Just my luck

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lenny

Guest
So, I had developed some drive train lash on my 01 dodge 2500 and needed to fix it. Since I was taking my daughter to Illinois to live with grandma to go to college, I figured I haul all her stuff in my truck and than take truck to my buddies shop to work on it. We checked the motor mounts, trans mount, springs and snubber. Pulled the transfer case and checked bearings and gear lash, checked all u-joints, still not finding anyone one thing that's obvious. Next we pull the manual trans (nv4500) cast iron massive transmission weight wise and find nothing alarming. Than we pull the bell housing and check the clutch and find a spring that was loose and the throw out bearing shot. I replaced the clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing, put it all back together and maybe a 20% improvement. We kinda just came to the conclusion it was a stacked effect of worn components all together and not one single issue. We also inspected the differential and found normal wear.

Well, I did have 2 engine codes, one for emissions and the other for TPS (throttle position sensor) but figured not associated with my particular issue. Was I ever wrong!. Problem was the sensor was faulty sending bogus data to computer making all kinds of adjustments and making my idle fluctuate. I just couldn't comprehend the connection. What was happening was the computer was adding fuel even when my foot was off the pedal and adding load when idling in a low gear and since it was fluctuating it would load and unload torque on the driveline starting this series of lashing back and forth like the driveline was gonna break. Once I changed my $52 sensor my problem was solved. Who would have thunked?
 
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ezra

Well-known member
always have to fix codes first on anything with a computer .
deff sounds like A ton of work for a sensor . any one on this page miss just tossing in a cap a router and a set of plugs when she started running a bit rough.
 
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lenny

Guest
I agree, or at the very least scan the code an understand it. I thought I did that because I knew the code before tearing into things. My engine light was on when I bought the truck and previous owner explained what it was and as soon as I bought it I had it scanned and confirmed. PO drove truck and so did I with no driveline lash till that sensor probably failed great enough to show what seemed like unrelated symptoms. I always check codes and if they are something that does not effect performance or justify a costly repair bill I just live with it, like many of us do.
 
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racerx

Active member
A typical cummins problem would have similar surging and bucking which would possibly be an apps sensor (accelerator pedal position sensor) and sometimes would not even throw a code or the popular "dead pedal" could show up at anytime but that typically thru a bunch of codes.

I had a weird issue where the rpms would jump up a few hundred and then go back down and it did not throw any codes,that turned out to be a frequent lock/unlock on the torque converter all from electrical noise from the charging system. I tried a bunch of shade tree fixes which helped some but I finally fixed it by adding a $20 filter/isolater to one of the ecm lines.

So yes, these darn computers can drive one crazy trying in trying to fix your vehicle nowadays.
 
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timo

Well-known member
At least it sounds like you got it in good running function with preventative maintenance and can have some peace of mind going forward.
 
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onlypolar4me

Member
ezra said:
always have to fix codes first on anything with a computer .
deff sounds like A ton of work for a sensor . any one on this page miss just tossing in a cap a router and a set of plugs when she started running a bit rough.
Click to expand...

No kidding, but that is awful inefficient !!
 
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lenny

Guest
timo said:
At least it sounds like you got it in good running function with preventative maintenance and can have some peace of mind going forward.
Click to expand...
yup, the clutch throw out bearing was junk so not regrets on that, the transfer case has a retaining ring and a dog laying in bottom of case so no regrets on that either
 
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