Tranny Shift Problem When Cold

[Edrak]

I have a 93 Explorer Limited. Bought it two months ago, and it has a strange problem. Took it to a tranny shop and they found metal in the pan. AAMCO had supposedly rebuilt the tranny less than a year ago (according to previous owner). Tranny was removed and damage in tranny to all hard parts, so I had a rebuilt Ford Tranny installed. Prior to this, I had the vacuum modulator replaced. Problem still remained.

OK, here's the problem that started it all.

When engine and tranny are cold, it doesn't want to shift out of first. I can manually shift into first and second, but free spins when I upshift into drive. Sometimes, it starts out in second, bypassing first. After you drive it for maybe 3-5 minutes, it's fine. Works great as long as it's warm.

Thus, that leads to the remote possibility that I have a second bad tranny.

More likely, it's some kind of sensor or control module problem.

Other symptoms that may or may not be related:

1. 4X4 switches don't engage transfer case. No light on dash buttons when pushed.

2. Engine idle is very low when cold. Have to manually press gas pedal until warm enough to idle at 700 RPM.

Has anyone gone though this and figured out the cause?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[retiredsparky]

are you starting your drive before your engine warms up? t-stat ok? some a4ld's like their fluid a little warm. i had a issue like yours, t-stat stuck open, delayed 1-2 shift but only on the first one and only on cold mornings. after t-stat the issue went away. valve body upgrades are out there but should have been installed on the rebuilds. lol

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I see that this is your first post. Do you have an A4LD transmission? It's possible that your governor could be sticking, and just needs to be taken apart, cleaned, and lubricated. Since you mentioned that you have a 4X4, it's located in the 4x4 housing. The 2WD has a regular extension housing. If you want to upgrade this part WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com has an improved part, which is a governor weight, part # 56615-35 35 mm ($4.46).