2004 5.4L V8 Trans slipping in 2nd Gear

[robdoghorton]

My 04 5.4L V8 Transmission started slipping last weekend. Seems that when the transmission is cold, it is worse. Feels like it is not getting enough pressure to engage the gear. Once it is warmed up, it shifts normal all the way up through the gears. Stays shifting fine between 3rd and 4th but once I slow down and it wants to shift into 2nd gear, I have to manually shift it to 2nd and then it kicks in and shifts up good again. Seems that it needs the manual force to make it shift.

I checked the fluid level and ended up putting in 2 qts. The shifting got better after I added in the 2 qts. I don't have a very heavy level on the dip stick and don't want to overfill, but I don't know if it still is low. Problem is, I have no leakage anywhere. Repeat, I have no leakage anywhere... Bizarre...

Can it be a filter? If so, where is the filter located. Any ideas would be great...

 

[joezek]

how many miles on it? I've heard lots of stories of people who mistakenly paid for a tranny overhaul when all it really needed was the gear position sensor. Apparently that sensor goes bad and causes havoc, and of course the tranny shops purposely don't diagnose it, they just tell you it needs to be overhauled.

So my point is, check that sensor. For mine, I hooked up my SCT programmer to the laptop, and used the SCT livescan software. It lets me choose which engine sensors I want and to monitor them. I was able to visually see which gear it's in and whether the TCC was engaged or not. It even lets you monitor the amount of torque converter slippage.

 

[jacks3am]

You should drop the pan and do a fluid & filter exchange. You have to drop the tranny pan!!