I have a 94 F150 5.0 E4OD 4X4 and the trans shifts very inconsistantly. The truck has 4.10 gears and 35 inch tires.
Anyway, i just bought the truck, drove it 3 times before i bought it, acted up once by shifting hard. I don't have plates for the truck yet, so i am mostly driving under 30 mph. But it is shifting very hard now all the time. rpms up to 2500 and bang it shifts hard even if i take off slow.
I had a friend scan the truck and the only thing that came up was a speed sensor error. I checked the connecter with a multimeter and was getting 4.95 volts with KOEoff, so i replaced the sensor.
The trans was rebuilt 40,000 miles ago and i have the reciept showing all the parts used. The TPS sensor was changed about 2 years ago and i just replaced the VSS sensor on the rear diff. I didn't reset the computer after the VSS change and i drove the truck for a bit and it still acted up. I noticed that when accelerating normally the truck seemed to start in second gear a lot, only when i stomped the gas it started in first. It didn't seem to go into overdrive at 40 mph either. Also, everytime i let off the gas then even slightly accelerate again it would drop a gear like i wanted a passing gear.
BUT.... when i would shift manually with the column shifter, the truck would shift fine through all the gears.
I am very confused. I am going to disconnect the battery for 15 minutes to reset the computer, maybe i didn't drive it long enough to correct? I am also going to clean off the neutral saftey switch and check the MLPS too.
And the fluid was supposedly changed 20,000 miles ago.

Anybody have any other ideas what the problem might be, i just don't know why it shifted fine manually?

Thank you,
-Greg

 

\Rebuild 40K ago, might be time for another one. These trannys do not mix well with big tires.

 

The tires have only been on the truck for 2000 miles, the tires before were stock size.

I disconnected the battery for a half hour and when i reconnected it the truck drove great for a few minutes, shifted just fine. Then it went back to hard erratic shifting.

While i had the battery disconnected i looked around the mlps on the trans and found lots of dried mud and dirt. I cleaned it up a bit but obviously that didnt really help. I am going to take it off, clean it, and readjust the cable. If that doesn't help i am going to replace it which i probably will anyway.

So VSS wasn't the problem, hopefully it is the MLPS.

 

Question for ya. When you bought your vss did you have any problems. I went to 3 different auto parts places asked for vss for 94 F-150 and what they gave me was kind of similar except it had a mechanical speedometer cable insert. So I finaly took off my vss and brought it in to them and they found something that atleast looked like it, a 91 antilock brake sensor.

 

Yea, I had problems finding one. I bought one from an auto parts store before i took the old one off. Got it off, completely different, went up there and they had two other types, neither matched (Both had clips for a speedo cable). Called another store, they had 4 different types and i explained what i had and they told me it might not look the same but it would still work.
So i decided to go to the dealer and sure enough they had the exact part and it was $10 cheaper than the auto part stores.