I was driving about 110km/hr on hwy 2 between Calgary and Edmonton today when either the tranny blew or the engine. There were some loud knocking noises and I lost all power and when I took it out of gear and tried gearing down all it would do is grind. The wierd thing though is that the engine also shut down and stalled so I lost the power steering and brakes so It also created a safetey hazard being on a busy freeway. Once I got pulled over of course the engine was dead but the key was still on so I shut it off and tried to start it and all the dash lights come on normal but it will not turn over. It was recently in the shop to get the fifth gear nut fixed so Im thinking that they must not put it together right or something but I dont understand why the engine seems seized also. If anyone has some ideas I'm all ears.

 

My guess is that the engine is cooked. The fact that when you tried to gear down and all it did was grind indicates to me that the engine was stopped already and the speed difference between gears was too great for the syncs to make up. Of course losing power steering and brakes is another indication that the engine stopped very quickly. Not a good sign. Hope you get the problem resolved very quickly but I suspect just from the little you have said that the engine is going to come out. Let us know the rest of this sad saga.

 

Could this be a case of the killer dowel pin coming out and scrambling the inside of the block??? Hopefully not. Good luck in getting it back on the road without lightening your wallet and bank account too badly!!

Gary

 

Were heading out to load it up and take it to a Dodge dealership in Edmonton. If what you say is what it turns out to be I sure hope that it would be covered on the 7 year 160 000 km warranty. The truck only has 130 000 km, I'll keep you posted

 

Make sure to check for the 53 block also. Just a thought. Good luck
dave

 

It should be covered under that warranty. If not, fight em on it. There was a couple on here not to long ago who fought DC over an engine seize up and won.

Here's the thread I was talking about.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...threadid=29140

 

One ray of hope. Maybe the clutch and tranny has come apart and locked up to the point that it won't allow the engine to turn over. In that case, it would just be a trashed tranny and not an engine problem also.

 

It also sounds to me like the engine locked up. Not being able to get back into gear after attempting a shift, and the knocking you describe both point to that.

Did you happen to notice the oil pressure when the thing lost power? Is there still oil showing on the dipstick? Any external sign of damage?

When the dowel pin dropped on me with a work truck, it blew out the gearcase (See my photos) which apparently happens frequently when the KDP happens. If I hadn't noticed the faint change in engine sound, it would have been a matter of time before the engine ran out of oil and locked up.

Anyhow, good luck, and let us know...

 

okay men help me out here, the engine is disconnected from the transmission when the clutch is disengaged, if the engine seizes (is that spelled right) what effect would that have on shifting gears if you had the clutch in? i agree with amartinson, as that might explain the situation. my $.02

 

Are there electronics in the Manuel tranny that may prevent the engine fromcranking when there is a problem, ie, neutral safety switch? I think if he had the tranny work done, maybe something wasn't up to spec's and blewapart. Maybe (hopefully) a sensor cut the engine off. If it was the engine, don't forget to check the filter (Fram?) have an oil analysis, dig out your maintenance records, and check for the little oilers.

 

Duner,

I'll try to do my best to describe why Mexstan would feel engine locking up could cause the operator to not be able to get the transmission back into gear when attempting a shift, at least as I understand it (anyone who knows more, please chime in).

You are right, when the clutch is pressed, the engine is disconnected from the transmission. If the engine stops, though, when you depress the clutch, and you then move the trasmission out of gear (like you are trying to shift it) the friction of the pilot bearing and throwout bearings will stop the input shaft of the transmission (which drives the counter shaft gear group) and the clutch friction disk.

If the vehicle is moving at considerable speed when this happens and the driver tries to shift back into a gear, the syncros inside the transmission will not be able to deal with the large difference in speed of the two gears that the driver is trying to force together, and he won't be able to get the thing back in gear. The syncro is trying to bring the clutch friction disk, input shaft, and countershaft back up to match the other gear being spun at road speed by the drive train, and it just can't do it.


This is a fairly common reason for a semi to end up in the sand pit of a runaway truck escape ramp. Driver tries to downshift, engine stalls or he just plain misses the shift, he gets stuck in neutral, brakes are too hot to stop truck without aid of engine brake...

Also, although I suppose a clutch could come apart and lock up, that wouldn't be very common. If it were something in the transmission that locked up, the engine should still start and run with the clutch depressed. I do not believe there is any sensor in the stick shift transmission that would cause the ECM to shut the engine down.

The knocking accompanied by loss of power Mountain Mania described, followed by an engine that won't crank on the starter, is a text book description of loss of oil pressure with resulting rod and main bearing failure.

No offense intended to anyone, and I'd be the first to admit that I might be wrong, but my humble opinion is that Mexstan nailed it, and the engine is toast.

 

Its been a long weekend allright. Today was the first day Dodge could look at it and it turns out the dealership in Grande Prairie that fixed the 5th gear nut neglected to put oil in the tranny afterward. the mechanic in Edmonton has it sitting on the floor in the shop with 1 liter of oil in it and no signs of any leaks. So as you can imagine after 1000 kms it piled right up Including the clutch, They wont even take the core on an exchange shes toast. were talking over 8 grand to repair. I did a visual check when I got home about 200 kms from Grande Prairie and did not see any sign of any leaks. Now comes the kicker, as of today Nor-Lan in Grande Prairie is not taking responsibility for anything. At least the guy I talked to today but with all do respect he needs to wait for the Service Manager to make the decision in the morning. I never even had a chance to worry about any possible engine damage yet but the truck did start when we got to it later in the day so I imagine it has a shut off sensor or something in it to stop it form over reving because I was in cruise control so the rpms went through the roof. Any way I need to go so Ill hopefuly be able to read some responces latter.

 

Well, I suppose I should be the first to admit that I was wrong!

Probably a good thing, since the tranny/clutch is cheaper than an engine.

Keep us posted on what happens. Hopefully when the manager at the place who did your transmission work gets in the loop, he'll take care of you...

 

Jeez. I hope that things work out for you!

 

www.blumenthalsmfg.com for a tranny.

It's where I got mine. Alot less than 8 grand. I paid ~$4,500 for a 6-speed conversion package.

Merrick