A sports car dealer recently purchased a Dodge 3500 Laramie truck as part of his move from North Dakota to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before he came upon a stomach-sinking sight on the vehicle: a check engine light. Gavin Pacirov (@gavinpancirov) of Citea Motors LLC recorded himself first noticing the in-dash alert. Additionally, he says the vehicle’s transmission was slipping. He pondered aloud to viewers whether the truck would safely transport him the extra 20 hours of driving he still had ahead of him.
Dodge 3500 Engine and Transmission Woes
"I just moved from Las Vegas to North Dakota to buy this Dodge 3500 Laramie," Pacirov says into the camera. His video clips to another angle of the vehicle parked adjacent to a fuel pump. "That’s right, it’s a Laramie 3500 Dually."
"Currently, I am two hours into my trip," he says, speaking into the camera. Next, his video cuts to the interior of the Dodge truck, showing its lit-up dashboard. As he pans to the information cluster, a dreaded symbol can be seen in a glowing orange hue. "And unfortunately, there is a check engine light, and the transmission is slipping. It is not a high-output transmission. It is a 68RFE, and if you know, you know," he states with a slight smirk into the camera.
"The real question is: will I make it the next 20 hours back to Las Vegas? Fourteen hundred miles on a slipping 68RFE transmission with a check engine light? I think I do have a death wish," he tells his viewers under the glow of the fueling station’s night lights.
Gallery: 2018 Ram 3500 Heavy Duty
"Everything Wrong with My New 3500 Laramie Cummins"
The TikToker and business owner also uploaded follow-up clips explaining why he was purchasing a large truck. In this video, he shows another white 2500 diesel Cummins engine Dodge that he uses for his sports car business.
In another, he breaks down everything that’s going awry with his recently purchased 3500 Laramie. First, the back of the truck has visible damage to its tailgate area. It appears to have sustained an impact significant enough to cave in the rear camera area on the truck bed.
"All that’s messed up," he says. "The box is completely bad," he adds, showing off another area where the Laramie also withstood damage. "Missing chunk here, dent there," he says, before highlighting the opposite portion of the truck bed, right in front of the gas tank input area. It looks like the car was struck here as well.
Moreover, he points out that the driver’s side running board was completely gone. The passenger’s taillight was also "cracked," which he shows to viewers, too. Pacirov mentions that this damage isn’t just visual either: It prevents the car’s blinker mechanism from operating properly as well.
One of the tires on the truck is a steel wheel, and resting inside its bed is a wheel that needs to be fixed. Furthermore, the TikToker shows that the front windshield has been cracked, so that’ll need to be replaced as well. However, Pacirov did give high marks for the car’s interior cabin, which he calls "mint." His quick perusal of its inside appears to corroborate this claim, as its brown leather interior looks immaculate.
Gallery: 2015 Ram 2500 & 3500 unveiled [video]
Dodge 3500 Laramie Transmission Fix on Deck
As he said in his initial video upon purchasing the truck, its transmission is still slipping. But he does intend on rectifying that.
"The transmission is slipping and I will need a new valve body and to redo the transmission fluid filters, all that good stuff," he says into the lens. Ultimately, in spite of all these issues, he believes he scored a "real good deal." Pacirov added that the truck’s previous owner said that they were willing to "pitch in" to help repair the car’s transmission.
In his first clip, Pacirov referenced that his 3500 Laramie was outfitted with a 68RFE transmission. He also intoned that these units are known to have recurring problems. And there are others who’ve aired their grievances with these units as well. One YouTube user who calls himself the "diesel doctor" posted a video titled "68RFE failure causes and prevention." In the clip, he highlights some of the predicaments he anticipates drivers will have with this particular transmission.
He says that Dodge vehicles manufactured between mid-2007 and after can suffer "catastrophic failure" and "burnt up clutches" with these units. He says the primary reason these transmissions slip and fail is due to a plastic filter plug that comes standard with these transmissions. Consequently, he says that these plugs ultimately work themselves free from the transmission. Following this, the filter will often fall into the pan, causing, as he says, "line pressure to drop." Also, transmissions will leak fluid "profusely," according to the diesel expert. "When that happens, you burn up your clutches and your transmission’s toast," he tells viewers.
Replacing the Filter Plug
The diesel doctor recommends that folks replace this plastic plug with a steel variant instead. Of course, truck owners need to ensure the plug is torqued to proper specs. He argues that this "simple" fix will save drivers from a lot of headaches and that the swap should be made whenever they service their transmission. "The repercussions of not doing it are definitely not worth the risk," he says.
In a dedicated blog post on Choate Performance’s website, the diesel engine service business says that the 68RFE transmissions are prone to failure. In addition to swapping out this filter plug, Choate recommends cleaning and servicing transmissions every 25,000 miles, along with full fluid flushes/swaps.
Another diesel engine-specific company, ATS Diesel Performance, also wrote about common challenges with the 68RFE. According to its own write-up, these transmissions are outfitted with weak torque converters, fragile valve bodies, and undersized clutch packs. Also, ATS writes that the 68RFE often experiences pump issues, along with electronics hiccups such as "solenoid pack failures" and "erratic shift solenoids."
This could explain why Pacirov’s Laramie 3500 was slipping just two hours into his drive. The diesel company adds that the 68RFE’s thermal bypass valve "prevents proper fluid circulation until hot," which can result in the transmission wearing down prematurely. This is why the business recommends swapping out stock valve bodies and channel plates with upgraded components. ATS also offers its own thermal management solution designed to address the complications it says come with its stock bypass valve.
68RFE Transmission Recalls
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a recall was issued for 2020–2023 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups outfitted with 68RFE transmissions. Documentation from the agency indicates that "vehicles may experience a buildup of pressure and heat inside the transmission." Subsequently, when this occurs, transmission fluid can shoot out of the dipstick tube area.
Upon coming into contact with other components under the hood, this can result in a fire, potentially causing more damage to the vehicle.
Motor1 has reached out to Dodge and Pacirov via email for further comment.
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