My transmission has started acting weird. When it's cold it seems to be not as bad. First thing is when I put it in reverse it hesitates for a few seconds then goes into gear. Second it will drive great then just out of no where start shifting very hard then go back to shifting smooth again. Third when pulling a load it won't always start in 1st gear when you come to a complete stop sometimes it tries to start off in 4th. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

First - what engine and year? How many miles, how old is the fluid and what is the level? A pause of about 1 second appears to be normal for the shift from Park/Neutral to either Reverse or Drive.

 

05 excursion it has 139,000 miles
6.0
I bought it with bout 118-120,000 miles on it. I have no clue how old the fluid is but it seems to be clean and not burnt. The level is good too.

 

??? I guess nothing

 

The first thing to do is get it scanned for codes. Auto parts stores that read codes free can't read these codes.

 

My scanner does not pick them up and I have a transmission code that somebody with a good scanner told me about. Cheap scanners are good for some things I guess

 

I have about 4k more miles than you on the same combo... '05 6.0. Never experienced any of the last issues you mentioned. But the shifting from D -> R does hesitate as you mentioned...to the point it will almost make the engine lope sometimes. Mine was flushed with full filter change about 20k miles ago. Did it before then, and still does it...with no codes being spit out. Depending on which tune I run, shift firmness varies, but stock it's like butter.

 

I don't have a lot of experience with the Torque shift - seems reliable enough that I've only done fluid and filter changes on them. Definitely get it scanned soon to see what codes are present.

 

Check for codes first, then if it's not toasted - I would change the transmission fluid and filter. For all you know, it has the original fluid from the factory with 139,000 miles on it.