Hello! I've read quite a lot of older posts on this issue, but not many have updated if they solved this problem. My 1995 F150 4x4 with E4OD trans that I recently acquired as a non-runner has an issue I just came across now that I finally have it running. Vehicle has about 110K miles.

When I move the gear shifter from park to reverse, or from drive to reverse, the transmission takes a long-ish time until it goes into gear (maybe 4 seconds after selecting R), but does so with brutal force, extremely high pressure. Hot or cold, it does the same thing. Shifting the lever into drive, it makes the shift very smooth and quick. All of the forward gears work normally, no rough shifting while driving.

I have the TPS set to .96V with the throttle closed, idle speed is about 800 rpm in park.

Anyone know if this is usually an internal problem with the trans? Or maybe a bad/misaligned MLPS? Fluid appears clean and nice and red in color. Coincidentally, I checked all of the lights before taking it for its first drive, I noticed that the reverse bulbs were burned out. No idea if that has anything to do with reverse gear engagement. I replaced the bulbs, but no change.

I've read that this is quite common in these trucks. I have a 96 F150 with this same engine/trans setup as this 95, both with 351W/E4OD but my 96 doesn't have this issue, it shifts buttery smooth all of the time, including into reverse and it has over 200K miles.

 

I would start by checking the transmission pressures. Knowing what the pressure is would allow the next step to be in the right direction.

 

My truck did this.
No codes stored, slammed hard into reverse, forward gears fine, always.
Previous owner had some sort of shift kit, or had modified the internals to make it shift firm in forward gears, but it also shifted hard into reverse.
The few second delay of shifting I believe is normal, some are slower than others.

I swapped my trans to one that I had previously rebuilt myself, solved.

I still have the old trans, haven't had time to take apart and see if it is internal issues or just the MLPS.