OK so everyone was right and I should have listened the first time. I added tranny fluid and it shifted with no problems. Now I have another issue. My RED truck keeps bucking up and down while driving at speed range. It shoots the rpms up and is intermittent. I thougt it was spark and gapped new plugs, replaced the distributor/rotor and I am about to do the spark wires. I do not think it is spark. I have a hunch it is vacuum. I added injection cleaner also. I am not sure if my fuel inject system is TBI,CMFI, or CSEFI. I checked all vaccum hoses and they are all good. I have done most of the basics as you can see so any new suggestions might help. Oh and don't change ball joints unless you have power tools(that is free).

Nations81

 

Do you get any back firing, is it hard starting and do you get and ignition knock.
What do you mean by " driving at speed range"?

Right now I'm thinking of crank position sensor, but more info would be helpful

 

no back firing at all. driving speed range is just normal driving speed(40-45mph) They use that term in manuals and I like to sound smart. I have also cnged te PCV valce but I dont yet know much about the fuel/air mixture system. It is not hard to start at all and I am not sure what you mean by ignition knock.

 

By ignition knock, I mean "pinging"
In my manual they call it ignition knock, and I wanna sound smart too...lol
I'll see if I can see anything else.
The air fuel mix is all programmed by the computer. It gets info from the coolant temp sensor, throttle position sensor, air flow, oxygen sensor. It takes those readings and sends asignal to the fuel injectors, basically telling them how long to stay open and putting in the proper amount of fuel. (basically)

 

Does your check engine light come on / flash / or stay on?

Do you have a code reader?

 

Possible you might have a torque management problem. The torque converter is an electronically controlled lockup mechanism and this maybe your problem, locking and unlocking.

Have you tried "cleaning the Mass Airflow Sensor" with some electronic parts cleaner... I have also heard of some issues with it being oiled over from excessive oil from a K&N style foam filters. It is simple to clean.

 

Just to be sure, is your "little RED truck" the one listed in your signature?

I am assuming this is the case. With the posts you have made so far, I would clean the MAF sensor as suggested above. It will be easiest to clean by disassembling it (aluminum halves separated from the plastic sensor. If the dirt is really caked on, you may have to soak some electronic parts cleaner into a q-tip and GENTLY wipe the elements. They should turn a silvery white color when clean.

Two other things to examine would be the MAP sensor (which can be done with a multimeter, but a scan tool works better if one is available) and possibly the gear on the bottom of the distributor.

I have been hearing a lot about the gear on the bottom of the distributor wearing and developing some slop that the PCM tries to overcome, but ends up fouling the distributor cap because the spark has to jump further due how far out the gear is. I will be checking this out on my Bravada in the coming weeks as I suspect this is one of the last areas I have checked so far and I still have a slight hesitation just about everywhere.

 

I have had it suggested that the MAF sensor could be faulty and that will be my next step. Thank you all.