Wanted to see if anyone would be able to help with what
seems to be a tricky diagnosis since it's a obd1 tranny and weird symptoms.
so the past 3 weeks or so I havnt noticed anything. Before this period of no issues, the problem wqsnt all the time but just when it was basically cold.
The transmission would act like it's in low 1 and wouldn't shift until higher rpms. When it would shift, it wouldn't be a smooth transition and would bang into gear. At the same time, the tow haul light would blink. If I would shut the van off and restart, it would correct itself but then sometimes would shortly after start again. I never noticed it doing this after it warmed up. Now, the past three times I noticed it doing this it started doing something new. Along with weird shifting and tow light, the odometer wouldn't read numbers, but lines and the speedometer wasn't working properly either. Again, when the transmission seemed to be working good, all these other issues vanished.
any ideas?
Oh by the way, this is a 1995 e350

 

From what you describe , and I could be wrong, but i would suspect you probably have other electrical problems that you might not have noticed.

The odometer does depend on info from vehicle output speed sensors , but I believe there is a fault in the power supply to a few components. The fact that it does reset when the key is cycled off plus the problems diminish when warmed up kinda leads me to think there is a poor connection which could be either power or ground.
You might start with checking the system that is for towing , if you use it. That light blinking could be something in the towing circuits causing problems with other info.That is where I would start looking first.

 

I would agree with last comment.
probably dirty connection some where.
My 96 f250 351 eod would do it on cold mornings.
She would hang on in first
Then hit second then third. and sometimes go back to second right away.
Seems like if I turned od off for a couple miles it would shift ok.
Idk bad connection at speed sensor?