Tranny slips when cold

[White86Tercel]

My grandpa gave me his 1983 Ranger 4x4 with a 2.8l engine, a C5 automatic tranny, and manual locking hubs.

• When I fire the truck up in the morning it works fine in reverse but won't move in drive (sometime it will move forward inch or two then stop moving).

• If I warm the truck up for 20 minutes, the truck drives great (I managed to drive the truck home 500K from my Grandpa's without any trouble).

• We left the truck idle for two weeks and noticed a small leak (maybe 1/8 of a cup) of tranny fluid comming down the passenger side of tranny.

• The tranny fluid/filter were changed about a month ago and my grandpa thinks the problem got a little worse after the change (it used to only take 10 minutes of warming up to drive).

• The tranny fluid has only being changed two or three times over the last 25 years / 16000KM

• I don't think the bands have ever been adjusted.

• The leak was noticed when the truck had sat for a week, the fluid level was normal and the lucas fluid hadn't been added yet.

• We tried adding the 1/2 Quart of Lucas Tranny additive (bringing the fluid level a little over max) and it seemed to help a little (the tranny seems to start going forward after a shorter warm up now).

• I get the same results in 2H, 4H, and 2L

• I get the same results in D,2, and 1.

• It looks like a small amount of tranny fluid is leaking out the bottom of the pan. I noticed this after driving 500KM with the tranny slightly over filled...

Any suggestions?

 

[White86Tercel]

A few more notes

• The truck keeps displaying the 4x4 light even in 2h. This started when I put the truck into 4h and 4l for testing.

• The the best of my knowledge the 4x4 function hadn't been used much in the last 10 years.

• The tranny seems to slip a little when its first getting going. The engine revs up reasonably high then the tranny slowly engages. This only happens the first few times the truck starts after been shut off

• I said the truck needs to be warmed up for 20 minutes before it will go forward. From what I can tell the truck needs to be warmed to normal operating temprature then left in reverse with the ebrake on for a web minutes before it will move forward...

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! How many miles on on it? Considering the age of it, and the amount of times the fluid, and filter were replaced, I would say that you got whatever you could out of that transmission, and it might need to be rebuilt. You could rebuild the valve body first to see if it helps.

 

[ltlandy]

I just bought a 92 explorer xl 4x4 and it has the exact same problem as your Ranger. goes straight into reverse but must warm up before it will go forward. The colder it is, the longer it takes. Then, once its warmed up and in gear, it runs great all day without slipping. The next morn it starts all over again. cant afford new tranny. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Anyone, anyone?

 

[White86Tercel]

The truck has 100miles on it.

ltlandy:This guy (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=110021) found that seafoam and a tranny flush solved the problem on his 92 explorer. You might want to try that.

Is it possible for me to remove/rebuild the valve body without removing the whole tranny from the truck.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You could remove the valve body while the transmission is still in the vehicle.

 

[White86Tercel]

I drained out some tranny fluid, added some transX. I've tried to drive the truck at least 1h each time I drive it. The tranny seems to be working a little better each day... Today, I was able drive forward it (with a fair bit of sliping) after a minute and the truck was running as per normal after 5 minutes. I'm going to try to do long warm-ups and long drives most days because I think the slipping may damage the fluid/other parts of the tranny...