Hard 1 - 2 Shift - 04 V-8 Explorer

[Rockpick]

Hard 1 - 2 Shift

04' Explorer EB. 4.6L V8 AWD

On both the upshift and downshift from 1 - 2 and 2 - 1 I have a pronounced 'thunk'. This occurs at frequent intervals however, not every single 1-2 or 2-1; more like around 85% or so. 18K miles on the ticker...

Obviously still in warranty but, I like to get my ducks in a row before taking anything in for warranty work... in short, try to know what the problem is, in gist, before presenting the problem to the service writer. I know that it's difficult to know sometimes but, if possible, TSBs and any other data would be helpful.

Thoughts? All help is greatly appreciated.

RP

 

[CDW6212R]

While under warantee, try to get the manufacturer to do anything possible to the transmission. Take it to them, and as clearly as possible, describe your problems to them.

Inquire about any possible Ford transmission TSB's, kits, gasket, etc. that may be available. If there is something available, try to suggest that they add those parts, make those changes, etc. Ford makes many kits, or upgrades, for Ford transmissions. Those are not necessarily parts that fall under warantee.

The best you can do under warantee, is to get Ford to apply all possible changes available. Most aftermarket parts are compatible with factory parts. If later you choose to try an aftermarket kit, you can. Good luck,

 

[jrford]

Has yours been recalled? Mine had somewhat of a hard shift, 1-2 or 2-3 too. Not sure if it applies to yours but my '04 EB V8 AWD had a recall for the transmission fluid. Seems that they may have filled it with MerconIV not MerconV. Supposedly not a big deal they can add MerconV with a little bottle. They will also ReFlash it. Overall it seems to help. Only shift I can really feel is the 2-3, 3-2 but the others seem fine hard.

 

[007]

If you are having harsh upshifts, then see about the fluid mistake first but have them re-flash the ECM. The more the throttle is open, the more the timing is retarded at upshift's...more so with the 4.6 than the 4.0. The ECM is doing it's part to save the tranny, so it pulls the timing at shift points.

On the V8's, make a full-throttle start from 0 mph and you'll see the timing is pulled at the 1-2 and 2-3 upshift with a noticable lag. However, if you manually shift the gears (starting in 1st gear), the ECM doesn't pull the timing and you get full power shifts. Do it some time, and you'll see how much of a change there is.

Point being, if you getting a harsh shift then have the ECM re-flashed and fluid changed. I'd bet it'll go away.

 

[mjwebb007]

Had this same problem in my 04 XLT Sport. After three dealership trips they had to replace one of my coils, one of my plugs and reflash the ECM. So far so good (was done at around 15k and I have 50k now). I also had the fluid recall done and it smoothed at all the shifts a little. Now my only problem is when I try to go from Drive to Park it snags badly at reverse and I have to almost force it to go over into park. Any ideas?

 

[Rockpick]

I know it's been a while but, I wanted to update this one...

It turns out that it was a bad valve body solenoid... according to the service manager and one of the techs, this is a pretty common issue on the V8...

Not sure if this will help anyone out in the long run but, I thought I'd update the solution...

RP

 

[02mountaineerv8]

I know it's been a while but, I wanted to update this one...

It turns out that it was a bad valve body solenoid... according to the service manager and one of the techs, this is a pretty common issue on the V8...

Not sure if this will help anyone out in the long run but, I thought I'd update the solution...

RP

Ban Him Ban him! LOL you'll never guess RP who this is! he he