Hey Scotty I Have a 2007 Dodge Dakota 3.7 v6 with 200k miles. It has the automatic 42RLE. Transmission. A few days ago I put it in reverse and it started hesitating, but I didn’t think much of it. When I got back in my truck later that day I had no reverse at all. Every other gear works fine but no reverse, any ideas?
If this is the original transmission, I'm quite impressed it went this long. A friend of mine had a 2005 Dakota with that same engine and transmission, his bit the dust at 105k and he had it replaced.
The first thing I would do is check your fluid level. Low fluid can cause reverse to act up because it requires high pressure to engage properly.
Given the mileage, your transmission's probably on its way to retirement. Reverse in an automatic transmission requires higher pressure to engage than the forward gears as I mentioned, and is usually the first gear to start acting up when the transmission is wearing out and the fluid level is right. You might try to change your transmission filter, keep all of the transmission fluid and put it back in if it is really anything but dark red. I personally wouldn't risk slipping from new fluid and would keep the old fluid regardless.
