Transmission Lock-Up - electronics?

[Mando Mark]

Just took my 2019 Bighorn Classic (bought it new a year ago. 5.7 Hemi, trailer-tow package and skid-plate/off-road package) on vacation pulling a 25' RV to the west end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. (I live south of Grand Rapids; we left on Sunday, August 16th.) NO issues pulling the trailer at all; I left home with 13,027 miles and had just turned over 14,000 as the trip went along.

Working our way back from Lake Superior, we camped near Crystal Falls, MI and took a few side-trips (empty - no trailer) to visit some local waterfalls falls and rapids. After one stop, I backed up, put the rotary shifter in Drive and went about 100 feet, and the display flashed "Service Transmission. Continue in D. Do Not shift or Turn Engine Off Until You Reach a Destination. You May Not Be Able to Shift Again Until Serviced." All the shift options above the rotary shift knob were lighted up, as well as all of them on beneath the display.

I was on a gravel road, stopped and found I was 'stuck' in forward (D) gear only. After I got to a paved road, i found it would gradually get up to speed, and my wife found in the owners manual a notice about the transmission going into 'limp mode.' (Felt like it was only using 3rd, 5th and maybe 8th gear; it got normal mileage while running at 55 mph, but wouldn't downshift.)

This was on Saturday the 22nd, so nothing was open. I returned to the campground, and shut it down hoping it would 're-set.' The engine turned off, but the key wouldn't return to anything past the 'Acc' position, so the key was stuck in the truck, with all the dash lights lit up. (Can't take it out unless it's in Park - which of course I couldn't get it into...) When I put it back to 'start' it wouldn't turn over, and then it displayed the above message, along with 'Trailer Brake Module not engaged' and something about 'Park Safety not engaged.' I finally disconnected the battery, and was then able to remove the key. However, after re-connecting the battery, it did the same thing and the key couldn't be removed until disconnecting the battery again.

Chrysler Care's 800 number and the folks I dealt with were great - they got a tow-truck there and advised me of the nearest dealership to have it taken to. Of course, it being a weekend, and me being 460 miles from home, I was stranded. The tow-truck driver's code reader showed an error like 'Cannot communicate with Transmission Control Module.' The dealership can't look at it until tomorrow, had nothing I could rent, nor could I find anything to rent in the U.P. (Chrysler said if I couldn't get a rental/loaner from the dealership, they'd reimburse for a third-party rental if I initially paid for it out-of-pocket. No luck there at all.) After burning two more vacation days while stranded, my neighbor (bless his heart) drove all the way up from our home with his CHEVY to pull my trailer home and haul me and the wife along.

Chrysler Care has an 'Case Agent' working with me and she's leaning on the dealership, and says she'll have more news for me tomorrow. When it got pulled onto the Tow Truck, it had 14,283 miles on it...

I'm lobbying for FCA to a.) reimburse my neighbor for gas and wear/tear/time on his truck for the trip to rescue us, b.) HAUL my repaired truck back down here (it's a 16+ hour round trip to the dealership in Iron Mountain, MI where it is) and c.) get me something to drive - especially if it's not repaired by Labor Day. (Another camping trip planned.)


Anyone else seen anything like this?

 

[Murdock188]

I have a 19 classic with the hemi and tow a 24ft TT a couple hundred miles no issiues yet did you use tow/haul mode while towing? What were the tranny temps? Any other shifting or anything strange with the tranny before this message appeared?

 

[Travelin Ram]

Vehicle issues on a trip really suck big time. I’ve never had it as bad as you have it. Good luck on getting it all sorted out.

 

[Mando Mark]

I always pull in Tow/Haul mode. Trans temps were always fine. The trailer had been parked for like 3 days and we were just driving around on day trips with the truck and another couple in the back seat. Again, totally out of the blue, with no warnings or indications anything was going to go wrong.

 

[Mando Mark]

I have a 19 classic with the hemi and tow a 24ft TT a couple hundred miles no issiues yet did you use tow/haul mode while towing? What were the tranny temps? Any other shifting or anything strange with the tranny before this message appeared?

I always pull in Tow/Haul mode. Trans temps were always fine. The trailer had been parked for like 3 days and we were just driving around on day trips with the truck and another couple in the back seat. Again, totally out of the blue, with no warnings or indications anything was going to go wrong. Have been very pleased with the transmission and overall driveability of this engine/transmission combo.

 

[tron67j]

Sorry, another person who cannot help. But I can commiserate with not being able to rent a car in the home state of cars. I was moving a boat through the Great Lakes and lost an engine near Mackinac. Repairs would mean no movement until spring, so tried to rent a car to get back to Upstate NY. Absolutely not possible. Ended up renting a U-haul truck. Nothing more fun than going through border control twice with rental truck and nothing in back but tools and electronics. So I feel your pain about having to go back up because you can't rent a car and leave it there, someone has to drive you up and then back.

 

[Mando Mark]

Vehicle issues on a trip really suck big time. I’ve never had it as bad as you have it. Good luck on getting it all sorted out.

I'd had a 2015 with the Eco-Diesel that turned into a gutless wonder after the emissions flash, so got out of that and into an identical rig with the Hemi. Both pulled fine, though a disk brake fell apart (less than 50,000 miles) while pulling the camper on vacation LAST year. Got it fixed at a local fix-it shop and it had two new rotors and all new brake pads on the rear axle when I traded it in. That was in the U.P. of Michigan as well. Maybe I need to stay below the bridge! ;-)

 

[Mando Mark]

Sorry, another person who cannot help. But I can commiserate with not being able to rent a car in the home state of cars. I was moving a boat through the Great Lakes and lost an engine near Mackinac. Repairs would mean no movement until spring, so tried to rent a car to get back to Upstate NY. Absolutely not possible. Ended up renting a U-haul truck. Nothing more fun than going through border control twice with rental truck and nothing in back but tools and electronics. So I feel your pain about having to go back up because you can't rent a car and leave it there, someone has to drive you up and then back.

Thanks. Yeah, even my local dealership is acting like they can't give me wheels to drive (I'm back home of course) and they've got about 10 used Trucks on the lot. :-| I can see inventories up in the U.P. were pretty thin. Even the airport up there in iron Mountain only has like six rental vehicles - all cars.

 

[2003F350]

With the shutdowns you're going to be hard pressed to find rental trucks anywhere. Good luck trying to BUY a 2500 or 3500 right now - or an equivalent in Ford or GM. They just aren't building them that fast right now, and apparently are having a devil of a time getting axles for those trucks.

That said, glad Chrysler is leaning on the dealer to figure it out - that absolutely should not have happened with 14k miles on it, given the small trailer and the conditions you were in.

 

[Mando Mark]

Update on my original Post: The dealership this was towed to didn't get at it the week of August 24th but did on the 31st. Amazingly, it appeared to have been something (rock, root, tree debris - whatever) got past my skid plates and damaged some harness assembly up on the transmission, thus negating communications to the Transmission Control Module. FCA never did find me a loaner or rental, but are working to reimburse my neighbor who drove his Chevy up to the U.P. to haul my wife and I and our trailer home. Also, they had my truck hauled back down-state (571 miles or something like that) and delivered to me. I pulled our RV this weekend and all seems fully normal. I'll report back on the reimbursement, but glad they did haul it back for me as it's a 16-hour round trip to where it was fixed from my house and back!

 

[Mando Mark]

Update on my original Post: The dealership this was towed to didn't get at it the week of August 24th but did on the 31st. Amazingly, it appeared to have been something (rock, root, tree debris - whatever) got past my skid plates and damaged some harness assembly up on the transmission, thus negating communications to the Transmission Control Module. FCA never did find me a loaner or rental, but are working to reimburse my neighbor who drove his Chevy up to the U.P. to haul my wife and I and our trailer home. Also, they had my truck hauled back down-state (571 miles or something like that) and delivered to me. I pulled our RV this weekend and all seems fully normal. I'll report back on the reimbursement, but glad they did haul it back for me as it's a 16-hour round trip to where it was fixed from my house and back!

More positive news: FCA has agreed to reimburse for all the gas my neighbor's thirsty Chevy consumed up and back to retrieve my trailer, my wife and me. Not sure how long it'll be before I get the check, but it was north of $225 for the fuel.

 

[Mando Mark]

Final update: Other than FCA not ever being able to provide me with a rental or loaner vehicle, they did do the following: 1.) Repaired the issue at no charge to me. 2.) Coordinated with a car/truck hauler to ship my truck from the west end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula to a rendezvous location north of Grand Rapids. 3.) Reimbursed my neighbor (who drove his 3/4 Chevy up to the U.P. to retrieve my wife and me - as well as our 25' RV) for the gas his thirsty truck consumed there and back. 4.) Kept me updated via emails and/or regular phone calls on the progress of all of the above. Overall, can't complain about their efforts on this situation!

 

[chri5k]

Nice to hear a positive story and FCA stepping up even though it was not really FCA's fault something in the environment damaged the transmission harness.

 

[Cbisme72]

We just had exact same issue , stranded out of town, had rent a van get home, shop was towed to can't find issue...we arebgoing tomorrow to get it on a trailer. Hope to be able fix it rather than replace tranny!!

 

[Mando Mark]

We just had exact same issue , stranded out of town, had rent a van get home, shop was towed to can't find issue...we arebgoing tomorrow to get it on a trailer. Hope to be able fix it rather than replace tranny!!

In our case it only wound up needing a replacement cable/connection from the transmission to the computer or whatever threw the code and locked up the transmission. Hopefully it's something comparable and not a major issue! Good luck!