Transmission Issues

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 6:00 pm

Driving along to pay my tuition bill on Thursday... (and taking my friend to buy a car)...

I was riding along on the freeway, noticed that my Jeep was driving really funny that day, and seemed to downshift a lot. I thought OK, maybe there's a lot of ice buildup in the wheels and underbody. I would EVENTUALLY stop and clear it all out with some hot water at the spray wash.

The Jeep didn't have much power on Thursday. Every time I'd accelerate to 70, I'd end up back down to 55-60MPH and the torque converter would never freaking lock. So instead of rolling around at about 2200RPM, I'd be at 3000RPM. Figured I was just too distracted with driving and talking to the motor mouth sitting next to me that I wasn't paying enough attention to keeping up my speed.

So it's time to get off of I-696 W and hop on I-275 S, headed towards Ypsilanti.

I'm still struggling to keep up speed, and hit the gas to get to 70MPH and that's when it just jerked and redlined like it was in neutral. I checked to see if I was in drive... yup. It then decided that 2nd gear was the only gear in existence. No 1st, no 3rd, no 4th. So why is it doing this? After enough of that I just pulled over at the gas station and got rid of the ice in my wheels. Started it back up, performed perfectly until it was time to shift into 3rd and the same thing started all over again. Considering I'm so close, I just took the side streets and thankfully there was snow on the ground and nobody was going faster than 40MPH which for me, stuck in 2nd, was 3000RPM. We eventually made it to our destination, took a break from car buying (unsuccessful BTW) and I went to the car wash, disconnected the battery and knocked out as much ice as I could. It was everywhere. It already started driving better, reduced weight I guess, but just like before, the 3rd gear problem kicked in again. We limped it back to our respective homes, I may have driven a total of 120 miles in this condition.

Then after I dropped her off at home, I stopped at the local party store and that's when the ding and CEL appeared. I'm getting codes P0733 and P1790.

If I turn it off, start it back up and put the selector in "2" instead of Drive, 1st and 2nd gears operate normally.

We won't get started with averaging 10MPG over the last few MONTHS. Everyone that has seen me drive knows that I drive like a grandpa. A crazy grandpa, but a grandpa.

Time for a new transmission I guess. My Jeep has 83,000 miles on it.

It's Chrysler's problem now!!!!

At least I have this Dodge Dart to drive in the meantime, so I'm not without a vehicle!!!

Also: Considering how strong the smell of rubber was after all that 5000+RPM driving, pretty sure I'm now gonna need a new serpentine belt. Guess I'll take care of that after I get it back. Hopefully I can make it home to install it!!

05infernoCRDL · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 6:23 pm

Sounds like the od clutch pacls are smoked.. When mine did this it was a lack of oil to a rear needle bearing that blew up and took my od out.. From what i have read on other forums about the 545rfe the main lube passage for the od is too small.. There is am aftermarket main shaft that is bored out.. My first trans went at 56k, second at 65 (rebuild issue) still on the third try.. Good luck!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:17 pm

Wow. Keep us updated. At least it should all be replaced no problem I'm guessing.
Glad you're okay and it didn't cause an accident.
I bet it at least sounded nice at those high rpms.
Tell them you want to try a 6 speed instead. :goink:

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:17 pm

I'll take a 6 Speed MANUAL.

That way I'll have nothing BUT manuals in my garage!!! Manual Jeep, manual Dodge, manual bicycle... hehehehehehe.

Co-worker had something to say about all the gear switching I was doing. Said it was too much to think about. I asked him "What did you do when you rode a bike? That's exactly what this is like." :-)r

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:25 pm

I think our Jeep would be loads of fun with the 6 speed.
I'm sure you tried, but did you try manually shifting 1, 2, and D or try the tow/haul button?

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:43 pm

Gageraid wrote:

I think our Jeep would be loads of fun with the 6 speed.
I'm sure you tried, but did you try manually shifting 1, 2, and D or try the tow/haul button?

Yup. As long as I kept it out of 3rd, it drove just fine. If I used Tow/Haul, it would still try 3rd, and I'd be back in the same boat.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:47 pm

Very curious to see how they handle this issue and if they tell you exactly what happened. Good luck and hopefully this issue helps all of us in the future.

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:50 pm

^ What I had to deal with PRIOR to the CEL popping up.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:54 pm

Am I correct in saying it is running a little hot here, or is that just the angle of the picture?

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 10:34 pm

Gageraid wrote:

Am I correct in saying it is running a little hot here, or is that just the angle of the picture?

Angle. I have never seen my KK go past exactly center. On 100ºF+ hot days idling in traffic with the A/C on are the only days I'd see it dead center. Never ever past that.

Here's the video of the codes:

Gageraid · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 10:36 pm

Got ya. Was this the method where you hold the trip button while turning the key?

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 10:47 pm

Gageraid wrote:

Got ya. Was this the method where you hold the trip button while turning the key?

No. That is a gauge test.

CEL codes can be checked by this key trick:

On-Off-On-Off-On.

You can hear the speed it has to be done by watching the video. If there are no codes, all you will see is -d0nE-.

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:06 pm

Well, just dropped it off. We'll see what happens!

Scar0 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:31 am

Sounds like your shift solenoid pack got fried. To prevent further damage to the transmission the computers prevented your rig from going into 3rd gear.
P0733 Gear 3 - incorrect ratio Possible causes; Wiring, TR sensor/switch, shift solenoids, transmission mechanical fault.
P1790 a fault was detected right after a shift.

Gageraid · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:32 am

Whatever the cause may be, I hope we can all learn something from it.

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:38 am

Just called for an update. Unless he's lying to me in an effort to get me to shut up, it should be done this afternoon but he has not said WHAT was done.

And apparently my front diff was leaking.

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2014 8:00 pm

All fixed!!!!!

Please Pay This Amount: $0.00!!!!

lfhoward · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2014 8:39 pm

Congrats!

Glad to hear she is back together and ship shape. I love the $0 bottom line. I had them swap out my gas tank for the burp issue a few weeks ago and $0 was all it cost. :BANANA:

Marlon_JBT · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2014 9:07 pm

I just wanna know when P0734 popped up because when I dropped it off, all I saw was P0733. :lol:

Gageraid · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:24 pm

Cool. So how does it feel now, especially in top gear?

Transmission Issues

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