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Thanks but it is at the dealer and has been since Tuesday morning. I’m hoping they call me today with news. The service guy was stressing out because people were calling him with stuff they wanted for the 4th so close to the 4th.
$4K for a tranny rebuild! Zoinks. The guy who hooked up the snapon said he would have charged $1350 I paid $1980.
The “Different shop” guy tried a stall test after he heard it running so much better than the compression numbers I have indicated it should. He stepped on the breaks and hit the gas a couple times and he got the wheels to burn rubber for a sec. It never stalled.Dealer called said nothing was wrong with my truck. Told me Fuel sync was within spec, told me the compression was in spec. (clearly implying he had done one but leaving room for that remark being in reference to my test) “transmission shifted great”. The guy who I had check it had one of these and says it ran just like his.” Its not good as far as I can tell because you just can’t miss how badly this thing is performing unless you want to.
Anyway he went on “I’ll only charge you one hour diagnosis”. I said ok asked for a ride and he said there was no one to come get me today.
I took a shower and realised I did not get the numbers. I called back and asked if he had the results and he said “I told you” I said “No You said “within spec” I’m asking for the actual numbers”. He had attitude about it. “That’s on the ? sheet” So they have my truck for 2 1/2 days and I got nuttin out of it. I can’t get there except by bus which won’t leave for 3+ hours.
I guess if this is normal (something I do not believe at all) then I have been spoiled by foreign vehicles. there is simply too much power in this thing when the stars align and it works as it should for there not to be any problems. Something is not right and its not “tired motor”. Never heard of that before.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!I feel much better now. :-))
Oh yea he said the shudder is not in the motor. ?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? Then where the F is it!
This is why i had that last bit is in what I wrote. I doubt it is a rear wheel drive vehicle. If it is U-Joints on the drive shaft would be an obvious point and looking at the diff would make sense as well.
If it is shuddering it can be anything with rotational mass or that contributes to rotational mass. So ie drive lines, wheel bearings, tires, wheels aka rims, rotors, brakes, torque converter, piss poor alignment, etc
The objective of what I listed above is simple. Narrow it down first. Some other questions that may shine light would be:
What is the make, model, year, engine size, badging, options, mileage, etc. I may have missed it but, I never saw this anywhere. Also what was the original engine and what did you replace it with. I saw the 3.9 V6 Magnum but, I read through and I didn’t see anywhere that you replaced it is it still the orig motor?
What I got so far is: 1994 Dodge Dakota 3.9L V6 Magnum 42RH Auto Trans
Next. What are the conditions like when it acts up. Is it when its cold around first start, is it warm where the engine isn’t at full operating temperature, is it hot when it is at operating temperature, is it going above normal operating temperature.
Is it sunny, foggy, rainy, road wet but air humid, etc. I know it seems stupid but, the weather can make a difference.
What are the road conditions? Does it happen going uphill, downhill, around curves, bumpy roads, smooth roads, potholes the size of small elephants, etc.
Does altitude make a difference?
Does any of it matter or will it do it regardless and do it when it wants too?
Speed of the vehicle? So will it do it at 5mph just as well at 55mph?What I got so far is:
Feels like it starts in 2nd. (Is it sluggish to move is that why you feel it starts in 2nd?)
Climbing hills or when accelerating it lacks power.
If you are going 55 and let up it drops rpms and you have to mash the gas at 49mph to get it go go? (When you let up are you coasting or using cruise control?)What RPMs are you at when you are at 48mph, 50mph, and 55mph?
I see no mention of white/black/blueish-gray smoke when mashing the pedal so I am assuming it does not do any of those.
According to a couple forums your throttle valve cable can adjust your shift timing. So i would take a look at the throttle position sensor (TPS) and also the throttle cable adjustment.
http://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-dakota/223570-throttle-valve-tv-cable-adjustment.html#post1898201
Trans Diagnostic chart
http://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-durango/214565-transmission-diagnostics.html
If you need to adjust the bands
http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/transmission/automatic/AT_band_adj.htmThis is very weird, for you guys. For me this is how my life has been since I moved here 12 years ago.
I got to the dealer and suddenly there were no test results to be seen. He totally bailed on the compression test and still claimed the guy did the Injector sync check. The BS ensued. I spoke to the mechanic and he said he things the sync was -2 when I pointed out he should have adjusted it to zero or maybe +2 (you know because he’s looking at it because the motor is acting funny) he stands on the specs. I point out that they are from -6 to +6 that the better setting if not at zero the exact spec Chrysler calls for is +. He looked at me funny. I then asked of he drove it… He interrupted and spilled his rehearsed schpeil about how it shifted perfectly, nothing wrong in the motor etc (all based on allegedly reading the codes.) then I finished and said At up to and over 65 on the Hwy and uphill at a steady 25-30. And he kept trying to interrupt and answer without answering me. I asked 3 times and he walked away. I was raising my voice by then. So no they didn’t do as I asked and tried to claim I never asked. He charged me $100 claiming it was for only one hour not the three he spent on it. So after all that they did absolutely nothing from what they told me they just lied. I was so freaking livid.
THEN I drove away. On the hwy it was doing its usual making me have to stand on it to accelerate instead of doing so when I pressed the pedal a bit. I drove around a bit then came home. The rad was leaking when I went back out a few minutes later. I filled the overflow tube. Then I did some shopping its rush hour and there is a lot of construction in town. It stayed cool and the tranny acted like I was in a different truck. At speeds from 0-35-40 its is acting like a normal vehicle so far. I didn’t have to think about countering what the motor does and I could rely on the vehicle to respond properly to my input at the pedal.!!!!!
It did lose power in the way I’ve been complaining about coming over the hill on the way home though. It held 55 for the bottom 1/3 then just started losing speed as I held the pedal without moving it the speed went down to 45 then I hit it. (That is not normal all auto tranny vehs I have owned hold the speed or kick down without me having to move the pedal.) When I pushed it down it had to go 3 inches before the motor reacted and kicked down. Once it hit about 57mph the rpms dropped and it dropped down to 45mph again. So ….???My take is that the mechanic did adjust something and for whatever reason did not want to say so. Probably to cover for the other guys or just to avoid having to come to court and testify to what they found. Its been crazy like that since I moved here. I think this is the first time any of these weird events where people do things then pretend they didn’t has benefited me.
I prefer Standard tranny and usually have one. For the record All automatic vehicles I have owned 68 Riviera, 73 I forget big Chrysler boat, 95 Pathfinder, 99 Passat in all of them, the motors ran in order from not so great to great and responded to my input at the pedal without me having to think about it. This 94 Dak has had me fighting it as it either does not respond, responds to slowly or counter acts my input at the pedal when its acting up. I have never had to pay this much attention to what my motor was doing anxiously waiting for it to put me in danger by dropping the power out form under me randomly. It’s nice that it behaved well while doing my shopping today but but I am leary.
MDK22,
So I’m starting to go through your instruction list and felt like I should fill in where innocent inference has been incorrect. Staring my second coffee 🙂
“You have put a lot of money into this vehicle. You have changed a ton of parts. None of which have fixed the problem.”
Yes and no. You may have an incorrect impression because of the symptoms that bring me here in this thread.
Most of the things I did were effective at improving or correcting the processes that lead me to do them. I knew it was shifting bad when I bought it. But it was cheap enough and clean enough that I figured for about what I have spent right now or less, it would be like new. It idled very good had no vibrations or noises and was straight and rust free.
For instance replacing the EGR was because that is the only code this thing had when I bought it. I did the plugs cap rotor coil wires just because I do that to all vehicles when I buy them unless the existing are very new.
I did the plenum kit because it ran out of gas on a full 22gallon tank at 175 miles. Turns out that OE plenum is a major problem with these. I did the timing chain and added the tensioner because I found that TSB while researching how to do the plenum and had the motor open anyway.
I did the cam sensor after those projects as I was focusing on how well it ran in an attempt to isolate the possibility that the shifting issues were motor related.
After that I drove it a while and it seemed like it had stabilized with no new issues coming up over several months and the existing issues staying stable so I took it in to a shop and asked that they check to see the motor was running “as it should be”. $89 later they said it was, “:may have slight miss” but there was not then and never has been a code for it, and that I should get the tranny rebuilt. When I got it back one of the pulley’s started squealing as I pulled out of the lot. There had never been any noise from any part of the motor. It’s a Ca. truck and if you did not know the Smog control regs there pretty much make sure any vehicle legally on the road is in tip top shape. It has done an awful lot to eliminate the lemon market there.
Earlier this year I had the tranny done. When the truck started acting funny again over the last two months, I changed the crank sensor which made a huge difference in how it ran, yet I still have the issue with it acting strange. And here I am.
Alright back to the instructions.It is a 94 Dakota 3.9 with All OEM equipment. I suspect the tranny may no longer be since the “rebuild”. I started this thread to find out how or where to get a crate motor for this machine if I need it as my research turns up the usual iffy no one will guarantee anything unambiguously stuff that is such a drain on our economy. I adjusted the TV cable this morning. It was about a 1/2 inch from the tab when I disconnected it. That is how the tranny rebuild gut set the new cable I gave him. That is not right so I set it right., I can’t really tell but it seems to have made the improvements at 0-40 once i got it back from the dealer even smoother.
First I did the put it in neutral then slow gas up to almost 5k and drop and it was doing fine. There is that shudder or vibration which it never had before the tranny rebuild now. Some say it is the “missing cylinder” the dealer who I just got it back from claims it has nothing to do with the motor or tranny.. “Then why does it only happen with the motor running ?”
Then I did the snap test. First one it went up to 2800 and back down to 400 and idled, second one it went up to 3100 and back down then idled third time it went over 4K and came down then struggled for a couple seconds and died. Restarted and it did the same thing twice more actually dying faster each time.
As I mentioned previously one of the guys I took it to did the power break test and the wheels ended up breaking traction.
I’ve done the AC test just now and it had no effect. Something that does stand out is that the exhaust fumes smell very rich.
I haven’t gone looking for a hill yet. Will do in a minute. I’ll go find a hill and come back and get on that next post.It rode downhill silently only the tires on road making a sound up to 35mph.
I did the pedal snap test when I got back with it really warmed up and it did fine. ?? I suspect it has more meaning that it stalled out when it was just warm.The issues are mostly random. The hwy issue is that it is during acceleration rpms are in the 22-2500 range and then they just drop off to 17-1800. The vehicle is still accelerating but a lot less quckly and with a LOT less power at the pedal.
If I am cruising (no cruise control) and want to accelerate it should just do so as I press down but it doesn’t until the pedal goes down more than an inch and then only very slowly. If I mash it down it will kick down and jump but within a few seconds even with the pedal still mashed something takes over and drops the rpms out form under me and it slows it down. Say I’m cruising at 65 and 1900rpms and i need to get by someone quickly to leave the left lane open. I punch it and it kicks down & goes then once it reaches about 2500rpms and maybe 70-75mph something just takes over and yanks all that power out from under me slowing the motor down dropping the rpms and it seems like trying to make me go slower. I have to let the pedal up some and mash it again to get it to go again. This is going to get me killed.
Edit; That anecdote aside and this may seem odd to you but I can drive it up to and cruise at 70-75mph?!
The slow speed issues seem to have been fixed by the dealer who claims they did not adjust anything. I suspect they did something to correct a mistake made by the rebuild guy and do not want to tell me. Even if it was just dropping the pan then adding back the correct amount and type of oil could have done this but I suspect they also replaced the 1-2 accumulator which was plastic and very loose in the OE version and the improved one is aluminum and fits tight. I think the rebuild guy did not do the reman with top notch new improved parts he said he would.On the coasting test this morning I went up a couple of hills at 25-30 mph without moving the pedal and it kicked down several times as the hill got steeper to hold the same speed. That is what it should do on the Hwy as well as simply just go when I ask it to without all the drama.
Chryler products don’t have transmission problems,it is errors done by someone that does not know how to rebuild them right and not using the ATF+4 fluid.Misdiagnosis too.Last one was a Chrysler minivan,a fluid and filter change and computer change fixed this one.The filter was plugged up and showed a couple codes for a bad computer for the transmission.Did pour the ATF+4 fluid in too.
[quote=”wafrederick” post=141459]Chryler products don’t have transmission problems,it is errors done by someone that does not know how to rebuild them right and not using the ATF+4 fluid.Misdiagnosis too.Last one was a Chrysler minivan,a fluid and filter change and computer change fixed this one.The filter was plugged up and showed a couple codes for a bad computer for the transmission.Did pour the ATF+4 fluid in too.[/quote]
Yeah, I am pretty sure they do actually…
[quote=”notoriousDUG” post=141530][quote=”wafrederick” post=141459]Chryler products don’t have transmission problems,it is errors done by someone that does not know how to rebuild them right and not using the ATF+4 fluid.Misdiagnosis too.Last one was a Chrysler minivan,a fluid and filter change and computer change fixed this one.The filter was plugged up and showed a couple codes for a bad computer for the transmission.Did pour the ATF+4 fluid in too.[/quote]
Yeah, I am pretty sure they do actually…[/quote]
Chrysler has some bulletproof transmissions out there.The 1998 to 2004 Dodge Intrepid/Chrysler Concorde Transmissions are one of them.Replace the speed sensors in them once in a while.The newer 5 and 6 speed automatics too in the trucks,yards sell these for $250.00 since they don’t break..Yeah, I am going to have to disagree with the fact that Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth isn’t know for trans problems.
As for your engine it shouldn’t die like that hitting the gas then letting up. If you ask me I would definitely drop some fuel system cleaner in the tank. If you haven’t already I would clean the MAF if it has one. I would also replace the in-line fuel filter after you go through 1 tank with the fuel system cleaner in it. Then retry the punching the pedal then letting off. You say it smells like it is running rich it is either over fueling or lack of metered air (aka air that is calculated by the ECM) Over fueling is often sticky injectors any more. Lack of air is often MAF not clean or a crack somewhere along the intake or broken gasket somewhere after the MAF or MAP sensor.
It could also be a miss-gaped plug but….
I also assume you have replaced the air filter or it is still in good shape. I just have to ask even though I am pretty sure you have.
If it is not those I would hope the dealership made sure the Trans Control Module and ECM are up to date. If none of that fixes it or shows improvement I would really lean to mechanical issues. Whether it is the Trans or Engine it is hard to say still. I am still trying to figure out what the trans guy could have done to make stuff worse. It wouldn’t surprise me if he hit a vacuum line or something.
There are only a few things that will really cause a trans to cut power like that. One would be a knock being picked up by the engine. Another is too high of a pressure in the Trans. Traction Control / ABS. Miss-reading cam/crank sensor. Sudden High load on the engine like a failing a/c compressor (Hence why I had you check) or a idler/pulley locking up. Basically any time there is a sudden rpm drop which would not show up on your tachometer.
^^ Never heard someone say that Chrysler had “Good” transmissions….
Best trans I ever had the pleasure of driving: Ford 4R100 in a 1999 Ford Expedition. WOW I loved that one.
And I love my Blazer but my 4L60-E is starting to scare me. (I have also heard it said that “Every single one of those will need a rebuild at some point.”)
Bad Chrysler trans, specifically: Minivans. Much like earlier (1999-2004) Volkswagen Jettas…
The Chrysler mini van transmissions are not junk,some don’t get the scan tool out scanning for codes first.Worst one Chrysler had was in the older Eagle Premiers.A bad rear oxygen sensor causes a transmission problem in Chryslers,have seen this happen.The Ford 4R100 is a pile of junk and Ford is well known for transmission problems.I know a transmission repair shop that has mostly Fords in for transmission problems and they are a huge pain in the ass to diagnose problems with.They beat their head against the wall when a Ford comes in with a transmission problem and won’t get inside of the Escape transmissions.
MDK22
I just had it idling for a bit and sprayed some stuff on it to see if there was a vacuum leak. No such luck.. It was idling with the shudder when it started then it sped up and settled down into smooth idling. I redid the snap peddle test and it did not die after 4 times.
I had put a bottle of Lucas gas treatment in a couple days go when I filled up. Less than 50 miles on it. The injectors are new. I put the air cleaner in when I first bought it same principle as the plugs wires etc. I suppose it could be plugged but it looks fine.
The tranny issue preceded the rebuild. It was actually a lot worse before the rebuild. It was gone after the rebuild and responded like a normal car for a few weeks then the old issues slowly crept back in. Edit: Actually now that I think of it the first time I went over the hill and got on the Hwy it was great accelerated perfectly. Then after that every time I got on the Hwy the old issues started coming back with less and less snappiness in getting on the Hwy. I pretty much have to punch it getting on now instead of just holding it halfway and it going as it should.
I suspect the dealer either adjusted the outside band or dropped the pan like I asked them to to make sure the 1-2 accumulator was a new aluminum one and not the old OE plastic crap. If they dropped the pan they may have made the improvement by adding the correct amount and type of fluid back in or by putting in a good accumulator or both. IDK its all speculation since they claim they could find nothing. But the problem is the same one I was trying to isolate before I had the tranny rebuilt. Whatever they did it acts better at speeds up to 40mph now than it did before. I’d have to say it is acting normally in that range.You have a Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor and an Intake Air Temperature (IAT) sensor instead of a Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor.
Make sure car is cold first.
I would take a look at the IAT sensor and clean it off. CRC MAF Cleaner will work for this. I recommend that because its residue free and doesn’t harm plastics. Also let it try fully aka 20 mins before hooking it back up. I would also look at your MAP sensor and see if it is plugged up. If the MAP is plugged you may be able to clean it but, I am not sure how it is made on that If it is plastic digging around in the sensing hole could be a no no.I cannot remember if you said you put a new throttle body on it or cleaned it. Did you do either of those 2? If so did you clean the IAC?
If that doesn’t do the trick I would take a look at your O2 sensors. Also if you can get the Short Term Fuel Trim (STFT) and Long Term Fuel Trim (LTFT) and any codes even if inactive. I doubt you have any codes because I know you would have told me about it before now. Even if you do not have codes your O2 sensors could be sluggish.
This is really starting to rack my brain which is cool but, I am starting to understand why you just want to put a crate motor in it. Though there is no guarantee that would fix your problems. Especially with the way everything is integrated. Also do you know if you got a new Transmission Control Module when they replaced/rebuilt the transmission.
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