Lurch on startup?

[Boxy]

I tried to search but it's a tough topic to track down...

My new to me 2002 TB LTZ has only done this a couple times. I twist the key & the starter does it's job but then the vehicle lurches 1-2". The other day I pulled into a parking stall, shut the car off and it did something like that again. Thoughts?

[The Roadie]

Very odd issue. My guess is that it's not truly in PARK, but just at the edge. I'd inspect my shift handle for being bent, or the control lever and cable down at the tranny. The PARK/NEUTRAL sensing switch down at the tranny must be satisfied it's in PARK though or it wouldn't start.

[Trail X]

Indeed odd. There SHOULDN'T be a thing such as 'partially in gear' due to the position of the gear shifter. If anything, it means that there is a lot of wear inside the gear select bore in the valve body of the trans and that fluid pressure might be flowing between the gear positions.

Now, I'd have to really take a look to see what the issue is, but my first suggestion is to drop the transmission pan. Take a look at the grime inside it, is it clean? How many metal shavings are on the magnet? If it looks relatively ok, I would probably swap out the entire valve body for a remanufactured one (relatively cheap online), change out the filter, flush the fluid, and hope.

How many miles on the truck?

[Boxy]

Great answer, JD! Roadie, I was thinkin the same as you. It's rockin 110,000 now. This being a used vehicle, I know the wise thing to do is flush/change all fluids and filters anyway so it looks like my weekend is all planned out... Thank you, Gents! I'll keep you posted in this thread.

[Trail X]

Not terrible mileage. The trans may be salvageable, depending on when the issue began and what other items may be affected.

[TangoBravo]

I didn't have these symptoms, my trany just flat quit. It had no 2-3rd gear, I don't plan on getting rid of my TB so I put a trany in that has a 100k warrenty. I hope it's something simple for you to fix.

[Boxy]

Hello again! I thought I would give an update... I decided if the issue presented itself more commonly or got worse I would react to it... two years later having done nothing at all about it, I rarely see it happen. Sometimes, the trans shifts slowly from Drive to Reverse & vice versa but otherwise, the trans seems to be just fine. I really like my TB & now that it is time for shocks, it may be time to lift!