Hey, been watching the videos for quite a while and now I have an issue so thought I would ask, never hurts right?
my vehicle
Dodge Ram 1500 5.2l 4 speed automatic transmission, 1994 (transmission in build sheet says
| 4-Spd. Automatic 46RH Transmission |
the problem is it will some times not shift into drive and just react like it would if in neutral, but this is completely intermittent, My mechanic flushed it and tested it, ran fine for like 5 miles with lots of stops and starts, and shifting up and down too, gives me the keys and on backing out, I had to readjust, when I shifted into drive to pull forward to do this, it just rev'd the engine, no motion.
something else is that the reverse and low or tow gear still engages all the time, unlike the Drive and 1rst that only works about 8 out of 10 times.
additional info is that the wrong type of transmission fluid was put in the engine, not sure what it was, but I can see if some of the bottles are still around.
I am guessing it needs to be rebuilt, just wondering what you think has gone wrong inside the transmission to cause a failure to shift but only part of the time and part of the gearing.
Edit: just to note, as the forum rules indicate, I did search but could not find anything this specific. heck even on google I was not able to find anything close enough to what I am having a problem with, to get an answer that might offer any insight on this. also as the truck is not here, I am not sure about exact OD reading but I know it was over 250,000 miles
At that age and mileage, it's probably just worn out. The fluid condition might give you some clues, but it could be many things.. the clutches are burned up, something in the valve body failed... It doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that everything inside there is going to be at the end of its life, and the transmission has to come out. If you want to keep the vehicle, then you go to a tranny shop and ask for a reputable off-the-shelf rebuilt transmission that's been dyno tested, and comes with a good warranty on parts an labour. It will probably cost you more than the truck is worth ... $3k - $5k.
just wondering what you think has gone wrong inside
Somebody would have to put the transmission on a bench and slowly and carefully pick it apart (rather than gutting it like a fish which is what happens at the factory) and analyze what happened. They won't do that for free, and you probably don't want to pay them to do it.
ah ok, well I am planning on rebuilding it, and learning as I go, if I can get it fully responding to the tests once done, before I have saved enough to get a rebuilt one then I guess I will doing the rest of the testing by working with that mechanic to put it back in, and run it for a while. I will be recording all my work so I have no issues remembering where anything goes back in, and all, if anyone has a use for the video (I don't have any reach on some place like youtube so uploading it there is as good as just deleting it when I am done LOL) also any of the tools I am going to probably be making myself (machinist by trade) I will probably look into forwarding to anyone who can use them for cost of shipping so they can hopefully continue helping people solve such issues.
This might help:
https://www.youtube.com/@PrecisionTransmission/search?query=518
Best of luck.
(46RH = A518)
gotten lots of help from youtube once I went to your link MountainManJoe, and watched a few vids on my transmission,
some additional info I forgot and I am guessing may be relevant, was:
I used gold eagle noleak for transmission seals
thinking it might be possible that instead of just softening and swelling shut, as I had intended, the wrong transmission fluid with it may have broken down the seal material so some is circulating around and getting stuck in valves and against screens, so that the temp sensor is not getting the fluid circulating so it registering too low of a temp?
manual I have says if the temp is at or below 70 degrees the 1rst and 2nd gears will not engage, as well as if it registers the fluid being above 285 degrees.
Additionally I guess if the gooy chunk is big enough it may be blocking passage entirely, and when I shift out of gear and into reverse or something it is getting flushed away long enough to let it engage again, until the obstruction is sucked back into place blocking flow so that when I stop it will refuse to engage that drive and 1rst gear (1rst and 2nd gears)
I am draining it now, finally in a position to work on it, and going to pull the governor out and pull the seal with those two screens in it to look for obstructions, also going to go further and clean off all my throttle and shift linkage so I can get a good idea of where it all has to be tightened down to, and then take it off, to remove the valve body and continue my search for klingon goopy mess, Will try and message back and include pics if I find the problem, if not no need for pics, or vid links if that is allowed,
totally not comfortable with this, though not the first time doing something mechanical that I was not comfortable with, and I suspect if I really screwed up by the combination of seal restoring and wrong transmission fluid I will have to be ready to do this again and eventually pull and replace all my seals as well as a real internal cleaning to get any of the chemical residue of those two out, so only the ATF it was intended, is all that is in contact with the internals.
On the plus side, you haven't got much to lose.
Yes, we love photos and video. Photo instructions are in forum guide in the Notices section. For video, just upload straight from your phone to Youtube and post the link here for us.
I'm looking forward to hearing your findings. Especially about the additive.