Dodge Ram Vans (94-03) common problems and fixes.

[The Eyesore]

Hi, I just thought I'd share a couple things I've found to be common problems with the Dodge Ram Van (not Promaster) which you may want to look into if you own one.

1) The infamous intake PLENUM GASKET failure which, if you haven't already addressed it (a big job which you'd remember if you had), is pretty much guaranteed that yours has failed by now if you've got a vehicle with a 5.9 or 5.2 Magnum motor. Symptoms are: Occasional hard starts, reduced engine power, increased oil consumption. If untreated, it will eventually probably plug up your catalytic convertor, ruin O2 sensors, and cause oil-fouled plugs.

There is lots of info on this around the web. Just google "Magnum Plenum Gasket" to learn more.


2) The transmission cooler line CHECK VALVE which can become clogged and cause your 46RE transmission to overheat and fail. It is recommended by many folks to delete the check valve altogether as it's not really necessary for normal operation, but the cost associated with its failure is high. Some transmission rebuilders refuse to warranty their rebuilds unless the check valve is deleted.

Many tutorials on this as well. If you want to look into doing this yourself, just PM me and I can show you an easy method to delete it. Costs about $50 and less than an hour to perform the task.


3) PCM failure is becoming more common with our aged vans. A failed PCM can be hard to diagnose without a spare "known-good" PCM to swap in. Furthermore, rebuilt PCMs are notorious for problems themselves. I personally, bought a $300 rebuilt PCM for when mine inevitably fails. In fact, I am running the rebuilt one now (both to confirm that it's working well and also to use it while it's under warranty. I have sealed my original, still-working-perfectly PCM in a freezer bag and stored it away for whenever I have a weird no-start condition or whatever, I can swap out the PCM to easily ascertain if that's the problem.

There are more, but these are the main three I personally felt were important enough to share.

Do you know of any good tips for common failures with Dodges of this era?

[The Eyesore]

About to do the plenum gasket (and a few peripheral parts while in there) ��
Do you think I forgot anything?

[nicaland]

Was the trans cooler check valve eliminated by Dodge at some time? I recall reading this, but don't know if that is true, or if it is, at what model year did they do so?

[The Eyesore]

Hi, Nicaland. I hadn’t heard about that. Maybe they did with another transmission, but the 46RE doesn’t charge the torque converter in park and so the check valve was designed to keep the fluid in the torque converter, otherwise there is a delay for the vehicle to move when you first put it in gear after warm up.

There are aftermarket shift kits that allow the transmission to charge the torque converter in park. I don’t know if Dodge ever got wise and maybe reprogrammed the 46RE for this in later years?

Personally, I don’t find this to be a problem because I’m gentle about warming up my 25-year-old vehicle anyways.

My van came with two trans coolers (in series) from the factory. If the check valve were to clog, neither of the trans coolers would be able to cool the fluid, and I would have no way of knowing that the valve was clogged other than the transmission overheating. So, it’s a no-brainer to me that this valve gets deleted.

[nicaland]

I asked this because my '98 B3500, which was I beleive to be the first year of the 46RE, has always been VERY slow to move in gear, especially in reverse, which also exhibits a worrysome whine, at the first start of the day. I bought mine at 50,000 miles, and this condition existed then and has remained the same now at 110,000 miles. I know that this is to be expected to some degree, and a longer idle time before engaging a gear seems to help a bit, but although I have never heard that this is a recommended practice or even a damaging one, for the last 60,000 miles I gently rock the trans from drive to reverse at first start a few times, usually 4-5 times, until I feel a positive gear engagement in both directions before heading off. If I don't do this the trans slips quite a bit, and especially in reverse with the accompanying whine. Because of this condition I suspected that my unit did not have a check valve. Acknowledging that these transmissions are known to be prone to failure, additionally i REALLY baby this trans, avoiding anything close to full throttle upshifts, and anticipate the need of a downshift for upcoming grade changes by manually downshifting with a slack throttle, and wait for it's engagement before throttling up. Knock on wood, but this tranny still operates perfectly today.

[The Eyesore]

Before putting it into drive, let it sit in neutral for 10 seconds. 10 seconds, is way longer than necessary, but for sake of ruling this out, let’s say 10 seconds. If you still experience an engagement delay after 10 seconds in neutral, then the check valve (or lack of) is not the cause.

Have you ever had the bands adjusted? The manual calls for band adjustments rather frequently.

Also, as a 1998, I can assure you that yours left the factory with a check valve in place. Unless someone has deleted it, it’s definitely there.

[The Eyesore]

Here’s a tutorial I wrote in another forum:

Hopefully this will be helpful to anyone wishing to delete the transmission cooler line check valve from their 1998-2003 RAM VAN 5.2 or 5.9.

Initially, I was trying to put together the parts to delete the check valve, using the tutorial from 2008 by Aim4Squirrels, found HERE
The total parts cost in 2008 was $38, but now... Well, let's just say that the cost of the first two parts (out of 9 parts), some fittings is now, in 2024, $32, so I didn't even bother to check the price on the rest of the parts as I could tell this was going to be expensive.

HOWEVER, I'm glad to report that I found another solution which is to purchase the whole trans cooler line with the check valve installed for $32 from Rock Auto.
I simply drilled out the check ball and spring from the new line and used compressed air to make sure the line was clear. Easy peezy install to remove the old line and replace with the new one.
Problem solved.

ADDITIONALLY, I replaced the other trans cooler line since it is ONLY $14!

I love that these parts are so cheap.

PS: I know I could have just drilled out my existing one, but...
1) I didn't trust that the debris from drilling would all come out of the wet line and I certainly don't want that stuff ending up in the valve body.
2) Swapping the new cooler line in for the old one is just faster, easier and less dripping mess.
3) The old line is probably rather dirty inside and so the sudden increase in flow might wash some of the dirt into the tranny.
4) My old line had developed a leak at one ond of the rubber section (probably due to the high pressure as a result of high resistance at the check valve).

[nicaland]

I I have never let it idle in neutral, but time permitting I let it idle in park, sometimes as much as 3-4 minutes, and this does seem to help a bit. Regardless, I do rock it from forward to reverse a few times, and it seems that a longer idle time does require fewer "rockings". I have never had the bands adjusted. I'll see if warming it up in neutral instead of park makes any difference, but as I said, and keeping my fingers crossed, this thing continues continues to operate virtually as new.

[The Eyesore]

The 46RE, unlike every other trans in the world, actually DOESN'T charge the torque convertor in park. That's the reason the dipstick tells you to check the fluid level in NEUTRAL. Next time, try neutral instead of park.

[nicaland]

Thanks, will do!

[nicaland]

Just tried it (10 seconds in Neutral first) And sure enough, that works! Thanks Eyesore!

[The Eyesore]

Nice! That also indicates that your check valve has been deleted already!

[nicaland]

I actually suspected that this could be the case after reading your first post, and it's why I had asked if the check valve was deleted for any model years by Dodge. Anyway, although my rocking back and forth method did the trick, I think that it's much better to not have to do it anymore! Thanks again mate.

[RT-NY]

Originally Posted by The Eyesore

HOWEVER, I'm glad to report that I found another solution which is to purchase the whole trans cooler line with the check valve installed for $32 from Rock Auto.
I simply drilled out the check ball and spring from the new line and used compressed air to make sure the line was clear. Easy peezy install to remove the old line and replace with the new one.

I bought this same part a few years ago, not to delete the check valve but because I had leak in the line in the same place you did, and this looked to be an easy fix. But it came apart (at the check valve, actually) the first time I started the engine after install! It might have just been bad luck with a defective part -- I have never had a problem with a Doman part otherwise.

[The Eyesore]

Wow, that's crazy! So, what did you replace it with?

[RT-NY]

Originally Posted by The Eyesore

Wow, that's crazy! So, what did you replace it with?

It was crazy, and messy too, but I least I got a transmission fluid flush out of it! I ended up putting the original hose back on -- to stop the leak, I had a mechanic put a bubble flare in the metal hose there and clamp the rubber hose back on over the flare. It hasn't leaked there since.

And since you've gotten me thinking about deleting the check valve, I guess I could do it the same way: either cut off the line there and remove the flare cap, then put on a new bubble flare and clamp on a new length of rubber hose at both ends; or perhaps keep the existing flare and get an adapter to a barbed or flared end like the part mentioned in the tutorial from 2008 that you referred to before.

[The Eyesore]

Originally Posted by RT-NY

It was crazy, and messy too, but I least I got a transmission fluid flush out of it!.

Haha! That’s hilarious!

You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if the check valve was the reason for the hose coming apart. Probably the new check valve was too restrictive or maybe blocked all together and the pressure buildup made the hose come apart. Still, there shouldn’t be anywhere near that much pressure but The fact that it happened right at the check valve is kind of suspect in my opinion.

Obviously you’d want to do whatever you feel more comfortable with but in my opinion, the $34 part from rock auto with the check valve drilled out is totally the way to go. Easy to install and you can get it ready off of the car before installing it.

If you still have the quick disconnect fitting, installed on your radiator, it’s a super easy install.

[booster]

Originally Posted by The Eyesore

Haha! That’s hilarious!

You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if the check valve was the reason for the hose coming apart. Probably the new check valve was too restrictive or maybe blocked all together and the pressure buildup made the hose come apart. Still, there shouldn’t be anywhere near that much pressure but The fact that it happened right at the check valve is kind of suspect in my opinion.

Obviously you’d want to do whatever you feel more comfortable with but in my opinion, the $34 part from rock auto with the check valve drilled out is totally the way to go. Easy to install and you can get it ready off of the car before installing it.

If you still have the quick disconnect fitting, installed on your radiator, it’s a super easy install.

You would be surprised how high the pressure can go when the fluid is cold, especially is you have an aftermarket cooler installed in series with the radiator with no bypass thermostat. Aftermarket coolers are kind of famous for blowing off rubber hoses, either when cold or when the rpm is very high.


I have gotten to the point where I always use AN fittings now, and put in a bypass thermostat so the fluid warms up when it is cold.

[The Eyesore]

Well, then, I guess I wouldn’t be surprised because even the brand new check valve when I tried to blow through it in either direction, I wasn’t able to. I know that my lungs aren’t putting out anywhere near the pressure of the fluid pump in the transmission, but still, I was kind of surprised that the check valve offered that much resistance.

[RT-NY]

Originally Posted by booster

Aftermarket coolers are kind of famous for blowing off rubber hoses, either when cold or when the rpm is very high.

Now all this has got me wondering why there is a rubber hose there at all -- as you can see in the picture above, it is metal line from the transmission and metal line with a quick connect to the cooler with a rubber length of 6" or so in the middle. Is that there for any reason other than to have something to attach the check valve to? If we are deleting the check valve anyway, wouldn't it be better to replace the rubber hose with a section of metal line with double flares at each end?