Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Transmission seems stuck when starting in cold weather

[Mike129]

Hi, all.



I have a 12V '98 automatic. Recently it has started behaving oddly (sometimes) in cold weather. If it is cold (in the high teens or colder) and the truck has been sitting for many hours (like my typical 12-hour work day), the engine starts fine, but when I put it in drive the transmission acts like it is locked up. The truck won't move. If I depress the accelerator, it will stall out at 1200-1400 RPM. If I put it in reverse and then into drive, everything is fine. Any ideas what's up?



(Apologies in advance, as I bet this has been discussed before. I did some searches, but I must not be using the right words to find the previous postings. )



Thanks!

--Mike

 

[ak_fleming]

Sounds typical of extreme cold weather. Try a good warm up in neutral, remember that the transmission fluid won't circulate in park.

 

[CMckee]

mine was doing the same thing. it would start out in third gear unless you selected 1st, then it would drop into 2nd. i took it to my transmission shop and they pulled a code off that said the govenor pressure sensor was reading low. we replaced the sensor and it has been fine since. the sensor was $185. 00.

the code puts the transmission in limp mode and if i restarted the truck after it was warm it would be fine.

 

[Mike129]

Thanks, AK. I'll give that a shot. It's 60 here now, so I may have to wait a bit to try it. (Oh, darn! )



CM, did your problem only occur in the cold weather? *If* the truck was stuck in 3rd, it would probably behave the way mine is... .



Thanks, guys!

 

[CMckee]

yeah it would do it untill i got to where i was going and the truck warmed up, then after i shut it off and restarted it it would be fine for the rest of the day. it only started doing it when the temp dropped to -25c and below for a couple of weeks up here. when the trans shop cleared the code it was fine for the rest of the day as well, so the code would also disapear when the key was turned off apparently. but it's been fine ever since we changed the sensor.

 

[Mike129]

Okay. I'll test these theories when it gets cold enough again... .



Thanks!