# Car slow to shift from reverse to drive

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-slow-to-shift-from-reverse-to-drive/63177>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** explorer, transmissions, ford\
**Created:** [March 30, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-slow-to-shift-from-reverse-to-drive/63177 "2011-03-30T17:47:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DJ\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DJ\_Jungle](https://community.cartalk.com/u/DJ_Jungle)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-slow-to-shift-from-reverse-to-drive/63177/1 "2011-03-30T17:47:26Z")

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My car is taking a long time shifting from reverse to drive in the morning. Do you know what may be causing it and how to fix it. It’s a 1995 automatic ford explorer. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Whitey](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/whitey/32/24680_2.png) [@Whitey](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Whitey)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-slow-to-shift-from-reverse-to-drive/63177/2 "2011-03-30T17:48:49Z")

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Low transmission fluid can cause that. Check the level and condition of your transmission fluid.

If your fluid is low, you might have a leak.

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**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-slow-to-shift-from-reverse-to-drive/63177/3 "2011-03-30T17:56:52Z")

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If the fluid is ok then you likely have an internal seal problem. What you do with that is live with it - or if you really like this car and want to keep it around indefinitely then you have the transmission rebuilt.

You can search this forum for similar threads in which a contributor names Transman suggests that one can sometimes help these symptoms with a can of Berrymans Chemtool. Oddly enough its basically a carb cleaner, but it apparently softens up the seals some. That wouldn’t be a repair. Just a band-aid to reduce symptoms.

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**Author:** ![DJ\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DJ\_Jungle](https://community.cartalk.com/u/DJ_Jungle)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-slow-to-shift-from-reverse-to-drive/63177/4 "2011-04-09T21:41:08Z")

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Thanks! I’ll check the transmission fluid and go from there.