hard shifting Ranger

[upnorth]

A few weeks back I had the transmission on my 2000 Ford Ranger flushed and refilled. Ever since it shifts real hard out of 1st gear. The shifting with the rest of them seem to be fine, just that out of 1st kinda slams into 2nd.

Anyone have any ideas?

[delmuts]

i don't work on them , but sounds like you may have a valve sticking,or a broken valve spring in the body. maybe? del

[Northlander]

I had that problem and it was a broken sincro? Spelling? Or it could be shavings I guess. Take it back to the place that did the work and have them flush it over.

[deadeye]

I would take it back to the shop that did the work. If you were over the miles that are suggested for doing the tranny fluid change the flush might be more bad than good. The seals get accustomed to old crappy fluid and when new clean stuff is put in all the crud holding the seals together gets washed away. This is just what I have learned talking to the tranny shops I delevered parts to.
><>deadeye
to deliver parts to.

[upnorth]

Thanks for the responses. I guess that the 1st thing to do would be to bring it back to Valvoline where I had the flush done and see what they can do.

[rmh2o]

Did you recheck the fluid level after the vehicle was warm and running?

[Powerstroke]

I can think of 2 things that could also be affecting your Ranger.

First of all, I don't know if there is a formal recall, but the tranny in the Ranger is a pretty weak unit and I have known 2 different people know who are on their 3 tranny from Ford. Getting it checked out should be a priority as well as being reflushed.

Secondly, during the very cold weather, it is very easy to damage an auto tranny if you allow your engine to warm up while the truck is in Park. You are only warming the engine and then you unleash the full power of a warmed engine on a still cold tranny. My friends wife nuked her tranny in her Toyota because of her aggressive driving habits on a cold vehicle. This was 3 days ago.

[upnorth]

Just an update on this.

I took the truck into a tranny shop and had it fixed to the tune of $1840. I talked to the guy who did the repair and he there was two issues here.

1 just flushing and not changing the filter just stirs up the stuff at the bottom of the pan and clogs the filter and that is what really screwed things up for my truck.

2 they used the wrong tranny fluid. My truck called for synthetic fluid and they used regular Ford tranny fluid.

He told me if those flush machines really worked he would have one in his shop. He also said he gets quite a few cars and trucks in shortly after a flush for repairs. I don't think I will ever bring a vehicle in for a tranny flush again.

Hope someone else learns something from this experience

[FishinFix]

Flushing is bad for the seals. I was also told to drain and replace the filter and gasket.

PowerStroke,
What model does she have? On my 4-Runner the tranny dosen't shift into overdrive until it reaches the correct temp. Thus saving the tranny, so they say.

[bbells]

You know, I don't go to those quick lube places anymore. One truck they forgot to replace the radiator cap (in the winter) and I blew my head. Another time they put the wrong fluid in my transmission and differential in my 4wd pathfinder - AND overfilled the crankcase by 2.5 quarts. Just about wrecked the truck. Having had a Ranger I can tell you that they use nylon and brass bushings on the shift linkage and they don't last very long. If the fluids are right (which I doubt), you should check your linkage.