[Jerry-L]

I did a search, but no matter what I did I was getting way too many hits. Like nearly 500. I scanned about 6 pages, but nothing I saw exactly matched my issue, and most were several years old, so I thought I'd just start a new discussion.

This issue is on my wife's 2021 SXT AWD. We bought it almost exactly one year ago and it has less than 9000 miles on it. Several weeks ago she said her car was "acting funny", so after grilling her on exactly what she meant by that I was finally able to get a "slipping transmission" description out of her. I took it for a drive and I could not get it to do anything other than what it is supposed to do. Then last Tuesday she called me at home. Her car would not move forward or backwards. It was like it was stuck in neutral, but the gear select was in D or R. She put it back in park, got out, walked around the outside of the car looking for ice under the tires or something. All looked normal so she got back in and tried to move and that time was able to move. The car acted normal after that. So I called my local Dodge dealer and explained what was going on and they said to bring it in. They had it for two days and then today said come get it, she's fixed. I went over to talk to the service advisor to find out what the deal was. And here is where this gets interesting. He said there is a service bulletin about this very problem and that flashing the computer was "the fix". Said it was a "very common" problem. Strange that I'd never heard about this before now, but, OK, maybe it is related to the SXT, or V6 model. Having been the primary driver of a 2017 RT for a number of years I've never had a problem like this at all. I really haven't had any problem with mine, large or small. (Just lucky I guess?) I'm not even sure it has the same transmission as mine or not. I'm a little confused and worried that at some point it might do this again and strand her out in the snow halfway to work on a subzero morning.

Anyway, this is what I'd like to know. Is there anyone here that has had a problem like this? And if so, what was the fix? Thank you. (Below is a pic I took of it last year right after I bought it)

 

[FlyersHockey]

I did a search, but no matter what I did I was getting way too many hits. Like nearly 500. I scanned about 6 pages, but nothing I saw exactly matched my issue, and most were several years old, so I thought I'd just start a new discussion.

This issue is on my wife's 2021 SXT AWD. We bought it almost exactly one year ago and it has less than 9000 miles on it. Several weeks ago she said her car was "acting funny", so after grilling her on exactly what she meant by that I was finally able to get a "slipping transmission" description out of her. I took it for a drive and I could not get it to do anything other than what it is supposed to do. Then last Tuesday she called me at home. Her car would not move forward or backwards. It was like it was stuck in neutral, but the gear select was in D or R. She put it back in park, got out, walked around the outside of the car looking for ice under the tires or something. All looked normal so she got back in and tried to move and that time was able to move. The car acted normal after that. So I called my local Dodge dealer and explained what was going on and they said to bring it in. They had it for two days and then today said come get it, she's fixed. I went over to talk to the service advisor to find out what the deal was. And here is where this gets interesting. He said there is a service bulletin about this very problem and that flashing the computer was "the fix". Said it was a "very common" problem. Strange that I'd never heard about this before now, but, OK, maybe it is related to the SXT, or V6 model. Having been the primary driver of a 2017 RT for a number of years I've never had a problem like this at all. I really haven't had any problem with mine, large or small. (Just lucky I guess?) I'm not even sure it has the same transmission as mine or not. I'm a little confused and worried that at some point it might do this again and strand her out in the snow halfway to work on a subzero morning.

Anyway, this is what I'd like to know. Is there anyone here that has had a problem like this? And if so, what was the fix? Thank you. (Below is a pic I took of it last year right after I bought it)

View attachment 309667

Not with a Charger, but we bought my wife's brand new MB 4matic back in May, and within a month the AWD stopped working and threw a CEL. Dealer said the computer needed flashed, or updated. That's all it was and the car was good to go.

If the cars fine, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Rhill1124]

Not intentionally hacking Jerry’s thread, but it seems somewhat related.

I have searched and just need to clarify.
Drain, replace filter and pan (one piece), DO NOT flush, correct? And why don’t we want to flush?

 

[FlyersHockey]

Because it stirs everything up.

 

[ONEZ ST]

Re-flashing does correct a lot of glitches on newer vehicles because of the extensive electronics. For example on my 2020 Wrangler they re-flashed the PCM for abnormal engine noise related to the VVT. I also had my UConnect re-flashed to restore Radio reception after replacing the auxiliary battery.

I would go visit the dealership and have them print you a complete copy of the current service bulletin elating to the re-flash. It will be referred to as a Service Bulletin Number ( ) or a Rapid Response Transmittal Number ( ).

 

[Rhill1124]

Because it stirs everything up.

Got it, thank you.

Again, I apologize for the slight hijack. Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[Jerry-L]

Got it, thank you.

Again, I apologize for the slight hijack. Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

No worries. If it helps someone else down the road it is worth every comment.

To be clear, my issue did not throw any codes and did not light up any lights on the dashboard. It just would not go into gear and did not stay in gear on several occasions.

 

[Jerry-L]

Not intentionally hacking Jerry’s thread, but it seems somewhat related.

I have searched and just need to clarify.
Drain, replace filter and pan (one piece), DO NOT flush, correct? And why don’t we want to flush?

I'm sure on a higher mileage car, changing the fluid might be a reasonable step to take. But my car is only a year old with less than 9000 miles on it. The reflash has, so far resolved the problem, but we've only had it back for a few hours and have put less than 5 miles on it since then. Time will tell if upgrading the flash did the trick.

 

[Punisher69]

I'm sure on a higher mileage car, changing the fluid might be a reasonable step to take. But my car is only a year old with less than 9000 miles on it. The reflash has, so far resolved the problem, but we've only had it back for a few hours and have put less than 5 miles on it since then. Time will tell if upgrading the flash did the trick.

The reflashes corrected bugs in the original transmission tune. That's why you didn't get any codes or indication from the TCM or PCM, both systems thought everything was functioning fine because of the bugs.

Think of runtime errors, instead of saying "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" it said "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.zip" or something stupid, thus causing the issue but the diag saw it as normal because thays what it was told to do. Reflash to "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" and now it runs like it should.

 

[Punisher69]

Not intentionally hacking Jerry’s thread, but it seems somewhat related.

I have searched and just need to clarify.
Drain, replace filter and pan (one piece), DO NOT flush, correct? And why don’t we want to flush?

Like FlyersHockey said, it tends to put crap where crap doesn't need to be.

 

[Callahan843]

Like FlyersHockey said, it tends to put crap where crap doesn't need to be.

Do dealerships do it this way if you take it in to get new trans fluid?

 

[FlyersHockey]

Do dealerships do it this way if you take it in to get new trans fluid?

From my experience, yes, dealers want to back flush it. I said no I just want the pan dropped and then a filter change and they wouldn't do it.

 

[Callahan843]

From my experience, yes, dealers want to back flush it. I said no I just want the pan dropped and then a filter change and they wouldn't do it.

So where did you end up going?

 

[FlyersHockey]

So where did you end up going?

A local shop.

 

[Jerry-L]

So, can I assume that my problem isn't as "common" as I was led to believe? Perhaps posting this in the V6 forum was a bad idea? If her car has the same 8 speed trans as all the other models, maybe the same problem exists among all products, including Ram trucks?

BTW, she used her car all day yesterday and the day before without any problems, much like the past eleven months we have owned it. I still think it is an odd problem to have popped up suddenly after eleven months of flawless operation.

 

[Callahan843]

As many chargers that are on the road it probably is considered common I wouldn’t rely on the fact not everyone in the forum said they’ve experienced it to believe whether it is common or not. It can happen I’m sure if the car was driven more it wouldn’t have taken 11 months to pop up. But at least it’s driving good now and no problems! With how much cars rely on computers it’s not hard to believe just a reflash fixed it just had to reset itself.

 

[Rhill1124]

Old article, but it explains the difference and why one might not want to flush the transmission. In theory, it sounds like a good idea. But I didn’t realize that they used old fluid for the flush or that the flushing machine should be cleaned after each use. I highly doubt that many shops are cleaning their machines every time they use it.
Drop the pan, replace the filter and fill makes a lot more sense now. The article does say that if you drop the pan three times you can basically achieve the same results as a flush, except with clean fluid. I can imagine that could get expensive and honestly it sounds more like a Pain in the…

Transmission Flush vs Fluid Change: Which is Better? : AMSOIL

Transmission flush or pan drop to change transmission fluid? Which way is better? Learn the pros and cons of each method.

blog.amsoil.com

 

[Rhill1124]

So, can I assume that my problem isn't as "common" as I was led to believe? Perhaps posting this in the V6 forum was a bad idea? If her car has the same 8 speed trans as all the other models, maybe the same problem exists among all products, including Ram trucks?

BTW, she used her car all day yesterday and the day before without any problems, much like the past eleven months we have owned it. I still think it is an odd problem to have popped up suddenly after eleven months of flawless operation.

Probably a stupid question.
But, is it possible that she may have opened the door with it in gear? I know mine gets all p’ed off if I do that. I have to put it into Park in order to get it to move again. Just closing the door doesn’t suffice.
Like I said, probably a stupid question.

 

[Jerry-L]

Probably a stupid question.
But, is it possible that she may have opened the door with it in gear? I know mine gets all p’ed off if I do that. I have to put it into Park in order to get it to move again. Just closing the door doesn’t suffice.
Like I said, probably a stupid question.

No. I'll have to try that on mine someday tho just to see what happens.

Thanks