seems confused unless you are driving it hard or towing?


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[22hemi13]

Has anyone else fealt the same as me in the sense that the 6.4 and 66rfe combo almost seems confused unless you are driving it hard or towing?


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It’s the tranny. I have the 5.7 the tranny behaves the same exact way. Manual mode every time. I just put it in D anymore

 

[HammerHead]

Man you guys make me nervous.

Hammer,

What are your trans issues?


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6th gear is slipping, not sure why. It doesn't do it all the time, drove from Atlanta to St. Louis with no problems but coming back 6th was slipping bad. Had to lock it out in manual mode and slow down, drove in 5th back home. 99% of my driving is 45-50 so I just leave it in 5th.

 

[WY.Ram]

I'm glad you decided to share your experience; I have a 2018 6.4 that is having tranny issues. I've been to the dealership two times and I keep getting the brush off. I was planning on dropping the pan but now I might not. Since I have documented services with codes errors I'm going to let them deal with it.

Did they rebuild your tranny or put in a new one?

If I could go back and do over, I wouldn't touch my trans once it started with issues. I think i bought that trans the second I dropped the first bolt out of the pan, and I would make every attempt to get the dealership to follow some transmission-troubleshooting protocol, documented. There has to be a set of test points that can be monitored and recorded that can clue them in on some sort of analysis. These devices don't just come up and operate after design and development. They surely have a way of measuring or reading sensors that indicate flows, temps and pressures at every critical point through the trans. They probably will play dumb though, very convincingly too.

But that is the same crap they did to me, a full-on brush off. Would not perform any type of testing, once around the parking lot when I wasn't looking. Even kept my truck an extra couple days for no other reason than for me to be over-eager in getting it back, with "no news is good news". But I think they played me and It all started with the brush off.

I think I would also go to a private trans repair shop and get a second opinion on current condition, pay for their analysis, and take that second opinion back to the dealership. I'd like to see if they wanna brush me off then, I bet they become a little more proactive if I have a written assessment from another professional.

In hindsight I feel I really missed that fact that the trans was headed for eminent failure. The symptoms were too much and upon further research, my trans was displaying behavior that some consider the #1 indicator of failure. And CSD service acted like nothing.

Any way, hold FCA accountable, I believe anything other than perfect 'mechanical' operation indicates a significant issue in the trans and a total failure isn't far off. I really do. I don't believe they will exhibit improper 'mechanical' behavior and have a long life.

The logic controller well thats different, it could be 'confused' and not be a path to fail.

They put in a new trans, case, pan, torque converter, etc. All new per their documentation, and a visual inspection indicates the same.

 

[HammerHead]

Has anyone else fealt the same as me in the sense that the 6.4 and 66rfe combo almost seems confused unless you are driving it hard or towing?


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Absolutely Yes; under power its good, light throttle and stop and go traffic is definitely confused.

 

[U&A]

If I could go back and do over, I wouldn't touch my trans once it started with issues. I think i bought that trans the second I dropped the first bolt out of the pan, and I would make every attempt to get the dealership to follow some transmission-troubleshooting protocol, documented. There has to be a set of test points that can be monitored and recorded that can clue them in on some sort of analysis. These devices don't just come up and operate after design and development. They surely have a way of measuring or reading sensors that indicate flows, temps and pressures at every critical point through the trans. They probably will play dumb though, very convincingly too.

But that is the same crap they did to me, a full-on brush off. Would not perform any type of testing, once around the parking lot when I wasn't looking. Even kept my truck an extra couple days for no other reason than for me to be over-eager in getting it back, with "no news is good news". But I think they played me and It all started with the brush off.

I think I would also go to a private trans repair shop and get a second opinion on current condition, pay for their analysis, and take that second opinion back to the dealership. I'd like to see if they wanna brush me off then, I bet they become a little more proactive if I have a written assessment from another professional.

In hindsight I feel I really missed that fact that the trans was headed for eminent failure. The symptoms were too much and upon further research, my trans was displaying behavior that some consider the #1 indicator of failure. And CSD service acted like nothing.

Any way, hold FCA accountable, I believe anything other than perfect operation indicates a significant issue in the trans and a total failure isn't far off. I really do. I don't believe they will exhibit improper behavior and have a long life.

I kept my OEM trans pan for the sole reason if i had trouble.

Slap it back on and take it to the dealer.


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[U&A]

I wonder if a trans tune will protect it.


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[69GWC]

I wonder if a trans tune will protect it.


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Imo its gotta help, the 68rfe behind my Cummins was the same way, lazy shifts allways shifted to earler and allways felt like it was in the wrong gear because of it then the fact it would go into 6th way to soon and would not shift back untill it was lugging down.
I had it tuned and it was a night and day difference in how it drove.

 

[theviking]

Every time I swap the stock PCM back in for service I'm reminded of how much I hated the factory trans programming.

 

[WY.Ram]

Every time I swap the stock PCM back in for service I'm reminded of how much I hated the factory trans programming.

The trans tune is done through the unlocked PCM and HF does this when he's implementing a custom tune correct? Or is there more that can be done with the programming?

I'm so tired of having to swap the PCM in and out. Sure glad it has such a robust set of connectors, certain situations could really tax lesser quality electrical connections.


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