i have a 99 dakota 5.2 with the auto w/ overdrive trans. it has about 54,000 miles on it and i dont normally drive it in the winter(two wheel drive). only when i wanna have fun doin donuts and what not do i really drive it in the winter. any way lately ive had to drive it and i noticed when its cold the trans wont shift until over 3 grand, if i play a little i cant kinda talk it into shifting, but it doesnt seem to want to. about 5 - 10 minutes into driving it shifts fine though. so since i dont normally drive it when its cold i dont know if its always been this way. anybody have any ideas?

 

What gear does it not shift into? Sounds like hard seals to me. When the trans is cold, the seals for the clutch pistons are too stiff to seal properly. Once the trans warms up, the seals get soft and start to seal. Probably needs resealed/rebuilt. Good luck.

 

thank you, and its most noticeable on the 1-2 shift but its slow to shift into each gear.

 

I have a 2004 Dakota and I have noticed something of the same as you are talking about but my issue is when going to overdrive. I recently had the valve control body replaced in the trans due to it sticking in third gear. But as you have stated here, when it is cold out, my truck tends to not shift into overdive until it has been on the road for the first ten minutes. I wonder if I could be having the same type of issue as you are? Not too sure about the seals, I wouldn't think they are bad being I only have 13,000 on it. I have an automatic 4.7L 287 SFI and mine is 4x4 as well. Let me know if you get any advice on this issue. Thanks and good luck.

 

okay, same to you