2004 3.0L Automatic Tranny, 5spd

I was driving it a few days ago... i stop at a light. when i get on the throttle; the truck refuses to move.
I go full throttle and manage to pull off the side of the road. None of the gears work.. not manual 1, 2 or reverse. After playing around for a while i finally get 2 to work. I take it home on 2.

I play with it for an hour or so and still no luck... So i drain a quart and filled it up with some Lucas... wouldnt you believe it, .5 miles later 1st second and 3rd gear work perfect.

The problem now is I have no over drive gears..and gas aint cheap! I have to drive on the hwy to get to work.

Does anyone have any idea what this may be? It doesnt seem mechanical. When i approach speeds over 55, the o/d light willl blink and the truck wont shift into 4th or 5th gear.

Also i am noticing sometimes the tranny will start to slam gears at times.
Am i looking at an overhaul?

Any information appreciated! thanks

 

check neutral safety switch

 

Neutral Safety switch is doing fine.

 

yes, your trans is failing.
time for a rebuild or replace.
if it was me, Id go for a replace as it is almost always cheaper than a rebuild. I just replaced the trans in my mothers protege, $300.0 at an auto salvage yard and $250.0 for the mechanic. took him less than a full day.
versus $1200.0 (lowest price quoted) to rebuild it ($1900 was highest)

Im now sure how mechanically inclined you are, but her car is FWD, which is why I wouldnt do it myself, but RWD/4x4 is much easier than FWD
basically with rwd/4x4 the 2 hardest parts of the job are dropping the driveshaft and re-aligning the trans when installing the new one. you dont even need a ton of tools, but it is a good idea to have the use of 2 hyrdolic jacks to make it easy to drop the trans.

 

i've done some tranny swaps before. I just really didn't feel like it.

We had a work truck ranger that did the same thing my tranny is doing now... 5 years later and driven hard the tranny on it is still fine...but just shifts hard and no over drive..

The thing is after i enlist in the army i'm going to need to drive this truck across the country , etc. etc. I can care less about gas mileage and stuff; I'm just afraid the extra RPMs i'm spinning is bad for the engine. at 85 MPH i'm spinning 3600 RPM i believe. Sustain that for 9 or 10 hours...i'm afraid i could screw up the engine.

i'm afraid to buy a used tranny because It could do the same thing again. I know the transmissions in these trucks are notorious for this.

 

hook up a scanner and get any codes it is throwing

 

There are no check engine lights or anything. should i hook up a scanner anyway? I'll stop by at autozone on the way home from work today.

 

not all codes will throw a CEL.
if you drive the truck across country like that, you are putting abnormal wear n tear on all mechanical parts associated with the drivetrain: axles, driveshaft, trans differentials, and the engine itself.

go to car parts_salvageable and do a search in your area.
I just did a search on an 04 3.0L 4x2 and got 3 pages of trans, 1 as low as $248.0 (and it said they will ship) so there are plenty to choose from.

 

meh, i aint spending money on this truck. I'm gonna drive it to the ground with gas oil changes and tires and buy a full size truck in 3 or 4 years

 

how do you know the neutral safety switch is fine? do you have a scan tool with readouts that you checked it with?

also, it sounds to be like you have one or more shift solenoids that are going bad. i would take it to a dealership and scan the pending codes to see why the overdrive light is flashing

 

i used a multimeter to test the switch.

the shift solenoids... i have a feeling thats the problem.

do the scanners from autozone read the tranny error codes?

I don't have any money..like nada! to spend for any repairs so i'm trying to avoid going to the dealer if at all possible.

 

dont think the vatozone scanners will tell you trans codes. did you check the trans range sensor in all gears or just in neutral? does the speedometer work?

 

like others have mentioned, i think its your shift solenoids. get those checked.

by the way, how many miles you have on your truck?

 

110,xxx on the truck.

speedometer works.
is there anyway to check the solenoids myself?

 

i have no idea if there is a way to check em yourself but i know a reputable transmission shop should be able to tell you by hooking up their trans scan tool.

 

more then likely the solenoids are ethier on the valvebody OR plugged in outside of the trans take ur multimeter and get under the truck and DISCONNECT THEM ONE BY ONE and check resistance of them if they come back with a OL or 000000 or no reading at all theres ur problem im almost done with school and the 2 comp car rangers they have in the school have the same problems... and if thats the case go to a jy find a few rangers of your year and set up (4x2,4x4,3.0,4.0, etc) and ****** up some solenoids and try it from there

 

Search the drivetrain forum for Valve body gasket.
They are known to blow out.

 

ok will follow both of your advice.
Thank you!