I have a '91 XLT 4WD Explorer with about 120K miles. Yesterday the transmisison started "not" going into any forward gears until the engine was revved up to approximately 1500 RPM'S. It is hovering around the zero degree Fahrenheit mark this week. Once the transmission engages, it does not slip or otherwise cause any noticeable problems or make any noises whatsoever. Reverse gear engages immediately with no increase in engine RPM'S needed. The fluid level is where it should be on the dipstick. The vacuum modulator holds vacuum, the electrical connections are all testing out good with power in and out of them all. There is no transmission fluid in the vacuum line to the modulator.

I tried doing a search for any previous questions and answers to this problem and found better than 1800 posts to read through on 91 different pages.

Help!

this might help you it may not..... but i dont know if you ever cleaned your trans screen..... that leads to alot alot alot of shifting problems.... maybe some others can help you out here.... try cleaning the screen....

Thanks, will try that in the morning and see if it solves the problem. Any one else's input would surely be appreciated as well, especially if this does not fix the forward gears engage problems for me.

mine was acting up and i cleaned the screen.... it wasnt shifting intill the tranny was warm.... but... i hear it can lead to much more other things.... and its not that hard to get dirty... after some wheeling...

I would make sure you have good clean fluid in the trans. If you still have this problem it sounds like the oil pump in the trans is not builing pressure like you have a seal bad in the trans. There are lost of diffrent things to cause this problem. SOunds like it is on it's way out.

Eric