4R44E won't engage from 1st or Drive

[bensn8]

Hi to all, new here and hope I might get some help to point me in the right direction. About 2 months before I got deployed to Iraq, my 1998 Ford Ranger 3.0 with a 4R44E trans. started to act up. The symptoms are as follows. When I shift the trans into "D" the truck won't move and sounds like it is slipping. When I shift the trans into "1" the truck won't move and sounds like it is slipping. The only way for me to get my truck rolling from a dead stop is to take off in "2" and then manually shift it into "D". When I slow down I have to reshift back to "2" otherwise the trans slips and the truck won't move. Reverse and O/D are fine and I had changed the filter and trans fluid before I deployed. I am not at home to perform any repairs at this time but I hope to fix this when I get back. I am just tired of the wife complainig about driving a semi-automatic truck when I call home and this is the first item on the Honey-DO list.

Could a simple band adjustment solve this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bensn8]

BUMP, Tried the seach but have limeted time on the computer. Can anyone point me in the right direction.

 

[bensn8]

Bump, I will be going on R & R in two weeks and would love to fix this problem before I return. Don't have to much time to stay on a computer. Can someone please point me in any direction to start. Thanks for any help.

 

[CyBeRcR0W]

dude i have the same problem with my 98 Explorer V8 2WD i put it in D/OD and its doesn't respond i have give it gas a couple of times for it to start moving slightly until after a few seconds of reeving it suddenly the gear is engaged completely and starts working again, Reverse works great, but not FWD, the difference here is if i put the car in 1st o 2nd or D/OD its the same thing, that happened after i changed the trans fluid and filters, it did it before but i didn't have to gas it to engage the gear. Last week after it engages everything is normal, but this week it seems that if i make like a sudden stop and try to go again it slips again, not much but i have to gas-it to engage the gear again.

Any ideas guys?

 

[BrooklynBay]

The first problem sounds like it could be the range sensor. The one from the second poster could be a failing EPC solenoid, bad valve body gaskets or loose valve body bolts.