Hi, I am new to the forum.
Had a question. My Express van shifts fine in for all gears but when starting from a stop, shifting from 1st to 2nd has a slightly noisy shift and normally after the tranny warms up, the traction control light will come on during that shift.

All other shifts are fine, no issue. One other bit of info. If I am turning during the start from 1st to 2nd. The light will not light up.

Anybody have any clues on what this might be?

Thanks ahead of time.

JR

I'd guess low fluid level.

While we're here, has it been serviced in the last 50,000 miles?

What is the current odometer reading?

How long have you owned this van?

Do you know how traction control works?

You have the most torque in first gear.....it'* quite possible this is normal if the traction control light is coming on, meaning one of the wheels is slipping during acceleration, causing the ABS to activate, making this noise.....this can easily happen if you accelerate with one wheel in the gutter where there is dirt/sand, and the other wheel is on dry pavement....this can also happen if one tire has been replaced and has much more tread than the one on the other side.....

Okay. Have had van for about 4 years now. Has 110K. Changed fluid 4 years ago and changed fluid and filter a few weeks ago.

My issue may be fluid but believe it or not, I am having a tough time seeing the level on the dip stick.

It is so clear that it is tough to see. I have added a little because it did look like it was in the cold end of the stick after running for about 15 minutes.

I am trying to be care and not overfill (maybe I am too careful). When I did the filter and fluid, I put back a little over 5 quarts. This seemed to be the correct amount from what I saw and read.

I actually have not had too much time to check it this week.

I will report back and see if it is doing better after the 1/2 quart addition.

Just for FYI. Thanks for the info but I do know how traction control works. No offense taken.

No, I am just starting from stop on pavement and not getting off into the rocks/berm.

I have tried starting real slow and real fast. Believe it or not, it does not come on when I do it that way, but I do not really drive that way so I am working to solve it. Thanks.

How many miles were on it four years ago?

Okay now suspecting even more that the problem is low fluid level. Not beating you up, just many times folks do a drop and fill and it ends up off by a bunch where the level was fine before it was touched.

Try this (assumes transmission is all warmed up from at least ten minutes of driving and is now idling in <Park> ) :

- Apply brakes
- Put the transmission in <1>, wait ten seconds
- Put the transmission in <2>, wait ten seconds
- Put the transmission in <3>, wait ten seconds
- Put the transmission in <D>, wait ten seconds
- Put the transmission in <N>, wait ten seconds
- Put the transmission in <R>, wait ten seconds
- Put the transmission in <P>
- Release brakes, get out
- Get a white paper towel
- Fold it so it is about the size of an index card
- Hold it flat and facing up in your hand, kind of like you would hold a smart phone
- Pull transmission dip stick
- Wipe it off completely (both sides) on part of your paper towel that is not the middle
- Put dipstick back in and close the lever (if it has one)
- Pull transmission dip stick again
- Don't let it point down or up, keep it sideways
- Lay the measuring end carefully on your paper tower without sliding it anywhere
- In my imagination, the dip stick is being held in your right hand and the end of it is pointing left and laying comfortably on your paper towel
- Carefully slide it toward you only the width of the dip stick
- You should now have the reading in the paper towel right above the markings on the dip stick

Sometimes this works even better on a blue paper towel.

Totally understand. Another thing you can try: Find a bright source of light (fluorescent light, the sun, etc.)and try to get it to reflect off of the dip stick into your eye (while keeping the dip stick level and flat). If you move the dip stick around you should see the border of the fluid level reflecting and the dry part of the dip stick diffused.

Looking around I find most of the Interwebs saying 7.7 quarts for a pan/filter drop on a 4L80E and 5.5 quarts for a 4L60E .

I needed to follow up but forgot about it. What turned out to be my fix was replacing the front wheel bearings. The bearings are an assembly that have the ABS sensors and pickup hub. I saw this on another forum and after all of my frustration with the issue, decided to try this. Worked perfectly. I will assume the pick up hub was either damaged or blocked from reading correctly. Hope this may help anyone else who may have the issue.