[Dieboldt]

We recently had a cold snap in upstate New York, during which my 2014 Ram Promaster 2500, w/pentastar 3.6l engine and 62TE, refused to shift into reverse, then she started to refuse to shift into 6th. The day before the appointment at the dealer her coolant system blew, just going down the road at 30-40 mph (that's the only speed I could maintain w/o her having crazy rpms) and suddenly my guage goes all the way to hot, I immediately pull off, turn the engine off and wait for her to cool down. When I checked her, the surge tank was completely empty, I always keep coolant on hand, and check the level about once a month, so I filled it back up and it immediately drained out on the passenger side wheel well.
I have not turned the engine on since, got her towed to the dealer, and they quoted me 15k for repairs.

I asked them about the nearly 9k price tag on the transmission and they said that there are only 3! 62TE transmissions available in the entire nation, which is false. The mechanic also said that the transmission fluid was black and burnt, but I have not smelled burning transmission fluid in this vehicle except once last year when I had to floor it through a mountain pass to avoid getting splattered by a semi.
They did not say exactly what was wrong with my engine or transmission, just that they needed to do further diagnostics and that the engine made a "ticking noise" which I've yet to hear, which I approved, however, they had no further information for me when I picked the vehicle up (with a tow truck, I didn't drive her lol).
Obviously the most crucial things to fix are the coolant issue and the transmission, how difficult would these tasks be to do on ones own? I have access to farm equipment, so I could in theory pull the engine out- however I've heard some people say you have to pull it out from the bottom? But I've seen videos of people pulling it out of the front of the Promaster.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated, am I attempting a fools errand to get these parts and do the repairs myself, or is it possible to do without a vehicle lift?

 

[scuba steve]

We recently had a cold snap in upstate New York, during which my 2014 Ram Promaster 2500, w/pentastar 3.6l engine and 62TE, refused to shift into reverse, then she started to refuse to shift into 6th. The day before the appointment at the dealer her coolant system blew, just going down the road at 30-40 mph (that's the only speed I could maintain w/o her having crazy rpms) and suddenly my guage goes all the way to hot, I immediately pull off, turn the engine off and wait for her to cool down. When I checked her, the surge tank was completely empty, I always keep coolant on hand, and check the level about once a month, so I filled it back up and it immediately drained out on the passenger side wheel well.
I have not turned the engine on since, got her towed to the dealer, and they quoted me 15k for repairs. View attachment 94031
I asked them about the nearly 9k price tag on the transmission and they said that there are only 3! 62TE transmissions available in the entire nation, which is false. The mechanic also said that the transmission fluid was black and burnt, but I have not smelled burning transmission fluid in this vehicle except once last year when I had to floor it through a mountain pass to avoid getting splattered by a semi.
They did not say exactly what was wrong with my engine or transmission, just that they needed to do further diagnostics and that the engine made a "ticking noise" which I've yet to hear, which I approved, however, they had no further information for me when I picked the vehicle up (with a tow truck, I didn't drive her lol).
Obviously the most crucial things to fix are the coolant issue and the transmission, how difficult would these tasks be to do on ones own? I have access to farm equipment, so I could in theory pull the engine out- however I've heard some people say you have to pull it out from the bottom? But I've seen videos of people pulling it out of the front of the Promaster.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated, am I attempting a fools errand to get these parts and do the repairs myself, or is it possible to do without a vehicle lift?

Promasters only is in Ohio and could probably get you fixed up for less.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[GaryBIS]

Hi,
I'd 2nd getting in touch with ProMasters Only, Barberton, Ohio.
The owner goes by @Kip-on-truckin on this forum - have a look at some of his posts.
Even if its a long haul to get there it might be worth it.

Check on the The Fit RV site for their story on rapid overheating of a ProMaster and getting very little warning from the temp gauge.

Gary

 

[Uvan]

I think @Kip-on-truckin would charge way less for the same repair "if" it really need all those thing fixed. In term of coolant leak, it might be the thermostat housing or crossover pipe which locates on the passenger side of the engine. If that is the case you can easier do it yourself with min tools, maybe 1 hour a most plus time to refill the coolant system.

Watch this series of videos from Kip

you might just need to change the transmission filter/fluid or valve body computer.

 

[Dieboldt]

Promasters only is in Ohio and could probably get you fixed up for less.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

I'm subscribed to his YouTube channel, Kip seems very knowledgeable, the main issue i have at the moment is getting my funds to a point where I can afford to pay someone else to do the repairs rather than figuring out if I can do them myself lol

 

[Dieboldt]

I think @Kip-on-truckin would charge way less for the same repair "if" it really need all those thing fixed. In term of coolant leak, it might be the thermostat housing which locates on the passenger side of the engine. If that is the case you can easier do it yourself with min tools, maybe 1 hour a most plus time to refill the coolant system.

Watch this series of videos from Kip

you might just need to change the transmission filter/fluid or valve body computer.

Yeah I shouldn't have any issue with dealing with the coolant system, it's figuring out what's wrong with the transmission and seeing if I actually have the capabilities to rebuild or replace it, and then seeing if I can replicate the tick the mechanic heard and figuring out what is failing and seeing if she actually needs a full top engine rebuild, I've heard that there's OBD's that can bluetooth to your phone and give you the transmission error codes, so I'm looking into finding one that's not outrageously expensive

 

[Dieboldt]

Hi,
I'd 2nd getting in touch with ProMasters Only, Barberton, Ohio.
The owner goes by @Kip-on-truckin on this forum - have a look at some of his posts.
Even if its a long haul to get there it might be worth it.

Check on the The Fit RV site for their story on rapid overheating of a ProMaster and getting very little warning from the temp gauge.

Gary

Yeah, definitely going to call up Promaster's Only on my next day off

 

[Uvan]

When is the last time you change your transmission filter and oil? If you don't know, change that first and see if it fix the issue.

 

[Dieboldt]

When is the last time you change your transmission filter and oil? If you don't know, change that first and see if it fix the issue.

I'll be honest I haven't. I bought her a year ago and I kinda assumed that the dealer I bought her from had done all the basic maintenance (the last vehicle I bought before this one had been a loaner vehicle for an auto repair shop and I got 386k miles out of her before Firestone screwed up the timing belt) and I was planning on checking the fluid this month before all of this started happening

 

[Uvan]

I doubt the dealer didn't any maintenance work. I would just buy the mopar tran fluid, fel-pro gasket and filter and change it yourself. Is the engine light turn on?

 

[Dieboldt]

I doubt the dealer didn't any maintenance work. I would just buy the mopar tran fluid, fel-pro gasket and filter and change it yourself. Is the engine light turn on?

Yes it is, I can probably pick up those items tomorrow and start tinkering on her.

 

[DewaltDisney]

Plenty of evidence here that dealers suck. Kip may or may not be a good choice, geography-wise, but really, anybody but the stealership!

 

[Remco]

For comparison I have a 2016 Ram Promaster 2500 with the same engine and transmission.
It cost me $4800 Canadian to get the transmission rebuild. I think the dealership quoted $5800 for a new one. This was last year.
I replaced the thermostat housing in 3 hours and a few curse words to get the coolant hose off.
On startup the engine ticks for a second or two before it goes away. I've heard issues about the cams/rocker/etc causing issues but usually its first symptom is an cylinder misfire.

The quote kind of sounds like a "let's replace everything"

 

[CarKeys]

Your not going to rebuild your transmission with access to farm equipment.
You'll have to answer your own question " am I attempting a fools errand " .
Yes , i believe you are .

 

[Uvan]

Borrow or buy an cheap obd2 scanner and figure out what code you are getting.

 

[Dieboldt]

Your not going to rebuild your transmission with access to farm equipment.
You'll have to answer your own question " am I attempting a fools errand " .
Yes , i believe you are .

I wasn't really planning on rebuilding the transmission, just buying one already rebuilt, and putting it

 

[Dieboldt]

For comparison I have a 2016 Ram Promaster 2500 with the same engine and transmission.
It cost me $4800 Canadian to get the transmission rebuild. I think the dealership quoted $5800 for a new one. This was last year.
I replaced the thermostat housing in 3 hours and a few curse words to get the coolant hose off.
On startup the engine ticks for a second or two before it goes away. I've heard issues about the cams/rocker/etc causing issues but usually its first symptom is an cylinder misfire.

The quote kind of sounds like a "let's replace everything"

It definitely feels like the dealer is trying to get as much money out of me as possible

 

[Dieboldt]

Borrow or buy an cheap obd2 scanner and figure out what code you are getting.

I'll start doing research on those!

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

It definitely feels like the dealer is trying to get as much money out of me as possible

I don’t think they’re trying to get the most out of you, it seems like they’re trying to just go path of least resistance. They can spend time to diagnose it and part swap, or just do wholesale swaps and say “this is it”.

You also posted this to the FB group and Kip responded to you there, so I’d def pick his brain.

 

[HarryN]

I don't have any experience with them, but supposedly this outfit does fairly decent re-manufactured engine / trans setups.

JASPER remanufactured engines, transmissions & differentials

JASPER provides remanufactured gas engines, diesel engines, marine engines, transmissions and more for your car, truck or boat.

www.jasperengines.com

If I were faced with that level repairs, I would definitely think about a remanf setup.

Especially in this environment where parts can be tough to come by - it could happen that you spend a lot of time chasing down some misc part and can't get things going for a month or so waiting for it.