2000 Express 4.3 Dash Shift selection lights controlling tranny from using 1st and OD

[smith104mx]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum thing anyways I have a 2000 Express Van 1500 V6 4.3L, long story short the digital gear selection lights started not coming on with the ignition every time, so i would turn it off and on till they came on, I later noticed when I drove off without getting them to come on, the tranny would start out in second and would not shift into overdrive, and with driving it like this the past month i definately know its not a coincidense, It now seems to be getting harder to get them to come on, sometimes 20 times turning the ignition on and off, I took it to autozone for them to run the diagnostics and it said shift solenoid malfunctions, but the shift lights weren't on at the time when he tested so I'm wondering if they are even bad and if it would have read that code if they were on, I'm pretty mechanically enclined and can do the work myself I just need to know what the problem is, or a good direction to take, it sounds more electrical than mechanical to me but what do I know..any help is greatly appreciated, thanks, Will

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by smith104mx

Hello all, I'm new to the forum thing anyways I have a 2000 Express Van 1500 V6 4.3L, long story short the digital gear selection lights started not coming on with the ignition every time, so i would turn it off and on till they came on, I later noticed when I drove off without getting them to come on, the tranny would start out in second and would not shift into overdrive, and with driving it like this the past month i definately know its not a coincidense, It now seems to be getting harder to get them to come on, sometimes 20 times turning the ignition on and off, I took it to autozone for them to run the diagnostics and it said shift solenoid malfunctions, but the shift lights weren't on at the time when he tested so I'm wondering if they are even bad and if it would have read that code if they were on, I'm pretty mechanically enclined and can do the work myself I just need to know what the problem is, or a good direction to take, it sounds more electrical than mechanical to me but what do I know..any help is greatly appreciated, thanks, Will

Needs to be put on a good engine/transmission capable scanner to start with.
Post back codes and and all sensor and gear selector switch readings and shift data.
Also you may need to check voltage and gear selector switch for proper switching.