First of all, I love my truck! We have been together eight years now and I have never had any other vehicle for this long. This truck has the 318 5.2L V8 magnum engine, and the 46rh 2wd transmission. A beautiful piece of machinery that has only started to give me trouble within the last two years.
I have replaced a variety of things over the last couple of years and I even had it running so smoothly a year ago that she floated down the highway with ease. But since this past March, I have been forced to start taking public transportation due to various issues surrounding the transmission.
It started with changing the transmission fluid and the pan gasket. I had never changed the fluid since I have owned it and I do not know when/if it was changed last. I bought this truck December 2010 at 82,900 original miles. We changed the fluid and gasket, put it back together, and added new fluid. This was when I first started leaking transmission fluid. This lead to getting a new torque converter in late April. Again we put it back together and new transmission fluid again. I was still leaking transmission fluid and so we replaced the rear seal last month. It has been reassembled and again new fluid. Turns out I am now leaking from the front near the radiator. By the way, the radiator was replaced, and an oil change was also done when the transmission seal was done last month. Then, two nights ago, I was driving and it was acting like it did not have enough transmission fluid (despite the current leak, I had just checked the fluid level and added what I needed), and then I started to smell burnt transmission fluid when I would stop. Then it would take off slowly and not shift properly. It would vary between 2,000 and 4,000 rpm's when shifting. When I left work, it was shifting a little better but not for long. It took me two hours to travel the 7.3 miles home. I frequently had to stop to let it cool down. It would take off slowly and then if I had to press on the brakes it would feel like it was no longer in gear. It has a lot of the same symptoms I experienced when the torque converter had to be replaced. I am afraid that the transmission is done for and I do not know how much this will cost. I am not sure where to even begin with this one.
Any suggestions! I am not ready to part ways with my truck, but this is stressing me out and my funds are limited without the added repairs. And more importantly, I do not know how much more of the bus I can handle.
Friday, December 18th, 2020 AT 10:37 AM
(Merged)