04 Explorer Transmission issue

[mjs]

My wife has an 04 Explorer with about 30K miles on it. We have been fighting a transmission issue for quite some time now.

Symptoms:

After the tranmission gets warmed up, the shifts seem delayed. It almost feels like you are driving a manual transmission and keeping the clutch in for an entended period. Kind of a pause in between shifts. Also, on occasion, when you back up, then put in forward, there wil be a 5 second or so selay, then it will slam into gear.

What's been done:

We had the recall done a few months ago. The one where they put the additive in the tranny. That actually made things worse. After a couple of days, the tranny would slip when shifting. Took it back to the dealer and they said the valve bosy was bad and replaced it. That took care of the slipping, but the poor shifting is still present.



Anyone have any ideas? I have it at the dealer right now and they keep telling me that it is "normal". ya right.


MJS

 

[neoboy05]

It is not normal!!!!! And you are not alone. This seems to be an issue with 2002 +. I will be taking my 03 now for 3rd time repairs on the same issue <- only 23k. At 10k, took it in, had the clunking, slow shift into gears (R to D or D to R). The was also a whistling, whirling sound at 55 to 65. That first time they changed out the solinoids, realigned the tranny, changed the fluid (previously the fluid had been low, which makes no sense since it is sealed and only had 8k), they replaced the coolant lines and replaced the entire rear differential case.


A friend of mine who is deaf (legally) was like wtf was that noise. So for him to be able to hear it, you know its bad so I took it in again. Second time around (17k), they reprogrammed the tranny computer, changed some more solinoids, and changed the fluid.

Now at 23k, I have the whirling sound again and the tranny clunking sound. So going to take it to them while I go on vacation and probably talk to the manager about it or something. I really don't understand what the deal is with this tranny/rear differential issue. The fact they didn't even try to repair it raises some concerns.

So to reiterate, this is not normal, and they are having many customers have this done. Also if they don't do the work you want done, take it to another dealership. 2nd or 3rd opinions help. Once you tell them you are ready to look at another dealership they will talk.

Hope that helps,

~john

 

[twodogs]

This won't make you happy, but, it may help give you some direction.

And no, it's not normal although it appears to be pretty common.

http://www.offroadexchange.com/modforums/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=2488

 

[neoboy05]

I checked out and same issues as my 2003. I was wondering if any one tried to going to different dealerships? How many times will we go through this before this is fixed.

 

[mjs]

Thanks twodogs, I already found that link yesterday afternoon. It does seem to be a common issue. The frustrating part is the lame excuses that I always seem to get from dealers. "It is normal", "never heard of this issue".
My inlaws have an 03 and a buddy has an 04. There is no comparison on how they shift.I printed off all the stuff I found and gave it to the dealer. I'm going to try a different dealer next week. maybe I'll have better lucj there.

 

[SKI254]

mjs - Was this ever resolved? I have an '04, and had the TSB done to put the additive in, as well as had the master solinoid replaced. Had it in last month because I was experiencing a delay when I really punch the gas pedal...They said that the computer needed an update, and it should now be fixed. Well it's not, and that's when I started researching the issue on this board. I'm coming out of the factory warranty in August, and I want to make sure that this is addressed before then.

 

[mjs]

Well.... I guess you could say that I was able to eliminate the problem.
Ford was completely unwilling to acknowledge the issue and said " it is normal". It drove me completely nuts, so I got mad and traded it in on an Xterra. Two years and 36K miles later and I have never been to the dealer for any kind of warranty work. No more Explorers for me.


MJS