I was driving back from Colorado to Arizona today. The temps outside were about 100ish, and I was hauling a 6000 lb trailer. I suddenly had loss of power, and trany temps were very high. Engine temps were also WELL up there. I was stuck in 4th gear would not shift up or down. I was doing 85 maxed red lined and no shifting, then I got down to 40 and barely making it up hills, still in 4th.

I made it home and when I went out to unpack notticed a 2' puddle of tranny fluid on the ground. Checked the level and it was a little low, but not bad.

It dripped for a few hours and now has stopped. What the heck could it be? I got no idiot lights or anything, just ran HOT, and no power. This trailer should have been no problem for the dmax. . . . ?

Truck seems to be running fine now and shifting fine!??????

Any ideas what happened? I'm sick to my stomach right now....

I did get my tranny serviced the day before I left for the this trip.

Tell me good news please!

My guess is that you blew fluid out of the breather (look for a silver mushroom cap on the back of the trans at about the 10 o'clock position). If the fluid gets too hot it can rise up into the rotating clutch assembly. Once this happens it can become aerated and turn to foam. The fact that you were running at the red line probably made it much worse. Once that happens it's only a matter of time before it exits out of the breather.

The bottom line is the trans is likely fine but you may want to do a fluid and filter replacement to be on the safe side.

the trans probably was to hot so it put it in limp mode to protect it from over heating and ruining something. if it locked in third there will be a code in the tcm. should have been a cel though.

Replace fuel filter after you drain some atf out of it. Sounds like you may have 2 issues here.

I would have probably stopped to check it out when it quit shifting in the first place.
It sounds like could have been possibly overfilled.

I was stuck in 4th gear would not shift up or down. I was doing 85 maxed red lined and no shifting, then I got down to 40 and barely making it up hills, still in 4th.


The ECM went into safety protect mode. It does this to protect the engine and transmission. Check for any codes to see what caused the issue. It may have been just too much heat but code will give you a better idea of what may have gone on. If you have no codes stored then my guess would be for the heat. Recheck your tranmission fluid level after you have driven the truck for 20 minutes to get it upto operating temperatures when parked on flat groound. If it's still full then the transmission service may have over filled it some.

Will there be codes with NO CEL? I had no warnings ect. ATF in the fuel filter!?!!???? Really? How so? This isnt sounding good lol.

I think Mike might have meant to change our your fuel filter and drain some ATF out because he might think it's overfilled.
I cant speak for him though, but, I think that's what he was talking about.

Will there be codes with NO CEL? I had no warnings ect. ATF in the fuel filter!?!!???? Really? How so? This isnt sounding good lol.

You can get codes with no check engine light. If it was due to the heat you will not get a warning but it will drop the transmission down a gear to remove the load from it to try and help the cooling. It sounds like this is what happened to you but checking for codes let you know if something else is happening. If you've got no codes and everything is now working fine it was mostlikely the heat and that's it. Make sure to check the fluild level of the transmission just for safety sake.

I agree with the overfill Idea, for sure keep an eye on it when you drive anymore