Strange tranny behavior

[Mark_BC]

Today I started up the 2000 limited after being parked on the street for about 4 days, on an uphill. I put it in drive and it doesn't want to move. The engine revs up fine and a little bit of the power is transferred but it creeps very slowly. 2nd is the same. But low and reverse worked fine. I pulled out of the parking spot in low. And drove up the street a bit. Then I notice that drive worked fine again, after a couple minutes. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? Maybe the gear selector linkage went out of adjustment? But why did it work after 2 minutes?

 

[plcfcng]

First check the fluid level then you may want to try pulling the pan look at whats in the bottom of it if it has a lot of junk time for a exchange or a rebuild.
if there is not a lot of junk in the bottom pull the filter clean and reinstall and refill trans and see what happens. If you need advice on whats in the bottom of the pan post a pic im sure someone could give you free or cheap/advice. A trans shop maybe a option they may look at it and tell you will just tell you to bring it in for a rebuild unless you know someone...
eep:

 

[thegipper]

Could have been a one time fluke, time will tell. Start with the basics, is your fluid level where it should be and how does it look/smell?

Have you ever dropped the pan and cleaned/replaced the filter?

If your fluid was low and you were parked on a hill (maybe plugged up filter too), the pump may have been starved initially until the pressure finally built up enough and everything started working again. That's my guess on face value...

 

[Mark_BC]

Yes fluid is fine. New to me truck so never dropped the pan. One theory is that maybe a hose on the cooler I put in isn't snug and being on an incline it was a high point and some air got in there. On startup this air went to the torque converter so there was no fluid coupling until fluid went back in? IDK, I have no idea how the torque converter works.

 

[Bad Luck]

Yes fluid is fine. New to me truck so never dropped the pan. One theory is that maybe a hose on the cooler I put in isn't snug and being on an incline it was a high point and some air got in there. On startup this air went to the torque converter so there was no fluid coupling until fluid went back in? IDK, I have no idea how the torque converter works.

1) You would be leaking transmission fluid if your cooler lines were not "snug".
2) Your transmission cooler is after the transmission. Fluid gets picked up through the pan, pressurized by the pump, routed through the valve body and pistons, sent to the torque converter, exits the transmission to your transmission cooler, then returns from the cooler to the transmission pan.

 

[VernySanders]

My theory is that the pump was starved a little bit because all the fluid had settled to one side of the trans being that it was on an incline. It sounds like the way my trans acted all the time before I dropped the pan and changed the filter out. It makes sense that once the fluid circulated around it operated normally.

 

[Quantumkiwi]

Yes fluid is fine. New to me truck so never dropped the pan. One theory is that maybe a hose on the cooler I put in isn't snug and being on an incline it was a high point and some air got in there. On startup this air went to the torque converter so there was no fluid coupling until fluid went back in? IDK, I have no idea how the torque converter works.

I think the torque converter holds something like 5 quarts of ATF, so this seems a little implausible to me. If it happens again, I would make sure it is in D by wiggling the gear selector slightly. When I put my BL on, mine was a bit out of alignment for a week or two before I realigned it and would sometimes only be halfway engaged.