Dodge Durango Forum II Archive

Transmission shifting/cruise control

A newbie to the list here. Thanks Big Al for setting my user id up! Go figure, a mainframe programmer would have difficulties signing up for the list.

A little background info for my transmission/cruise question:
Bought my D '98, 5.2L, Chili Peper Red with 49K mi on Sept 29th. On the fourth day I owned my D, my dog decided to jump up on the driver's side back door before the truck had stopped moving. And leaving behind a few nail scratches on the door. (Could have @#?% shot that dog, if he wasn't such a good pheasant hunter.) The next Saturday talked with the place that sold me the D to schedule its routine maintenance due for flushings: radiator, transmission, and transfer cases. And one of the body guys looked at the scratches and said that he could buff them out since the scratches are only on the clear cloak finish. Thank God! Scheduled that maintenance on the last Saturday of October, when the body guy would be available.
The next week(Oct 8-12) took the D on a trip to Rockford, IL from southwest Minnesota about 1000 miles round trip. No problems, handed real nice, and with the cruise set at 69mph the mileage was 16.9 per gallon.
Friday Oct 19: Took the D out to lunch the mall about 3 miles away. On the way back to work and about 5 blocks from work's parking lot, the D's 'Check Engine' light came on and lost power, which resulted in the engine stalling. Jumped out and popped the hood. Checked all fluid levels; all fine. Having no idea what could be wrong. I called the dealer where I purchased the D. (different towns than the place that I work.) Reconfirmed that the D was still under the purchase warranty and its OK to have the D towed to the local Dodge dealer for service. The local service department's computer diagnosis, discovered that the fuel pump's sensor, (amount of fuel left), had gone bad. Fuel gage read 3/8 of a tank left, but the 45 dollar diagnosis said the tank was empty. Since the pump was not available 'til the following Tuesday Oct 23rd, I was advised from original dealer to declined to have the local shop install a new fuel pump, as they were going to be doing the maintenance anyway and buffing the door for scratches on Saturday 27th.
On Saturday 27th I dropped the D off early at the dealership, and I went pheasant hunting with another guy. After a successful pheasant hunt, my dog and I were dropped off at the dealership. I was surprised to still see scratches in the driver's side rear door. As I was loading my hunting gear in the back of the D, the salesman pulled up and said that the body guy didn't get a chance to work on that door. Because, the mechanic doing the fluid changes and new fuel pump noticed that the transmission seal was leaking a little. So, instead they replaced the transmission seal. I said fine; we'll have to schedule the scratch work again.
In the following week I noticed that the tachometer would jump up a notch or about 200rpms and then right back down where it originally had been. Seemed to be happening more times while the cruise was set. Probably about 8 to 12 times in a mile and about 4 to 6 times when the cruise is off. Having Friday Nov 9th (a nice sunny day) off from work to do a little pheasant hunting. While I was loading the dog's box in the back of big D, I noticed some speckles of what appeared to be tranny fluid on the back window. After double checking the transmission fluid level and it was full, and instead of hunting, I headed to the dealership. The mechanic checked both the tranny fluid levels upper (normal dip stick) and the lower (removing a stop plug underneath). Both levels were fine, but he did add Ľ cup of tranny fluid to the lower. I described this tranny shifting issue to the mechanic, and he said that the Ds transmission will shift when it detects a difference in the transmission fluid's pressure. And maybe with the leak, the transmission is shifting unnecessarily. The shop again scheduled the replacement if this seal for the following week and I was stuck with a loaner vehicle, an Intrepid, for the week of Nov 12-16.
Picked up the D that following Saturday 17th go hunting. No problems noticed on this Saturday, but, on Sunday I did once again notice that same issue (tachometer jumping up about 200rpms and then right back down where it was) to a lesser degree, only 2 to 4 time per mile and hardly never with the cruise off. Called the dealership back on Wednesday 21st. When I was talking with the service manager, he said that they have a Jeep now in the shop that they have ordered parts for, and a call into Dodge's technical engineers for help on this same issue. I have not heard back from the dealership yet. But, plan on calling in the morning.
Is there anyone else on the list with a similar tranny problem? Or answers to this issue?

Thanks, Steve

Fri Nov 30