Hi everyone, I just had a 97 Ford Ranger with a 3 speed overdrive transmission in my garage that we replaced the transmission because it was not shifting down into first gear, not even manually!. The new transmission is doing the exact same thing as the original. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Did you do anything with the valve body? Bad separator plates and gaskets cause problems in our '97s.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...st-gear-2.html

Check out TSB 03-22-10.

 

First thing that you need to know is that Ford never made a 3 speed overdrive transmission. If it has a Ford transmission and not some homemade transmission it is either a four speed overdrive or a five speed overdrive.

The place to start the diagnostics is by checking for codes. You need a high end scan tool with Ford specific software to read transmission codes. The generic OBDII code readers like you'll find at the auto parts stores will NOT read these codes.

 

I was not sure if it were 3 or 4 speed overdrive, it just has 1,2 D with the O around the D symbol. I just do this kind of work on the side and do not think it to be good for me to spend that kind of money for the scan tool and software for a single use. The thing I find interesting is that we have 2 transmissions out of 2 different trucks that have the exact same problem. The owner of the truck has told me that someone went in and was tinkering with the overdrive controls in the gear shift lever, could this cause any shifting issues, and if so, what kind of issues?

 

Since there is no such thing as a 3 speed overdrive we'll assume it is a four speed overdrive.

Since two transmissions do the same thing the problem is external to the transmission. If you knew what codes were stored I might be able to help you. Without the codes about all I can tell you is swapping the transmission is a waste. That won't fix what's wrong.

I don't see how anything in the gear shift lever could prevent it from shifting into 1.

 

Honest mistake, I'm sure if we were all fully equipped automotive master mechanics we wouldn't have much need for forums

Lets start with some of the basic information first.
-What is the engine size? 2.3 3.0 4.0 etc
-4x2 or 4x4?
-Body model? XL,XLT etc
-There should be some numbers on the transmissions themselves (ID Tag), what are the numbers? (from both transmissions)
-When did these issues first begin occurring? (Did you buy the truck with these problems? Did they just begin occurring one day out of the blue?)

It is very hard to say what exactly your issue is without the codes (and more information), so you might look at buying a cheap TCM scan tool online some ware. I have seen them come as low as $45

That said I'm going to point you in the direction of the TCM and have you start looking there. If you put two IDENTICAL transmissions in the truck and they both are doing the same thing it most likely is a problem with the TCM (Transmission Control Module). There are not many parts that would affect the transmissions shifting from outside of the transmission. Your shifter is not one of them.

It is not unheard of for two or more used Ford ranger/explorer transmissions to have the same issues. Your issue is a very common one in fact for many un-maintained Ford transmissions, so it IS still possible there is a problem with both transmissions... (just keep that in mind)