My truck is a 96, 4wd, automatic, 5.2. Last spring I installed a set of electric cooling fans and, in retrospect, promptly lost my overdrive and 1st gear.

I spent the summer kinda looking for my lost gears. Changed the trannie oil, replaced the tranny solenoids and sensor, etc. No joy in mudville.

So Thursday, I finally broke down and took it to a transmission shop (I generally lump transmission shops in with confidence games and ponzie schemes.) Figuring if it required it, I'd drop a grand into having my transmission work right.

Well, the guy called back yesterday to tell me my truck was fixed and to bring along $114! Whew! Turned out that when I installed the electric fan controller, I used the fan relay in the under-hood electric distribution box--pulled the relay and plugged the wire into the hot side of the relay. And left the relay out--no stock electric cooling fan on a V8, so what's the harm?

Turns out that the stock fan relay also controls the electrics for the transmission. A hidden function. Doh!

Nice to have my 1st gear back. Truck is almost, tho not quite, fast!

 

good and honest tranny guy...........was he an independent or chain shop?

 

Indie. I yelped him 5 stars.

 

He charged you $114 to install a relay and run a power wire? That sounds high to me.

 

Lots of diagnosis time.

But also it's kind of a relief factor. I figger'd that the trannie was shot and that I'd need like a grand's worth of work. Getting off waaay below what I had budgeted and how nice it's now driving was worth it to me.

If you think about it, I'm fairly ignorant (as most of us are) about most things related to automatic transmissions. He could have made up a story and charged me $500 and I wouldn't have squeeked.

 

Oh, I didn't think of that. At shop rates of $60+++ per hour it sure wouldn't take long to rack up a hundred bucks.

And I agree, most Auto Trans problems require high-level wizardry to diagnose. I just rebuilt mine and I can't imagine what inspired someone to design something so complex. I felt like a simpleton, just looking at pictures and following directions on what to replace and how tight to torque bolts.

So with that considered, congrats on the easy fix! Buy the tech a case of beer.

Ivan

 

I'm finally gonna get around to doing my eFan soon... Wonder if the relay is the same in my '95? We shall see!

 

I ended up stuffing a stripped wire down the hot lug of the A/C relay. A/C works fine, fans work fine. Joy in Mudville to-night, mighty Casey's at Bat!