Transmission will not shift into drive

Hey, Josh, I have the exact same problem. I believe mine's the same, but '94. Otherwise, the same, mileage-wise, auto trans, etc. Did you ever find out what was wrong with it? For me, it would go into reverse fast and fine, but it would take a while to go into Drive. Now, it doesn't. Reverse still works fine. I've revved it to 2500 and it'll sometimes jump into Drive.

95 explorer goes fine into reverse. Anybody figure this out?

i having a similar problem but i dont have reverse. any help would be appreciated

Hello everyone, i have a 1993 Ford Explorer Sport 2 door 5 speed manual transmission (M5R1). I've only encountered that problem after i replaced my clutch and air got into the system also after inspection find out my throw out bearing was bad also keep in mind they are old vehicles and if you don't known or have any record of when those part were ever changed (replace them will save you from rebuild). They could be Factory parts right off the line never replaced my in conclusion is hard shift or no shift can mean air in your master cylinder (check Reservoir and line for any leaks) possibly slave. check all fluids including transmission fluid make sure you are using the correct fluid (preferably dealer fluid)and amount if failed to do so can slowly result into catastrophic failure over time have it inspected or if you feel you can do give it a try i did! Its not hard however personally it sounds like the problem is with the clutch and if everything is proper then it's time to drop the transmission and do a full inspection possibly time for rebuild.

Thanks for the addition to the site. This post was from many years ago so they will most likely not benefit from it but others surely will.

However, I think they are experiencing an issue with an automatic transmission issue not going into gear.

I suspect this issue is either low fluid or a valve body issue. The first thing to do is check the fluid level and if it is low or burned then we need to change the fluid.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-service-an-automatic-transmission

If this is okay then we need to pull the valve body down and do an air check. If the air check is okay then we need to suspect the valve body is not allowing the transmission to engage first but will allow direct pressure to reverse. This is indicative of a valve body issue so suspect this is what they would find.

Tanks again for updating this and hopefully this info will help others as they visit this page.