I have an '04 250 automatic. The transmission seems to be slow to shift into reverse. The problem seems to be a little worse in cold weather after the truck has been sitting overnight.

Is this normal, or do I need to make a trip to the dealership and beg for a rebuild?

 

You certainly don't need a rebuild. At the worst you have a bad solenoid. How long it too long? Use a stopwatch and time it.

 

I will put a clock on it in the morning. I would say that reverse takes about 2 to 3 times longer to fully lock in than drive on a normal basis.

In the morning recently, it may take a second or 2 till I feel the "thump" as it locks in.

I guess what I am wondering is do these transmissions normally take longer to engage reverse than the forward gears?

I will post in the a.m. after it sits over night.

 

My '06 is doing the same thing. In the morning when i start her up and put her in reverse it takes about 1.5sec to feel that little thumb into the gear.

 

My 01 SD CC with the V10 takes what I consider to be a longer-than-usual time to shift into reverse (about a second and a half). I say longer-than-usual because the tranny in my Dodge Ram and my Chevy work van shift almost immediately into reverse.

 

UPDATE...

In the cold of the morning on a flat surface I started the engine and after a one min. I shifted into reverse. So I could tell when it was fully in, I let off the brake. After about 2 seconds, it kind of half shifted into reverse. There was a slight shuttering like it was slipping, the truck started to roll a little bit, then at the 3 second mark there was a distinct thump and the truck started rolling like I would have expected it would if the trans was fully engaged.

After that, any other shift took about 1.5 seconds to engage.

Thoughts??

 

If its under warranty take it in,if it isn't take it somewhere that you trust.
If fluid levels are okay and have been changed(including filter) I would suspect you have something going wrong.These trannys have lots of electronic controls now and they go bad.But waiting for this to fail totally could cost you more money in the long run.
Rich

 

My 2000 dually does the exact same thing. I doesn't slip at all in reverse or forward and works perfectly other than the 2 second delay going into reverse. It doesn't really bother me much. While under warranty, I took it to the ford dealership in Anchorage and they said that nearly all of them do this and I believe them because mine did it from day one. All of that was four years ago and I have logged 125,000 trouble free miles on it since then. I change the fluid annually. Biannually I change the filter and have it "flushed" at the tranny shop. The delay into reverse has not gotten worse or changed at all. Being a mechanic but not a trans doctor, I would say that this feels like a valve body problem. I'm personally not too worried about it. However, if it is under warrantee coverage, you should get it repaired.

 

You guys with the TS better get it in to the dealer while it is under warranty. This is assuming you want the same junk parts reinstalled. It could be a solenoid as mentioned, but it is more than likely the snap ring or the planetary's. My vote is for the snap ring. Same problem they had last year about this time.

I have an '04 550 and an '05 550. Last year the '04 lost the snap ring and cracked the case. Dealer rebuilt it minus the updated planetary's. This was after this truck had been in 4 times for delayed and\or harsh shifting into reverse. Guess what happened last week again. Snap ring and cracked case again. Ford is nice enough to cover the case, overhaul kit and TC; I am paying a local tranny shop to rebuild the tranny with the TransGo shift kit and their snap ring which is supposedly 400% stronger than Ford's. I am also probably going to cover the planetary's which the SA told me was upgraded, but he is either an idiot or can't read because the repair order shows the TC replaced. The '05 had the shift kit and snap ring installed before winter set in. It also had the planetary's go out in less than 500 miles.

Service manager wanted to know why I didn't bring it back to them to repair under warranty. Told him I lost money every day this truck was down in the winter and my customers are sort of dependent on me plowing and salting their lots with this truck and I can't depend on the junk that Ford makes him install. Last year it was in his lot for 2 weeks because of the parts shortages.

So my advice is get it checked out, make them tear it down and inspect and\or replace the snap ring as well as the planetary's.

 

I bet when plowing snow the delay could get really frostrating. I have a new theory on the delay problem you are having. Having rebuilt a few trannies in my day and being required to take many auto tranmissions apart while attending tech school and put them back together in working condition, I think I know a little about automatic transmissions. I can't believe it has been 5 years that I have been ASE certified in drive train. Time flies I guess. Like I said, I am no trans doctor, but it is likely the guy at ford isn't either and could have it wrong. I have a new idea. The harsh shifting into reverse is because the driver has his foot on the accelerator while waiting for the SLOW valve body (this doesn't throw any codes because electronically it is funtional) to get the stupid thing in reverse gear. I have seen others be impatient with this as well. When it does shift the driver feel this huge clunk. I can see why a person would ruin some planetaries and wreck snaprings after doing that for a while. As far as the snap ring, they are kind of weak, you're right. My buddy's 95 7.3 PSD just ate one, but it lasted 200,000 miles before it went. They can go anytime. I have traced the fluid passages on the trans schematic and I am really having a hard time believing a snap ring would cause the delay into reverse. Snap rings don't control fluid. They keep the clutch packs where they are suppose to be. The planetaries don't really have much to do with fluid either and wouldn't cause a delayed shift. Not to argue at all here with Mark O., because I know what he said went out on his truck did go out. I just think they found the broken parts and didn't look into why it was breaking (the dealer doesn't get paid for this), which is why it keeps doing it so frequently. As far as for me, my dually is out of waranty and I will am going to pull the pan one of these days to pull the valve body and to replace the slow actuator. If that doesn't do it I guess I will pull it, take it apart and check everything. For the meanwhile, I let my tranny take as long as it wants while shifting into reverse and never give it any power until it is fully engaged. So far, no troubles other than losing a second or two of my life here and there. Once engaged it is very firm and there is no slippage in any gears. As I said before, and as Mark O said, if it is under waranty and you can live without your truck for a while, you should be getting it repaired as soon as possible.

 

I can't argue the technical facts with you, because I know basically nothing about transmissions, only what my rebuilder is telling me, and they have been in the tranny business for over 35 years.

The delay\harsh shifting is not (always) from the operator stepping on the gas before the tranny engages. I absolutely, positively guarantee this. I drove this truck occasionally and had it happen to me several times. From park into reverse, nothing, nothing and then the whole truck would move\jerk when it did engage. No foot on the gas. Not to say it didn't happen, but this was not the case. Rebuilder says one of the pressures in the tranny is over 400 PSI before the shift kit, which is what is causing the problems. Shift kit reduces it by almost 25%.

Secondly, the tranny in my '04 was slipping bad in reverse both times it went out. I can't tell you what this has to do with fluids, snap rings, etc but that is what they are telling me was wrong this time.

The delayed engagement on my '05 was from the planetary retaining pins. Once again, I can't get into the technical aspect, but when they replaced the pins with the updated ones, the problem went away.

Might want to check the TSB's and other stuff Ford sent out last year about this time about TS's and the related problems. Snap ring 'kind of weak' is an understatement. Take a look at how many cracked tranny cases Ford had last year and get back to me.

Forgot to mention, but my '05 350 has absolutely no delay when shifting into reverse. Have to get back in the habit of waiting to shift, like I did with our Dodges. All my Ford's since have that delay, sort of got me out of the bad habit of shifting before stopping.
If you would like me to get more technical, I will either get the info from my rebuilder or I will get you his phone number and you 2 can argue about what is causing my TS's to fall apart.

 

Yours is certainly doing something different than mine that is for sure. It sounds like I will be tearing mine apart sometime soon, that is if it doesn't tear itself apart. I had heard from a lot of my old friends (in passing at the part warehouse) that they rebuild these like crazy and they keep asking when they are going to rebuild mine. Maybe mine is holding together on wing and a prayer....If so I am going to keep on praying. Good explaination on your thread. I really appreciate the specific information. By the way, does it still cost 3,300 dollars for a good quality aftermarket rebuild? Maybe I better be setting some money aside.

 

You hit it the nail on the head with the price. I don't have the final tally on the one that cracked the case, I'm picking it up today. They had some numbers to finalize with the dealer on what would\wouldn't be warrantied.

The one that we had done before it grenaded was just under $2K. It only needed the shift kit and snap ring upgrade. They keep telling me that the TC looks very strong and is not the weak part of this transmission and that there is not much to upgrade on it.

 

Good luck with you your new tranny. After all you have been through, you deserve one that will outlast the rest of your truck. Thanks for the good information.

 

I took it into Ford today complaining about the slow shift into reverse and they added a bottle of gear lude or fiction modifier in the tranny fluid to help. So far today it hasnt done it once since I got it back from the stealership but I gatta wait and see if it starts doing it again.

I will keep posted.