Shifting into Drive
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Member
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 42
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From: Tennessee
Shifting into Drive
1987 F150 XLT Lariat. 119k miles. 5.0 302 efi, automatic.
I've had this truck about 3 months and have updated a lot of parts in it in an effort to make it reliable again. I changed the transmission fluid once about 2 months ago. The past I noticed a few weeks ago that there was a slight hesitation once in a while when shifting to drive. However, that was just occasional and inconsistent. Not yet being a regular daily drive, I didn't put a lot of thought into the issue.
Last week backing out of a parking spot, it wouldn't go into drive. I sat there and put it in park, and slowly went through the gears. Reverse worked fine, but when I'd put it in drive (or 2 or 1), it was as if it was in neutral. When I got it home, I checked the transmission fluid, which was slightly low (but not alarming; it was just beneath the hashed line that said "do not fill if in this area"). Since it was still running, I backed up and proceeded to shift into each gear, then back to reverse, then a forward gear, then reverse, etc. It shifted just fine with no hesitation whatsoever. I didn't drive it for about a week because I have been doing some other repairs (water pump, throttle bottle sensor, throttle body cleaning, etc). Sunday, I drove it to town (30 miles) and there was a very slight hesitation when engaging into drive. After getting back into the truck to drive back home, shifting from park to drive had no hesitation at all. Yesterday (Monday), I fired it up and backed it up as usual. When I shifted to drive, it felt like it was neutral again, but I decided to give it a little gas (not "revving" or reaching high rpm-more like just enough gas to coast out of a parking spot) and it engaged and went forward. I did this process again (same results), then tried it a 3rd time (same results), then a 4th time. The 4th time it shifted from reverse to drive just fine with no hesitaton or need to give it gas.
It's 30 years old, so I'm sure it has something old and worn out, but I don't know how to pinpoint the issue. I've googled symptoms and can't quite find my particular issue. I've also never worked on a transmission, so I don't want to experiment aimlessly. It doesn't have any issue when shifting through the gears while driving, so it has me a little baffled/ concerned
I've had this truck about 3 months and have updated a lot of parts in it in an effort to make it reliable again. I changed the transmission fluid once about 2 months ago. The past I noticed a few weeks ago that there was a slight hesitation once in a while when shifting to drive. However, that was just occasional and inconsistent. Not yet being a regular daily drive, I didn't put a lot of thought into the issue.
Last week backing out of a parking spot, it wouldn't go into drive. I sat there and put it in park, and slowly went through the gears. Reverse worked fine, but when I'd put it in drive (or 2 or 1), it was as if it was in neutral. When I got it home, I checked the transmission fluid, which was slightly low (but not alarming; it was just beneath the hashed line that said "do not fill if in this area"). Since it was still running, I backed up and proceeded to shift into each gear, then back to reverse, then a forward gear, then reverse, etc. It shifted just fine with no hesitation whatsoever. I didn't drive it for about a week because I have been doing some other repairs (water pump, throttle bottle sensor, throttle body cleaning, etc). Sunday, I drove it to town (30 miles) and there was a very slight hesitation when engaging into drive. After getting back into the truck to drive back home, shifting from park to drive had no hesitation at all. Yesterday (Monday), I fired it up and backed it up as usual. When I shifted to drive, it felt like it was neutral again, but I decided to give it a little gas (not "revving" or reaching high rpm-more like just enough gas to coast out of a parking spot) and it engaged and went forward. I did this process again (same results), then tried it a 3rd time (same results), then a 4th time. The 4th time it shifted from reverse to drive just fine with no hesitaton or need to give it gas.
It's 30 years old, so I'm sure it has something old and worn out, but I don't know how to pinpoint the issue. I've googled symptoms and can't quite find my particular issue. I've also never worked on a transmission, so I don't want to experiment aimlessly. It doesn't have any issue when shifting through the gears while driving, so it has me a little baffled/ concerned
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 1
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First off if you are low on tranny fluid (even just a little bit) you are leaking it, or when you had it refilled it wasn't topped off. Also, even being just a little low on fluid I've noticed hesitations to shift into gear. So even though it's just slightly low I would say your first place to start is to fill the fluid to the proper level.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 165
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1987 F150 XLT Lariat. 119k miles. 5.0 302 efi, automatic.
I've had this truck about 3 months and have updated a lot of parts in it in an effort to make it reliable again. I changed the transmission fluid once about 2 months ago. The past I noticed a few weeks ago that there was a slight hesitation once in a while when shifting to drive. However, that was just occasional and inconsistent. Not yet being a regular daily drive, I didn't put a lot of thought into the issue.
Last week backing out of a parking spot, it wouldn't go into drive. I sat there and put it in park, and slowly went through the gears. Reverse worked fine, but when I'd put it in drive (or 2 or 1), it was as if it was in neutral. When I got it home, I checked the transmission fluid, which was slightly low (but not alarming; it was just beneath the hashed line that said "do not fill if in this area"). Since it was still running, I backed up and proceeded to shift into each gear, then back to reverse, then a forward gear, then reverse, etc. It shifted just fine with no hesitation whatsoever. I didn't drive it for about a week because I have been doing some other repairs (water pump, throttle bottle sensor, throttle body cleaning, etc). Sunday, I drove it to town (30 miles) and there was a very slight hesitation when engaging into drive. After getting back into the truck to drive back home, shifting from park to drive had no hesitation at all. Yesterday (Monday), I fired it up and backed it up as usual. When I shifted to drive, it felt like it was neutral again, but I decided to give it a little gas (not "revving" or reaching high rpm-more like just enough gas to coast out of a parking spot) and it engaged and went forward. I did this process again (same results), then tried it a 3rd time (same results), then a 4th time. The 4th time it shifted from reverse to drive just fine with no hesitaton or need to give it gas.
It's 30 years old, so I'm sure it has something old and worn out, but I don't know how to pinpoint the issue. I've googled symptoms and can't quite find my particular issue. I've also never worked on a transmission, so I don't want to experiment aimlessly. It doesn't have any issue when shifting through the gears while driving, so it has me a little baffled/ concerned
I've had this truck about 3 months and have updated a lot of parts in it in an effort to make it reliable again. I changed the transmission fluid once about 2 months ago. The past I noticed a few weeks ago that there was a slight hesitation once in a while when shifting to drive. However, that was just occasional and inconsistent. Not yet being a regular daily drive, I didn't put a lot of thought into the issue.
Last week backing out of a parking spot, it wouldn't go into drive. I sat there and put it in park, and slowly went through the gears. Reverse worked fine, but when I'd put it in drive (or 2 or 1), it was as if it was in neutral. When I got it home, I checked the transmission fluid, which was slightly low (but not alarming; it was just beneath the hashed line that said "do not fill if in this area"). Since it was still running, I backed up and proceeded to shift into each gear, then back to reverse, then a forward gear, then reverse, etc. It shifted just fine with no hesitation whatsoever. I didn't drive it for about a week because I have been doing some other repairs (water pump, throttle bottle sensor, throttle body cleaning, etc). Sunday, I drove it to town (30 miles) and there was a very slight hesitation when engaging into drive. After getting back into the truck to drive back home, shifting from park to drive had no hesitation at all. Yesterday (Monday), I fired it up and backed it up as usual. When I shifted to drive, it felt like it was neutral again, but I decided to give it a little gas (not "revving" or reaching high rpm-more like just enough gas to coast out of a parking spot) and it engaged and went forward. I did this process again (same results), then tried it a 3rd time (same results), then a 4th time. The 4th time it shifted from reverse to drive just fine with no hesitaton or need to give it gas.
It's 30 years old, so I'm sure it has something old and worn out, but I don't know how to pinpoint the issue. I've googled symptoms and can't quite find my particular issue. I've also never worked on a transmission, so I don't want to experiment aimlessly. It doesn't have any issue when shifting through the gears while driving, so it has me a little baffled/ concerned
did you ever solve the issue?
