I Have A 97 Rodeo V-6 Auto Trans., It Will Not Go In To Gear When You Put It In Drive, "the Light On The Dash Is Not On In Drive But Is On In All The Other Ranges" I Can Push The Winter Drive Button And It Will Pull, In 2nd Gear And Shift In To 3rd. Once You Stop You Have To Repeat The Steps. Could It Be The Range/mode Selector?

The magic 8 ball says:

"The Range/mode Selector could be dirty"

What is the history on the maintance?

I Just Got The Rodeo From A Guy At Work. He Had The Trans Build About 2 Years Ago, Then The Problem Occured And He Got Tried Of It And Sold It To Me. Any Way He Had A New Mode Senor Put In And It Did Not Fix It. Could It Be Out Of Adjustment Or Is There An Adjustment To It? I Havent Been Under It Yet To Find Out.as You Can Gather I Am Not Very Familiar With The New Trans,i Am A Old School Construction Mech. And Havent Worked On Any Of These. So You See I Need Help.

I've had a problem with hard shifting on-and-off for over a year. It usually happens only in the morning, and is always after the dash light fails to indicate that the truck is in drive. I had the codes read at a dealer last June, and got back a P0705 code. Is this the range sensor malfunction? If so, any recommendations on what needs to be done and where to get it looked at?

I had the same problem with my 99 Passport. I was able to remove my range sensor, take it apart and clean the contacts inside. I remember it was quite dirty and greasy inside. I think they used too much dielectric grease in it, but the contacts were definitely dirty so I cleaned them reassembled it and I have never had the problem come back. The unit is located on the side of the transmission (drivers side) just forward of center. It's been well over a year since I fixed it, but if I remember right to remove it there was a small metal shield that pops off. Then I had to remove 2 bolts and 1 nut that holds the shifter arm and unplug the wire harness (the wire harness was a little difficult to unplug due to the tight space) and the unit will just slide right out. You will need a torx driver to take apart the unit. I wiped most of the grease out of mine; I left some of the grease there so things will slide properly and to keep moisture out. Depending on how dirty the contacts are you can clean them with a pencil eraser or a very, very fine sand paper. Don't spend the 90+ dollars for a new one this is a fairly easy fix, once you see the inside you won't think it's worth the price tag! It should take you about 45-60 min to repair.

Copied from Ryan's FAQ. Good luck!