My DUH moment!

[Ranger Mark]

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere yet, probably just too simple for anyone to miss except me.

'96 ranger 3.0 2x4 extended cab with 4r44e.
Before you decide to pull apart your tranny, check your coolant level. My trans was slipping between 2nd and 3rd gears when it was warmed up and moderate acceleration. The temp gauge was only slightly higher than normal but we had over 100° temps so I didn't pay attention to it. I went to do a fluid check this weekend and found the coolant level down. I filled it then had to run somewhere and figured I'd deal with the trans later. All the slipping and hard shifts dissapeared.
Moral of the story?
Keep your auto trans cool!!
Hope this saves someone some money.

 

[fixizin]

Good to know... because of that mini "radiator" for the ATF, right?... and one of MANY reasons I only fly M5OD, lulz. The manual trans runs ATF too, but it stays relatively cool because it's just splashing around at ambient pressure, NOT getting the snot squeezed out of it by high pressure pump, which also HEATS the life out of it. At 60k miles mine was still red.

OTOH, I have 4WD, so there's a MICRO-radiator for the power-steering... literally like 4 square inches... not sure how much good it does, but it is a convenient bleed point.