Hi all,
My truck's throttle valve is sticking which is causing all kinds of transmission problems. Can anyone tell me if I can remove/clean the throttle valve by simply dropping the transmission pan? Truck is a '94 4x4 v6 with an auto tranny.

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If you're not livin' on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

Just curious, why do you think its sticking?

I know the bottom half of the valve body can be removed after dropping the pan and removing a hand full of torx heads. I never went as far as a completely removing the whole valve system.

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CarDomain - http://www.cardomain.com/id/lghtngblt02

I think it's sticking because when the tranny fluid is cool the truck shifts fine. When the fluid warms up is when I start having problems. If I'm going down the highway in 4th gear with cruise control on, after about 5 minutes of driving my rpms slowly start to rev up but my speed stays the same. Pretty soon the tranny doesn't engage into 4th at all and if I let off the gas it just engine brakes until the rpms get below 1k. If I try to take off from a stoplight after all this, the truck shifts very hard from 1 to 2 if it will shift at all. If I do get into 2nd gear the truck will not shift into 3rd no matter what I do. If I shut the truck off and then stomp on the gas a few times the problem will go away until the truck downshifts. Once it downshifts I cannot get into a higher gear. The truck will hit redline without even trying to shift. I took it to the dealer and they said the most likely cause of this was a sticky TV.

Anyone have a different idea as to what the problem could be?

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If you're not livin' on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

Just an update,

I finally got the time to have the tranny diagnosed. I was right in saying that my thottle valve was sticking, but my governor was stuck wide open also. On friday I'm going to have the governer replaced and the throttle valve cleaned out. He is also going to install a Transco shift improver. All this plus a few quarts of Dextron III tranny fluid for $317.31. After that I'm selling this pile of crap to get a decent truck.

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If you're not livin' on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

What's wrong with the truck other than the trans at the moment, I doubt it's a pile of crap (little biased to the Dakota I think, I have 2) Not a bad price for trans service tho, not bad at all. Just curious, what would you see the truck for, not that I could buy it, I have no room for one, and 2 I just bought one

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'95 Dodge Dakota 4x4 5.2L club cab - 224kmi - Dual Exhaust, Filtercharger, Duals, sh--load of lights
'92 Dodge Dakota 4x4 3.9L club cab - 166kmi - V8 TB, '95 grand Cherokee Self-Dimming mirror - soon to have new exhaust

It is definitely a POS.I bought it for $2,800 thinking that all it needed was a set of new tires. Well, it turned out that after a month of driving it needed: Patched oil pan, 02 sensor, timing chain and tensioner, water pump, muffler, catalytic converter, engine computer, new spark plugs and wires, distributor cap and rotor, PCV valve, Crankcase breather filter, rear brake cylinders/pads/drums/lines, radiator, fan clutch, a new fuel sending unit, and a whole host of other little things I can't remember.So now that $2,800 truck became a $5,300 truck and it still needs the radiator, tires, and sending unit. On top of that when I went out to my truck a few minutes ago I found a big puddle of tranny fluid under it. Plus I need something that has a tow package and has the guts to pull a horse trailer. This little v6 buzzbox isn't doing it for me. I hope I can sell it for 3,500, but it will probably be more like 3000. Its a 1994 3.9L v6 4x4 extended cab with 135,000 miles and 70,000 on replacement tranny.

*rant over*

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If you're not livin' on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

Well than it was your problem, if the truck needed all of that then you should not have paid that much for it. You should have inspected it better, and you have to remember that you bought a truck thats like 15 years old, and 99 percent of the things you mentioned is things that need to be replaced over time, no matter the vehicle.

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1995 Dakota SLT 4x4
5.2 318ci
Flowmaster 40 Series
Couple Bells and Whistles

Well, I have a new governor installed, clean valve body, and a shift improver installed, along with a few other parts that were damaged because I drove it so long without gettingit fixed. The mechanic test drove it and told me everything was as good as new. I drove it8 miles to my house and when I was about 500 feet from my driveway it all started again. ApparentlyI paid him$343 to do absolutely nothing. Now I don't knowwhat to do. I need mytruck to get to andfrom work, so I can't leave it at the shop for another week, but I can't drive it how it is either.This really sucks!

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If you're not livin' on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

Seems like a torque converter problem. And did they adjust the bands?

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98 RAM 1500 4X4 5.2
Hypertech
Fastman TB
Magnaflow Cat.
Flowmaster American Thunder w/super40
14x3 AC mod