Ok, so I got rid of my 24V with headaches, and apparently picked up a 12V with someone else's headaches.. So, out of the frying pan, into the fire.I've been working out some kinks on this '97. I test drove it last friday, and from what I recall, it seemed to be fine.. Unless I didn't notice it (my fault for lack of due-diligence.)At any rate, the issue (for this thread) is the transmission.Story goes: 2 owners ago, dude bought a Jasper trans, installed it, killed it, warrantied it, killed that one, warrantied it, killed it, then Jasper said "this is your last one."so he pulled the 5spd from this '97, installed the Jasper auto in it, and stuck the 5 speed into the truck that he was using to kill transmissions.However, he did a ____-poor job, and sold it to last owner, who killed the poorly/improperly incomplete install in short order. So he took it to a diesel trans guy in MD, who rebuilt the Jasper trans using triple disc TC, red clutches, kevlar bands, HD valve body, etc. (parts from HTS Diesel).Installed a PCM (to replace a non-existant one) and rewired everything, so to speak, or so the story goes.Fast forward to me.. ( I don't need any "I told you so" type stuff, because I know. Believe me, I know.. One word: Wife. )I drove it home last friday, and all seemed well, although I did notice it seemed to rev a little higher to get it moving.. Granted, I'm new to autos, as my '01 was a manual, and the '96 before that, was manual, so I'm somewhat rusty on how they perform/react. Thought maybe the TC had a little higher stall.Last night, my 7 y.o. daughter wanted to ride around the block in the new dually.. Wish granted. That's when I noticed that something wasn't quite right... No low/1st gear engagement. Neither with shifter in D, or if I manually drop it to L (1), nothing, nada.. it seems to stay in 2nd gear or so.. I will add that if in D, at a stop, let off the brake and the truck starts to creep forward.. give a little throttle and drop it into 2nd, it feels to almost 'drop' a gear, as the forward progress seems to be a more positive engagement, but still no 1st. Driving 30mph, slow prepare for a stop sign, drop lever to 2, it downshifts.. drop to 1 from like 10mph, no gear change/drop occurs.. it stays in 2nd..TC lockup and such works, and with the 4.10s, 60-65mph yeilds about 1900-2000rpm.The Coolant Temp Sensor circuit is fubar somewhere, as is the tach in the I/C. The tach does read through the scan gauge, however, so the Crank Position Sensor seems to be operational.I was told this trans has a 3/36 warranty, but getting that info is proving to be a tad on the tough side..Trans looks fresh, complete with gray paint, Jasper stickers, etc., so it was apparently rebuilt in the Jasper case.Help. I need to troubleshoot this as inexpensively as I can, for obvious reasons.

DON'T SAY THAT!!!

Lol

DON'T SAY THAT!!!

So What was the diagnosis ??

Any updates ??

Diags was that the pcm was programmed with an unknown vin. So a complete test could not be done. Preliminary testing did point to the transducer though.

So here I go...

From the Galaxy S3

Diags was that the pcm was programmed with an unknown vin. So a complete test could not be done. Preliminary testing did point to the transducer though. So here I go...

Nice. Keep us posted. How much was the diag ??

Diags were $30. Parts are in. I took s few videos of the process as I went through it. The only issue I had was removing the sensor it had a clip that I did not see. I keep getting the output shaft speed sensor error but I've replaced it so I don't know what the problem is. He said when he ran diagnostics he could see the output shaft speed sensor work all the time. So whatever is causing that code must be intermittent.

Mental note: remember and I repeat remember to replace the transmission pan magnet when you clean it. I had to drop the pan a second time to put the magnet back in because my stupid brain forgot.

Here, you can see how much bigger the heavy duty solenoid is versus the stock oe unit. The pressure sensors are identical.

From the Galaxy S3

Ok I've been road testing it and checking/filling fluid level of trans. So far so good (other than the OSS code P0720), and it took right at 7 qts .Wish me luck. Now I need a clock spring for the srs/cc to work.. and kinda need the srs light to go out for state inspection pass.From the Galaxy S3

update:trans still going strong!

Something to check on the OSS is the plug on it. If it has an intermittent connection it will act up. Mine has been a PITA and needs to be replaced. The plug is available separately and is not difficult to replace. Generally when that speed sensor does not have a connection the computer wants to downshift or not upshift at all. FYI the computer on your truck looks at the TPS and the speed sensor to determine what gear to put the trans in.

Something to check on the OSS is the plug on it. If it has an intermittent connection it will act up. Mine has been a PITA and needs to be replaced. The plug is available separately and is not difficult to replace. Generally when that speed sensor does not have a connection the computer wants to downshift or not upshift at all. FYI the computer on your truck looks at the TPS and the speed sensor to determine what gear to put the trans in.

Tom, do you have a scan guage 2? if so, what is your TPS reading at closed throttle (rest)

I don't have a scan gauge. What I did on mine was just rotate the TPS as far counter clock wise (or was it clockwise?) as I could to raise the voltage as high as I could so the shift points were higher. Mine goes into O/D at about 47 MPH at light throttle and my daughter's truck goes into O/D at about 40 with the same throttle.

Update:

So, I towed all weekend..

This morning, before work, I went out to disconnect the trailer.

Walking out into the street, I noticed this trail of big drops of fluid down the street.. Following them visually, they went straight into my driveway (where I was backed in, yesterday) to a big puddly wet spot.. I then looked under the truck on the street and BAM! Big puddle.. Went to unhook the trailer and noticed the front of the trailer, the tongue, chains, and back of the truck were all covered in trans fluid (initial inspection.)

I made a couple trips/deliveries, one being 118mi round trip.

Sunday morning, I checked the hitch, chains, etc., before setting off and all was dry/dusty.

So something happened over the course of yesterday, in making a second 118mi round trip and a couple short local ones..

I'll have to get under there and clean everything off so I can see where it's coming from...

:banghead:

- - - Updated - - -

UPDATE:

found the leak...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4506&d=1348536821

However, I can't seem to stop the leak. I've removed the fitting, checked it and the pipe. I don't see or feel any burrs or anything.. I reinstalled the line and tightened the hell out of it.. Still leaks..

So, tomorrow, I'm gonna have to bypass this block-mounted cooler..

Anyone (with an auto trans) ever bypass the block-mounted cooler and only run a front-mount trans cooler? Suggestions on doing so?

Thread on CF somewhere for doing it. Only downside I remember is if it's really cold as its an exchanger to help warm the tranny fluid

well, we dip in to the single digits sometimes in winter, but not often. I'll cross that bridge when I get there, I suppose. ;)Amazing how hard it is to find 1/2" transmission hose... I used a piece of heater hose in the interim, until i find trans hose that big. Hopefully by the weekend. Otherwise, the truck was inoperable, as the leak was that bad!

Apparently, by-passing the block-mounted heat exchanger was a bad idea.. Trans temps skyrocket at low speeds and especially sitting at stoplights.A 2 minute stoplight wait will cause the temps to go from 180*F to 210-230*F rapidly.The front-mount trans cooler is a Hayden tube & fin style and is apparently very inefficient. I mounted a 10" fan on it, and it doesn't seem to help. I just don't think the tube & fin style cooler exchanges heat well enough.I bought a new Hayden 11"x11.5" HD trans cooler (supposedly 33% more efficient) but I can't seem to find a pace to fit it. There's a round 'boss' on the driver's side of the intercooler tank that sticks out about 1-1.25" that restricts a front-mount placement. I'd rather not mount it in front of the AC condenser if I can at all get away with it.Ideas?

I have a low stall converter in my ATS trans, and if I am sitting at a long light I slip it into neutral to keep the temps happy.

Mine, too, is low-stall. Slipping it into Neutral doesn't seem to help, as the pump is still engaged in neutral. Park stops the pump, at least from what I can tell. It can sit forever, idling in park, and the temps hardly move. Put it in neutral, or gear, and sit.. Different story..

Mine, too, is low-stall. Slipping it into Neutral doesn't seem to help, as the pump is still engaged in neutral. Park stops the pump, at least from what I can tell. It can sit forever, idling in park, and the temps hardly move. Put it in neutral, or gear, and sit.. Different story..

Yeah, mine will act similarly at idle. However (not an expert) but I believe the converter is creating most of the heat, and I can hear the trans lug the engine a bit in R,D21. but not in P or N. However, if I put it in neutral, and rev it, bringing air over the trans cooler with the fan, I will see a slow ticking drop in temp. Usually a couple degrees a minute or so... Not much, but some. I've often wondered what a separate radiator cooler with an electric fan on a thermostat would do for me. ATS did say that the valve body was modified so it would retain full flow even in park and neutral, by circulating the fluid through the converter like when driving.

Yeah.. all I know is I need to figure this issue out sooner than later

so I got the new Hayden trans cooler installed friday afternoon, as I had to tow the big trailer to Burlington, WV (about 1.5hrs west, across 2 mountain ridges. I mounted the new (big) trans cooler on the drivers side bumper bracket, just forward of the LF wheel-well liner.

I'll get a picture in a little bit, as it's raining now.

Here's what I got:

(Hayden) 226110 Imperial 10" Electric Fan (2.6"D x 11"H x 11.375"W) - $56.29

(Hayden) 243012 Imperial Maxi-Cool XL Transmission cooler (Size: 3/4" x 11" x 11-5/8") - $64.69

(Hayden) 226206 Imperial Thermostatic Fan Control - Preset 185*F - $27.69

I retained the other (inferior) tube & fin front cooler in the cooling circuit, as well, and it is secondary in the series. The trans temp sensor is mounted in the line just before the big (bar & plate style), in the outlet line from the trans. The fan is currently wired to run as long as the ignition is on, as I tried two seperate (NEW) thermostatic switches that are 'supposed' to turn on at 195*F and off at 185*F. Guess what? Neither did. Testing them in a pan of hot water proved the switches to 'close the circuit' at ~225*F. Yes, the water was boiling.. ( need to source a better way to trip the fan on/off.)

No stock exchanger (right side of the block) is in the system, curently; it developed a serious leak at the -AN fitting area a week or so ago.

Anyway, several of the grades were NINE percent, and ranged from 1/2 mi to 1 mi. in length. It was dusk as I left, and the ambient temp was cooler than usual (about 60*F.) I've towed in this temp before, and cruising 60-65mph on flat highwat carries about 165-170*F. Slower speed with grade would take it up to 200+.

AS I started working my way through town, temps were not registering on the gauge initially, then slowly worked their way up to about 150-155*F. That's the highest I saw the entire trip!

Once I got out of town and started my trip, cruised about 50-55mph.. temps dropped to 140. About 45 minutes into the trip, I was seeing 130*F temps.. They hovered around 130-135*F, even on the 9% climbs. I think the highest it got on a climb (OD off, TCC locked, 40mph pull) was like 138*.

On the way home, the trip took place from 9:35pm-12:10am. Ambient temp was about 55%, and a lot of moisture in the air, with a heavy dew. Temps stayed sub 130*F the entire way.

Saturday, I installed a new thermo-switch (they've all been the kind that pushes through the core fins) and guess what?? Same crap.. It never turns the fan on. I drove it today to run a couple of town errands (no fan) and the temp spiked to about 200*F at one time. This usually occurs if I sit at a light in D or N for any extended period of time. It can be around 200*F, and I can leave the light, get up to about 30 in 3rd, no OD, and then lock the TC, and the temps will fall to sub 180*F in about a minute. The fan would keep this from happening.

Any ideas on a better option for a thermostatic fan switch?

Here's the review I wrote on AdvanceAutoParts.com website, concerning PN 226206:

Easy to install, inaccurate control

By Rogan from Winchester, VA on 10/8/2012

Rating by Rogan: 2 of 5 stars

Pros:

Lightweight, Easy To Use

Cons:

Flimsy, Inaccurate Switch

Best Uses:

Large Cars, Trucks

Describe Yourself:

Casual Driver, Truck Enthusiast, Mechanic, Auto Enthusiast

Was this a gift?:

No

Bottom Line:

No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This unit is easy to install. However, the most important piece is the most unreliable of the contents in the package: The thermostatic switch. It is supposed to "close the circuit" at ~185*F. This does not happen. I tried two separate new ones and neither are accurate, or close, for that matter. In a pan of hot water, the 2 switches I got from Advance Auto Parts were nowhere close to this temp setting. One switch closed at 224*F, and the other closed at 240*F (water was boiling for a few minutes before the switch closed.)

Being that I am using the Imperial fan (226110) on the Imperial Maxi-Cool Transmission cooler (243012), these temperatures would have already caused transmission damage, let alone the fact that they're supposed to operate in the 185*F range. 40-60*F variance is totally unacceptable.