Okay, I just noticed this recently. Letting my truck sit at work all day I get in it to go home. I put it in reverse.. It works perfect.. pull out.. come to a complete and total stop, shift into drive and it doesnt quite go in fully? If I wait 10 seconds or so it finally does it, if I give it some gas it seems to slide into gear. Acts as if its partially in gear maybe already? But once it gets going its fine. I can go through stop signs, I can still break traction with the tires (I dont do this ever but I did it just to see if the transmission would slip) and it seems to shift fine with no slippage. Is this a bad sign?

Its a 04 short bed, 2wd with the 4.7 with a automatic transmission. 97K miles.
I checked the fluid in neutral right after starting it and its between cold and hot so without it being warm I think its at a normal level? I figure next week ill get the oil changed and ill ask my mechanic about it, he doesnt really do transmission work. He will put in a new one, change fluid, flush it, all that but he doesnt rebuild them or anything. Should I ditch the truck, trade it in before something catastraphic happens or is this possibly just a normal thing that I just noticed? It doesnt seem to clunk into gear or anything but it needs a extra push it seems to get it going. Checked it for errors, no error codes yet.

 

I remember seeing something about the early 3rd gens having some sort of issue with the transmission filter. It may be clogged or if recently changed may be the wrong one; I think there may even be two. There was a fix or maybe even a recall if I remember right. Sorry but once I found out it didn't relate to my 06 I dumped the info. It is available on this forum somewhere; I would search for "transmission filter".

 

Check here:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...n-startup.html

 

Dont think it applies to mine since its a 04. Says on there the dates are for 05 transmissions. Could still be a clogged filter though. I figure it isnt anything too major or it would be slipping all the time. Thanks for looking it up though!

 

So it seems to be just a drain back as it sits issue. I googled that and it came up with a few results. Some say its common, others say its a sign of a weak transmission pump.. Hmm.. I figure ill try putting the truck in neutral for a few moments next time to see if that gives it time to pump up. Hopefully its not a sign of immediate failure.

 

Sounds like converter drainback.

 

Got a appointment for a fluid change and filter change next week at the dodge dealer, hope it helps it. lol Iv always been afraid of getting the fluid changed in my vehicles, always heard horror stories.