Hey Everybody,

First time posting on the forum so I will try to get all the important details. I drive a 2001 Ford Ranger 4.0L with a 5R55E automatic transmission 117,000 miles. Late last year I was having a shifting flare between 2nd and 3rd that progressively got worse over the course of a month. I ended up buying a new valve body with a trans go shift kit preinstalled. The fluid was dark (most likely never changed. I bought it used a few years ago.) , but there was no metal shavings in the pan. The valve body gasket was totally blown out. When I installed the new valve body and gasket I forgot to attach the manual valve so when I got my truck started up it only had Park and Drive. No neutral or reverse. I dropped the pan again and attached the manual valve, and the shifting problem was fixed. I used the Mercon V fluid, and I very carefully made sure all the valve body bolts were torqued to the proper specs.

The one problem it still had was a 3 second delay when shifting into drive. When it did shift into drive, it shifted hard enough to feel it but nothing extreme. Once in drive, the truck drove and shifted great, so I have been driving it like that for about 6 months. A few days ago the problem got worse. The transmission will only shift into drive when I shift it to D2 and then shift it back to D. When I shift it into D2 it shifts very smooth and it is smooth shift back down to D.

I'm trying to avoid doing a rebuild or get a new transmission, so any advice on a fix would be great. Thank you.