Well yesterday my step-father left the house and stopped in somewhere. The trans worked just fine, then when he left after stopping for 20 minutes, he got back into his durango and started driving. It would not shift out of 2nd gear but did shift from 1st to 2nd just fine. Then after alerting me of the problem he made another stop to meet my mom, sat there for a little while, hour or 2, then started to head home.

It then wouldn't shift from 1st gear. He said that he never heard anything in the trans, it didnt make any funky noises and showed no signs of going out. I had a trans burn up gears before and it's not a pleasant sound. I checked the trans fluid, it is in need of replacing, but could not see any signs of burning or high heat.

I didn't ask if he had any new lights come on, but I think maybe, that the truck has a "Check Engine" light that stays on for another reason.

I found similar posts on AF but no one saying it started by only shifting to a couple gears and then not shifting at all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I think I am going to talk him into replacing the speed sensor today either way.

Much Respect to this site, you've helped me majorly before.

Thanks

Edited this to just add in its a 2000.

Well, turns out the progressive shifting only into drive then only into 2nd then only going to first is a symptom of the speed sensor.

I know this post has probably been posted a bunch of times...sorry for spamming it up.

But...if anyone ever has this problem...IT IS WORTH spending the 16 dollars at autozone and taking the 3 minutes it takes to change this before you go further in with other repairs.

It was so simple.

And btw, make sure you grab a pan of some type to catch the fluid, it leaked like crazy when I pulled the sensor out. Or park it on an extreme incline with the front of the vehicle pointed downhill.

Did this entire repair in less than 3 minutes, no jack, only a ratchet and the socket.

Well done. Thanks for the followup.