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2012 Charger RT Transmission Valve Body Needs Replaced

23K views 40 replies 19 participants last post by  Doctor Zom 
#1 ·
So on Monday I was driving the car normal to the local store and noticed during a shift change a clunk as if it missed a gear. Kinda weird in an automatic but following accordingly my check engine light came on. I lost all power as if the car was left in neutral. Had to pull into the center of the road and turn the car off. Started back up and drove fine after. Little scary to lose power on the highway with the kids in the car and traffic all over the place at rush hour. Went straight to the dealer where they put me in a rental and read the check engine light. Came back as incorrect gear ratio. So now they have contacted Dodge engineering and they recommend they replace the valve body due to possible debris causing this error. They were unable to duplicate this problem but as a precautionary measure they going to replace it and all new fluids/ filter. I barely have 6000 miles on the car and it is not modified besides a lmi hammer intake. At the time I was not even driving hard but was in auto stick mode.

Has anyone else seen this problem happen with our cars or older ones? I thought it was limp mode but the dealer has said other wise. As well I have numerous electrical problems with this car since I've bought it. Nothing major that they haven't been able to fix until now that it becomes a safety issue!!
 
#2 ·
Good luck getting it fixed. Hopefully the dealer figures out the issue. I've not had any kind of issue like that... and hope I don't either.

Now my rear speaker deck vibrates when I crank the tunes... its really annoying.. lol
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply. And I'm hoping the same thing that this fixes the issue and it doesn't arise again at a later point. Thank you 100k warranty!
I haven't had any troubles with any rattling besides the sun-glass holder that everyone complains about..
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the reply. And I'm hoping the same thing that this fixes the issue and it doesn't arise again at a later point. Thank you 100k warranty!
I haven't had any troubles with any rattling besides the sun-glass holder that everyone complains about..
I don't have that issue...lol Didn't even hear/read about that one. I hate rattles and vibrations... I've had the car in twice for the rear deck rattling when songs with base come on. It's going back again... see if there's anything else they can do.

Good luck :beerchug:
 
#5 ·
Let me know if they come up with anything at the dealer. So if this becomes an issue I can get it fixed as well.
 
#7 ·
my 2011 did something similar last year. What it turned out to be was a broken support bracket for the valve body. what happens is sometimes when the torque converter clutch breaks/beds in, it creates some debris, which can cause valves in the valve body to stick....they stick until enough pressure builds to release them, and that violent release can break this support bracket. it's not a common problem, but it is a known one. the tranny guy at the dealer knew exactly what it was when I brought it in before they even did the diagnostics/visual inspection, and the bracket needed was on national backorder, but they were able to get one through a transmission rebuilder that apparently buys all of chrysler's stock of this part when they become available.

the service manager said mine is the 4th car they've seen at the dealership with this problem since the LX's were introduced in 2005. the other 3 were all charger cop cars.

Chrysler's warranty procedure is to replace the bracket, and flush and inspect the transmission (and repair any other damaged items, like if the internal tranny speed sensor was damaged, etc). if it happens again, you get a new torque converter. of the 3 other cars that the dealer saw with this problem, only 1 came back a second time with the issue and needed a new converter.

they had my car for 2 or 3 days, IIRC.
 
#8 ·
my 2011 did something similar last year. What it turned out to be was a broken support bracket for the valve body. what happens is sometimes when the torque converter clutch breaks/beds in, it creates some debris, which can cause valves in the valve body to stick....they stick until enough pressure builds to release them, and that violent release can break this support bracket. it's not a common problem, but it is a known one. the tranny guy at the dealer knew exactly what it was when I brought it in before they even did the diagnostics/visual inspection, and the bracket needed was on national backorder, but they were able to get one through a transmission rebuilder that apparently buys all of chrysler's stock of this part when they become available.
Do you know if they replaced the valve body as well when they did the service? The dealers parts dept says sometimes they come with the bracket when they order the valve body sometimes they don't. They say there gonna have to wait til it gets into see.
They were not familiar with this problem at all that's why they called dodge directly. Hopefully someone over there knows what they are talking about lol.
 
#11 ·
Yes i have a 2012 RT and they have replaced my Valve Body 3x Already..I had the same exact issues . everytime they replaced it i had to go back 2 weeks later because the CEL was still coming on and the vehicle was going into limp mode. Everytime i went to the dealer i told them its the TCM and not the valve body.. they said no theres nothing in engeering showing the TCM has problems its the valve body.. well along with the 3rd Replacement, they replaced the TCM and said they did a revised Valve Body and i havent had issues since.

But in the mean time i would say that you need to get in touch with Chrysler Corp. inform them of the issues and see what they can do for you
 
#12 ·
It's been a week or two since they replaced the VB and also the TCM I haven't had any issues since. I wanted to put a couple of miles on the car before I posted a reply. They did a complete fluid and filter change as well.
 
#13 ·
yea see its something about those 2 things that work hand in hand. Glad they got it fixed for you
 
#14 ·
Hey man, are you still issue free? They replaced my valvebody and it did the same thing when they took it on a test drive. Now they're saying that they are gonna need it for another week and take the whole trans apart!!! How hard is it to swap out the tcm? They had my car for a whole week already!
 
#15 ·
Still issue free.. put a decent amount of miles on it since the repair. The car only took a day or two to order parts and repair. That's kind of long to have your car over a week. But every shop is different. Not only did I call Chrysler Corp directly but so did the dealer. And in return they told the dealer to replace both parts as a precaution. Good luck, hope the figure something out for you.
 
#17 ·
Had the same issue a few weeks ago. Dealership had the part in stock and changed it out in a couple hours.
 
#19 ·
#21 ·
This happens to my rt alot, i just reset tcm adaptation and it goes back to normal.
 
#22 ·
2013 Doing Same thing

My 2013 RT with 14000 miles did pretty much the same thing....shifted into neutral and check engine light came on. Dealer said "replace valve body". Was supposed to be ready today but no call. Ill let you know.:confused:
 
#23 ·
My ride was having a terrible 1-2 downshift (significant bump while coming to a stop). This issue was 100% repeatable and the dealer, after consulting with Chrysler, decided to replace the valve body. The issue was better then it slowly came back after the next several weeks. I also noticed that the car sometimes "stumbled" terribly when accelerating from a stop (long pause then the engine races and kicks into gear). The car has approximately 10K miles on it. We never received a light indicting a problem (not sure about fault codes). The car went from great to annoying to downright scary... I will be back in for service next week so we will see what that holds - tired of getting old/dirty sebring loaners (terrible).
 
#25 ·
Got mine back after they had it a day and half longer than promised. Even then I had to call them and say "hey is my car ready"....."oh ya, its ready..."

Probably sat in the lot for 24 hours 'cause no one remembered to call. The good news is after the new valve body it runs (SO FAR) smoothly and perfectly. The bad news is I am not at all happy with this dealer's service dept. The mechanics seem competent so far, but the people up front are not what I would call knowledgeable or very eager to please.

At the GMC dealer the "service advisors" know as much (more?) than the techs and can explain to you eactly what is going on with your car. These bozo's just read what the tech types.....ask a question and you get a lost look......:confused:

O well....
 
#29 ·
I get a bump when down shifting (auto stick / paddle shifters) from 3-2-1...especially back to first. Also shudders / bucks now and then in 3rd gear. Never had a cel light till just before I came to work. I will check on this as well. I wish we could do the key dance to pull codes as in my 07 charger. I have no messages on my EVIC....just cel light. Thanks for the info and updates.
 
#34 ·
I had the exact same problem on my 2014 with about 3800 miles. They replaced the valve body, and 700 miles later it happened again. How many times should the same part be replaced before demanding further troubleshooting and/or transmission replacement?
per the service instructions, if it happens again, they're supposed to replace the torque converter as well.
 
#36 ·
Well, looks like I'll be without my car for another week at least. THe dealer says they will replace the torque converter and some other miscellaneous things like seals and a more intensive flush of the system. He did say they have yet to find any smoking gun, so I'm guessing they are just replacing what the troubleshooting guide says to.

I asked what if this happens again, and the very non-committal response was that I would probably get a new transmission.

Very bummed right now, I've only had my charger since February and it will have been in the shop for three weeks assuming I get it back by the end of next week.

It's interesting that they have done exactly what everyone on this thread and others have said they would. It's almost like the dealer's troubleshooting guide IS this forum.......

Food for thought.
 
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