a broken dip stick wont cause hard shifting... the engine does not do the any shifting... your problem would be the transmission... check transmission....
idler pulley. Change it now before the serpentine belt breaks. Hard job to do I think?
A broken serpentine belt.
No, the battery has nothing whatsoever to do with the belt other than the belt is driving the alternator which recharges the battery. The alternator is working hard to recharge a weak battery. If the belt is squealing then the belt is either worn out or it is loose. If it is loose it is because the tensioner is defective and not holding the proper tension.
The belt tension should adjust automatically. There's a thing called a belt tensioner that has a strong spring in it (you can't see the spring) that keeps pressure applied to the belt. This belt tensioner is what makes the serpentine belt so hard to remove. Many times the tensioner is in a difficult place access.
hard gear shifting
The serpentine belt is broke or loose. Replace the belt
It's not hard at all. All serpentine operate in a similar way. You will need to use the diagram on your truck to figure out which of the pulleys is the tensioner. Then simply loosen the tension on the belt with a wrench or socket driver and remove the belt. Then repeat the process of loosening the tensioner to install the new one. Just make sure that you run the belt around the pulleys in the proper way by following the diagram.
Bad Throttle Position Sensor
Not too sure, but I have an '03 that I'm going to replace the water pump, ac belt, and serpentine belt on. Can't be that hard, right?
Yes, overfilling can cause the fluid to aerate which can cause leaks and hard shifting.
check the serpentine belt tensioner for being bad, it might not be keeping the drive belt tight enough against the pulleys.