Transmission slip when cold

[David Rice]

With outside temperatures hitting zero and parking my 2019 Ranger in the garage, when I got in it and fired it up, threw it into reverse, the truck would barely move. It was like it didn't have enough trans fluid. I then returned it to park position and let it idle for around 10 seconds. I then proceeded to go back into reverse and the truck started moving, but stopped every few feet. Back into park and let it idle some more, then back into reverse and off we went. Called dealer and talked to service manager and he had never heard this issue happening on a 2019 Ranger. He blamed it on the extreme cold and couldn't offer any other reason. Anyone have this issue or know of a service bulletin that address this issue? Thanks for any help you all can give.

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[Frenchy]

Here in Colorado I have hit the negative temps and never had such issue. Most of the time I also remote start it because I'm a little pansy b**** that doesnt want to deal with a cold vehicle either lol. Also before you throw the truck in gear give it a few to circulate fluid as that helps the transmission all together

 

[wanted33]

IMHO the dealer is correct. In extreme cold like you folks are getting up there fluids do get thick. Like Chris said, warm it up a little before your ready to leave to see if that doesn't take care of the problem.

 

[OrangeStreak]

With outside temperatures hitting zero and parking my 2019 Ranger in the garage, when I got in it and fired it up, threw it into reverse, the truck would barely move. It was like it didn't have enough trans fluid. I then returned it to park position and let it idle for around 10 seconds. I then proceeded to go back into reverse and the truck started moving, but stopped every few feet. Back into park and let it idle some more, then back into reverse and off we went. Called dealer and talked to service manager and he had never heard this issue happening on a 2019 Ranger. He blamed it on the extreme cold and couldn't offer any other reason. Anyone have this issue or know of a service bulletin that address this issue? Thanks for any help you all can give.

Dave,
We have experienced extremely low temperatures in Albuquerque with the artic blast. It got down to 7 degrees in my area and probably lower with the wind chill. I had the same experience as you. One morning was pulling out of the garage and the Truck was very slow and sluggish moving in reverse. I thought for sure that the parking brake was on but looked down and it was not engaged. I let it warm up in the driveway and took off with no problems. I also noticed that several times during this cold when I would start off from a parking lot even after idling a few minutes, the engine stumbles and the Truck moved slower than usual both in reverse and drive until it started to warm up. I have also observed by watching the temperature gauge that this Ranger takes longer to reach full operating temperature in both warm and cold weather than any other vehicle that I have owned. Hope this helps.

 

[bearrug]

I have the same issue if I don't let the truck warm up, it will buck and skip and jerk down the road so now i just warm it up for a few minutes before taking off and it does fine.

 

[Blue Streak]

Never had that issue. This is my starting procedure. Shift truck to neutral start the truck let it idle for a bit, seems like forever but its not, if its warm out I don't let it idle as long, a little longer if it is super cold, shift back to park so engine idles down shift to reverse & go. If super cold I drive with a light foot till temp gauge comes up. Never any problem.

 

[CrazyIvan]

I have had this issue as well when it gets colder and it was really slow to shift into reverse one morning when it sat in real deep cold that we have had in MN. For what its worth there is a TSB about this issue out there if you want to give it to the dealer. I tend to agree that it has to do with the trans fluid needing time to get circulating because I never have an issue in the summer or when its above 45 or so.

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/thre...d-or-engine-runs-rough-after-cold-start.9352/

 

[Steve23]

Same here in Maryland yesterday. Was fine when remote started it but when I left a store and didn’t remote start it had issues at first.

 

[brockdog12]

Mine acts oddly in the cold, fine when it warms up.

 

[DT444T]

Never had that issue. This is my starting procedure. Shift truck to neutral start the truck let it idle for a bit, seems like forever but its not, if its warm out I don't let it idle as long, a little longer if it is super cold, shift back to park so engine idles down shift to reverse & go. If super cold I drive with a light foot till temp gauge comes up. Never any problem.

Why are you shifting to neutral? All that does is remove the parking pawl and allow you to roll. Mechanically they are the same position except the pawl engages the output shaft in Park and not in neutral.

 

[CB750F]

In summer - I believe in waiting 1 mins after starting vehicle.
In winter - I believe in waiting 1 or more mins after starting vehicle.
I have not had this issue.
I have no idea if my beliefs are sound or not.

 

[Blue Streak]

Why are you shifting to neutral? All that does is remove the parking pawl and allow you to roll. Mechanically they are the same position except the pawl engages the output shaft in Park and not in neutral.

I for one use my parking brake so my truck does not roll in neutral. The reason for neutral is I find it easier to go from neutral to park than park to neutral to idle down the engine. By doing this the engine goes from high cold start RPM to normal drive RPM so I am not slamming into reverse or drive at cold star high RPM. Just the way I do it. My form of OCD.

 

[Silverfox]

Having a sluggish first engagement on very cold starts is normal on any automatic transmission I’ve ever driven.

 

[Trigganometry]

I found myself that after a cold start idle is high. It will remain that way for a few minutes and then drop down a 100 or so RPM. Then about a minute or so more one last drop.

Drop into gear and good to go

 

[OrangeStreak]

In summer - I believe in waiting 1 mins after starting vehicle.
In winter - I believe in waiting 1 or more mins after starting vehicle.
I have not had this issue.
I have no idea if my beliefs are sound or not.

I think you are well balanced with your warm up method for today's vehicle technology. According to some reports I've read, it is probably not the best practice to jump on a freeway immediately after starting the vehicle then accelerating full blast until you reach your travel speed. I like the advice to accelerate normally until the motor's warmed up to full operating temperature.

The Old school teaching was to completely warm up motors before driving. This was because of the mechanical tolerances on the older vehicles and also the viscosity of oils then didn't flow as easily and lubricate as well as todays oils. They were also more temperature sensitive. Being raised with this warmup philosophy is hard for me to break but I am slowly improving on this by doing a partial instead of a full warm up even in the winter

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