Gear selection questions and transmission programming observations

[txaggie]

One of the things that I have noticed is the way that our transmissions select gears doesn't seem to be the best for real world driving. They might be great to help out the CAFE numbers for the Ford family, but they stink when driving around town.

Here are a couple of observations and questions -

1. From a stop in D (not M), using very light throttle, the car seems to start in 2nd gear. I feel it do one shift, quickly pop the lever into M and see a "3rd" on the dash display. Is it programmed to start in 2nd? (my Dad's Lincoln LS always started in 2nd, unless you selected 1 in the manual select mode) I can grab 1 in the M mode.

2. When approaching a turn at an intersection slowing from 45mph where the car is already in 6th gear, it doesn't go down as many gears as I would like. At this one corner, if timed right, I can slow down to about 30-35 mph, when I complete the turn and quickly move the selector to M, it shows 5th gear. And if you want to accelerate quickly in D, you either have to wait for it to downshift or wait for it lug out of 1500 rpms.

3. Normal cruising at 45 mph, the transmission insists on going all the way to 6th gear. Great for mileage, stinks for trying to move in and out of traffic. The engine doesn't have enough torque to operate from 1700rpm. I wish it would stay out of 6th until 55+.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with the transmission, I just think they programmed it horribly for real world city driving, and instead concentrated totally on maximizing fuel economy. The engine doesn't have near the torque necessary at 40-50mph to operate in 6th gear.

 

[peterk9]

One of the things that I have noticed is the way that our transmissions select gears doesn't seem to be the best for real world driving. They might be great to help out the CAFE numbers for the Ford family, but they stink when driving around town.

Here are a couple of observations and questions -

1. From a stop in D (not M), using very light throttle, the car seems to start in 2nd gear. I feel it do one shift, quickly pop the lever into M and see a "3rd" on the dash display. Is it programmed to start in 2nd? (my Dad's Lincoln LS always started in 2nd, unless you selected 1 in the manual select mode) I can grab 1 in the M mode.

2. When approaching a turn at an intersection slowing from 45mph where the car is already in 6th gear, it doesn't go down as many gears as I would like. At this one corner, if timed right, I can slow down to about 30-35 mph, when I complete the turn and quickly move the selector to M, it shows 5th gear. And if you want to accelerate quickly in D, you either have to wait for it to downshift or wait for it lug out of 1500 rpms.

3. Normal cruising at 45 mph, the transmission insists on going all the way to 6th gear. Great for mileage, stinks for trying to move in and out of traffic. The engine doesn't have enough torque to operate from 1700rpm. I wish it would stay out of 6th until 55+.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with the transmission, I just think they programmed it horribly for real world city driving, and instead concentrated totally on maximizing fuel economy. The engine doesn't have near the torque necessary at 40-50mph to operate in 6th gear.

I seriously doubt the vehicle is starting off in 2nd gear. Mine faithfully downshifts at around 40 MPH and you can really notice it. According to my manual when using select shift they recommend upshifting to 6th gear at 50 MPH. I would guess that if cruising at a steady 45, that the overdrive would kick in to get the best mileage. I haven't really paid that much attention to it. I do find that I have no problems getting it to 'get up and go' from any speed.
I'll try and pay a little more attention next time I go out.

Peter

 

[JohnBoyToo]

Honestly, I've not paid that much attention to it either... but do know that flooring it erases all hesitation

fyi - if it functions like all the other fords I've had with tow haul --- that is IF you have the tow package ---
for slowing down (or at any time) you can put it in tow haul, and it will downshift much quicker to help slow you down...

And it will 'hang' in lower gears longer on acceleration .

Also, it's an auto-manual so you can hit the paddle shifters at any time for it to shift up or down - even in drive (IF you have the sport ) (sorry to bring that up if you don't !)


I'm guessing at which explorer you have since your signature nor you vehicle specs have been filled out

 

[Ryan327]

These were pretty much my complaints in both the limited and the sport. the lack of an actual sport setting on the transmission is pretty crappy. I'm hopping as more tunes come out they'll address this since it's just basic tuning to the EMC. I did a lot of these changed myself to my grand prix and it made so much different. All the other mods added power, but transmission tuning made such a change to the driveability.

 

[1995E]

Funny you should say this. At the beginning when my Explorer was annoying the heck out of me. I would get horrible upshifts and random downshifts.

I think after A LOT of driving. My transmission finally learned what gears I like. Now every time I accelerate, it's as smooth as ever and I don't really hear the engine at all. For some reason, I haven't even passed 2,000 - 2,300 RPM max when accelerating and the acceleration has just been smooth. Plus, my fuel economy numbers have been just phenomenal. 17 - 19 MPG regularly and 23 - 25 MPG on the highway even though I have AWD. I think you should give it time. Honestly, driving this car really tamed my lead foot.

 

[txaggie]

I'm guessing at which explorer you have since your signature nor you vehicle specs have been filled out

What??? you couldn't tell from my really tiny avatar??? Sorry about that, corrected it with my signature.

No I don't have the extra induction parts on my Limited And yes, flooring it does take care of the issue. Thanks for the opinions guys, I wish I could just grab an engineer and have him make it exactly like I want it!!

 

[plumbago]

Who else drives your vehicle on a somewhat regular basis? Your vehicle does have an adaptive learning transmission. So either you or someone else has taught it a lot about how you want it to perform by the way you drive it.....You could start over, by disconnecting the battery, then letting it learn it's idle and fuel strategy, but it still learns, shift and performance points based on how the driver drives.....For instance this happens all the time with Mustang vehicles, with a very similar Ford transmission; and after they have been driven easy for a relative short time, the spunk and performance of the vehicle is very noticeable, and gone, until the reset and relearn procedure is applied....best regards Plum

 

[JohnBoyToo]

and is it like some vehicles in that there's a relearn procedure that works best for it ?!?

 

[peterk9]

and is it like some vehicles in that there's a relearn procedure that works best for it ?!?

I don't think there is any way of actually changing the relearn procedure for the transmission. It gets all the info from the way the vehicle is driven. As for the idle and fuel trim set up, you can just drive it and eventually it will set the points or you can follow the relearning procedure in the manual. It can be found under the Maintenance section under Battery Relearn. The online manual I have for the 2013 (4th printing) shows it on page 350.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Funny you should say this. At the beginning when my Explorer was annoying the heck out of me. I would get horrible upshifts and random downshifts.

I think after A LOT of driving. My transmission finally learned what gears I like. Now every time I accelerate, it's as smooth as ever and I don't really hear the engine at all. For some reason, I haven't even passed 2,000 - 2,300 RPM max when accelerating and the acceleration has just been smooth. Plus, my fuel economy numbers have been just phenomenal. 17 - 19 MPG regularly and 23 - 25 MPG on the highway even though I have AWD. I think you should give it time. Honestly, driving this car really tamed my lead foot.

Same here. When accelerating it usually shifts in the same 2000 to 2300 range.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

One of the things that I have noticed is the way that our transmissions select gears doesn't seem to be the best for real world driving. They might be great to help out the CAFE numbers for the Ford family, but they stink when driving around town.

Here are a couple of observations and questions -

1. From a stop in D (not M), using very light throttle, the car seems to start in 2nd gear. I feel it do one shift, quickly pop the lever into M and see a "3rd" on the dash display. Is it programmed to start in 2nd? (my Dad's Lincoln LS always started in 2nd, unless you selected 1 in the manual select mode) I can grab 1 in the M mode.

txaggie, when I pull away in 'D' and then quickly shift to 'M' it show 1st gear. At 45mph, like yours, it show 6th gear. With gas prices the way they are here, I have absolutely no problem with that.

Peter

 

[sqwirl]

I have the same annoyance in a '13 XLT. Mine doesn't ever feel like it pulls from a stop in 2nd though. It does however not downshift near enough when slowing down for say someone turning in front of you below 20mph. It's either accelerate at a snails pace, punch it and completely overcompensate, or flip over to M mode when I see someone turning.

Same with passing on a highway at times. Seems to take forever to downshift and when it does it whips you back good.

Haven't tried running around with tow mode on but I may try it out.

 

[txaggie]

And one more observation -

While in M mode and in 3rd gear indicated and about 30mph, I pulled out to pass and put the gas pedal on the floor. Surprising to me, the thing downshifted to 2nd by itself, I didn't select it. I EXPECTED it to just accelerate in 3rd gear and let me shift into 4th, etc. I was kinda caught off guard by the sudden jump into 2nd.

 

[peterk9]

And one more observation -

While in M mode and in 3rd gear indicated and about 30mph, I pulled out to pass and put the gas pedal on the floor. Surprising to me, the thing downshifted to 2nd by itself, I didn't select it. I EXPECTED it to just accelerate in 3rd gear and let me shift into 4th, etc. I was kinda caught off guard by the sudden jump into 2nd.

I don't believe it is fully manual. When I had it in 3rd gear and was slowing down, it automatically changed to 2nd gear.

Peter

 

[jetpilot747]

Interesting concept, it would be good to know how long it learns and if you can freeze the profile. Even neater would be to learn link to each key FOB like the seat position, steering position, etc can, so that the learning is tied to each driver. That way the behavior of the car matches the behavior of the driver. In me and my wife's case is very different!

I know in aircraft performance predictions and calculations, I have worked with systems that use software algorithms and Kalman filters to learn how operators fly their aircraft(short haul, long haul, max thrust, etc) and then is able to use that learned behavior for better predictions of how much fuel and speed to expect out of the aircraft and the way its used. Like on the explorer it can be reset, but also change how long it learns before it freezes the profile. Cool stuff in my opinion.

 

[sdm9465]

And one more observation -

While in M mode and in 3rd gear indicated and about 30mph, I pulled out to pass and put the gas pedal on the floor. Surprising to me, the thing downshifted to 2nd by itself, I didn't select it. I EXPECTED it to just accelerate in 3rd gear and let me shift into 4th, etc. I was kinda caught off guard by the sudden jump into 2nd.

I think that's a safety feature so that you can accelerate quickly if needed (and don't think about shifting). If you don't push the pedal down too fast you can get it to the floor and hold it there without it downshifting.

 

[JohnBoyToo]

Agreed - even on the manu-auto f350 it has a 'safety' override - a good description for what it does...
not matter how u have it set, if you go outside certain parameters it will 'help' you

on the truck I usually leave it in manual 6th while towing heavy so there's much less 'drama' with downshift, upshift, downshift, upshift...
and just let the turbo take care of the lesser hills - etc.... but if it really needs it, it will still change gears.... @ about 1500 rpms so it's not lugging.

one thing I like on the sport is that I can use the paddle shifters in any mode at any time to get the gearing where I want before I need (well, want) it ! cool !!!

Jetpilot - I'm sure all those things COULD be coded in, but given the sometimes erratic behavior of the mft infotainment system - would you want the same guys programming that

Long time ago developed a predictive ordering guide for a LARGE restaurant chain... could took ALL kinds of variables like when the fleet was in @ Norfolk naval base, etc...and proved it to be very good at limiting waste....

but after 6 months use, waste went back up so they called me back in and research showed that all those calcs and all those predictions were being overridden by some of the local managers doubling the orders !