Automatic with nothing but park

[ken79fj40]

Ok, so i'm a toyota guy, but I recently had to loan out one of my trucks because my brother in law's dodge busted. It's an 88 1/2 ton with a 318 and what I presume is the original automatic trans. Clean fluid, shifted (past tense) nice through the gears, probably about 150k on it. Well he puts the thing in nuetral one day to talk to someone and from that day forward nothing works except park. It seems to be stuck in neutral. But of course the linkage works fine, you can still feel the detents between gears and everything. He's broke, and he's driving my toyota plow truck. Anyone have any thought on what I should be looking for? Is this a common old dodge thing thats a simple fix? I'm, a fairly competent wrench, but don't know jack about dodges, and only a little bit more about automatics. I gotta fix this thing fairly soon, he's taking a liking to my old toyota.

[Elwenil]

Sounds like a hydraulic problem. Probably either the pump or the valve body. Best way to know is get a pressure gauge and a service manual and test it.

[76dodgecrew4u]

I concur fully, it sounds like clogged passage in the valve body, bad pump or very remote possibility of the manual shift lever is broken. I would pull the pan, if there is lots of material then its time for a rebuild. If its relatively clean, pull the valve body and clean and inspect it. I have seen a stuck check valve or worn selector plate(thin steel plate between the upper and lower valve body) cause similar problems. This is what I would do and its what the manual says.