Transmission randomly shifts into neutral and shows error to shift into Park then back to Drive

[jonnygobig]

I have the same thing, 2019 50K miles, lrm, 5.7. 6” lift, 35” on 3.92. Happens cold and slowing down sub 5mph to stop sign, tranny downshifts a little harsh, it slips to neutral, blinking, asking to go to park before it will engage. Kinda dangerous, you don’t always notice until you are reving motor with no motion. Seems mechanical more than electrical like it is bumped out of gear. Haven’t looked yet, Gonna check mounts, tranny linkage(if any, I have only changed 3rd Gen tranny/motor). Feels like it is related to those weird clicks you hear when truck initializes at start. No other trouble with truck, same exh mfd leaks, normal Hemi behaviors. Had to pull battery cable once when back up cam went black, was fine after it found discovered all features and nodes.

 

[Meetis]

Has anyone been able to figure this out? I’m at 95k miles and it happens still, every week or so. Now dealership says I have low transmission fluid and that if I change it might fix it. But I gotta pay $1100 to replace transmission fluid


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[Meetis]

I have the same thing, 2019 50K miles, lrm, 5.7. 6” lift, 35” on 3.92. Happens cold and slowing down sub 5mph to stop sign, tranny downshifts a little harsh, it slips to neutral, blinking, asking to go to park before it will engage. Kinda dangerous, you don’t always notice until you are reving motor with no motion. Seems mechanical more than electrical like it is bumped out of gear. Haven’t looked yet, Gonna check mounts, tranny linkage(if any, I have only changed 3rd Gen tranny/motor). Feels like it is related to those weird clicks you hear when truck initializes at start. No other trouble with truck, same exh mfd leaks, normal Hemi behaviors. Had to pull battery cable once when back up cam went black, was fine after it found discovered all features and nodes.

Any update on this?


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[Meetis]

This has happened to me but only a twice in 4 years. And that was only recently in the last 2 months. In this time they have repaved and installed some speed bumps on a main road through my neighborhood. I have never seen speed bumps like these before. They are rather steep on the ascending slope but are only about 4 inches high by 2/3 the lane width by about 6 feet. So I have to slow way down like less that 5 mph but only one side of my vehicle goes over the bump. The side closest to the center of the road (2 lane road). On two occurrences the truck shifted into neutral and gave me the error you listed. But I didnt have to go into Park, just Neutral then back to Drive. I travel on this road twice a day to and from work. There are a total of 3 of these speed bumps. Anyways thats my story.

Any update on this?


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[Meetis]

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[jonnygobig]

After cleaning and exercising TB manually and some spray on Maf I have had zero recurrence in months! However, I realized this week on changing air filter that I did not fully seat PCV line onto intake stub. Reseated and if it occurs now will change PCV valve.

 

[Meetis]

After cleaning and exercising TB manually and some spray on Maf I have had zero recurrence in months! However, I realized this week on changing air filter that I did not fully seat PCV line onto intake stub. Reseated and if it occurs now will change PCV valve.

I took mine to dealership again and the checked my transmission fluid and my tech said “your transmission fluid is low and also dirty, not red how it supposed to be and to change it will cost $1100”. I think transmission fluid on 5.7 hemi is actually not red color and “dirty” color. Anyway, I told them I’m not doing transmission fluid change. Got my truck back, no more hissing noise and haven’t had gear slipping again so far. About 3-4 weeks now. Hopefully won’t come back


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[jonnygobig]

I took mine to dealership again and the checked my transmission fluid and my tech said “your transmission fluid is low and also dirty, not red how it supposed to be and to change it will cost $1100”. I think transmission fluid on 5.7 hemi is actually not red color and “dirty” color. Anyway, I told them I’m not doing transmission fluid change. Got my truck back, no more hissing noise and haven’t had gear slipping again so far. About 3-4 weeks now. Hopefully won’t come back


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These guys…trust but verify…if you are 5th Gen it is sealed, doubt the stealership even checked, there is a little level plug on test port you can pull at about mid temp next to pan with hex drive. I have not changed fluid and filter on this one but pretty sure zf 8spd fluid is dark greenish color, NoT traditional pink. Bet they never pulled the plug…look for signs.

I have killed a 3rd Gen tranny, it has a signature leading to the light. If you are not having flares or garage shift thumps etc, under 100K, no engine light for slip…not likely transmission.

My theory still is that throttle flapper is sticky with residual in closed position, at least it felt that way and pulled plenty of junk out when cleaning and exercising by hand. Fixed it for me so far. This sticky almost closed position would make sense and could mean little blip and harsh downshift coming to stop.

Hope this helps-

 

[Meetis]

These guys…trust but verify…if you are 5th Gen it is sealed, doubt the stealership even checked, there is a little level plug on test port you can pull at about mid temp next to pan with hex drive. I have not changed fluid and filter on this one but pretty sure zf 8spd fluid is dark greenish color, NoT traditional pink. Bet they never pulled the plug…look for signs.

I have killed a 3rd Gen tranny, it has a signature leading to the light. If you are not having flares or garage shift thumps etc, under 100K, no engine light for slip…not likely transmission.

My theory still is that throttle flapper is sticky with residual in closed position, at least it felt that way and pulled plenty of junk out when cleaning and exercising by hand. Fixed it for me so far. This sticky almost closed position would make sense and could mean little blip and harsh downshift coming to stop.

Hope this helps-

I think they might have checked the fluid level and had to refill it if it’s low and returning and it fixed the issue. Wouldn’t be surprised if they say dark greenish fluid and thought it’s dirty and don’t know what color it should be. I read your thread about throttle and told them about it but they wanted to charge me so I thought I’ll do it myself but when I got it back I don’t have an issue anymore. If It happens again I’ll clean the throttle flapper and will see if that fixes the issue. Thank you!


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[Ramrod_offroad]

I’ve been having issues with my transmission going into neutral when I drive, usually happens at lowers speed when slowing down and in the first 5-10 minutes after start. It shows error to shift into park then back in drive. I went to dealership and they said they updated system and I shouldn’t have problems but still same issue again. I went again and they can’t find any error codes in the system. I bought 7yr unlimited miles warranty but not sure how to push to get something done about it. Anybody else have or had this issue?


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I have been having this problem intermittently since I bought this truck in 2020. I have never been able to replicate it while it was under warranty but lately it's happening almost daily. If I quickly shift it into neutral and back into drive it reengages. Now I'm really getting worried and of course it's now out of the drive train warranty. Did you ever get this issue resolved?

 

[jonnygobig]

Yes, I cleaned throttle body and exercised flapper by hand through over travel to smooth out position sense, get rid of sticky or erratic motion, cleaned air flow sensor. It seems counterintuitive but my theory is tps has some oxidation and is sticky and mock stalls timed with downshift, software responds and forces park and back to drive sequence. Far fetched but should clean this anyway (it was dirty)and some how beat my mean time between failure from 1-2 times per week, it has been months without recurrence now. Hope this helps.

 

[Oldman68]

I have the same exact issue, Happens when I leave hone and reach a stop sign a mile away. 2019 Bighorn 2WD

I have the same issue. Only happens one time a day and it's always during my first left hand turn. I cleaned the throttle body but no change

 

[ajwells821]

I’ve been having issues with my transmission going into neutral when I drive, usually happens at lowers speed when slowing down and in the first 5-10 minutes after start. It shows error to shift into park then back in drive. I went to dealership and they said they updated system and I shouldn’t have problems but still same issue again. I went again and they can’t find any error codes in the system. I bought 7yr unlimited miles warranty but not sure how to push to get something done about it. Anybody else have or had this issue?


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Curious if you ever found a solution to this problem or if the dealership ever gave you any answers? We have been through hell and back with our 2023 1500 Laramie since we bought it last year brand new. Problem after problem, so much gaslighting from the dealership and refusal to fix problems even though we have every warranty under the sun. Yesterday takes the cake though as our truck shifted into park and refused to go into gear when a light turned green on a busy highway with my toddler in the back seat! After about a minute of turning the ignition on/off and trying to put it into gear it finally did, but I can’t put my kid back in a car that will just stop and refuse to go into gear on a busy road. The dealerships we have worked with have always given us grief so I am hoping you got some type of resolution I can take to them to speed this process up. Thank you!

 

[FastBlackRam]

I am curious about this also. Although mine has stopped going into neutral on its own requiring me to shift to neutral and back to drive. Only at low speed and seemingly a left turn and first thing in the morning. Mine still revs occasionally first drive in the morning and first few stops. I have also seen in pop out of gear on these revs. But again only first drive of the morning and first few stops. I havent done anything about it because who has time to leave their vehicle at the dealer so they can drive it cold in the morning?

 

[WhiteKnight]

So my truck has been doing this since the day I bought it (brand new - 2019 Ram 1500 4x4 Hemi (non-etorque). Dealer did several updates over the warranty period with no fix. Now, of course, its randomly kicking into neutral way more than ever and outside the warranty. @RamCares basically told me to pound salt after I made a comment in the facebook group about how I almost got t-boned because of this issue. Has anyone found a fix? It can't be fluid or bad trans because it would have more issues than this and its not consisent.