Down Shifting
 

A buddy of mine just recently purchased a 93 4Dr Jimmy. He told me it seemed very sluggish taking off. I went and looked at it and noticed that it's not shifting to first at all so he's taking off in 2nd gear. Other than this the tranny seems to shift out ok and everything. The fluid was a little low but not much, not sure what else to check out on it?

Anybody?

Are you sure that all other forward gears are there?

Yes it shifts to 3rd then over drive and will shift down from those to 2nd. All the gears seem fine and the power feels normal. Just when taking off it feels so slow and doesn't shift for quite some time.

Are you noticing lockup of the torque converter as the change to 4th gear or do you also see an RPM reduction as the torque converter locks up after the change into 4th gear?

If you have 4th gear and notice the torque converter lock up in 4th, then you are potentially looking at a broken 2nd accumulator piston, a PCM issue where it is not commanding 1st gear, or a broken 1-2 shift valve spring.

Are there any codes present?

The shift solenoid A controls both 1st and 4th so if you are sure you have 4th, that isn't the issue.

If the accumulator were broken, it would allow fluid pressure to leak past and apply the band causing a second gear start. This can lead to burning out the band or the 3-4 clutch pack since the leak by pressure is not a maximum line pressure.