3.6l Etq. Absolute frustration with transmission!

[2019REBEL]

I know when I had my 2014 Outdoorsman with the 3.55 gears and V6 Pentastar I had the 2-1 bump and they had a fix for it, had it done and never had anymore problems with it. They must have changed something between 2014 and 2019 in the transmission cause I wouldn't think it was the etorque engine but it might be.

 

[Smerberj]

Man sorry you're going through that. My truck doesn't do that at all, 3.6L, 2wd, 3.55. As for the pedal Commander, you shouldn't have to pay almost $300 to "correct" an issue with a brand new truck, that's crazy talk!

 

[lowell3170]

Here is the latest and most recent BS story on my truck now. I took it to a different dealer to get a second opinion. The tech drove my truck and didn't notice anything "un-usual". The service advisor did tell me that these trucks take "8000" yes eight thousand miles to learn. It may shift odd or act "funny" sometimes till it learns my driving style. The last dealer that did the "re-flash" told me it took "500-600" miles for it to learn. So the bottom line is Ram has an issue with the V6 E-torque 8 speed trucks and is BSing owners that this is "normal". This is not normal.. (They are buying time)

So I guess for now I'm going to spread the "truth" about how awesome my truck is and all the "real" problems is has with no actual fix. I asked for the dealer to document everything on my ticket. I'm thinking about making a well documented YouTube video about this problem and see what happens then. Maybe if enough people are aware there that is a "REAL" issue with these truck shifting someone will actually come up with a fix.
Just on a side note, this is the 2nd dealer to not check the fluid level on the truck. It seems all they want to do is plug it into the computer and look for an error code. I'm not going to give up on this. I paid for a new truck to work and function correctly. The most frustrating part is knowing there are others with this same issue and nobody cares because it's only a small percent of truck owners.

To sum this all up.. From the dealers mouths.. It takes between 500 and 8000 miles for your truck transmission to learn how to shift. (Bs no printed documentation from Chrysler to back that up) In that time you might have un-usual or odd shift behavior. (truck will buck and shutter and not shift down sometimes) This is "not" an issue says the dealer. Although my paperwork says "Ram is aware of the issue and is working on a new update due in mid December" I will scan in my documents tomorrow so anyone can read themselves.

I am following your story. I have 2019 Laramie Long Horn 3.6 and my truck downshifts on the smallest grade at speeds above 60 on the Interstate most of the time. And sometimes it will pull the same grade without down shifting. Sometimes it will down shift 2 gears (from 8th to 6th, skipping 7th and maybe at 70 mph. I have trouble holding 22 MPG on level roads. My 2013 Ram will give me 23.5 to 24.5 on the same roads. The 2019 is slow on up-shifting and very aggressive on down shifting on the smallest grades. I have been Manuel shifting with the buttons for up shifting some times. The 19 has 13600 miles on it. I wish they could update the controller.

 

[Slow&easy]

I'd have to agree on most of what you have said. My 2019 does not perform like my older 2014 did with the same engine, trans combo. I'd trade my 19 back for my 14 tomorrow if I could. I only traded up because I thought the truck would be better over all. I get worse fuel mileage and it shifts like crap most of the time. I'm still waiting on FCA to fix my truck.

I know it seems redundant to complain about this, but after having almost the same truck before this is a real bad experience. I have been told so many different things. 1st it was "it needs to break in", 2nd time "it needs Re-Flash and drove for 800 miles". Last trip it was you have to drive it 8000 miles before it will shift right and there is a new "re-flash" coming in December. (there is no re-flash in December, they are just buying time)

FCA did contact me and is setting up the ride a long after the holidays. I'm keeping track of all my time I have wasted on this issue. At this point my love and trust for Ram is dying quickly. I think they really screwed up the newer V6 trucks. A few minor no cost changes would really make these trucks so much better.

 

[HeliPilot]

I too would suspect the problem is actually originating from how the computer processes throttle inputs. I have the hemi, but the transition from 2nd to 1st on deceleration followed by acceleration on my truck was SUPER SLOW, and once the truck finally got its act together, it would slam from 2nd to 1st in order to accelerate (delayed) in response to the throttle input. The truck now has 22K miles, and I recently installed a Pulsar tuner. That eliminated the issue I describe above, but my truck is also in the correct gear at all times now based on the speed I'm running. All shifts are seamless, and my adaptive cruise works so much smoother as a result of always being in the correct gear. These were all pleasant side effects of the tuner. So I suspect, as stated above, the PC would probably eliminate your frustration, and $300 is worth the price of admission, eliminating poor dealership experiences, and instantly enjoying a $35k-$60k truck. I seriously doubt that there have been any significant changes in engine and tranny from one year to the next, but...engineers playing with software to meet stringent EPA standards...messing up a good thing...I can absolutely believe.

 

[jb772]

After owning my truck for 5 months and 4980 miles - I ended up selling my 19 Limited V6 4x4 on Sunday and surprisingly I don't miss it one bit. I was severely disappointed in this truck especially after thinking this was going to be my "forever truck" because of how simple it was. The MPG sucked, especially on the highway it wouldn't maintain 80MPH without down shifting which would result in terrible MPG and than if there was any sort of oncoming wind it was that much worse. Transmission shifts were very slow and sometimes jerky, air condition sucked, I could go on and on. The one thing that I loved about the truck were the extremely bright headlights and the comfortable interior, the rest is in the past!

 

[Slow&easy]

jb772, I don't blame you for ditching your Ram because of issues.
On a side note, I was able to get a Ram dealer to do a ride along over the weekend and the tech noticed the issues right away. He said it was most likely a bad torque converter, but that Ram will make him put a valve body in it 1st because it's easier and cheaper than pulling the trans. So in my case my truck will have to go back to the dealer 2 or 3 more times till it's "possibly" fixed. If I could trade this truck tomorrow and not loose my butt I would. I just know I would loose money trading it.

This will be my last Ram. I have owned 6 in the last 12 years. The way I have been treated in this mess, is what will push me to anther brand. Not having a Ram dealer in my town anymore is another factor. I have to drive an hour to take my truck to a Ram dealer and I have been there 6 times since I bought the truck in October.

 

[Wolf]

It was mentioned that somebody's dealer told them it may take "8000 miles for the truck to learn your driving style". That seemed and seems like a ridiculous distance to travel for the truck to act properly. I too HAD the jerky shifting, real bad when weather was cold.

Something changed at 7400 miles, I now have 8700 miles. In that span I have not felt any of the little shudders, or the scary violent, jerky shift searching I experienced often before.

I don't know if there was an over the air update, or if that 8000 miles thing has some merit. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, it seems my truck is good to go now.

I hope you all can see the same improvement, hopefully before 7400 miles.

 

[Slow&easy]

As of today, I have 10,243 miles on my truck and nothing has changed. Mine, just isn't jerky shifting. The tech had me do a zero to 60mph run at full throttle and you can feel something slipping. It was the 1st time I had done something like that. That is why he suspected the torque converter. My truck is doing stuff even between shifts.
I get what you mean about taking 8000 miles to learn. That seems excessive for a computer learn. My guess is they are buying time for the components to wear in some and loosen up a bit. Today's engines and transmissions are built with tighter tolerances. So things tend to be slower to respond when "tight".

I'm just trying to relay what is going on with my truck and that Ram has finally acknowledged there is actually something wrong. I'm just wore out dealing with it over the past few months, knowing I have more to go through still.

 

[jb772]

jb772, I don't blame you for ditching your Ram because of issues.
On a side note, I was able to get a Ram dealer to do a ride along over the weekend and the tech noticed the issues right away. He said it was most likely a bad torque converter, but that Ram will make him put a valve body in it 1st because it's easier and cheaper than pulling the trans. So in my case my truck will have to go back to the dealer 2 or 3 more times till it's "possibly" fixed. If I could trade this truck tomorrow and not loose my butt I would. I just know I would loose money trading it.

This will be my last Ram. I have owned 6 in the last 12 years. The way I have been treated in this mess, is what will push me to anther brand. Not having a Ram dealer in my town anymore is another factor. I have to drive an hour to take my truck to a Ram dealer and I have been there 6 times since I bought the truck in October.

Take it to CarMax and get a free appraisal, if you don't like the offer you don't have to take it but I was extremely pleased with what they offered me and was a fool if I said no.

 

[Slow&easy]

This will be my last update as I'm working on trading off my worthless Ram. The dealer called me the other day and said after my test drive with the tech (who acknowledged there was an issue) that Star has determined "customer has improper driving habits". I asked the service manager how does one have "improper driving habits" when using cruise control down the highway with a tech and the transmission acts up. His reply was the parts are on back order and they don't want to mess with it. If anyone wants to see my service tickets and how they actually put "improper driving habits" on my ticket please let me know. I'm just relaying the facts and what I have went through on my particular truck. I find it odd that they wont fix my truck and there are over 30 some valve bodies on back order since Nov and they are not due till March. I really did like my truck, I just wanted it fixed was all.

 

[jb772]

This will be my last update as I'm working on trading off my worthless Ram. The dealer called me the other day and said after my test drive with the tech (who acknowledged there was an issue) that Star has determined "customer has improper driving habits". I asked the service manager how does one have "improper driving habits" when using cruise control down the highway with a tech and the transmission acts up. His reply was the parts are on back order and they don't want to mess with it. If anyone wants to see my service tickets and how they actually put "improper driving habits" on my ticket please let me know. I'm just relaying the facts and what I have went through on my particular truck. I find it odd that they wont fix my truck and there are over 30 some valve bodies on back order since Nov and they are not due till March. I really did like my truck, I just wanted it fixed was all.

Sounds like you could take it to court if you really wanted to, unless they're certified driving instructors or went to school to specifically read and manipulate how others drive they have no reason to act as a expert as to what is proper and what isn't proper driving habits. Bunch of lazy employees is more like it.

 

[SF Guy]

Here is the latest and most recent BS story on my truck now. I took it to a different dealer to get a second opinion. The tech drove my truck and didn't notice anything "un-usual". The service advisor did tell me that these trucks take "8000" yes eight thousand miles to learn. It may shift odd or act "funny" sometimes till it learns my driving style. The last dealer that did the "re-flash" told me it took "500-600" miles for it to learn. So the bottom line is Ram has an issue with the V6 E-torque 8 speed trucks and is BSing owners that this is "normal". This is not normal.. (They are buying time)

So I guess for now I'm going to spread the "truth" about how awesome my truck is and all the "real" problems is has with no actual fix. I asked for the dealer to document everything on my ticket. I'm thinking about making a well documented YouTube video about this problem and see what happens then. Maybe if enough people are aware there that is a "REAL" issue with these truck shifting someone will actually come up with a fix.
Just on a side note, this is the 2nd dealer to not check the fluid level on the truck. It seems all they want to do is plug it into the computer and look for an error code. I'm not going to give up on this. I paid for a new truck to work and function correctly. The most frustrating part is knowing there are others with this same issue and nobody cares because it's only a small percent of truck owners.

To sum this all up.. From the dealers mouths.. It takes between 500 and 8000 miles for your truck transmission to learn how to shift. (Bs no printed documentation from Chrysler to back that up) In that time you might have un-usual or odd shift behavior. (truck will buck and shutter and not shift down sometimes) This is "not" an issue says the dealer. Although my paperwork says "Ram is aware of the issue and is working on a new update due in mid December" I will scan in my documents tomorrow so anyone can read themselves.

Hi,

I'm wondering if your issue ever got resolved by RAM.

I just purchased my Ram 1500 v6 eTorque brand new and am having issues with delayed acceleration from stop or near stop. I noticed the issue when I first started driving it at about 200 miles on the truck. I gave it 400 more miles to see if it would fix itself but it didn't. It takes about 1-3 seconds for the vehicle to acknowledge the throttle and finally accelerate which all of a sudden thrusts the truck forward. I brought it into a dealership who initially claimed they could not replicate the problem and since there were no check engine lights, the truck is technically fine. I went there, did a road test with a tech who drove it and acknowledged the issue. They performed a throttle flash, transmission quicklearn, and told me it was better and ready for pick up. I went back and the truck was still the same so I left it there. The dealer called me back and said there's nothing they can do and for me to pick my truck back up or contact Ram Care so that's what I did. I'm currently dealing with Ram Care who is supposed to be sending someone to the dealer to assist them with the repair but there was a mix up between the dealer and Ram Care and my car is still sitting there, not being worked on. I'm currently waiting to hear back from Ram Care after leaving multiple voicemails and emails.

 

[Aseras]

Report a Safety Problem | NHTSA

File a complaint with NHTSA if you experienced a vehicle, tire, car seat or equipment safety problem that could be a safety defect.

www.nhtsa.gov

Hesitation on acceleration is a safety problem, many other vehicles have been recalled for similar behavior.

 

[kldake.kd]

Sf guy - any update on your situation? I am having similar hesitating from my powertrain.