Ping Geekboy

I have not had time to get under there and look into it. I was away for a while and left a lot of my stuff stored at my moms place. Now I have it all out, I am starting to notice some tools -n- stuff missing so I am having to go buy some new things.

I will probably go out later today or tomorrow and start on it.

I am wondering though...is the 48RE better and compatable? I wonder if I shouldn't go to a place like autozone get a 48RE and just put in there and maybe they won't notice me giving them a 47RE in its place? ;-)

I still have to go and buy a compressor, so I guess I can start taking it apart them go buy the compressor for the air tests. Or maybe I should just go rent some hydraulic pressure gauges? According to the manual that method would get a close pinpoint without having to disassemble it yet.

Thanks for asking.

Oh something else I did not bring up.

Before the trans failed, it did have a bit of a problem that seemed to get a little worse over time.

That is after sitting for more than a day, I would have to allow the engine to idle for a moment or two after starting the engine because the trans would not engage until after a moment or two till after the engine started.

Over time it became worse after just sitting overnight and would do the same thing.

I went ahead and put some cheap trans fluid back in it and with the new filter to see what would happen.

It seems a tad bit better. The truck will slowly star moving now if I rev the eng high enough. To me it seems the trans just needs more pressure to engage better.

Today it also posted some codes:

P0753 P 0460 P1765 P1993

If you're serious, it can be done. You'll have to do a little re-wiring of your existing park/neutral switch connector, as the 48RE uses a range sensor that indicates the position of the manual valve (PRNDL). Everything else is compatible, and will just bolt or plug into place.

That is tc drain back, fairly normal. Put it in neutral it will fill faster.

Okay what about the codes?

Seems P0753 is :Transaxle 3-4 shift solenoid/transaxle relay circuits and P1765 is Trans. 12 volt supply relay control circuit

I recall those codes coming up before, but kept disapearing.

Don't know.

Listen to Max and Tom for that info.

Well that is good to know if I decide to do that., but is the 48RE better than the 47RE?

okay, thanks

Yes. Just about every clutch pack has more friction material, most notably the overdrive direct clutch, which has been beefed up from 8 steels/7 frictions to 23 one-sided frictions (sort of a steel and a friction in one). The 48RE also has better fluid flow to the overdrive unit. Those were the two biggest factors with 46RE/47RE failures. The planetaries are 6-pinion units, compared to 5-pinion in the 47RE, resulting in a stronger gear set (though breakage of a planetary in a 47RE is rare, unless you're racing or sled pulling with the thing).

Okay - let's see here:

You had this one - 3-4 shift solenoid problem

Fuel level sending unit no change over miles. Hmmm.... interesting, but not trans-related. Notice any problem with your fuel gauge?

You had this one, too - Transmission +12V supply relay control circuit

No listing...

So, there's some type of electrical problem. First, check and make sure the transmission relay in the PDC is good. Next, pull the relay, and with the engine running, check for +12V in the relay socket where terminal 86 would plug in to. Check for ground in the socket where terminal #85 would plug in to.

Shut the engine off, and with the relay removed, first check for +12V in the socket where terminal 30 would plug in to. If no voltage here, check the large 20A fuse in the power distribution center.

If voltage is good, insert a jumper into the socket between terminals 30 and

1. This will let you test the transmission connector without the engine running (never good to crawl under a running vehicle). With the jumper in place, you should be able to read +12V on pin #1 of the 8-pin round connector on the driver's side of the transmission. It should be a red wire. If that's good, plug the connector back in, and using a lead from a test probe (with a sharp, skinny pin on it), ground the brown wire (pin #6). Listen for the OD solenoid going 'clunk'.

Hopefully somewhere in that list of tests, you discover a problem.

Crap - I just remembered that you already pulled the transmission. In that case, you can still do everything above, except the last part. With the trans on the bench, you can just apply +12V to pin #1 of the connector, and ground to pin #6, to test the OD solenoid. You can even do this with a fresh 9V battery, if you don't have +12V DC power handy.

Oops My bad. 1693

No relay. Seems some brass jumper has been replaced where te relay should go. ....

No I have not pulled it yet...not gotten aroudn to do it due to time.

Going now to do the rest of the tests and let ya know..thanks

My panel is not marked at all and I do not see which are terminals 30 and

1. Unless you mean the very place where the jumper is already in place. I guess that would mean I shoudl be able to go ahead and test the voltage at pins 1 & 8 of the connector?

going to do it now

It seems the problem was at pin 7 on the round connector.

Some reason the wire was previously broken or cut then put back together with crimp connectors. One of the crimps did not hold well and came off. I temporarily put a alligator clipped jumper wire.

Well this puts a dampner on my hoping it was only an electrical problem.

The truck afterwards seemed to want to drive. I kept driving it back and forth for a few times to see if it would want to drive.

In the end it does not want move again.

crap. Doesn't Dodge have a recall on those junker RE47s? ;-)

Sorry - I should have been clearer. The relay itself will be marked with the terminal numbers.

Pin #7 is the torque converter clutch solenoid control. Are you sure it was pin #7? Was it an orange wire with a black stripe?

It sounds like you have a very hacked-up truck... spliced transmission wire, jumpered/bypassed relay... geez, what else could you find if you looked closely? (*)

Oh, I didn't mean to give the impression that the above would address your apparent lack of fluid pressure to apply your clutches - no, you still need to air-test the VB, and most likely disassemble and repair what's failed.

• This is a diesel, right? The previous owner may have installed a "mystery switch", allowing direct control over the torque converter lockup. Do a web search on "diesel mystery switch", and read up on it. I don't think bypassing the transmission relay was part of it, though - so that part's still a mystery (sorry for the pun)

I'd like to see a schematic or diagram of this mod, do you have one??

Yeah because I was going to look how to get at the wire for pin 6 when i noticed the problem wire.. 1-7 are in a circle while #8 is in the center. Each one s clearly marked. I could look again, but I think it was orange with black stripe or the other was around..blakc with orange strip, but I know I was on #7.

I think I will go find some transmission and oil pressure gauges and try that first. According to the manual that would seem to more pinpoint the problem area. Unless you think a air pressure test would be better.

It's not a switch. It's a DTT 1140 Smart Controller. When the transmission started failing, it was engaged. There is a switch to turn it on an off on the dash. It lights when on in use.

Nope - never sat down and put one together - I just did a cursory scan of the wiring between the two back when we were talking about stuffing a 48RE into your truck.

Now that I look at it again, it seems fairly straight-forward. On the 47RE, the park/neutral switch has battery power on pin 1, park/neutral position sense on pin 2, and the backup lamp feed on pin 3.

On the 48RE, the range sensor has battery on pin 1, park/netural sense on pin 6, and backup lamp feed on pin 4. Pin 2 is a mux output to indicate the position of the manual valve (drives the PRNDL display on the instrument cluster), and pin 5 is a +5V supply for that mux output (the TRS has several resistors in it, so I'm sure that pin 2 output simply changes the voltage based on manual valve position). Pin 3 isn't used.

So, assuming you get the connector that plugs into the TRS with a little bit of wiring, you'd simply hack off the park/neutral connector from the old truck's wiring harness, and splice pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 6, and pin 3 to pin 4.