Range sensor? help!

1998 3.2l v6 auto 200,000 miles original trans. with regular maintenance.
Hard shift for a couple of days from 1-2nd /2nd-3rd up and down.
No lights on dash and the proper selection of gear shows on console... ie when drive is selected D shows up on panel... no weird flashing from D to 2nd 3rd etc.

Original owner love this truck... baby it... really
Trans service about 3,000 miles ago with new gasket... due to tiny leak and was repaired as soon as i found it. Fluid is always pink and clean. Have always dropped the pan with filter replacement about every 50,000 and partial fluid changes in between 20,000-30,000. Never flushed.

Drive this one everyday still getting 22-23 mpg hwy : )
Have seen the write up on cleaning range selector. Not sure about taking on
this job myself. Anybody done this? Skill level involved?
Help a girl out you guys!

msikdm

No advice huh? Well, taking on this project today. Not sure about aligning the sensor on replacement. Have read a couple of posts where folks have had some problems with the shift assembly after replacement... and that being my only concern ... off to the big bad garage... to play with tools! oh my

msikdm

If you read up in the FAQ's there are some good posts with images that give a step by step on how to clean the range sensor. If it is truly bad it is only like a 100 dollar part.

This was truly an easy fix. Seems like i still have a slightly hard shift from
2 to 3rd. Does not seem to shift as smoothly as it did before I encountered this issue. But no more limp mode in the mornings.

msikdm

Anytime when you start the car, make sure its a clean start (by clean I mean, no overly long cranking, could be just me I got a bad fuel pump). Let the car sit a minute or so before putting it into gear (leave it in park).

I have this exact same problem, cleaning the range mode sensor helped smoothen the shifts in GENERAL. However did not fix my issue. But I have had this ongoing for 1 year and a couple months. And I have managed to stop it from happening just by letting the truck sit for a minute when I start it cleanly. But becuase of my fuel pump issue, it seems if I get a overly long crank or a dirty start the problem happens, and I just turn off the car take the key out wait till all the beeps are done. Start the car up and proceed to wait a minute before putting it into gear and its fixed :).

I have been told that just replacing the range mode sensor all together may completely fix it but just been too lazy especially when I have become used to just waiting (I have autostart on my alarm so that way I don't even need to wait).

Good Luck! Try waiting thoe...

Thanks I will give that a try.

msikdm