Ok Gang...I've got a for sure way to diagnose torque converter lock up issues where it lock and unlocks at about 45-50 MPH. I had a gent call me yesterday with this problem and he's replace both batteries, alternator and the APPS sensor. Attempted all the different wiring issues (adding ground, tinfoil etc.) nothing worked. Like I told him the truck ran 11 years without all this stuff and doesn't require any wiring change to make it work. What it needs is the damaged part to be replaced. So he's returned the wiring back to stock setup.Now I told him to unhook the alternator fuse and take it for a ride... Guess what... No problems! Even though he replaced the alternator it has a damaged diode in it and it bleeding AC noise into the electrical system.So before doing any wiring mods, tinfoil, adding grounds, adding filter... PLEASE! Bench test your alternator! This is the second time I've suggested this and both time resolved the torque converter lock up issue.

Just wouldn't want to risk a locked up or down shift on stock internals. I'm also not sure if stock VB line pressure supports lock up or not but if I were using a LU switch (and I do) I'd want to make sure everything was setup to support it. Just my opinion, and why I said I wouldn't recommend it but everyone's free to do what they want with their trucks. 

Ok what evrryones thoughts on dropping tranny pan changing filter and tightening bans while I have the truck sitting for awhile.(tranny hasn't been serviced in about 90k miles). Because I don't wanna drive it much right now with it bouncing in/out. Afraid it's gonna tear something else up.

I don't see what could hurt by doing any of that, especially if it's been 90k since the last time the bands have been adjusted. I imagine that front band is going to need it.

20 hours ago, notlimah said:

Maybe it's trans itself. I've heard some hit or miss things from ATS

trans is less than a year old, been dealing with this since 2009 

14 hours ago, Hudsondust said:

Ok what evrryones thoughts on dropping tranny pan changing filter and tightening bans while I have the truck sitting for awhile.(tranny hasn't been serviced in about 90k miles). Because I don't wanna drive it much right now with it bouncing in/out. Afraid it's gonna tear something else up.

that won't help, been there done it got the shirt and its still doing it.

NONE of the bandaids list here or anywhere on the net have helped, Ive tested each and every wire for continuity, my truck has been sitting for a year now while I did all this and no luck. New battery cables both sides +- 3 or 4 speed sensors 2 complete pigtails for said speed sensor. filters, aluminum foil blah blah blah. Nothing works not even for a day. 3 different alts all returned, then had the original completely rebuilt. Timbo apps was my first mod, lasted about 3 months with that and here we are in 2017 i have a monster of a truck but the sumb!tch cant find a gear for nothing. Does ANYONE here know if this has been addressed with dodge? Thats the question that should be answered, not 22 pages of here do this or here do that. Whats the fix if this wasn't happening when these hunk of scrap metals rolled off the lots?

15 hours ago, kzimmer said:

 

Why?

Stock internals are to weak, the overdrive units are marginal at best. 
 

14 hours ago, notlimah said:

Just wouldn't want to risk a locked up or down shift on stock internals. I'm also not sure if stock VB line pressure supports lock up or not but if I were using a LU switch (and I do) I'd want to make sure everything was setup to support it. Just my opinion, and why I said I wouldn't recommend it but everyone's free to do what they want with their trucks. 

 

It does support lock up, but I wouldn't be running a lock up switch with your foot off the throttle. 

 

14 hours ago, Hudsondust said:

Ok what evrryones thoughts on dropping tranny pan changing filter and tightening bans while I have the truck sitting for awhile.(tranny hasn't been serviced in about 90k miles). Because I don't wanna drive it much right now with it bouncing in/out. Afraid it's gonna tear something else up.

Do It. I was told that i should adjust my bands and change fluid every 20,000 miles. Best to dump the fluid and when you do get a 46re filter for a 94-96 dodge, they are exactly the same, except the older one has no steel around the filter.
 

10 minutes ago, Carl Steven Clendenning said:

trans is less than a year old, been dealing with this since 2009 

that won't help, been there done it got the shirt and its still doing it.

 

How are your ground cables? have you pulled the alternator off to confirm it is a grounding issue. Have you cleaned the ground sub cables on the passenger side, they are the gey clips with the 00 gauge wire. That is your PCM and ECM ground wire. 

5 minutes ago, pepsi71ocean said:

Stock internals are to weak, the overdrive units are marginal at best. 

 

Lockup switch can still be used and not abused.

 

6 minutes ago, pepsi71ocean said:

Do It. I was told that i should adjust my bands and change fluid every 20,000 miles. Best to dump the fluid and when you do get a 46re filter for a 94-96 dodge, they are exactly the same, except the older one has no steel around the filter.

 

94-96 47RH filter will also work. I think it's all the same for any 727 style filter that doesnt have the metal housing, but I could be wrong.

8 minutes ago, pepsi71ocean said:

 

How are your ground cables? have you pulled the alternator off to confirm it is a grounding issue. Have you cleaned the ground sub cables on the passenger side, they are the gey clips with the 00 gauge wire. That is your PCM and ECM ground wire. 

done the whole truck front to back every since wire harness ground and anything that looked like a wire got some grease. 

2 minutes ago, Carl Steven Clendenning said:

done the whole truck front to back every since wire harness ground and anything that looked like a wire got some grease. 

 

Yes, but cleaning and drop testing are different. I had three trucks so far with TC lock up issues in Jersey/PA that had marginal ground cables. And they looked good. Ironically two were drivers side cables, and one was the passenger side that were .179v give or take. 

3 hours ago, pepsi71ocean said:

 

Yes, but cleaning and drop testing are different. I had three trucks so far with TC lock up issues in Jersey/PA that had marginal ground cables. And they looked good. Ironically two were drivers side cables, and one was the passenger side that were .179v give or take. 

done it all man, when I say Ive either cleaned or replace and check continuity done it all. Every ground you can come up with on these trucks ive taken it off cleaned and or replace the ground wire completely. 

my question is...whats the fix? What does dodge say? Or is there anything official from them that im unable to find? Or did dodge just say screw it?

The fix(es) are in this thread, what's weird is that non of them have worked for you. Dodge (AFAIK) hasn't put out any sort of TSB related to this, or at least not one that's come back to be the permanent fix. Besides, this isn't really a 'Dodge' issue, this is just what happens when you have these trucks on the road for so long, these problems start to come up.

27 minutes ago, Carl Steven Clendenning said:

Or did dodge just say screw it?

Pretty sure after some time they all say screw it. That's why we're all here, cause we're not all there. 

1 hour ago, Carl Steven Clendenning said:

Every ground you can come up with on these trucks ive taken it off cleaned and or replace the ground wire completely. 

 

That's the funny part the ground for the PCM, ECM and VP44 do NOT mount to the body or block.That is the important wire right there that feeds the ground to the computers. It only hooks directly to the battery. That wire can't be replaced unless you replace the entire loom.

 

As for the other grounds they are all secondary like lights and horn. Like for example the headlight ground is in the cab at the driver side kick panel. So randomly pulling and cleaning grounds won't do a thing unless you know what that wire is for.

 

The biggest thing is to verify for sure there is no AC noise in any of the power. If you have to measure the AC voltage as you drive. If your getting excessive AC noise we've got to start disconnecting device one at a time and hunting for the source of the noise.

 

 

1 hour ago, notlimah said:

Besides, this isn't really a 'Dodge' issue, this is just what happens when you have these trucks on the road for so long, these problems start to come up.

 

Ford and Chevy's have this issue as well just they manifest in different ways. Like my truck isn't an automatic but it causes a surge in the cruise control and random dumping of the throttle. so far every time it's been a alternator failure for me. 

Not to mention Dodge like other manufacturers fix these issues by making new models. You can’t expect them to have any responsibility on a vehicle past their warranty period unless it is a huge safety issue, like recall status items. 

 

My my issue seems to have been fixed by addressing driveline vibration in the uv joints as well as the fuel pump (FASS), and the hvac blower resistor. The resistor was the worst, keep in mind any electric fan is noisy electrically by design, add bad resistors controlling rpms on said motor and wow the ac noise is terrible. You want a for sure fix, find someone to build a current ECM/PCM computer to replace the ones on these trucks and make the control signals less susceptible to noise. Likely won’t happen in whole, so find your noise.

 

I recommend finding someone with an oscilloscope that knows how to use it and start tracing ac noise levels on the dc signals. Amplitude should increase as you get closer to the source and will get choppy as you find the multiple leak (ground) dissipation points.

29 minutes ago, jlongjohn said:

The resistor was the worst, keep in mind any electric fan is noisy electrically by design, add bad resistors controlling rpms on said motor and wow the ac noise is terrible.

 

Do keep in mind failed blower resistor is caused from failed fan bearing. The bearing start to tighten up dragging the blower down and the resistors get hot till the burn up. So I'd highly suggest checking the blower motor out and might end up replacing it. 

 

The other AC noise source I found in a TSB years ago was the stock lift pump. Being most people no longer have that this is a non-issue for AC noise. 

20 hours ago, Carl Steven Clendenning said:

done it all man, when I say Ive either cleaned or replace and check continuity done it all. Every ground you can come up with on these trucks ive taken it off cleaned and or replace the ground wire completely. 

my question is...whats the fix? What does dodge say? Or is there anything official from them that im unable to find? Or did dodge just say screw it?

 

The PCM and ECM ground runs through the main wiring harness around the motor up onto the firewall to the PCM, they are internally grounded, not grounded to the body by a stud and that wire. That is why on some trucks you simply pull it out of the harness and re run it over the radiator, or wrap aluminum foil over it. That is the ground.  What makes things worse is that I've had trucks where they had a short on the 12V+ lead on the PCM cause Lock up Issues.  This is why the CCD bus wires are wrapped around one another, to cancel out this noise.

For the record I fixed a Chrysler Sebring that had an A/C noise issue where the speedometer would go to 65mph whenever you took it out of Park or Netural. (ie Drive, 2 1), turns out the Alternator has put out a odd sine wave that was only picked up by the speed sensor. But this alternator benched just fine in a store. 

 

 

Alright this just happened yesterday while traveling down the road the 4wd light would come on and off sometimes would stay on.  This morning truck wouldn't shift from 1st to 2nd unless I backed out of it. Could this and the TC locking in and out all be tied together? And no I haven't serviced tranny yet

1-2 upshift is purely mechanical. Dependent on shift lever position and throttle valve. Did you recently adjust TV?

 

I am also under the impression that the 4wd indicator light comes from the central axle disconnect position but that one might be wrong.

2 hours ago, kzimmer said:

I am also under the impression that the 4wd indicator light comes from the central axle disconnect position but that one might be wrong.

 

This is correct for CAD axles. Non-CAD axles have the swtich on the transfer case lever.

 

2 hours ago, kzimmer said:

1-2 upshift is purely mechanical. Dependent on shift lever position and throttle valve.

So is 2-3 shift. It's also based on the TV cable adjustment.

 

The 3-4 shift is all electronic...

That is interesting as I'm getting hunting in the 2-3 shift if I'm just feathering the go pedal. So must be a mechanical hunting. Only happens going up a hill that I'm not accelerating just float the pedal letting and let the grade slow rpms.

Edited October 28, 20177 yr by JAG1

Double check your TV cable adjustment. If it not set correctly it will change the shift point vs throttle position. The TV (Throttle Valve) controls the amount of pressure in the valve body for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear shifts. Typically the TV cable should be set so both the throttle arm and the TV arm move together at the same time and hit WOT position together. Some people will take up excessive amount of slack so the TV actually hits WOT sooner this should cause the transmission to hold a lower gear longer. So visa-versa is true too excess slack in the cable will cause early shifting and possible lugging.