I've got a newly acquired '97 ranger (auto) with relatively low milage (120k kms) and now that temperatures are starting to drop i've been noticing that when i start the engine cold, she doesnt seem to want to go in gear. The problem seems to go away once it warms up, but when i back out of my driveway in the morning, then put it in drive, the engine will just rev for a second and then lurch into gear - sometimes when driving it will rev pretty high when accelerating then lurch to higher gears. diagnosis?

 

well with it being colder the fluid is thicker and that will cause it to shift harder until it warms up...there is some sort of sensor in the tranny that is supposed to read the fluid temp and adjust the fluid pressure accordingly...is your o/d off light flashing

 

no o/d light - checked fluid and its got quite a bit of metal shavings. I'm thinking when the fluid gets more vicsous with the cold weather, its making it difficult for the engine to shift and thus its chewing. dropped it off at a mechanic tonight, hoping he can make some sense of it without replacing the tranny. fingers crossed

 

uh metal shavings in the fluid is never a good thing