I have a 2002 Ford Escape. The transmission started slipping when starting out in drive, but if I put it in 1st, it doesn't slip, then I can manually shift to 2nd, drive, etc... It doesn't feel like it slips at all once it's moving, and I pulled a 6% grade at 65 mph. When it started, there was a box around the 1, regardless of what gear was selected. This lead me to the Range Position sensor. I pulled it, and found that a prior owner had obviously kludged the connector (looked like jb-weld on it). I replaced the sensor and the connector. Now the display always shows the correct gear, and the 1 does not always have the box around it. Now, it still doesn't start out in Drive, but once it's moving, it shifts up and down correctly. I just have to put it in 1st to get it moving. Because it doesn't slip going down the highway and it does shift well manually, I cant figure out what to look at next. Still seems like a sensor or electrical issue rather than an internal issue. Any ideas?

 

last night I put on a more advanced OBD2 scanner and found P0731 and P0732 set. Those are Incorrect Gear ratio 1 and 2. This still doesn't make a lot of sense, because gears 1 and 2 work just fine when chosen manually. Gears 3 and 4 also work fine when chosen manually. I still think I have an electrical or sensor issue, I just dont know where to look next.