It's been getting really cold here in WI, single digits and I noticed with the cold weather that the transmission in my 04 1500 4WD doesn't shift into OD for a few miles. I let the truck warm up before I leave work after sitting all day in the cold, however it takes a few miles for OD to kick in. I park in a heated garage at night so this isn't a problem in the morning.

Is this something I should be worried about, everything else seems fine, just takes time for the OD to kick in.

 

I know my '08 takes a few miles before O/D kicks in and that's on a hot sunny day. It's possible you just might be paying more attention to the shifts now that it's winter because they are a little aggressive when the fluid is cold.

 

All vehicles do that in this part of the country. Everything is so cold... a good way to help reduce this is to let the pickup run and put it into nuteral that way the torque converter will move the fluid around. It will take less time, but you have to let your vehicle run a few minutes...
my mechanic told me it does it to prevent excessive wear since the fluid is extremely thick. Nothing was made to operate when it get in the negative degree's without any wind.

Or get a heating magnite and place it on the transmition pan... that way it will keep the fluid warm and will eleminate that problem also.

 

amsoil baby! just start her up and go. driving warms it up quicker anyways so you aren't sitting in a cold vehicle waiting for it to warm up or going outside and starting it then running back outside again and wasting fuel. just don't romp on a cold truck, then you'll be fine. but's that's just what i do, maybe i've been lucky. ha!

 

read your owners manual.

that's completely normal.

 

I believe there is setpoint for the trans and/or engine temp before PCM allows shift into 5th gear and torque converter lockup. When cold, my '06 takes a bit of freeway driving at 70mph before it goes into 5th and locks torque converter.