I just bought, and am currently living on the road in this 11973 Dodge Rv. I'm having tons of trouble with it...the transmission started to slip, I could feel it slipping past 2nd when I accelerated, so a friend of mine replaced it with a junkyard tranny. This seemed to work for about 40 miles and it did the same thing again. Had same friend replace it again with another junkyard tranny...this one seemed ok for the first 150 miles but all of a sudden I can't go more than 35 mph uphill. I could go 60 or more uphill at one time, but now I'm dragging. Any ideas on why I can't go uphill faster? Or why my transmissions are going so bad so fast? Or maybe its not the tranny this time, but then what is it?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Libby
Are you hooking up and adjusting the kickdown linkage when intalling the trannys? If your trans is not kicking down it will lug up the hill in high gearusually pulling speed down to a crawl.It will also cause your trans to fail prematurely.
I seem to think you are losing engine power because of a clogged catalytic converter
and the fluid is beautiful, not burnt, not discolored, just perfect!
No, none of the tranny's were serviced at all....but I've been through so many bad transmissions I feel like I'd know it for sure if it was bad! When the other ones went bad I knew it, no questions. This one just isn't slipping at all. The only wierd thing about it is that it doesn't match up with the gearshift markers...When it's really in park it shows as if its in reverse, when it's in reverse it shows neutral, etc etc. But it doesn't seem like a big deal, I'm the only one who drives it and I know which is which.
Thanks again
Theirs not too much more you can check out with it on the ground. Full of gear oil is a good sign! If it were me I would want to get the rear tires off the ground so I could crawl under it and start turning things (wheels) and listening for odd noises or looking for slippage in turning the tires and watching the driveline (tranny is N).
If it were in your rear end you would notice the problem constantly, not just on uphill climbs, it would be their in low city cruising and highway cruising.
Were any of the tranny's serviced? What does the fluid smell like, sweet or burnt?
Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. The rear end thing sparks my interest, because the engine seems strong, and it doesn't have any tranny slippage at all.
Also I had my rear brakes looked at about a month ago, and the mechanic told me I was leaking differential fluid from somewhere around the tires...(he said it wouldn't do any immediate damage, I didn't have the money, so didn't get it fixed.) Now when you said that, I went and checked the differential fluid and as soon as it opened fluid came spilling out. So I'm assuming that means it's plenty full. (I guess the mechanic filled it up, and apparently it hasn't leaked?) What do you think about that? Is there anything else I could check out back there?
Thanks again!
Are you experiencing a loss of engine power at all? Really in this situation their are three things to consider. Engine (loss of power) Transmission (slippage) and Rear End (gears).
Try troubleshooting each of the separate items. If no loss of engine power, try jacking up the rear and looking at the fluids in the rear axle.
