5R44E '01 slips and punches back into gear

[OilRig]

I have a 2001 Ford Ranger 3.0 L V6, with a 5R44E transmission. I bought it off a previous owner knowing it had transmission issues. The guy towed his boat on the highway and went over 3rd and must have blew out the torque converter. It would hard shift and slip out of gear. Also It would not go into overdrive. Anyway I dropped the tranny and replaced the torque converter with a rebuilt one. With the new torque converter it shifts very smoothly. The only problem is that on cold starts, after I would go to my first stop sign and stand still for a bit, when I move past the stop sign the transmission slips for a sec before punching hard back into gear. Then it shifts nice and has no slippage after that, works just fine. It also does this when I stop on a hill, it slips and punches violently into gear again. This only happens at my first stop sign after a cold start, (when I park and leave before it gets cold it does not do it) and on hills. When its a cold start and I go another way that doesnt have a stop sign it doesnt do this, its only right after I stop, or I stop on hills. Short term solution would be to just avoid that first stop and hills. Its not showing any codes, occasionally a warning light comes on. My trans fluid level seems right. Can anyone think of what's going on?

 

[Burnsy]

You could try changing out the speed sensor on top of the differential, it's a $20 part and only takes 10 minutes to install.......

 

[Burnsy]

Flashing OD Light & Hard Shift on automatic Ford. Replace Transmission or install $20 Speed Sensor?

This is the YouTube video that saved my tranny, ,not sure if I posted a link or if you'll have to search it

 

[Burnsy]

Did you figure it out ?

 

[OilRig]

I put some Lucas anti slip in it, which might have helped. I replaced the belt cause it was squeaking (unrelated). But what it really came down to was having the exact right amount of oil in the transmission. I had too much at some point which it ran fine on but it was Over the cross hairs on the trans oil dipstick. It persisted when the oil was over filled. So I let a lot out, too low. Then I ran the engine while I carefully added more oil. The trans is just super touchy on the exact amount. So I just added slowly while it ran to get it perfectly in the high range of the dipstick crosshairs. It doesn’t really slip fully out anymore which is great. However I’m still getting a check engine for the tcm. One of the tcm connections is corroded, so I either need to replace the tcm or the male connector for it, just haven’t got around to it. The od light is still blinking which must be related to the tcm, but the trans oil pump is still probably messed up, which I could live with, rebuild at trans shop would be 3k so I would just try to get a junk yard trans and replace, but that’s far down the road.

 

[OilRig]

I put some Lucas anti slip in it, which might have helped. I replaced the belt cause it was squeaking (unrelated). But what it really came down to was having the exact right amount of oil in the transmission. I had too much at some point which it ran fine on but it was Over the cross hairs on the trans oil dipstick. It persisted when the oil was over filled. So I let a lot out, too low. Then I ran the engine while I carefully added more oil. The trans is just super touchy on the exact amount. So I just added slowly while it ran to get it perfectly in the high range of the dipstick crosshairs. It doesn’t really slip fully out anymore which is great. However I’m still getting a check engine for the tcm. One of the tcm connections is corroded, so I either need to replace the tcm or the male connector for it, just haven’t got around to it. The od light is still blinking which must be related to the tcm, but the trans oil pump is still probably messed up, which I could live with, rebuild at trans shop would be 3k so I would just try to get a junk yard trans and replace, but that’s far down the road.

In regards to the vss, I bought one but then I saw that it was new (prev owner must have replaced it) so I didn’t bother.