Hi
I just bought a 1995 Sidekick yesterday. I went to take it home last night and I cannot get it shift into drive. The shifter goes to drive but wont shift into drive, even at 4000 rpm. It's like it is stuck in 2nd gear it won't even act like it is trying to shift. When I try and move shifter down to 1st gear it won't go below 2. I was told the unit where the rod is attached to the tranny needs to be replaced but I don't know. It goes into reverse and it works just can't get it to shift into drive. Any ideas? What is that unit called? I could sure use some help with this one.

I believe that the tranny was a cable shifter on it. Try getting under the truck and watching where the cable attaches to the tranny while someone else runs the shifter thru all the positions. If the lever on the tranny is moving all the way then the problem may lie in the valve body or internally. When a tranny is stuck in second it is usually in limp mode which is a default when something is wrong inside the tranny. Check it out and let us know,

Derek

Wha kind of trans? What engine? Sounds like the valve body needs to be taken out and
cleaned up, my brothers 4 door did this after we changed the old soup looking ATF for
some new red stuff, go figure??? actually it's the new fluid that breaks loose the old
junk and sticks the valve body.

Good Luck
Wild

try adjusting your cable first.......

It is a 2 dr sidekick and has a 3 speed tranny 16 valve 1.6L engine. Going to change fluid tonight and see it that helps. Cable seems to be adjusted right. The fluid in it is kind of brownish colored and has a little bit of a burnt smell to it. How hard is it to get the valve body out and clean it? Will let you know if I get it figured out. Found another tanny for 200 dollars might just do that and be done with it.

Update
I talked to the original owner and he told me it will shift into drive just have to get the rpm's up to 5000. I changed the transmission filter and fluid. Put it back together and took it for a test drive. I got it to shift into drive but I had to get the rpm's up to 5000 just like he said. He told me the transmission shop told him it is a speed sensor that is bad but didn't tell him anymore than that. Would anyone have any idea where that would be or if that could be right?
There wern't any  metal filings in the transmission when I changed the fluid and everything looked clean. The filter was a little plugged but not solid. Any help would be apreciated very much.
Thanks

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the 3-speed just kinda does it's thing mechanically. It's the 4-speeds that are electronically controlled by the ECU (which takes into consideration throttle position, RPM, etc).

The 3 speed auto has a VSS ( vehicle speed sensor) that's part of the speedometer cluster. I'm not sure if it's a seperate module or is part of the circuit board on the cluster. It's one of three external sensors that have input to the shifting of the 3 speed auto, and has a hand in controlling the cruise control if so equipped, according to my FSM. The other is the TPS or throttle position sensor, and the vacume modulator, located on the transmission itself. Even though the th180 3 speed is mechanically shifted, those sensors have a say in telling it WHEN to shift. The only other way it'll shift without those sensor inputs is via a govenor according engine rpms. That sounds like what yours is doing, although 5k would seem to be a bit low for a gov shift, usually that occurs at or near redline. You might try checking the vacume line to the modulator. It comes off the intake manifold near the firewall, and goes down to the vacume modulator mounted near the back of the trans pan. If the line's ok, the modulator itself has been known to go on these. Of course I may be wrong about all this, but I've done a lot of research on these trannys. I've got one too.

The VSS is a reed switch mounted on the back of the speedo head. It is used by the ECU, if it has failed then the Check Engine Light will be on.

Assuming the CEL is working 

So was there any resolve to this? my three speed just started doing the same thing..... the one thing I noticed is the kick down cable is all frayed so I started by ordering a new one today. If it is the modulator how the hell do you get that thing out? I have a Haynes manual and there is no reference on servicing it. any input would be appreciated. It's pretty tight in there and it doesn't look like you can get a wrench on it
thanks,
Shane

So was there any resolve to this? my three speed just started doing the same thing..... the one thing I noticed is the kick down cable is all frayed so I started by ordering a new one today. If it is the modulator how the hell do you get that thing out? I have a Haynes manual and there is no reference on servicing it. any input would be appreciated. It's pretty tight in there and it doesn't look like you can get a wrench on it
thanks,
Shane

They make special thin wrenches for getting in there to unscrew the modulator.  AFAIK, the modulator is not a serviceable part....if it doesn't work, you replace it.

Ok so I  put the cable in and ran some seafoam trans tune through it dropped the oil and replaced the filter and it works awesome now. I don't know if there is any resolve in this but this is what i did and it seemed to clean up everything. The cable is a B$thch to change very tight space I have a 2" body lift so it made it a bit easier to get at without that it might be kinda tough to do without dropping the cross member bracket. If you have to do that watch the distributor it will want to hit the firewall.
Anyways that's about it
Shane