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11atokad
Dodge Dakota
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9/12/2004
18:08:56
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 Subject: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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My 2000 SLT V6 (automatic) seems to have a bit of a downshifting problem, only I'm not sure if it's just a characteristic of the truck. When I'm cruising on the highway around 65mph and I give it more gas it stays in the same gear and barely accelerates. It only downshifts once I completely stomp on the petal. Same goes for when I come to a stop sign. If I come to a complete stop it'll start in first gear, but if I roll through it at even 5mph, it stays in second when I hit the gas and accelerates dreadfully slow, only downshifting if I stomp the gas.
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SameThing
Dodge Dakota
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9/12/2004
19:05:37
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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I have noticed my 02 SXT does the same thing on the highway. I have never experienced the stop sign situation, but i really never feel the need to accelerate hard when i roll through one....
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mike4409vx
Dodge Dakota
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9/12/2004
21:07:05
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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well if u take out ur tranny dip stick and smell the fluid it will tell u alot and good tranny will smell almost sweet and a bad tranny will smell burnt plus the color will tell if its like a lite red it sould be good and if its red with a black tint u should get it checked out
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Dan M
Dodge Dakota
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9/12/2004
23:19:04
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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I have noticed similar issues with my 95 4x4. This has been an ongoing issue since I bought the truck in 98. I have had my transmission checked several times by several different companies. I think it's just one of those dakota things.
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/13/2004
09:07:22
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Do these have a downshift cable like the Gen2 trucks? If so, it's a simple adjustment at the throttle body.
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J and J Auto
GenII
9/14/2004
00:04:40
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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LOL, LOL
Yes there are ways to solve that
1-2 2-3 shift are hydrolicly controled by a cable
from the trans to the throttle body back side
gen 2 there is a button on the outer side you just
push in and pull the cable housing back, gen 3 you
must pop the cover off and move the clip inside.
This will do 2 things
1 raise your shift points to a higher rpm
2 downshift reaction time, it will drop down with
less throttle and drop down to second and 1st at
a higher rolling speed due to the increased
presure on the valve conteracting the presure on
the other side of the shift valve
3- O/D
O/D Lockup
These 2 are computer controled by vehicle speed
and engine load and can be tweaked by raising the
Throttle Position Sensor voltage
OBD1 upto 1.2 volts
OBD2 .88
The comp will begain to raise these shift points
around a 25% 1.5 volt reading raising this voltage
will raise the shift points with less throttle
and speed up downshift reaction time droping a
gear with less throttle.
A transgo or TCI TransScat shift kit will also
help the trans react quicker.
Band adjustment is very criticle on these
transmissions also just an 1/8 to a 1/4 turn off
will effect this, to tight and there is not quite
enough return spring presure to drop gears when slowing down.
My 95 42RH TransGo shift kit at what we call a
stage 1 setup here is how it shifts, bands 42RH
rear 4 turns from 72 inch pounds(6 foot pounds)
front 2 1/2 (1/4 turn farther out from the
factory called for 2 1/4 creating more return
spring presure on the 2nd servo and recomended by
TCI
very light throttle
1-2 20mph
2-3 35mph
3- O/D 45mph
O/D lockup 50mph
1/4" of throttle
1-2 25mph
2-3 40mph
3- O/D 50 mph
O/D lockup 60 mph
WOT shifts 4600 to 4700 rpm
It will drop into second if you go under 25mph
and drop into low anything under 15mph
My motor never boogs down, most of these trans are
off on the band adjustment right from the factory
and need to be checked by someone who knows how to
do it right.
Having these bands wrong will change the whole
calibratin of the 1-2 2-3 shifting by having the
shift valve in the body riding in the wrong
position creating early 1-2 shifts and not droping
down when slowing up.
I have also found a lot of the 42RH and RE trans
with the back band upto 1 turn out to far and the
fronts usualy 1/4 turn in to far and this creates
just enough band drag to drop the mileage on these
trucks 1 to 3 mpg and the trans will run 20 to 30
degrees hotter than it should be running.
Could be why all my customers are getting good gas
mileage all above 20 mpg because I check these
things when I set trucks up
I am hitting 24.5 24.9 with my 95 4X4 stock 92
motor ported and all the bolt on's
These trucks from the factory are set up poorly
and the trans lags behind the engine poor perf
and gas mileage is the resault from booging the
motor.
Tweaking out the trans to keep up with the engine
makes these trucks a lot more fun to drive and
should be done just for drivibility the
performance and gas mileage gains are just a side
effect of having a trans that works like it was
meant to and like it should work
Larry
J&J Auto
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11atokad
Dodge Dakota
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9/16/2004
18:49:07
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Wow that's a lot of info. I would say I'm an intermediate at fixing my truck myself so I'll try adjusting the cable. You lose me when you start talking about electronics and shift kits, though. Thanks for helpin me out.
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/16/2004
19:41:48
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Larry, I got my truck last winter, and changed fluid and filter twice to ensure 95%+ ATF of the same type (Quaker State ATF+3, originally Dexron II). I know when my brother owned it, he had the dealer changed fluid and filter, unsure about band adjustment. He had been concerned, since he towed a 22' sailboat cross-country (O/D off), was afraid of TC damage.
Anyway, I adjusted the bands on my 42RH per the FSM:
Front band - back off locknut 4-5 turns; torque adjusting screw to 72 in-lbs, then back off 2 1/2 turns; tighten locknut to 30 ft-lbs without moving adjusting screw.
Rear band - back off locknut 5-6 turns; torque adjusting screw to 72 in-lbs, then back off 4 turns; tighten locknut to 25 ft-lbs without moving adjusting screw.
Since I prefer to strive for maximum gas mileage and not necessarily acceleration, I adjusted the TV cable for early upshifts. So mine shifts:
Light throttle:
1-2 15 mph
2-3 23 mph
3-4 35 mph
TCC lockup at 35-40 mph
1/4 throttle:
1-2 20 mph
2-3 26 mph
3-4 40 mph
TCC lockup at 45 mph
This does not cause lugging, it drives fine, no pinging or straining.
This yields me 20.5 mpg on the highway, about 17 around town. It's a 92 Dakota Club Cab 4WB with cap, 131K miles, 3.55 axle, and original timing chain (which I think needs changing per the TSB; the harmonic balancer wobbles 1/8", so I should do both). I'd love to get it up to 22 mpg with *very* little or no expense.
Now, it's obviously a little tricky to get exactly 4 turns back on the rear band and 2 1/2 on the front, since clearance issues and just plain judgement on 1/4 turn ratcheting can throw it off slightly. Do you think I would have any significant error by being off maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn (too far outward, for instance)? It shifts quickly and firmly into 2nd, shifts with a slight lag/delay in completing 2-3, and glides smoothly into O/D from 3rd, and TCC engagement is smooth. It unlocks the TCC with light throttle pressure on hills, downshifts great. Comments? Would the front band affect only the 2-3 shift?
I just cleaned the TB and the sensors, took a dremel tool and cleaned the throttle bore lip away just below the throttle plate and chamfered the bottom of the bore slightly. It idles smoother and eliminated an occasional hot start-stall. The tip of the AIS was rusty, sanding it with 400-grit cleaned it fine. I sprayed a lot of carbon/black gasoline evaporation goo out of the TB and the intake manifold. This gave me slightly more off-idle pickup.
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11atokad
Dodge Dakota
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9/17/2004
01:17:16
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Before I screw anything up, I should ask if I'm doing the right thing here. I'm looking at the left side of the intake manifold and I see two cables- the choke and something else below it. It has a square plastic piece at the end of it. Is this the cable I need to adjust? If it is should I tighten it to raise the downshift reaction?
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/17/2004
08:39:47
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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On my 92, and probably on your truck, it's on the passenger side (left side if you're facing the truck from the grill). Two cables attach to the throttle body - no choke exists. The cable that is toward the front is the throttle cable. The cable at the passenger side rear of the throttle body is the kickdown cable (a.k.a., downshift or TV cable). Pulling the slack out of the cable just slightly (pulling it forward using the adjustment that Larry mentioned) will delay upshifts and make it downshift sooner. It doesn't take but a fraction of an inch, so go slow and experiment.
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11atokad
Dodge Dakota
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9/17/2004
11:53:32
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Message:
Ok thanks.
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J and J Auto
GenII
9/17/2004
19:27:20
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Message:
On the 42RH you will get drag on the front band
just below 2 turns and on the rear just below
3 3/4
So you should be fine
The 2-3 delay can be solved by marking the
adjuster screw with a small file and turn it up
1 turn shoud cure that, you can go 5 turns up
safly
The screw is on the drivers side of valve body its
an allen head screw but you need to shorten a
wrench to get on it with the body in the trans
or just use a needle nose plyers and turn counter
clockwise to increase presure
Larry
J&J Auto
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/17/2004
20:12:59
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Thanks, Larry, I see it in my FSM. I have a set of L-shaped Allen wrenches, can probably get in there with the short end of the wrench at next fluid change.
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J and J Auto
GenII
9/18/2004
09:36:16
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Message:
Cable housing back will raise shift points
Cable housing forward will lower shift points
The clicks on the cable adjuster are .100 and will
change the shift points 5 to 10 mph so yes go 1
click at a time.
If you want to fine tune from there you need to
physicly bend the braket than you can put the
shift points right where you like them best
Bob even the short end of the allen wrench will
not clear the case and needs to be cut shorter
or use a needle nose as I said.
Just be sure you mark the screw with a small file
so you can see your turns
You will see the spring seat which is just a
square tab of steel move off the adjusting braket
and towards the valve body, counter clockwise is
presure up.
When I install the shift kits I take this up 2 1/2
to start with and see how the trans reacts most
work very well at that setting just to cure a slow
2-3 shift start with 1 turn
Larry
J&J Auto
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/18/2004
10:15:01
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Message:
Thanks. Wish I had done this when I had it open. It's a very slight delay, almost feels like a kickback, but it's the only gear that does it. More noticeable uphill.
Have read about the timing chain issues, theoretically could do it myself, but don't have the time, and if something goes wrong don't want to have to pay on top of my work to get it fixed. So I will probably have the dealer do it to the TSB. How do you know when the chain is going? At idle it's quiet, but when I really get on it, the engine is noisy - not lifters, but kind of a chugging. Is that symptomatic? Also, I've been told that I can wipe out my crank bearings by driving it with the harmonic balancer wobbling. It wobbles about 1/8" out of its plane. Is that very urgent? I've put 5K miles on it since discovering it.
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11atokad
Dodge Dakota
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9/18/2004
18:53:56
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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I also noticed on the throttle cable there's a slight bit of slack, and I noticed when I hit the gas lightly from a stop there's a little hesitation, like a dead zone. Do you think I should tighten the cable just to the point there's no slack?
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J and J Auto
GenII
9/18/2004
21:50:56
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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11atokad
The delay is probably low TPS voltage you can find
how to change that at speedtweaks.ca by moding the
TPS sensor
Bob If its just a delay slide bump shift turning
the presure up will solve that
The timing chains begain to rattle as low as
20,000 miles they will last from 150 to 250,000
miles even with the rattle, just bend over like
you are going to look under front bumper while
its running and you will hear the chain
I would remove unbolt the front pully on the
damper and clean the pully and mounting serface
and bolt it back on may be someone had it off and
got some crap behind it before buying a new damper
Larry
J&J Auto
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/18/2004
22:20:47
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Well, my brother's owned it since new, and he says it was never serviced. Nothing on that engine was ever apart, not even the valve covers. So I think I'll save up and have it done soon. It can only help. I'm lucky enough to have another ride.
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Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
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9/18/2004
22:21:59
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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The truck was in FL heat all its life, so maybe the rubber center is shot. I noticed that the crank pulley has virtually no wobble, whereas it's noticeable on the dampener.
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J and J Auto
GenII
9/19/2004
11:35:19
| RE: God I hope my tranny isn't F'd
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Its very posible the heat dryed out the rubber
and the age of the truck
Larry
J&J Auto
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