Issues dropping into drive

[Daniel Myrick]

Hi all,

I have a 2003 GMC yukon xl 1500 4wd with the 5.3l v8. I am having an issue with the truck shifting from neutral into drive. From reverse or park, it shifts into neutral then when you shift down into drive it hesitates. If you give it gas to soon you can feel the drive engage pretty hard. If you just give it a few seconds it will drop in just fine. Just seams to really piss the a-hole off waiting to pull into my spot lol. Anyways, the shifter is sometimes a little stiff, but for the most part it moves pretty freely. I have not noticed any slipping in gears while driving at all. Any suggestions on what might be causing this or what to start looking into first? If you need any additional info, let me know.

Thanks
Dan

 

[retiredsparky]

Why not take it to a trusted transmission shop (not chain store type). You could even call one. They can explain any of the possibilities like valve body, low pump pressure, etc. If the fluid is really old, there may be enough contamination of the fluid that a solenoid in the valve body is hanging up from sludge buildup. There are a lot of good local tranny shops across our country that really know the insides of transmissions and the typical causes.