It never ends.

**KiloCummins04** · 11-09-2017

So as some of you may know,I bought an early 04 recently. Truck is fairly low mileage.I had a bad fuel issue with the truck and finally fixed it. When driving to work this morning, and I’m so glad it happened where it did,I was going down the road my station is off of, at about 60 mph and went to pass a dump truck. The new truck revved up and was like it was stuck in neutral... so I guess I have to tear the trans apart tomorrow when i get off and see what the deal is. All fuses and relays good, fluid is full, clear and red. I can’t smell very well so can’t tell if it’s burnt or not. It’s a 48RE. Any suggestions? Hoping to get it fixed so I can get my truck back from the wife and she can drive this one which I bought for her. Hate driving the challenger ???

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**KiloCummins04** · 11-09-2017

Just wondering if there’s any common problems which I may have missed. I’ll know more when I? can tear it apart and start checking stuff

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**AnOldBiker** · 11-09-2017

It's hard to determine some problems without being there.
But since your a LifeTime Member, have you downloaded the '04 shop manual from the site ? They are there for paid members for free.

And any that are trans specialist please chime in please !
... @Polaraco any thought ?

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**Polaraco** · 11-09-2017

It sounds like it's not fully engaged into gear or the pressure is low. 48RE's are pretty stout.

Does that have the external or internal accumulator on it? The external is notorious for going bad. Try Cascade Transmission parts for a replacement before you go ripping the trans apart. But I would open her up and check the pan and do a band adjustment. Band adjustment procedure is in the "How Too" section on the forum. The external is on the left side of the trans and looks like a malignant growth on the side of the trans.

If it's internal, they are know for ring collapse. Cascade has an upgrade for that which is sweet. If you have to go inside, do the front band servo upgrade as well. He has a friction additive that seems to be pretty sweet. too. You may consider one of his rebuilt valve bodies. They have all the updates and fixes in them and are set up with a slight shift kit. Between the front band servo and the valve body, I get crisp shifts, not harsh.

If you are going to rebuild anyway, upgrade the frictions. Unless you plan on punching the engine out, there is no need for shafts and the like. I recommend the manual he has for rebuilding too

Was this ever a tow truck? If so, and this condition has been for a while, your intermediate drum assembly may be done

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**KiloCummins04** · 11-11-2017

It may have been used for towing in the past. I’m not going to go crazy on it just a good truck to drive around. It won’t pull much now we will use my truck to pull. But I’ve been getting mandatory OT at work and the 48 hour duty rule only applies when they want it to. I’ll be off today so hopefully I? can check into it. I have a friend that was a trans specialist for years and years. He’s retired and in real bad shape but I’m going to try to go get him today and see if he will help me go through it. I? will check everything mentioned above first.. first thing was to take the pan off and investigate and I’ll look for the accumulator. I? have a lift and all so should be no prob

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**KiloCummins04** · 11-11-2017

So upon hooking the truck to the scanner, the tcm, the “shift solenoid A” and maybe one other thing (my friend who’s an auto mechanic is busy checking the electronics) is not communicating with the scanner, and it says voltage low. So now we have to find the wire or whatever and hopefully that’s it

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**AnOldBiker** · 11-11-2017

At least your in a good state to be working on it with the winter cold coming in.
You can do this in a tank top ....

It was 33 degrees here this morning.

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**Polaraco** · 11-11-2017

Originally Posted by KiloCummins04

So upon hooking the truck to the scanner, the tcm, the “shift solenoid A” and maybe one other thing (my friend who’s an auto mechanic is busy checking the electronics) is not communicating with the scanner, and it says voltage low. So now we have to find the wire or whatever and hopefully that’s it

Ahh New info. The plugs on the outside of the trans are known to corrode. If not, the solenoid pack is under the pan. It may have happened at that moment. Pull the plug, put some vaseline on it and plug it back in. See what happens.

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**KiloCummins04** · 11-11-2017

Haha yeah it’s pretty hot here. And so we tried my scanner which is a snap-on and mine will communicate, all the wires check out, no power issues, no connection issues. Here’s the kicker. My scanner shows the trans in first gear no matter what you select. When you turn it off it jumps to third. Then back to first when you start it. The truck still won’t move. Fluid level is higher with the truck off than running, when I? select neutral and check fluid like you’re supposed to the fluid is at normal level. So the pump works. Now I’ll have to get it on the lift and pull the pan but my buddy wants to check a few more things before we go that far. And I? believe the accumulator is internal I didn’t notice it being external when we were checking wiring.

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**Polaraco** · 11-12-2017

The selector issues is the switch on the left side of the trans. They're about 25 bucks. I think it's held in with 2 torx head screws. I have a new one here, I never got to install it. Some day. . . .

Pick up a solenoid cluster before you drop the pan. May as well change it. If the wiring is good, chances are a coil went bad. I don't know if the scrambled gears will cause that or not. I have the trouble shooting guide for that. I'll take a look when I get in the house.

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