Transmission Failure Symptoms

[T4RBoarder]

Start stupid questions:


The past two 3rd gens that I have owned were both pre-electronic control transmissions (98 and 99) and pre-failure prone like I've seen on the 01-02s?

My question is, are the 01-02 transmissions really more failure prone than the 96-00s? Do they have different shifting characteristics, the newer ones I've looked at seem to shift different than what I remember? What are the main symptoms of imminent failure/doom on these?

End stupid questions.:ybrick:

 

[jgue467]

Not sure if any MY fail more/less often or differences in shift characteristics, but in general slipping, slipping shifts, no shifts would be indications of significant issues already happening or worse to come.

 

[T4RBoarder]

I guess I noticed the main difference in the 1>2 shift, in my previous trucks it was a rather firm shift while this '01 was a more subtle shift/slip into gear. No rpm spikes or hesitation, just very different feeling.

 

[jgue467]

Yeah my 01 is buttery smooth on shifts, which doesn't seem as good as a firm shift but hey it works. Many of the tranny failures i've heard of on here are related to 4WDs that come with factory tranny coolers embedded in the radiator's lower portion, they bleed into the radiator then suck the coolant into the tranny and kaboom end of tranny. Bypassing with a new trans cooler or new radiator solves that.

 

[JayRolla]

Agreed the newer ones are smoother. When testing the 96-98 models I noticed 1st to 2nd is a solid shift as where my buddy's 99 1st to second is real smooth can barely feel it.

Like stated, hesitation from stop, jerking from stop, slipping during gear change that allows rpms to rise before it finally shifts. Stuff like that.

 

[gamefreakgc]

What others have said about the rising rpms before shifting. Basically right before a transmissions starts to fail it will "coast" between shifts and the RPM's will be all over the place. My brother had a *cough* Ford *cough* that had a failing transmission. Boy, you can't miss it and was extremely hard to drive.

As long as your transmission still shifts it's working fine. May not be a good as brand new but as long as it is shifting gears it's still doing what it is designed to do.

 

[T4RBoarder]

Thanks for the info guys, I took the dive and picked up my '01 Sport Thurs night.