32RH first gear holds way too long all of a sudden

Jeep is a '97 with the 3 speed auto (32RH).

It has been running great, as recently as yesterday I drove it for about an hour and it ran flawlessly. Today I took it to a friends house and the transmission started acting up. Seemed like it wanted to hold first gear a lot longer than usual, like up near 4k RPM which is highly out of the ordinary for my normal driving style. And when it did shift into 2nd the RPM's seemed to drop much more gradually than what I'm used to. It seemed to be fine after that, even saw the torque converter lock up in 3rd. By the end of a 20 minute drive it wouldn't shift into 2nd unless I took my foot off the gas.

Then on the way home (after the jeep sat for about 5 hours) it seemed to get worse. It would not shift out of first unless I got the engine to around 4-5k RPM (speedo ~30mph) and even then only if I let off the gas. Then it would shift to 2nd, although it didn't seem to spend too long in 2nd before going to 3rd. If I happened to be on an incline when I finally got it to shift to 2nd, giving it enough gas to get up the hill would cause it to shift back into 1st. Checked the fluid level when I got home and it seems to be fine. Trans temp was around 180 when I got home, has never been over 220 since I installed the gauge (brand new ATF & filter at that time, about a year ago).

So basically it's holding 1st gear forever, will only upshift if I take my foot off the gas, downshifts back into first pretty easily, and 2nd gear seems really short now. Would love some troubleshooting ideas, other than blindly changing the fluid & filter and hoping for the best. Could this be a vacuum issue? Throttle cable adjustment? Not sure what would have brought it on after running so well as recently as yesterday.



Other useful info:
* changed spark plugs & spark plug wires a few days ago, but has driven great since then, other than today's transmission issues. Plugs were not at all fouled, I just changed them because I've had the jeep for going on 2 years and hadn't even looked at them yet.
* Check Engine light has been on for some time with a torque converter solenoid issue, although the lockup has been observed to work even through this mess.
* the CEL was also on for an evap code (p0441 iirc) which I hadn't ever seen until about a week ago.
* After I changed the spark plugs & wires, the CEL went off and has not come back on. I did not disconnect the battery while I did the spark plugs (or any time recently). I also did not manually reset the codes; the light went off on it's own.

Upon further review, it may actually be skipping 2nd when it finally does upshift from 1st. At around 35-40 MPH when I litt off the gas it drops down to about 1200 RPM, which is consistent with 3rd gear for that speed/rpm according to Grim Jeeper.

The ending also doesn't feel as smooth as it did earlier this week. I paid close attention to it after changing the distributor, plugs, and wires. It doesn't sound like a miss, but more like it's got a mildly lopey cam on it...sort of. This symptom gets much noticeable when I shift into Reverse, less so in Drive. I double checked the fluid level this morning, added about a half a quart to get it to the hot/full line, but no change in behavior.

Seems like the popular thing to address is the throttle cable, but it seems to be in exactly the same position it always was based on the dirty/clean sections of the cable. And I don't know why that would make it run rough in reverse.

Ronnie Salami said:

Maybe its the throttle position sensor, grew a new dead spot?

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I don't think the TPS factors into the shift points; it's all cable driven + the governor inside the trans.

Jerry Bransford said:

The 32RH is purely hydraulic, it receives no input from the TPS or any other sensor on when to shift. Has anyone screwed with the adjustment of the TV (aka kickdown) cable that can affect its shift points?

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Not intentionally. I definitely moved it to one side or the other while I did the spark plugs, but it also drove fine after that. Looking at it, there’s no evidence that the cable is set differently. The exposed parts are uniformly dirty, and when you throttle up the clean part is immediately visible.

But I’m becoming less convinced it’s a shift point problem and more of a “whatever maker either activate or otherwise ‘be in’ 2nd gear isn’t working.

Mall'er said:

Did you check the other end of the TV cable? Spring still there?

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Yes, seems to be exactly in place. I’m going to adjust the cable out a little just to see how it reacts.

Question for the transmission gurus: can a fully functional 3 speed be driven on such a way to cause it to skip 2nd gear on the up shift? What about on the downshift? This is why I’m reluctant to mess with the TV cable; I believe the symptoms are beyond what the cable would cause.

Another question for the gurus, which I have not been able to find on the line: what mechanism within the trans is responsible for making it be in 2nd gear?

I will definitely do this before I go crazy, but I'm extremely pessimistic.

I have no problem admitting ignorance. Which cable are you saying to disconnect? And on what way should I disconnect it? Does it sort of pop off that ball joint thing at the lever?

LittleTankTJ said:

The one on the left is the TV cable. It runs back to the transmission. Mine was all gunked up at the transmission side.

Do you have second if you manually select 2 vs D? And let it shift up?

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Manually selecting 2 just prevents it from shifting to 3rd, it still starts in 1st. The only difference for me is that lifting off the throttle doesn’t make it up shift at all if I put it into 2. I also tried to start off in 1, then get it to 3500rpm & move it into 2nd, but still no shift.

Meanwhile I’m trying to find a used 32RH and I can’t find anything even remotely local. Transmission shop gave me a ballpark quote of $2500 to rebuild….I’ll do it myself before I spend that.

Gollywomper said:

I have no experience with the auto. When I was shopping for a TJ one I looked at had very similar issues with a 32rh. The owner said the “ bands” needed to be adjusted. Anyone know anything about that?

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I know I adjusted the 1st band a year ago per the FSM, and those bolts are still tight. Talked to a shop today, they said it sounds like that first band is shot, so the adjustment is probably irrelevant. I need to find a few minutes and mess with the cables, just to satisfy that curiosity.

Ok, adjusted the TV cable. First things first, no noticeable change. Or maybe a subtle one at best. Seems like at idle the valve at the trans was not closing all the way. So with a partner we disconnected the TV cable from the bracket, which let the valve at the trans close (aka rotate the rest of the way forward). Then we removed the clip, slid the cable such that there was zero tension on the cable at idle, but as soon as the throttle was moved the valve at the trans also moved. It was out of adjustment.

However, a test drive revealed no real change, just maybe some additional data. First, I finally did make it shift out of 1st on it's own somewhere between 4500 & 5000 RPM. This would be around 44mph. I never got it to shift before, but I may have never pushed it quite as hard as I did today. When it shifted, the new RPMs were around 1750 which is consistent with it going straight to 3rd. I don't even know if that is possible on a fully functioning 32RH, but that's what happened. And truthfully at that speed I would expect it to be in 3rd gear.

Around the neighborhood, same thing as before. I can get it up to 3k or so and then let off the gas to force a shift but it seems to go into 3rd, skipping 2nd. Once or twice I think it actually did go into 2nd briefly.

Still have the TCC code (p0741) but it seems to be locking up fine in 3rd gear, and visibly releasing when I touch the gas. If I open the case I'll replace the solenoid to eliminate that code, but it doesn't seem to be the source of my problem.


So at the very least I have a transmission that is shifting super late. I guess moving that cable the other direction will make the transmission think I'm giving it more throttle than I actually am, which will make it shift earlier?