1. Home
  2. Chrysler Cars
  3. Sick 41TE

Sick 41TE

Hi All,

OK, this morning we are driving back from the beach, about an hours drive.

20 minutes from home, idling in the morning rush, me driving of course, the van gives a bump and the trans goes into limp mode, stuck in 2nd gear.

We got home and after unloading the kiddies and wife and various bags and such, I plugged in my OTC 4000E scan tool into the CCD bus and asked the trans what is wrong. Here's the error codes:

51 1st Gear Ratio Error 52 Turbine Sensor

I then cleared the codes and ran a general test, and got this:

Turbine RPM 732 Engine RPM 751

And here's the output from the clutch volume index:

LR 51 OD 57

24 53 UP 40

The OD which I assume is the Overdrive clutch, the scan tool lists a minimum of something like 73. The others are within their minimum/maximum.

Am I correct in my diagnosis that the overdrive clutch is worn, and during the drive this morning it slipped enough to the point that the turbine was turning slow enough as compared to the engine, that the trans computer decided that something was wrong and shut down the works?

If this is the case, then with this van there's an overdrive lockout button that disables overdrive (usually used for towing) My inclination right now is to just turn this on to lockout Overdrive, and then keep driving the van until the transmission shreds itself, then get it rebuilt. Once I cleared codes the trans started operating normally. This van hardly ever goes out on the freeway, and frankly I don't think my wife has been above 75Mph for the last year in it. (I don't think she's ever driven over 75Mph in any vehicle, for that matter) Most of it is low-speed under-50Mph city street driving. Does anyone have any dire warnings for me for this (aside from the smart-alecky comments about gas mileage, that is)

This particular trans was rebuilt about 68,000-72,000 miles by the previous owner, about 10,000 miles before we bought it. It has 110,000 miles on it now. It does have a flashable trans computer. Unfortunately, the place that rebuilt the transmission was one of those transmission shops that doesen't believe in using ATF +3 in these transmissions. (they use Dexron plus a so-called friction modifier fluid) so I wouldn't put it past them that they didn't even change the clutches.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt
Loading thread data ...

Turbine sensor = input speed sensor

Sounds like classic input speed sensor failure, Ted.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

$20-30 part and 20 minutes under the vehicle, or, alternatively, however much the dealer thinks they can get out of you.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Input speed sensor bad, I would recommend replacing both the input and output sensor. Shouldnt cost no more then $80 for both pieces. located at the front of the trans to just under the hoses that run to the trans cooler.

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Reply to
maxpower

I see both of them in my 41TE/AE trans book, easy enough to get at. Good advice on doing both, they probably wern't replaced by the rebuilder.

I took a look at the CVI ranges in my book, and I was interested to see that the ranges Chrysler publishes are different than what the OTC scan tool software displays on the scan tool. Per the scan tool my OD number was out of range, per the Chrysler book it is in range. That's the last time I'll trust a scantool to provide anything other than the raw data figures. :-)

Ted

Reply to
tedm

Just an update, I replaced the Input speed sensor/Turbine sensor and it seems to have fixed the problem. The CEL no longer comes on after high speed driving (it had been coming on intermittently, with an EGR failure code using the off-on-off-on ignition key method of reading fault cccodes) but I can also tell shifting is improved. It used to be that when you came to a slow low-speed stop that the van seemed not to want to shift down and would hesitate slightly, I had always thought that normal behavior.

I tried replacing the output sensor but the sensor I bought for that (NAPA Echlin part# TSS100) didn't seem to want to thread in properly so I didn't push it.

Both sensors were about $20 each at NAPA.

Ted

Reply to
tedm

Nope, the turbine speed sensor is giving a different reading than the engine speed (determined from the cam/crank sensors). Sounds like the turbine (aka "input") speed sensor failure that we all know and love. Should be an easy fix.

Reply to
Steve

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.