Bad slippage, hesitation around 3rd gear, 5.0 awd trans

[turboplz]

Hey all. So I've had this truck for a few months now and I'm just starting to work locally a bit again and therefor driving the truck more. When I first got it, I noticed some hesitation issues going from 2nd to third, but they were intermittent. Now that I'm driving it often, the issue has become much more prevelant.

I can re-create the hesitation anytime too, so I know it's gotten worse. The biggest issue is when I'm going up any type of an incline from a stop, just giving the it normal throttle to get up to speed, the truck will hesitate badly when it's type for it to shift into third. Sometimes I will get completely out of the throttle and it still won't shift into third. However, if I'm on a decline, the transmission will shift into third with no issue whatsoever. I have also noticed that when it's acting up, it will completely skip third and go into fourth.

Lately, when it does get into third and shifts into fourth, the transmission will studder as fourth is engaging. First and second gears are smooth as silk, the problem just seems to be surrounding that third gear. Once in a while I will get a hard shift into third or fourth as if I have a shift kit of some kind installed, which I don't.

I don't have any o/d or check engine lights on, so I'm kind of stumped what the issue could be. If this was a manual trans I'd have already torn through the thing, but automatic tranny's are a new beast to me and I don't have the time to play around with it. I do plan on taking it to a tranny shop, but wanted to see if I could get some ideas from you all. The last thing I want to do is pay $2k plus on a truck that I bought for less than that, lol. Thanks ahead of time and I will check on or answer any questions that you might have to help me troubleshoot this thing! Oh, one other thing, the previous owner removed the front driveshaft on this truck probably well before I bought it, so I don't know if that would play into any issues I'm having.

Jason

 

[turboplz]

Little update: I dropped the pan, changed the filter, drained the torque converter and refilled it today. The fluid was dirty, but there were no metal shavings, just some sludge around the magnet.

Problem is still there. I'm starting to think this is a valve body issue, but if it's the valvebody wouldn't it be every gear? If it were the 2-3 accumulator than it should have issues everytime shifting into third. Any other ideas?

I'm just glad it doesn't look like an overhaul is in order, just a simple part!

 

[turboplz]

Well, the problem is fixed! I guess it just needed to work the new fluid thru the trans and filter. The truck feels so much smoother and responsive now, much more like a v8 truck should!

 

[boominXplorer]

Sounds like the valve body was gummed up. If the issue comes back I would drop the valve body, take it apart and clean everything and reinstall with new gaskets.