chester4Run
New member
No, not really, but it sure seemed like it. 
Story time:
Last week the auto transmission in my 94 stopped working. My son was driving it and he described a loss of engagement (slipping, but not jerky) as it warmed up, then complete loss of gear. I picked it up a few hours later and it seemed normal for about 200 yards, then gradually lost engagement over about 50 yards, then it was like it was in neutral no matter what gear was selected.
I kept it rolling most of the way home and pushed it the last bit. After cooling down I managed to get it into the garage, but barely. After that it wouldn't engage any gear even after completely cooling off. The previous owner told me he replaced the transmission solenoids before selling it to me. I recall the fluid looked pretty bad (milky and oily) when I changed it after taking possession. I decided to change the filter and solenoids.
Upon getting in there the solenoids had been changed. They had the pigtail wiring rather than the side-mounted factory connectors I've seen in youtube vids. I changed them all with the ATP RE-5 solenoid kit. I was trying to stay on the upper end of the quality scale due to the time required to reseal the pan, but I don't know a lot about these solenoids.
The ones I took out were identical to what I put in. There were no identifying numbers on them, but the brackets were made in the US on both sets. Afterward the truck shifts great, and the cruise control works again too! (been trying to figure that out for a while)
Kudos to all those who preceded me with this repair and documented the symptoms and solution so well. I was thinking I'd be swapping the transmission.
Has anyone had solenoids fail again inside 10K miles, or had any experience with the ATP brand? I'm wondering what I should expect. The kit was $163, definitely not the cheapest out there.
Story time: Last week the auto transmission in my 94 stopped working. My son was driving it and he described a loss of engagement (slipping, but not jerky) as it warmed up, then complete loss of gear. I picked it up a few hours later and it seemed normal for about 200 yards, then gradually lost engagement over about 50 yards, then it was like it was in neutral no matter what gear was selected.
I kept it rolling most of the way home and pushed it the last bit. After cooling down I managed to get it into the garage, but barely. After that it wouldn't engage any gear even after completely cooling off. The previous owner told me he replaced the transmission solenoids before selling it to me. I recall the fluid looked pretty bad (milky and oily) when I changed it after taking possession. I decided to change the filter and solenoids.
Upon getting in there the solenoids had been changed. They had the pigtail wiring rather than the side-mounted factory connectors I've seen in youtube vids. I changed them all with the ATP RE-5 solenoid kit. I was trying to stay on the upper end of the quality scale due to the time required to reseal the pan, but I don't know a lot about these solenoids.
The ones I took out were identical to what I put in. There were no identifying numbers on them, but the brackets were made in the US on both sets. Afterward the truck shifts great, and the cruise control works again too! (been trying to figure that out for a while)
Kudos to all those who preceded me with this repair and documented the symptoms and solution so well. I was thinking I'd be swapping the transmission.
Has anyone had solenoids fail again inside 10K miles, or had any experience with the ATP brand? I'm wondering what I should expect. The kit was $163, definitely not the cheapest out there.
