My Dodge, My Dodge...

WickEdKewl · Dec 30, 2008

Gadwd dammitt, that fukin' Dodge!!!!

So, I thought I'd run this by you folks -

The setting: 92 1 ton (last year of the first gen CTD) auto tranny with "110k" miles on it, but that's BS because the speedo sometimes was working, sometimes not - so there could be a few thousand more miles on it. An additional tranny cooler was put in @ 12k miles. This guy who previously had it gave me ALL receipts from everything from it's first oil change to the replaced pinion seals, to windshield fluid. I've got a 3 page list of everything it's been in for & at what milage - he's had it serviced every few thousand miles. Dude was a doctor, threw a ton of money at this thing keeping it serviced & fixing every squeak, and adding everything needed to pull his 5th wheel without taking too much of a toll on the truck.

The problem: OK... The speedo had been intermittently working & not working - oscillating back & forth while driving. It would work solid sometimes for 20 or 30 miles, then throw a **** fit & oscillate back & forth. Otherwise, the truck ran well. Then one day, while driving on the freeway in cruise control, the speeo absolutely stopped working AT THE SAME TIME as the cruise control stopped working. This just so happened to take place as I was about to exit the freeway, so I'm thinking "hmmm"... well, since I was on side streets for a bit, there seemed to be nothing else wrong. Shifting through gears without problems, yadda yadda yadda - except for no speedo, of course. The bigger problem was when I went to go home & get back onto the freeway - it shifts throught the gears until I get to assumably 55 or 60 or so (no speedo again), and it WILL NOT shift into that final gear. I let it get to about 2500 RPM & no shifting & nothing much more. Of course, I know that with this truck it should be shifting by 2k RPM. It ain't. So, I get off of the freeway & take side streets forever to get home. I checked all of the other gears on the auto (shifted from a stop 1st, then up to 2nd, then into drive) to see if there was something amiss... nope, just won't go into that last gear.

[foamy voice on] What say you, oh wise ones? [foamy voice off]

Cascade_Crawler · Dec 30, 2008

Tranny, I dont know. Speedo I had the same problem. On the tranny or t case (depending on 4 or 2 wheel drive there is a fitting where the speedo cable goes into to get its reading. Its loose, tighten it and your speedo will stop being crazy, the speedo reading affects the cruise.

I would check out

1stgen.org
dieseltruckresource.com

Both are great for 1st gen tech, you should be able to get an idea or have questions answered there.

JOOP · Dec 30, 2008

sounds like a stuck speedo cable. Binding up or something. My old Chevy's speedo did the same thing. I eventually pull the cable and lubed it with some graphite. Worked fine then.

crazybluerider1 · Dec 30, 2008

I'm not up on dodges but if that is an electronically shifted trans and the speedo is not working the computer may not grab overdrive. I would start at the speed sensor.

WickEdKewl · Dec 30, 2008

Cascade_Crawler said:
Tranny, I dont know. Speedo I had the same problem. On the tranny or t case (depending on 4 or 2 wheel drive there is a fitting where the speedo cable goes into to get its reading. Its loose, tighten it and your speedo will stop being crazy, the speedo reading affects the cruise.

I would check out

1stgen.org
dieseltruckresource.com

Both are great for 1st gen tech, you should be able to get an idea or have questions answered there.

Yeah, that's why I was thinking "speed sensor" - speedo & cruise... but the cruise control always worked before, and now it won't shift into that final gear. I was also questioning if it may be the torque converter...

Now, I've also got the extra gauges - RPM, exhaust temp, & tranny temp. I at the same time noticed that the tranny temp never went up when this happened (all gauges working fine before), and hasn't come up in subsequent drives in the thing. The temp had been coming up to an acceptable level before this.

WickEdKewl · Dec 30, 2008

JOOP said:
sounds like a stuck speedo cable. Binding up or something. My old Chevy's speedo did the same thing. I eventually pull the cable and lubed it with some graphite. Worked fine then.

crazybluerider said:
I'm not up on dodges but if that is an electronically shifted trans and the speedo is not working the computer may not grab overdrive. I would start at the speed sensor.

Oooh oooh oooh, I will check the speedo cable this weekend. This also happened right when it got BUTT-cold down here. (like, hard freezes overnight)

Jay W · Dec 30, 2008

Bad/wet/ loose connection at the speed sensor. This is where the speedo cable enters the tranny/transfercase. Unplug it, clean the ends as well as possible, put some dielectric grease IN the plug and plug it back in. If that doesn't do it you have a bad speed sensor. If I remember right this also affects the shifting. The throttle positon sensor might also affect the shifting. I sold my '93 (the last year 1st gen) a couple years ago, and went through exactly what you're descibing.

WickEdKewl · Dec 30, 2008

Jay W said:
Bad/wet/ loose connection at the speed sensor. This is where the speedo cable enters the tranny/transfercase. Unplug it, clean the ends as well as possible, put some dielectric grease IN the plug and plug it back in. If that doesn't do it you have a bad speed sensor. If I remember right this also affects the shifting. The throttle positon sensor might also affect the shifting. I sold my '93 (the last year 1st gen) a couple years ago, and went through exactly what you're descibing.

Awesome! (well, not awesome that you had to go through the same thing...) I've got some dielectric in the shop.

I've extremely familiar with the speed sensor in the jeep, as well as the rest of the transfer case, but the Dodge is new territory. I will banish Jeff from anywhere near the thing & I will tear into it day after tomorrow. (gots me another 4 days off

)

I thank you so much. :;

crash2 · Dec 30, 2008

Trevor had the very same problem--was a poor connection at the speed sensor...

old wheeler · Dec 30, 2008

I thank you aswell i have a 1990 dodge doing the same thing.ILL check it out tommorow before the hang over run

Fullywrecked · Dec 30, 2008

Its just the speed sensor connection. The tranny won't go into overdrive until a certian speed and throttle position is reached, the cruise won't work without the speedo.:awesomework:

WickEdKewl · Jan 2, 2009

Well, I took out the speed sensor, cleaned it up (the electrical connection was pretty clean & well connected, but the mechanism it engages to inside the tranny was a bit dirty), and no difference. Still nothing. So I'm thinknig I need to spend 60-80 bucks on a new speed sensor....