2006 Dodge Ram 3500 - 48RE transmission - hair under 100K miles.

About a week ago, the check engine light came on in the truck, and I managed to pull code 1740 - TCC Solenoid Performance.

But I had no idea what that meant. Figured maybe the solenoid went bad and just needed a replacement. I did some research online, and found that there could be all sorts of things wrong with the truck with that code. I was comfortable with changing a solenoid, but the potential for torque converter issues was a bit frightening. Opted to take it to the dealership.

Long story short, they guys down there wanted $1,000 to replace the TCC solenoid. *130 of which was the diagnostic fee. Happy to know that I was spot-on with my initial diagnosis, I paid the $130 and took the truck home.

Bringing me to the current conundrum: Somewhere between dropping the drain pan and putting everything back together, I have lost the ability to shift to park. The shifter will fully seat in the "park" position, but the dash light will remain on [R]everse. Shifter moves smoothly, and I've ruled out a binding issue inside the transmission. (With the manual shift lever removed, I am able to cycle through all 5 gears on the rooster's comb - no great deal of force required.)


Someone who's familiar with the 48RE tranny might be able to help me out with this. Losing more sleep over it than I'd like.

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That's where I had to leave it. Got too dark and I lost feeling in my fingertips.

I'm going to try shifting out of N on the floor tomorrow morning - I don't know why that didn't occur to me immediately. Does the truck not engage 'park' in 4H-2H-N-4L (Neutral)? Here's hoping I go out tomorrow and find out this was all a simple oversight. Is there a good guide to reinstalling a valve body around here that I missed? Most guides are real good about removal, not so great on installation. "Installation is reverse of removal" is less helpful when you've changed the settings of the parts - intentionally or not. When I put everything back together, should I have it all set to Park or 1st gear or what? x:

 

Easy fix somehow you bent the cable bracket! Find the shift cable down by the tranny and use a screw driver to bend it back a little "JUST A LITTLE" Not sure which way but you'll figure it out! Merry Christmas! That will be 1000. dollars!

 

What do you mean by "won't shift into park"? Is it just the indicator on the dash that won't read "P"? Does the park pawl actually engage?

BTW, $1000 to replace a TCC/OD solenoid set is simply ludicrous. Hopefully the solenoid fixes it for you...

 

, I'm hoping this is the case. I had only an hour or so this morning to work on the truck. I'm not sure how I might have bent this 1/4" inch bracket, but it's worth a shot. Worst that can happen is I fix it, right?

Messed with the truck this morning. It -will- shift into park if I use a wrench, light pressure, and then attach the lever. When I get back in the truck it reads [P] and the pawl is engaged. So good news, I didn't bust the park rod!

$1,000 sounded ridiculous to me as well. They counted it as $300 for the parts (...Hahha, no. I even bought the Mopar Solenoid pack and it was more like $60 online. Filter was around $15 at O'Reilly.) and another $550 for labor. Labor might have included the tranny fluid, not sure on that. Here in WA state, everything is more expensive. *sigh*

I'll be checking the bracket thing in the morning, and will update on that. Thanks guys. I'll sleep well tonight knowing it's not the end of the world.

 

Yeah, bending the cable bracket is not real likely during a valve body R&R, but you can recheck it.

Did you pull the rooster comb off of the valve body? If so, did you get it lined back up with the manual valve?

What part of WA are you in?

 

Rooster comb was not removed or re-seated. One of the videos I watched was about replacing the detent ball (although the one in this truck is wonderfully snug) and it mentioned being careful about how the comb was situated. It's in the correct position.

Western Washington, btw. In the Graham - Eatonville locale.

Thinking I might need to adjust the cable overall. Truck used to have a bit a trouble getting into Park before I messed with it. I think at some point I twisted or untwisted it and it got a wee bit shorter. (As twisted cable is wanting to do)

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Alright, so I tried adjusting the bracket, but that thing is beastly thick. I'm not sure how to get a prybar in there to adjust the bracket's angle. A hammer didn't pull it off. (No worries about the lever, I had the shift cable disconnected from the manual shift lever before whacking away)

Tried a shift cable adjustment. ...A few times. Lost 1st gear once, but adjusted the cable again and got it back. still no luck with park.

I also noticed that the shift arm (when forced into park manually) runs into the Neutral Park Interlock. Is it supposed to seat that far rearward? It's not overlapping, but there is a distinct -tap- when I reseat the shift lever.

I'm reluctant to put the fluid back in on the off-chance I need to tear the VB out again - but would a lack of fluid keep the shifter from pushing the tranny into Park?

 

If the shift lever actually hits the range senosr either the shift lever is turned on the shaft or something did not go back together correctly on the park rod. It should be close but not hit it.

Forget the lights on the dash, adjust the cable to see if you can get park first. If you can loosen the range sensor and reset it. Sometimes they can set cocked to one side and when the cable is adjusted the dash is off. If you cannot get park by adjusting the shift cable something mechanically is out of spec from the shift lever to the parking rod.

 

Yeah, the arm should not hit the range sensor. There's got to be something wrong with the way the arm is installed. I'd reinspect that area really closely.

 

Thanks all of ya for the help, it's always nice to have a short back-and-forth with those wiser than yourself when you get stuck.

I double-checked the range sensor and shift arm to see if they were coliding. Looks like I was mistaken - my wedding ring was tapping against the sensor while adjusting to park and I mistook that for the shift lever.

I took a few pictures with my phone to get a better view. The arm was seated correctly, but I never tightened it down all the way. This may have been part of the problem.

Pulled out a Chilton manual to get better pictures for adjusting the shift cable. Gave that one last shot and voila! Truck shifted through the full range from inside the cab. It's not even touchy about going into park anymore! (like it was before I even started this project)

Ended up putting 10 quarts of fluid back into the tranny and running through some light paces. Things were kinda touch-and-go for the first few seconds of each gear but smoothed out very quickly. I'm calling this a soft success. Now I just gotta get that light turned off the dsash! Haha. I'll make a final update if it stays off for the drive home. Thanks again!

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Yup, sure enough. had two P1740 codes and a low transmission fluid code - cleared them out and the light didn't come back on during an 8-mile highway trip. Success! AHAHAH! Yes!

 

If you did not tighten the shift lever onto the shaft that was the issue. It has to be aligned and tightened or you wil never get the gears and lights to line up.