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Just had the exact same problem on my 96 and had to have it rebuilt. Trans guy said the factory had issues with our trans a seal problem ( prolly servo seal as stated above) that affected reverse and 3rd. He said they offer a replacement seal that corrects the problem. Wish I could remember what he called it exactly, but I had to go through mine to fix it.



The problem he told you is real, it's the inner apply piston seal on the front drum. Someone screwed up and machined the groove too deep and over time the seal shrinks into the groove and causes the delayed reverse engagement , when it gets real bad the 3rd gear gets delayed. All seals kits I have bought over the last few years included both inner seal , the standard and the revised, you have to pull the trans and open it up to fix it.