Allison Transmission Questions

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hi Doug M,
Unless there is a tag on your dipstick that says it is Transynde oil, I say it has Dexron in it. Allison dynos all transmissions with Transynde synthetic but it is up to the chassis builder to install their choice and the price difference is usually Dexron.
As far as the harsh 5-4 downshift, drive it a while. This transmission has to adapt to the way you drive and it usually takesa couple thousand miles for shifts to smooth out. Thanks and have a great day!

 

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hi Dale 1048,
No this does not sound normal. I hope you are still under warranty. Has the fluid been changed? 5000 miles is first service due. Believe it or not, just changing the oil and filter sometimes makes a world of difference on shifts. I hope I helped. Thanks and have a great day!

 

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Robb 13425,
Thanks for the truck cal info. Being an Allison distributor, I do not get truck info. Thank you. I was not aware of an update.

 

[Dale1948]

Allison Transmission Questions

quote:
Hi Dale 1048,
No this does not sound normal. I hope you are still under warranty. Has the fluid been changed? 5000 miles is first service due. Believe it or not, just changing the oil and filter sometimes makes a world of difference on shifts. I hope I helped. Thanks and have a great day!


Yes-still under warranty. Changed spin on filter at 3700mile and again at 7500mile when I had an Allison dealer in Sparks NV. change it over to TranSynd. They put in an extra gallon and flushed it back out the cooler lines. They told me that I was now on the 50,000 mile severe service interval. They did not think the shift was normal either but were not allowed to work on it. My dealer says he can't work on it and refused to send me to an Allison dealer because they charge more than GM will pay on a warranty??? I then paid an Allison dealer to check it out but he could not get it to sit still on the dyno. He checked it with the computer but found no codes. He thinks the tranny is OK but says the engine is dropping the RPMs. What a mess. Now if my salesman had only told me that Chevy didn't know anything about the transmission....... Thanks Dale

 

[airtime_262]

Allison Transmission Questions

AllisonMan,
First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Second, about the Allison shutter, I didn't ask, I will.
Enjoy the holidays, MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
Get well soon,
AT-

 

[dmartin2417]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hello AllisonMan,

We bought a 1994 Fleetwood Southwind 230 HP turbo rear diesel pusher this summer. It had lived most of its life in a barn so the rv was in great condition. It has an Oshkosh chassis, a cummins 230hp engine, and an allison 6 speed MD360 transmission and shows it has traveled about 70,000 miles. The paper work that the orginial owner left in the rv shows that they had no major problems with the unit.

Now the problem: We have a push button tower to shift with, twice now when the unit was cold, below 40 F, we could not get it to go into drive. The reverse worked fine. After we heat up the tower using a small electric heater it works fine. What would cause this problem and is it something we can repair ourselves? The do not shift light does not come on. Can you help??

Thanks, Debbie

 

[Jim Bothwell]

Allison Transmission Questions

Allison Man I have a 38ft MH with a at545 Hydrulic tranny attached to a cummins B5.9 230hp. Can I replace this tranmission w/a 6 speed Allison with a jake or exhaust brake. I'm looking for a little more hill climbing. Also towing a Jeep Wrangler about 3500lbs or any other suggestions you may have without reverting to a new MH

 

[hershey]

Allison Transmission Questions

I have a W22 w/the 1000 Allison transmission. If I pull a hill hard enough to have to shift from 3rd to 2nd, it seems to shift too soon and the engine revs to 4400 rpm in second. I let off and try to keep it climbing at 3800 rpm. My question is can the transmission shift points be altered? I only have 17,000 miles so I'm still under warrantee and I don't want to do anything that would void my warrantee either.

 

[downshift]

Allison Transmission Questions

Have 03 Winnebago 35U, 8.1L vortec,workhorse, allison 1000. Love the coach but cannot tow while on cruise control. It continually shifts, and up a slight grade it will downshift twice & the engine hit 4600-4800 rpm before I can stop it. The allison dealer in Tulse OK agreed it downshifts toooooo much. Dealer called allison to get codes to correct the problem. The dealer was told by allison they would not allow any changes because of environmental concerns,charged me $400 & goodby. Workhorse dealer ran for codes in the computer, found none, did nothing, but did not charge me for doing nothing. Letters to Winebago, Workhorse, Allison, & the original dealer proved no one cares....no response. Oh almost forgot, got a response from Allison...said I could get an attorney. 1) Should this unit downshift after dropping 100-150 rpm's? 2) Should the computor allow it to downshift to a point the engine cranks to 4800r's?

 

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hello dmartin,
I am concerned that your engine idle may be higher than 900rpm when cold. If it is not, there is a cable attatched to the engine throttle lever and our Allison (TPS) cable may be stuck out a little and not returning all the way when cold. What this does is if over 900rpm, wont let go into gear and if cable not relaxing, it thinks you have your foot on the throttle and anything over 9%throttle, will not let it go into gear. It is possible that your tower got moisture inside it also and if the cable or engine rpm doesnt do the trick, the shift pad will need to be cleaned, repaired or replaced. Good Luck! and have a great day!

 

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hi Jim bothwell,
I would suggest if you want to go to the expense, installing an MT643. This transmission has 4 forward gears like the AT but this one has lockup which locks converter and engine making exhaust brake usable. Be prepared to spend around 6-7 thousand to do the conversion though. Not only do you need a trans but core charge for it, flexplates and engine adaption pieces, bellhousing, drivline, etc.So not a cheap project at all. The WT would be way more expensive with computer and transmission and the MT is a great transmission for motorhomes. Thanks for the question and have a great day!

 

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hello Hershey,
Are you sure tach is correct? This sounds like gas engine. I would have it check before warranty is out. You have a legitimate complaint and they may be able to re-calibrate your computer . The people need to contact Allison once it is confirmed that tach is reading correctly and if they cannot figure out why. Thank you and have a great day!

 

[hvac71234]

Allison Transmission Questions

HI ALLISON MAN
I am sure this subject has been addressed before,but i am new to this
form.
I have a 6 speed allison & 350 cummins ,jake exaust brake.47000 miles
Cruise control on, jake brake on ,the trans downshifts hard.
Had fast adapt ran ,lasted one trip.
Read on another form to turn key on and press accelerator to floor before starting.Did not help.
THANKS
BOBBY HALEY
99 CONTRY COACH INTRIGUE

 

[baja]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hello Allison Man,
It is time for my 25,000 mile fluid change in my Chevy Duramax/Allison pick up. I would like to switch to the castrol allison synthetic fluid (can't think of the proper name of this fluid) that is a guarentee for 100,000 miles service. Since I would like to do this fluid change myself, is it "really important" to have all the factory dextron fluid out of the transmission? That is to say that since I will not "flush" (actually get all the previous fliud out of the tranny) the transmission, and some of dextron fluid that came from the factory remains, will this mixing of the fluids effect performance? Warranty issues?

Is this fluid change/switch something I should have a certified Allison dealer perform since all the fluid will get "flushed" out with a transmission flush service? I do plan on changing the external spin on also and I did change the external spin on at 5,000 miles too.

Since I want to do this service myself and save some $$$ would it be best to stay w/dextron fluid as recommended by GM owners manual and do the service myself? If I do change to castrol synthetic does this changing of fluid void any warranty repair and could this become an issue if the fluid is tested?

Thanks for your reply and suggestions, Mike. Oh yea, found the name of the fluid I want to use...Transynd.

 

[dmartin2417]

Allison Transmission Questions

Thank you AllisonMan, You be the MAN... Is the cleaning of the tower shift pad something we can do? I would really like to try if you think it is not a service item only. Where do I find info on doing the percedure? Parts if needed? As you can tell we are new at this and really want to learn how to do everything that we can do with out service help..Thanks, Debbie

 

[handyman43358]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hey our school bus is an 2000 Amtran FE with a DT466 with an Allison AT545 Tranny in it. I was wondering what the wining noise was when it was going through 1st, shifting into 2nd and all the way through 2nd gear. Someone told me it was a type of gear or clutch in it that started with a P but I can't remember the exact name. If you can tell me what the name of that gear/clutch is and what exactly it is used for id appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Oh by the way, the transmission went out of it 2 weeks ago and we just got a new rebuilt one in it. What would have caused a young transmission like that go wrong so quick?
Thanks, Chad

 

[bksnoopy]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hi AllisonMan,

Hope you can be of some help on this topic. I was told by someone over at the rvamerica forum that there was a recall for this problem. Bad bearing?

Regarding transmission dropping from 6th gear to 1st gear and check transmission light coming on after moving about 50 to 100 ft.

This transmission error has happened intermittently 3 times while I was on a trip. All three times the transmission was cold. Each time it corrected itself. I would just shut down the unit and restart the engine. After idling for 5 or 10 minutes I would try to put it in gear. If it gave me the error code, I would repeat the above until I was able to get underway. Once I was on the road, I didn’t have any problems.

Everything is nice and dry and fluid is normal. I checked as many of the connections related to the transmission that I was able to trace. Everything looked nice and tight. The only suspect was a tie-wrap that seemed to be pulling the speed sensor cable causing unnecessary tension on the sensor. I tried to pull the motorhome out of my garage Tuesday (01 12 04) and it did the same thing. It will not let me shift to any other gear including reverse until the engine is shut off. I was able to back it back into my garage and will wait for Allison.

The error codes are 2511 and 2216, both seem to relate to the speed sensor.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[TradewindRvr]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hi AllisonMan,
I made a post to this topic and it went in as a new topic post. My mistake, new to this board. Would you answer please. Thanx.

 

[agood]

Allison Transmission Questions

Allison Man, You sound like the answer to my prayrers....I just bought a 96 Allegro Bus with the 230 Cummins and a 6 speed Allison. On my drive home it seemed to down shift hard....especially from 5th to 4th gear. It may not have necessarily been a hard shift but an early one....too soon causing faster engine speed. I found notes in the coach's owners' manual made by the previous owner about having the tranny reprogramed....it was done sometime in late 96 or early 97....he lists what looked to be a ECU update code....but I don't have that info with me right not....I can get it if it will help you....What should I do to get the hard down shifts corrected?

Also I found a grapefruit size spot on the garage floor of ATF after the coach was parked for about 48 hours.....is there a common place to look for leaks?

I has 41K miles on it.
Thanks!!!!

OH! one other thing....I have heard about diagnostic software that you can run on a PC and connect to diagnostic port to see and fine tune this tranny....how would I get this software?

 

[AllisonMan]

Allison Transmission Questions

Hi hvac71234,
Sorry for the delay I have been very busy. Has anyone checked out your output speed tonewheel? This is easy to check. On the right side of your transmission looking towards the trans. from the rear, there are 2 sensors with 2 sets of wires going to them. There is one towards the front and the one in the rear is the one I will be addressing. This sensor is held in with a bracket and 1 bolt (13mmhead)remove bolt and pull out the sensor. Stick a screwdriver inside and see if the square tooth tonewheel moves. There should be no movement. If it is tight, I would of coarse re-install sensor and wire connector. The next step I would take is to have the ECU recalibrated to the newest specifications. This has to be done by a distributor or dealer with the capability to reprogram. This also is if there are no codes present which I am sure the company that fast adapted would have told you. Good luck and I hope this solves your problem. Thanks and have a great day!