Sorry CCKen....same issue Reese T. is having.

 

Reese T., That did not solve my problem. I'm going to check all the grounds next as was suggested here.

 

No check engine light came on with mine.

 

CCKen, no check engine light on.

 

Hello all, after a few months of driving my automatic "manually", I did finally take it to the tranny shop and am happy to announce my problem is fixed! The mechanic told me it was good that I was manually shifting it and not trying to move in Drive. I could have damaged internals in tranny if I did. So, the fix was simply replacing the shift solenoid, changing the fluid and filter. Shifts fine from drive now. Hope this helps, and sorry it took so long to get back to you all. (I'm a procrastinator, I'm afraid)

 

Thanks for the follow up!

 

I changed out all three of my solenoids, filter and fluid for $100.00. I hope the tech didn't charge you too much.

IF....your AW4 transmission runs ok except in one gear and will not shift into another, it is more than likely a bad solenoid. Certainly check the fluid level. Make sure there is no metal but the AW4 is a tough, proven auto tranny, better than most. Mine had similar issues. It shifted fine except it wouldn't shift from first to second, bypassing second and shifting to third. I took it to a trans tech and he drove it. When I asked if he could tell me what the issue might be he said he couldn't say. He'd have to get into it to find out. Well....he knew exactly what was wrong with it, he just didn't want to tell me. I drove it like that for at least two years before finally reading up on what was going on the my transmission. It was the solenoids. Or more exactly a solenoid. I bought a three solenoid replacement kit that had all the solenoids, a filter and a gasket. Did the replacement myself and the tranny works perfectly now. It has 192k on it. I bought the kit off ebay for $75.00. The box auto parts stores want over $100.00 for just one solenoid! If you have the tools the job is easy. There are many instructionals online.