Ill have to assume that some of you have had this trouble, so Ill ask the experts.
When my truck sits for hours and I put it in gear, the transmission takes forever to shift into second gear. After it shifts in 2nd, it shifts normal until it sits again for a long period of time.
I have no idea when the filter was changed last, so that will be my first thing to try. Other than that have any of you had this trouble?

 

by long, do you mean:

It holds first until the last possible moment

-or-

It hangs in neutral between gears for a noticable amount of time

?

When i got mine, I had the latter on the 2-3 shift. band-aided it with a TV adjust.

 

It stays locked in first gear for a long time. Also the motor sounds loud like the fan clutch is engaged. I checked it and the clutch spins freely with some drag.That didnt make much sense did it? lol

 

is the noise like a roar? my 3.9 does that every blue moon...if i put it in neutral, shut it off while rolling, then re-fire it, it goes back to normal.

 

Thats the sound but your fix is odd...lol Wonder what the problem is?

 

Well i would change your tranny fluid and filter, and have your bands adjusted. That should take care of it. After 100,000 you have to do that to these trucks.

 

Is this something that can be done without taking the valve body off? Ive never done it but I am very tool friendly.

 

I did a search and found this on another forum....
There are no bands in a 545RFE. The 42RE, 44RE, and 46RE use bands. The 545RFE uses clutch packs. All you do on them is drop the pan and replace 2 filters. One is a spin on. You want to get the spin on from the dealer or somewhere that goes through lots of filters so you get a later filter because there was an earlier batch with a bad valve that would lose pressure after you parked the car. Most of those should be sold out by now anyway.

 

Ok so this is going to sound absolutely crazy, even the dodge mecanic of 18 yrs couldnt believe it.
I have a 98 dakota 5.2 and was having the same problem but when mine warmed up it stopped. I went throygh this every morning. I had the trans rebuild under an extended warranty i had. (TWICE) still had the problem. Brought it to dodge...still had the problem after they pulled it. The the Dodge Mechanic noticed a code that was not setting the light off. It was an O2 sensor code. He replaced the sensor and It has been fine ever since. He figured it was shorting out and causing the ECU to act up.

 

Ill have to go to Autozone and have mine checked while Im getting filters and oil.Thanks for the tip!