[NotSoIntrepid]

Ok, so I took a few picture:

http://imgur.com/a/aM5vmOP

Other than it not looking the cleanest in the engine bay, there are a few problems I'm sure are glaringly obvious.

Now onto the story that usually accompanies a series of pictures.

So, I'm going home, moving at a leisurely 50-55mph, when suddenly I was losing speed and my RPM began to shoot up to the max line when stepping on the gas. No matter how much I left off and let on the gas - speed continued to drop until I had to pull over on the side of the road and flip on the hazards. I've never had this problem before and I really didn't know what to do. After waiting for about 5 minutes and contemplating calling a tow company, I tried starting the car up again, and to my amazement it worked, where I was able to safely drive home with no further issue (thanks Intrepid!).

Hopefully, y'all understand my apprehension with wanting to drive this car anymore until I resolve the issue. I'm not the richest gal, but I'm pretty handy with tools and have installed an alternator, rotated the tires, and do all of my engine oil (full synthetic) changes every 6000 miles on this car. Unfortunately, I guess in my 'flow' of doing these small maintenance projects I forgot about the transmission and really should have repaired that PCV hose a heck of a long time ago.

I have google'd the problem and the general result seems to say it's a clogged transmission filter to low transmission fluid. I have really high transmission fluid, as you can see from the pictures and am wondering if this is normal? The car is on 'sort of level' ground where it may be leaning, so that might explain that. But, on the off chance this is a common problem I thought I would put it out there in case someone might know where else that fluid could come from? And finally, what should I do other than a transmission fluid flush and replace the filter? Is this the correct course of action? Does the engine oil and transmission fluid reveal anything, the engine oil always has a little bit of black in it, so sludging is probably going on right? The engine oil always looks filthy when I change it, and it's level stays pretty level with barely burning any between changes.

Sorry for all the questions/ wall of text and thank you to anyone who reads all this and lends me a hand. I appreciate y'all!

 

[Ronbo]

Did you get a check engine light and trouble codes.

Sounds like a the transmission pump lost prime? Possible filter. Or maybe more serious internal transmission issues requiring a rebuild.

Do you know the history of any transmission service? Like fluid/filter changes. How many miles on your car and how long have you owned it?

 

[NotSoIntrepid]

Did you get a check engine light and trouble codes.

Sounds like a the transmission pump lost prime? Possible filter. Or maybe more serious internal transmission issues requiring a rebuild.

Do you know the history of any transmission service? Like fluid/filter changes. How many miles on your car and how long have you owned it?

It happened all so suddenly when I was driving I don't remember if any codes showed (this was about a month ago, it's been chilling in my driveway since). I just went out and checked with my OBD reader and I didn't get any codes. The odometer has 132570 miles on it, it was around 95000 miles when I bought it. I have owned the car for about 6 years now and other than the maintenance I mentioned I have not touched the transmission and am not sure if the previous owner did anything as well. He did mention that the engine has work done and a new water pump installed (around 30000 miles) but that is about it for major work. I use it as a spring/summer car for where I'm at here in MT, so I don't drive it at all in the winter, where it will sit outside with it's battery inside on a trickle charge.

Do you think the transmission flush and new trans filter will fix it? Super scared about a rebuild since that is waaaay out of my skillset/comfort zone.

 

[Ronbo]

SCHEDULE "B"
Follow schedule "B" if you usually operate your vehicle
under one or more of the following conditions. Change
the automatic transmission fluid and filter every 60,000
miles (96 000 km) if the vehicle is usually operated under
one or more of the conditions marked with an
Day or night temperatures are below 32° F (0° C).
Stop and go driving.
Extensive engine idling.
Driving in dusty conditions.
Short trips of less than 10 miles (16.2 km).
More than 50% of your driving is at sustained high
speeds during hot weather, above 90° F (32° C).
Trailer towing.
Taxi, police or delivery service (commercial ser-
vices).
Off-road or desert operation.

Schedule B is typical for most cars.

 

[NotSoIntrepid]

SCHEDULE "B"
Follow schedule "B" if you usually operate your vehicle
under one or more of the following conditions. Change
the automatic transmission fluid and filter every 60,000
miles (96 000 km) if the vehicle is usually operated under
one or more of the conditions marked with an
Day or night temperatures are below 32° F (0° C).
Stop and go driving.
Extensive engine idling.
Driving in dusty conditions.
Short trips of less than 10 miles (16.2 km).
More than 50% of your driving is at sustained high
speeds during hot weather, above 90° F (32° C).
Trailer towing.
Taxi, police or delivery service (commercial ser-
vices).
Off-road or desert operation.

Schedule B is typical for most cars.

Hmmm, so do you think the transmission is done for and not worth the flush and new filter? It still runs, it's just I don't know if that thing where I lose all speed will pop up again.

 

[Ronbo]

It's due for maintenance of fluid/filter change. How much do you want to spend? ATF+4 is around $5 quart and you'll need several for the maintenance.

 

[NotSoIntrepid]

I'm looking at getting 3 gallons of ATF-4 Mopar and I was thinking about following this vid for the flush:

I will go and round up the items I don't have that he's using on amazon, other than that, what else would you recommend or not recommend? I hear that getting the pan off is pretty difficult, is there any trick to removing it or any other hindrances I might run into? Thanks for the help Ronbo!

 

[peva]

That method of pumping the fluid into the container is the best way to get a complete changeover of fluid. The cooler lines in our cars are on the driver's side. The rubber part of the lines dip down into a 'U' trap shape between the engine and the radiator, which is a convenient place to cut and splice to connect a drain tube, and re-connect when done.

I used water to fill the catch bucket in 1 qt. increments and marked them on the side of the bucket with a Sharpie so that I could watch and add new fluid at approximately the same rate as it was being pumped out. Just watch for the fluid to change to the brighter new-fluid color, and maybe go 1/2 qt. beyond. Finish up slightly on the low side so you can bring it up to the proper level after the hose is rejoined.

It helps to have a helper to start and stop the engine so you can concentrate on the re-fill rate, and in case anything goes wrong.

To get the pan to break free, try putting a piece of wood against the side of the pan, up against the flange, and hitting the wood to the side with a hammer - of course not hard enough to permanently bend the pan. You're shearing the RTV. Avoid sticking screwdriver or putty knife blades between the pan and the tranny case so you don't bend the pan flange or scratch/gouge the mating surfaces.

 

[NotSoIntrepid]

I appreciate the information peva, I'm definitely going to need all of the help I can get before attempting. Thank you!

 

[Ronbo]

Pan drop and Fluid/Filter change might be the best. Good luck.

 

[Ronbo]

The flush tends to stir things up that causes more problems than solved.

 

[NotSoIntrepid]

The flush tends to stir things up that causes more problems than solved.

Yikes, you weren't kidding! I just saw a Scotty Kilmer video on the matter and even though the transmission fluid is not as bad, sort of a dull pink, I am going to save some money and go with the fluid change/ filter change as you suggested and cross my fingers it's just that and not the transmission itself breaking down. Thank you so much Ronbo!

 

[tgs]

Have to agree with Ron that dropping the pan, changing the filter and fluid is the way to go. It's dog gone messy because the fluid splashes everywhere even when you're moving slowly.
I usually buy twelve quarts (Oreilly's has ATF+4 by the gallon), add 10, start it up, let it run, shift through the gears, check the dip stick and go from there.
One tube of Black RTV should do it and something to clean out the pan.
Be sure to hang onto the magnet stuck to the bottom of the pan.

 

[peva]

The flush tends to stir things up that causes more problems than solved.

You sure about that, Ron?

I know this used to be discussed a lot. I could be misremembering, but I don't remember it being a problem as long as ATF+4 was used for the refill.

I do remember that all the transmission shops and even some Chrysler dealers fell for the industry lie that "universal" transmission fluids would work in these transmissions, and that's what they would use in the machine flushes that they (almost 100% of independent shops) did, with bad results because of the fluid they used (and possibly because the machine flushes use much higher pressure and flow rates?). Mostly due to the type of fluid, because the problems generally were resolved by replacing the wrong fluid with ATF+4.

Also, the act of flushing with this method creates no more disturbance inside the transmission than what happens when the car is being driven normally - it's using the transmission's own pump. The only difference from before doing it is you end up with close to 100% fresh fluid.

If the transmission wasn't recalibrated after the flush using the DRB tool, you'd have to give it a few days of normal driving for the TCM to recalibrate the CVIs (cup volume indexes) for smooth shifting, but that's due to the sudden change in the fluid viscosity (fresh new fluid vs. old used fluid) - that's true no matter the method of exchange. You would get more noticeable change with the complete flush just because of the complete vs. partial change of fluid, but, again, any noticeable change is corrected by the DRB or adaptive calibration.

I'm not saying you're wrong - I just don't recall problems except for the reasons I mentioned.

But nothing wrong with doing the partial change with a simple pan drop.

I do recall people talking about letting the car sit with the pan off overnight or longer, which would result in a lot more fluid dripping out and more fresh fluid having to be added. Of course that wouldn't empty out the torque converter, radiator and auxilliary cooler and lines, but it does replace a quart or two more.

 

[peva]

Have to agree with Ron that dropping the pan, changing the filter and fluid is the way to go. It's dog gone messy because the fluid splashes everywhere even when you're moving slowly.
I usually buy twelve quarts (Oreilly's has ATF+4 by the gallon), add 10, start it up, let it run, shift through the gears, check the dip stick and go from there.
One tube of Black RTV should do it and something to clean out the pan.
Be sure to hang onto the magnet stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Fair enough.

The flush would be preceded by the pan drop and filter replacement, so of course doesn't eliminate the mess of the pan drop.

Some claim that the "regular" RTV's will foam up from the transmission fluid. That may be true of the "special" transmission RTV too if you don't let it thoroughly cure. The black stuff may work fine too if allowed to thoroughly cure. I hear the rubber gaskets that come with aftermarket filters work well too.

One more thang! If you get the filter from the dealer, make sure it's the right one. There is another filter used in other Chrysler transmissions that physically fits, but the output nipple is about 1/2" shorter, so when you get it all back together, the car won't move because the fluid pump inlet port isn't coupled to the filter nipple, and just sucks air rather than fluid from the pan! I read about that on the internet before I did mine and thought someone made that up - but darn if the dealer didn't sell me the wrong one. I almost didn't check it, but when the filter didn't fit quite right in the pocket (it went in, but was very tight), I recalled what I had read on the WWW and pulled it back out and checked the nipple, and it was definitely shorter. At least I didn't put the pan back on before realizing that. Of course you can avoid all that by checking the part number when you buy it. 🤪

 

[tgs]

No leaks using black rtv with the five or six that I've done. Had one that I had to open back up after I realized I forgot the new filter. That was a PIA!

 

[Ronbo]

Dealer part number for the filter.....

FILTER PACKAGE, Transmission
Oil
04796730AB

 

[Adpros]

2 cents worth about flushes in Chrysler products that use ATF+4. I recommend NOT using the chemicals that are supposed to clean or modify the fluid condition. Flushes work just fine if the only thing you do is replace the fluid. Additives, other than the old Mopar anti-foam agent are likely going to make a weak transmission die a horrible death. ATF+4 has everything in it you need for the job.