Strike Two

[stevenP]

Transmission (68RFE) replaced under warranty at 12k miles last year. Replacement trans was a FCA reman unit. Reason for its replacement was it would hit 2nd gear while towing..on the up and down shift very hard...hardest with tow haul mode turned on. Now 4k miles later its doing it again, to the point where I cant use tow haul mode while towing my fifth wheel RV. SM, says maybe they need to re-flash the TCM? Truck displays no errors.

 

[nlambert182]

Man... that stinks. I will say that by and large, the 68RFE is not a smooth shifting transmission if you're comparing it to others. It's not uncommon to get a hard down-shift when towing and with tow/haul on it's amplified. I've owned 3, and all 3 have done this. I ignore it other than the bit of a startle you'll get if you forget about it.

Maybe they can figure something out for you. Good luck!

 

[Units]

I don’t have any hard up shifts, down shifts are not bad unless I’m in tow/haul mode the down shifts firm up quite a bit and when using the exhaust brake in conjunction I get some pretty hard down shifts usually only in 3rd gear and below. When I had about 12k on my truck I had a clunk in the transmission when I would let off the gas while still rolling/coasting and then give it gas to go again it would audibly clunk. Dealership did a relearn and for the most part it no longer does it; supposedly it learned “bad habits” and how it did that when I don’t drive like a teenage kid is beyond me. I can still feather the gas at a low speed/low rpm and can only slightly hear it. I believe that is just the torque converter engaging.

 

[06 Dodge]

Transmission (68RFE) replaced under warranty at 12k miles last year. Replacement trans was a FCA reman unit. Reason for its replacement was it would hit 2nd gear while towing..on the up and down shift very hard...hardest with tow haul mode turned on. Now 4k miles later its doing it again, to the point where I cant use tow haul mode while towing my fifth wheel RV. SM, says maybe they need to re-flash the TCM? Truck displays no errors.

Do you know what parts if any they used from your old transmission? Would not at all be surprised to hear they used your old sednoids or valve body for your old unit...

 

[nlambert182]

I don’t have any hard up shifts, down shifts are not bad unless I’m in tow/haul mode the down shifts firm up quite a bit and when using the exhaust brake in conjunction I get some pretty hard down shifts usually only in 3rd gear and below. When I had about 12k on my truck I had a clunk in the transmission when I would let off the gas while still rolling/coasting and then give it gas to go again it would audibly clunk. Dealership did a relearn and for the most part it no longer does it; supposedly it learned “bad habits” and how it did that when I don’t drive like a teenage kid is beyond me. I can still feather the gas at a low speed/low rpm and can only slightly hear it. I believe that is just the torque converter engaging.

Good point. My hardest downshifts are with the EB engaged.

The relearn makes sense. A lot of my time this year has been DD to work with no load. It definitely shifts differently for a bit once I've been on a longer trip towing. Seems to take a while to get back to normal once I'm back to DD duty. I kind of expect it though, so I suppose I just never pay attention to it. No leaks, nothing breaking, no lights... I just roll on.

 

[stevenP]

Well, they had their transmission guy look at it again today. He thinks there is something wrong too. They re-flashed the TCM, with no success. It still slams into second gear like its stuck between gears or something. I have had one other 2018 cummins equipped 2500, and it did not do this. Currently they are thinking they are going to drop the trans pan again? What did they re-use? Thats a good question that I will ask.

It changes gears (2nd only) so hard, the service advisor said they examined my rear diff, and thought had excessive wear last time.

 

[06 Dodge]

Well, they had their transmission guy look at it again today. He thinks there is something wrong too. They re-flashed the TCM, with no success. It still slams into second gear like its stuck between gears or something. I have had one other 2018 cummins equipped 2500, and it did not do this. Currently they are thinking they are going to drop the trans pan again? What did they re-use? Thats a good question that I will ask.

My unqualified WAG is the reused parts from the old trans is why the new on is now acting just like the old one did, when reusing old parts it can come back to bite ya...

 

[nlambert182]

That's a good point. OP, do you have a breakdown of exactly what they changed when they swapped the trans? Did they stick in a complete reman unit, or did they have to install the valvebody and any old solenoids? My assumption since warranty covered it is that they only want to change the necessary parts. If the tech said he didn't see an issue with the VB, they could have stuck it back in. The goal is to get it repaired as cheaply as possible. If it were customer pay, then of course they'd hit you with a whole reman unit, but on warranty, it's bare bones.

 

[truck2014]

That's a good point. OP, do you have a breakdown of exactly what they changed when they swapped the trans? Did they stick in a complete reman unit, or did they have to install the valvebody and any old solenoids? My assumption since warranty covered it is that they only want to change the necessary parts. If the tech said he didn't see an issue with the VB, they could have stuck it back in. The goal is to get it repaired as cheaply as possible. If it were customer pay, then of course they'd hit you with a whole reman unit, but on warranty, it's bare bones.

Early on with my 2014 , bought new it would downshift pretty hard especially if I usedv cruise control on a decent with the fifth wheel in tow, and let it do its thing . As time went on it got better now after 80k pretty smooth downshift. The 68rfe is a learning transmission, just wondering if the op is not giving it enough time to adapt to the towing conditions. As said mine took awhile, but I did understand that it would start to smooth up to the driving conditions .

 

[stevenP]

Well if I can believe them, one of the service writers said the valve body was replaced as part of the reman unit. So far they have had the truck couple days. I think they are opening a star case? Not sure they know what for sure they are going to do from here on this repair.

As far as learning, well we towed the entire year before this w/o the frame busting down shifts. We drove 2hrs to a campsite. Stayed there 3 days, and on the way home the super hard shifts started to occur. Tech stated there were codes on the OE trans that showed some transmission shifting errors. This time so far no codes on this reman trans.

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

Why were ANY used parts from the original trans reused on the reman replacement? The reman should have been a straight bolt in with no extra parts needed.

 

[Scott0700]

Had three transmissions in my 98 Ram in 14 months. Finally just traded it in. Got a call two days later from the service manager asking if I’d had any problems with the rear end. Apparently it was completely destroyed. Bearings and shavings everywhere. Could this have been destroying the transmissions? Maybe.

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

Sounds like abusive driving and/or lack of proper servicing to have that much trans/diff damage.

 

[Grams]

Sounds like abusive driving and/or lack of proper servicing to have that much trans/diff damage.

Yeah….just blame the owner….when a truck can’t do any …truckin’…

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

Yup.

 

[nlambert182]

Why were ANY used parts from the original trans reused on the reman replacement? The reman should have been a straight bolt in with no extra parts needed.

Warranty calls for the absolutely bare bones replacements. Pretty typical. They're eating the cost, so they're not going to give you anything extra. That's not saying they didn't slap in a complete reman trans but part of warranty requires a teardown, inspection, and report to the OEM of exactly what failed. If they determined that there was only 1-2 failed components and everything else checked ok, then that's what warranty approves. As a service writer, I've fought that battle with Navistar, Allison, Spicer, Cummins, Caterpillar, etc.. As a customer, I fought this with Ford. They're all the same.

This is exactly what happened on my Expedition. When the 10-spd failed, they determined that the parking pawl assembly and the CDF drum were bad. Even knowing that this was the beginning of a common issue with those transmissions and that the parts themselves had a flaw, Ford determined that it just needed those parts again with some slight tweaking.




They redesigned them, sent them through manufacturing, and shipped the parts 2 months later. The parts physically wouldn't fit, so they changed the design again, sent them back into production and shipped us parts that fit. Down for 6 months before we got it back and it drove exactly 88 miles and failed again. Ford determined yet again, that they weren't replacing the entire transmission and wanted to just replace the outer shell. We wrote a $14k check to walk away from it. Wouldn't you know that now there's a recall.

It happens all the time.

 

[stevenP]

Well they are saying, I am to get another complete trans replacement. According to the service writers the transmissions are complete with valve body and components. They were able to look at the internal pressures in the trans, via a OBD and their service tool, to evaluate the issue? Was first replaced at 12.5k miles. Truck is at 15.5k miles now.

 

[Units]

Not a transmission guy or a service tech but it sure seems to me like they should have checked the “internal pressures” (if there is such a thing) during the first swap out. That is why I hate to bring my stuff to the dealership unless it’s warranty work. Whoever changed out your transmission is probably just following step by step instructions in the service manual with no real transmission knowledge.

 

[stevenP]

Week 2 so far. Update, FCA doesnt know whats the real issue so they have instructed the techs to remove and tear down my reman trans. Star case is opened with FCA.

 

[stevenP]

Week three, well now the plan is to remove and tear down the existing remanufactured transmission and replace parts. This trans was replaced at this same time last year for the exact same issue. It took right at a month in the shop for that to happen. RAM cares is now involved.