2014 Dodge Durango won't shift at -15F, says "service shifter"

[wwillson]

Enjoying the cold here in Colorado! My Durango has had to sit outside overnight in -15°F temperatures. It starts right up, but it won't shift into D or R, instead the CEL light comes on and the dash says, "service shifter".

The shifter is a selector knob:

The strange thing is the shifter will move to the R N and D position, which means the knob unlocks, but I don't hear the solenoid that controls the knob lock.

The fix is to let the vehicle sit in the sun and warm the interior. When the interior reaches about 20°F, the shifter works fine and there is no message on the display. You can run errands and it starts fine all day because the interior is warm. The next day, it's the same routine.

I believe the trouble is in the shifter knob mechanism, it's 10 years old and it's probably got enough dust and crud in it that it needs to be replaced. I googled and it's not clear which part number I need or how to remove the shifter knob/box. Ideas?

 

[ripcord]

Perhaps some canned air and spray lube would help loosen some old grease and crud? Maybe there is some moisture present and WD-40 would help displace it?

 

[Rand]

my 2017 cherokee had the normal floor style shifter but tons of issues like that.
it was replaced twice.. then I traded it in on the 2019.. which never had the issue.

got this hit on google.

Service shifter message

www.dodgedurango.net

 

[wwillson]

Perhaps some canned air and spray lube would help loosen some old grease and crud? Maybe there is some moisture present and WD-40 would help displace it?

The knob controller box is full of electronics, so spray lube probably isn't a good idea.

 

[eljefino]

Is there a feedback loop where the truck uses a sensor inside the tranny to confirm that the shift requested actually took place? That might be a point to diagnose.

 

[Number_35]

I'd be tempted to try a series of A-B-A trials when it's cold out, using a portable heater to warm up the interior, and seeing whether the problem only occurs below a certain temperature.

Not a solution, but will help you narrow things down.

 

[Warstud]

Thats a good excuse to spend the rest of the winter in Cali......

 

[wwillson]

I'd be tempted to try a series of A-B-A trials when it's cold out, using a portable heater to warm up the interior, and seeing whether the problem only occurs below a certain temperature.

Not a solution, but will help you narrow things down.

That's kinda what I did, except I let the sun warm the interior. The fault is repeatable when it gets cold and two days in a row it did the same thing.

 

[Number_35]

That's kinda what I did, except I let the sun warm the interior. The fault is repeatable when it gets cold and two days in a row it did the same thing.

Sounds like you've identified the fault. Is the replacement part expensive?

 

[zrxkawboy]

I found this on another forum. Someone had the same issue on a '14 Durango. Here's what they said: "Turned out under the shifter assembly and center console, there are dual ground eyelets. Mine were not tightend to spec. Tech put on a scanner, with in 1 hour had the issue solved and tightend the eyelets to the ground bolt. Been perfect since."

I doubt this is the problem with yours, but it's something to check before replacing the shift module.

 

[BrendanC]

I found this on another forum. Someone had the same issue on a '14 Durango. Here's what they said: "Turned out under the shifter assembly and center console, there are dual ground eyelets. Mine were not tightend to spec. Tech put on a scanner, with in 1 hour had the issue solved and tightend the eyelets to the ground bolt. Been perfect since."

I doubt this is the problem with yours, but it's something to check before replacing the shift module.

especially with the temperature difference solving the issue. excellent discovery hopefully it solves his problem.

 

[wwillson]

Anyone know how to remove the shifter assembly?

 

[Speedbird001]

full cold soak ~ -15f is possibly out of spec for one or more of the components in that system... could be 5, 10 or more suppliers in that one system right? Pretty easy for one of them to have glossed over one side of the spec. Maybe when new everything is stong/fresh enough to pick up the slack... Fast forward 10 years and you have your problem.

FWIW: I saw this happen with an expensive, important military system; this was on the high end of the spectrum, but one component could throw everything out of whack (But when a great deal of time and effort and new/fresh parts where thrown at it, it was not a problem)

 

[D60]

Let us know what you find! My parents' KL had a similar thing, but very different vehicle and shifter. It was a pigtail harness in the shifter.

We've had my wife's F150 since 2018 and just this year I figured out it had the factory block heater. I've been plugging it in just so she gets heat more quickly.

It would be kinda interesting to know if a block heater solved the issue. With a trans cooler theoretically the trans itself would stay warmer, too. That said, I'm not suggesting installing a block heater is a logical diagnostic course here....but something to consider once the problem is resolved just because it's kinda nice and theoretically easier on the engine in general.

I'm guessing your problem is in the cab. Looking forward to updates.

 

[KrisZ]

The shifter knob may be electronic, but there is still a mechanical shifter and linkage that shifts the transmission into different drive modes, likely done by a solenoid.

You probably need to lube up that mechanism.

 

[supton]

Agreed, there is a sensor inside of that, and it's not happy. Bad ground, or its bypass capacitor has lost too much capacitance at the low temps, something. Or maybe it's not seeing its stimulus properly (the temperature has moved something just enough). Or the wiring has a bad connection and it needs a bit of heat to make the contact (not "grounding" but a bad contact, on vcc/vout/ground).

I don't know how the system works, nor how it's detecting a problem--wild guess says, it expects to see a pulse up or down for each click, and instead it's getting 8 pulses and thus "knows" something is amiss. But I don't know what the error checking would be... Would be interesting to find a shifter and crack it open, see how it works. It might be a linear reading of actual shifter position, and it's not seeing the proper jumps in voltage on each click.

 

[wwillson]

The shifter knob may be electronic, but there is still a mechanical shifter and linkage that shifts the transmission into different drive modes

Nope, just a wire to the transmission.

 

[MattPersman]

Anyone know how to remove the shifter assembly?

Yeah open console lid, bezel comes up (trim stick with clips) then shifter is held on by screws on the bottom side

 

[supton]

Yeah open console lid, bezel comes up (trim stick with clips) then shifter is held on by screws on the bottom side

@wwillson pics or it didn't get opened. Would be curious what is in there.

 

[wwillson]

I just talked to my mechanic friend Bill, who used a lifeline and called his trusty transmission shop. This shop does in-house rebuilds and really knows what they are doing. The trans shop said they have seen this many times in very cold conditions. It's a valve in the trans that sticks. Let the trans warm up and the problem will go away. So my guess that it was something in the shifter knob getting cold and sticking was wrong.

What to do about it? Nothing. They could replace the valve, but there is no point as this vehicle rarely sits outside. I left it sit in the garage last night (40F), no problem. In the future, I need to remember not to let it sit out in the cold or be willing to let it idle until the transmission warmer brings the temp up enough to unstick the valve.