1992 F150 with an AOD. Trouble shifting

Truck bought used a year ago. 200k + miles. New motor at about 100k. Some trans work, not sure on the details other than once the case was replaced due to a crack from an accident! OUCH! The trans has always up shifted hard especially when applying the accelerator hard. It will downshift hard as well especially when coming to a stop quickly. By hard I mean a bang or clunk. This I have lived with and am not especially concerned with at the moment but though to include it as a history of the trans.

The main issue is that it doesn't want to shift. After a 4-hour trip, cruising 80mph, exiting the X-way I had no trouble on surface streets, parked the truck 1 hour, and when I took off again it would not shift into 2nd gear. I parked the truck for the day and it worked fine that evening. The next morning the problem returned. It would shift (hard) at 3500rpm. Same for 2nd to 3rd shifts. OD worked fine. The problem was intermittent and then constant. I got no help from different trans shops, most wanted the truck for a couple days and $60-95 just to look at it. I took it to a friend at a trans shop. He looked it over, pulled on the throttle position/valve cable (not exactly sure of the name. The cable that runs from the throttle body to the trans) which seemed to be working properly. He proceeded to tell me the trans would prolly need to be pulled and rebuilt. BAH! I drove off! Unbelievable to me it shifted normally. That throttle position/valve cable must have been sticking somewheres. I lubed it up, its been working great, even on long trips. So problem solved, I though! Well this weekend after about 2 1-2 hours on the X-way, exiting the truck stalled out. I believe I was stuck in OD. Fired er back up and took off in first. It would not shift at all. I took it up to about 4500rpm, still not shifting. I pulled on the cable at both ends about 5 times, seemed move with out resistance. Limped it to my destination and let it sit for the day.

I sprayed down the cable at both ends with WD-40 and tried driving er again and it would not shift out of 1st. After 2 hours of playing with it. I finally bought a small pair of locking pliers and pulled about 3/4" of cable out at the throttle side and locked the pliers on it. It would finally shift to 2nd gear. Not easily, high RPM's and some finessing of the gas pedal, I may have done a few N to OD shifts. It took about 20 min of driving before it would shift into 3rd but then OD is no problem. It all seems to shift a little easier now. I don’t need to get the RPMs up as high and not as much finessing on the gas is needed. Currently the truck is in the garage with the trans pan off. The fluid seems normal in color, smells pretty close to the fresh stuff. No major metal fragments in the filter (I tore the casing apart) and only a coating of ultra fine powder on the magnet. I have had the pan off 3 times now this year. Never anything out of line. That cable connects to a plunger in the valve body. It seems to be moving freely. ?????

A final note: When the column shifter is positioned in to 1st gear the RPMs hold as I let off the gas. When it is in the 3 or OD position and the trans doesn’t want to shift, the RPM's will fall back down until I give er gas again.

My fingers are crossed. Thanks for any help!!

 

No one wants to touch this one eh? Well I put the new filter in, RTV'ed the pan and filled er with 5 or so quarts of Mercon ATF. She's shifting like new I beleive this to be a temporay situation. Hoping someone out there may be able to offer some insight.