Not shifting into drive?

Happened again today, I'm going to get some fluid as suggested to fill it more. Any issues with mixing brands? I don't know what the shop put in there.

Also when it happened this morning, I just put it into Low, then took off and manually shifted it to 2nd and drive and then it drove normally through all the gears. So I'll probably do that now instead of having to shut the truck off.

 

You are checking the tranny fluid while it is running in Park, right?

 

Yes, took readings while running cold and warm.

 

Mixing brands shouldnt be an issue . From the research I have done , WS fluid is no better than anything off the shelf and if anyone asks , WS is junk fluid in my opinion but we can hack that out later
: you have a lot of mileage on the trans
I would suggest a pressure test while the transmission is cold . Line pressure at forward clutch port when the truck is cold - Should be 45 psi at idle , anything lower than 45 and you have issues with the VB and pump .
The first symptom of a delay to forward is low on fluid .
When the truck starts up first thing in the morning while its cold ,the transmission pump charges the torque converter with fluid first . Once the converter is primed , the transmission waits for you to select a gear wether it be drive range first gear or reverse . Since you are only having problems with forward , I beleive ,The problem you are having is a little deeper than a low oil conditon ,however ,the problem may have been caused by consistent low oil cold starts .

A quick qestion to the OP ? why are you turning the truck off ?

 

His '01 doesn't take WS anyways.
It takes either Dex-III or Toyota T-IV, and using the wrong fluid WILL cause problems.

 

Thanks Rich ! I post to a lot of transmission related questions thus the confusion . Managed to diagnose the correct transmission this time but not the correct fluid .Sorry for the confusion regarding fluid .
For the heck of it , I will take it one step further and come out with it .
Do not use type WS fluid once you are out of warranty

 

Not going to disagree that any transmission that was designed to use the above posted fluids will function poorly with an older brand of transmission fluid , however , any newer released transmission fluid with highly friction modified charecteristics will work just fine .

 

Well that will help you pinpoint the issue. I don't have a range chart for the tranny, but some transmissions will have a low/reverse clutch for manual 1st and reverse. And a low one way roller clutch for drive 1st. If the low roller is slipping(drive 1st), and you pop it into manual 1st, and everything is fine, that's helpful for diag. Obviously fluid level is the first thing to check. Then you can start getting into this type of thing.

 

What is the issue with WS?

This is sounding like some of the things I was hearing about Dex-VI in 2006.

 

That's interesting, I didn't know the drive 1st and manual 1st were different. So if the low roller for drive 1st is slipping, is that an isolated issue where I could have only the clutch replaced?