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42re is stuck in first

13K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  Blasimoto 
#1 ·
hello guys and gals im new here. great to meet you all. here is my situation: i purchased a 2001 GC a month ago with a blown transmission. the jeep has 201K on it and the transmission i installed to replace the old one has 130K on it.

the mechanic installed the tranny with 130K and drove it to my home which is 30 miles from his shop and the tranny did great. the jeep sit for 3 weeks until i could get it registered which was this past friday and when i go to drive it after registration the jeep will not shift out of first. after driving around the back streets in town at a very slow speed for 15 -20 minutes it begins shifting fine and i drive it another 20- 25 miles.

the next day i go out thinking everything is going to be fine now that it did so well at the end of the drive the day before but no it is the same as it was the previous morning. so now i have been trying and trying to get it to shift again like it did that day by driving it until it is really warm im guessing but its not working but i have figured one thing out. it will change into the next gear if you run the rpms up to 3500 or 4000 rpms but thats not good and should not have to be done to accomplish gear change. i forgot to mention the mechanic did a filter and fluid change on it after he installed it.

i have replaced the output speed sensor and checked the throttle kick-down cable. checked all the connections on the tranny underneath the jeep and everything looks fine. the fluid is correct. if anyone has experienced this or has any idea what could be going on your help would be greatly appreciated. thank you advance
 
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#4 ·
Does reverse work ok?
You did check the rigging of the throttle cable and the gear shift cable, right?
 
#6 ·
What was the problem with the original transmission?
Do you know the history of the new(er) transmission you have in your jeep now?
The problem could be with the adjustment of the front band.
You said that it would upshift at high rpm. Is that only from 1st to 2nd, or also the other upshifts?
 
#7 ·
Someone had tightened one of the solenoid on the original transmission so tight it busted the housing and was leaking fluid profusely so I figured it was cheaper to buy another transmission than to repair that one even though it changed great.

I don't know the history of the one that's in it now but it was very clean and had very clean fluid in it.

It will up shift from first to second and I haven't tried third because I didn't wanna rev it anymore than I have to
 
#8 ·
And when you shift it from manual 1st to 2nd? It still would be good to know if the shifting problem is only from 1st to 2nd, or all upshifts. It could narrow down the possibilities.
 
#10 ·
Not that familiar with the 42RE, but the shifting for the lower gears is done with shift valves inside the valve body. Throttle pressure and line pressure are both important inputs which determine the shift points. You are absolutely sure that the throttle valve cable is adjusted properly? Attached the procedure to check the adjustment.
Do you know if this transmission was working fine before you got it?
 

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#11 ·
after the installation the mechanic drove it to my house which is a 30 mile trip and it did fine. it sat for 3 weeks and i went to drive it after it had been sitting and it would not change gears. the throttle valve cable is where it was when he drove it here...
 
#13 ·
after the installation the mechanic drove it to my house which is a 30 mile trip and it did fine. it sat for 3 weeks and i went to drive it after it had been sitting and it would not change gears. the throttle valve cable is where it was when he drove it here...
The mechanic drove it to your house, but maybe it did the same thing when it was cold and only shifted fine after warming up. If you don´t find any external issues, it will be time to open up the transmission. It would be a pitty if afterwards you will find that the throttle cable is not adjusted properly. Its your rig, but I would verify this first and be 100% sure its ok. During the heating cycle of the engine and transmission, small changes can be expected due to the thermal expansion of the materials and it can just change gears fine when hot, but not when cold because of this.
 
#14 ·
Ive been having a similar issue with my 2/3 shift. At first I also had a random misfire on all cylinders as well. I heard the TPS can/will affect shifting, so i swapped it out and it took care of the misfire, but not the shift. I pulled the valve body out to inspect the valves for 1/2 and 2/3 shift and they checked out. New filter, gasket and fluid (ATF+4) and went to adjust the TV cable, only to find i had forgotten to reinstall the return spring for the TV cable, which makes a true adjustment impossible, and made for too much slack. Got the spring back on and was able to adjust the cable damn near spot on spec. Still have a shift issue but its wanting to grab sooner now, and actually flutters 2-3-2-3 a bit. My last resort is gonna be to adjust the front band, which i should have done but was still testing. I'll let ya know if that does the trick. But you may want to look into it as well. Good luck bud.
 
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