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CEL, Limp mode, SCARE!

7K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  5qua5hear5 
#1 ·
Car specs: 2013 auto RT (NON STP) 2700 miles on Odometer
Today when i left the gym, I pulled onto the roadway (normal casual driving), the car shifted through 1, 2, then when it shifted to 3rd gear I heard a "CLUNK". My CEL popped on and the car went into limp mode. Car stayed running but the throttle didn't react (limp mode) I pulled the car over, shut off the AC and rolled down the windows.... nothing sounded unusual. I shifted from Drive to nuetral then to park and back to drive. Still nothing unusual. Well, thank goodnesss a dodge service center was just up the street about a 100 yards. I drove the car to shop at closing time. They nicely plugged my car up to a computer. i don't know the CEL code but the tech stated that it was a stored code ( not active) and that it said that the code was because the computer said that the final gear ratio was invalid. The tech said it sounded like a computer glitch and cleared the code. The dealership scheduled a pre-emptive appointment for this friday and also stated that there was a TCM update that they would install on Friday as well. Drove the car away and nothing unusual afterwards.

Now the good news: I DID notice that the car seemed to "wake up" afterwards. There was a light rain on my way home. I had to seriously BABY the throttle ( like I was stepping on a fragile egg) to prevent the back end from coming around. Traction control was on but the car was acting like it gained 100 HP. Strange.
 
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#3 ·
Car specs: 2013 auto RT (NON STP) 2700 miles on Odometer
Today when i left the gym, I pulled onto the roadway (normal casual driving), the car shifted through 1, 2, then when it shifted to 3rd gear I heard a "CLUNK". My CEL popped on and the car went into limp mode. Car stayed running but the throttle didn't react (limp mode) I pulled the car over, shut off the AC and rolled down the windows.... nothing sounded unusual. I shifted from Drive to nuetral then to park and back to drive. Still nothing unusual. Well, thank goodnesss a dodge service center was just up the street about a 100 yards. I drove the car to shop at closing time. They nicely plugged my car up to a computer. i don't know the CEL code but the tech stated that it was a stored code ( not active) and that it said that the code was because the computer said that the final gear ratio was invalid. The tech said it sounded like a computer glitch and cleared the code. The dealership scheduled a pre-emptive appointment for this friday and also stated that there was a TCM update that they would install on Friday as well. Drove the car away and nothing unusual afterwards.

Now the good news: I DID notice that the car seemed to "wake up" afterwards. There was a light rain on my way home. I had to seriously BABY the throttle ( like I was stepping on a fragile egg) to prevent the back end from
coming around. Traction control was on but the car was acting like it gained 100 HP. Strange.
Keep up posted after the dealer reviews.
 
#6 ·
Had it happen twice, coasted to the side of the road, restarted . Ran fine There wouldn't be a phrase computer glitch if these things didn't happen from time to time.
 
#10 ·
Limp at a bad time

I tried to post this yesterday but got registered today. I think I joined a long time ago with a lifetime membership, but cannot recall now. I was cruising at the end of a 1K mile trip on Monday near Lexington, KY, doing a smooth 70 mph. A lane was going away and a tractor trailer tried to force me behind him in lane 2. I punched it to shoot ahead of him, got a shudder and then nothing but coasting and the lane was ending just ahead. I barely got to the breakdown lane with two grandkids in the back seat. I shut the car off after I noticed the Orange icon light. Originally, I thought the engine quit but once I realized I still had power I figured Tranny. I started the car again after a minute, waited for a break in high speed traffic and slowly accelerated to 70. No problem. I had 70 miles to get to home. I Uconnected to the dealer and asked about driving with the icon lit. I was told that as long as it was not blinking I could drive, and I told them I would be in as soon as I dropped off the kids and emptied the luggage. When I did the PO 730 code came up. Improper gearing? Appointment is 13 August (earliest available). Then I Googled the code and all the stuff came up. This was a life threatening failure of the tranny system. I intend to notify the NTSB soonest. This should be a recall and fix. My R/T has just over 34K miles on it. I punched it hard one other time before this and never had a problem. It is similar to what happened to the early Chrysler 300M's when an "input speed sensor" was causing the tranny's in some of those earlier editions to lock down in 2nd gear. A TCM module may be doing that with the Challengers. There was a 2012 TSB on this. I am not happy, and had to check my shorts later after this episode at high speed. Scary
 
#12 ·
Limp mode

I spent 20 minutes on the NHST site typing up the form and then when I tried to submit it it said the site was having trouble receiving complaints, so try calling. Only the Fed Gov't can come up with crap like that. No warning before filling out the darn form, only after wasting time trying. I will call them tomorrow but do you want to bet how much time I will be on "Hold" waiting to talk to a human.
 
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