Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.

Subject: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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Ok, so I'm driving my daily commute this morning (50 miles each way). I'm on the Interstate cruising with the flow of traffic at about 65. I start going up a large gradual hill which causes me to drop down to about sixty or so. Happens dozens of times every day, nothing unusual so far. So i give it just a tiny bit more gas to get her back to 65. Not even enough to make her downshift. It slowly start climbing back up and it starts to lug a couple of times. Just really quick bursts of no acceleration at all. So I'm thinking "that's weird, maybe i have a batch of bad gas, or my spark plugs, which are overdue, need to be changed."

So I'm back cruising at 65 now. I have to slow down to about 55 for some traffic, and when I get back on it I really notice it lugging the same way. Several times it just stops going. I also notice that it isn't the motor. The tach reads a steady RPM, and I can her the motor purring just fine, not making any unusual noises. All my gauges are reading normal, so I"m a little confused. Immediatly I'm thinking the tranny is f-ed.

I'm about 15 minutes from work and I'm confident that I can make this last bit no problem, I'll just sit in the slow lane and bring her in. I decide to press the overdrive button (i have an automatic if you havn't noticed already) so I can have a little more engine power. I feel it downshift, and I hear the motor revs increase, and the tach goes up a couple hundred RPM, but there is no added umph you'd get from a normal downshift. And again the "stalling". Only happening when I try to accelrate. So i get stuck behind a large slow truck, sends me down to about 35, and I'm absolutley unable to accelerate at all. Time to pull over.

So I'm on the shoulder of I-95, hundreds of cars and trucks whizzing by, about 8 miles from work. I hop out and look under the truck. Nothing unusual. Pop the hood and there is an awful smell. Not a burning smell, but almost like rotten something. THere is quite a bit of steam coming from the front, but the radiator isn't warm, the fluid is fine, and the tranny cooler isn't too warm. No fluids dripping anywhere. As I said, all guages are fine. So I hop back in and try to start her back up. Won't start. It will turn over, but won't fire. So I'm back to thinking that it's a problem with the motor. I check all the wires, everything looks fine. By the way it's wet out so I'm thinking I might have a short somewhere.

So I take a few minutes to gather my self, I call work tell them I'll be late, call my girl and as for her to get the numbers of some tow services in the area i'm stuck at. About 5 minutes later I try to start it again. This time I finally get her going, and she even idles just like normal to my suprise. But now the check engine light is on. Guages still normal so I decide I'm going to at least try to get off the highway. I put it in drive, makes some awful grinding noises, and dies. Starts back up with a little persuading, and proceeds to do the same thing. So I'm back to thinking its the tranny. I decide to try one last thing before calling a tow truck. I start it back up, and this time before putting it in drive, I flip the switch to 4 hi. Put it in drive, and it drives away just fine.

No weird noises, everything is absolutley as usual other then the fact the engine light is still on. It's doing just fine now, no stalling, so I decide I'll get to work and deal with it later. So after a 12 hour day, I go start her up, she starts just fine. I decide to try two wheel drive again and it'll go a little but I can feel it stalling so I decide not to push it and just put in back in 4 hi. So my 50 minute drive becomes a 95 minute drive because I'm on the Interstate in 4WD. I'm totally confused now.

My best guess is it's the rear diff. but wouldn't it still be causing trouble even with me in 4wd? The tranny shifts like normal while I'm in 4WD so I think that's ok. I have all day Thursday to get this fixed. I really don't want to have to drive back to work on Friday using 4WD still. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks so much in advance. I apologize for the length.

NEW_SOL
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
12:27:58

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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very weird, obviously it is tranny related, how about the faults, what do they say?

RadioMan
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
13:55:20

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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Jeremy, I think to guessed right. It's your rear
diff giving you problems. If you put it into
four wheel drive and all shifts ok, your tranny
isn't the problem.

I bet the fault code will be the speed sencor.
That's because it's not *seeing* the rear diff
doing the correct thing thus sending the code.
The sencor is more than likely ok.

Please let us know what you find out.. You may
have posted a long thread but it sure was detailed
and that's what it takes sometimes to discribe a
problem.

cj
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
19:43:58

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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Cmon you guys its neither of those... I bet you a million dollars its your transfer case Jeremy ( Don't you guys know 4WD trucks have a T-case?) AKA the T-case gearing can me messed up do you cant drive in 2 wheel, but you can if 4 wheel... Your rear diff has absolutly nothing to do with it.. think about it guys.. how can a rear diff make something mess up in 2 wheel and not 4? its still doing the same thing either way.... Mayeb you guys have 2wd trucks which dotn have T-cases, so Jeremy check out your T-case as it is the problem I bet.. the grinding noise you got when you put it in drive makes sense for this situation.

mongo
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
20:01:20

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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maybe the little wierd noise gremlins loosened up your muffler bearings.....and chewing on the wires to make it stall out. that happened to me.

Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
20:15:15

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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The code was p-0305. That's a problem with the #5 cylinder right? I think that's probably just from when I had trouble starting it back up. The motor seems to be running fine now.

I'm thinking it's the t-case too. The rear diff. isn't making any weird noises. The tranny shifts fine when in 4WD. I have the 7 year 70,000 mile warranty. That only covers the drive train. The t-case is part of the drivetrain is it not?

Does anyone have any experience in dealing with the dealership for a warranty issue? Will they need my copies of fluid changes and stuff?

Thanks for the replies guys.

JasonB
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
20:20:25

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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By the terms of the warranty, they will only need maintenance records if the nature of the failure is related to a possible lack of maintenance. Your drivetrain warranty should cover most any transfer case or differantial failure (assuming you have sufficiently maintained it and did not ignore any fluid leaks that allowed it to run dry) for the cost of the deductible.

Justi
Dodge Dakota
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1/06/2005
22:20:40

RE: Something is wrong, I'm not sure what.
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Hey Jeremy, just outta curiousity what year truck and what transmission are you running?

P 1

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