2017 Explorer shifting problems

[Thombos]

Hello,

I have a 2017 Explorer with 22000 miles on it. It never had any problems (other than the major accident I posted about before). It went to regular service last week, and since then it started shifting quite abruptly. As of yesterday, it has gotten very violent, feeling like being hit from behind. It only happens when driving slowly or trying to go uphill. I have left a message with my dealership already. Any ideas what it could be?

Thanks for any hints,
Thomas

PS: When saying no issues I excluded the fact that my tires were naked by 13000 miles and had to be replaced, and that I'm on my third battery. Both previous batteries died without any advance warning and left me stranded at a gas station (so weird, filled up and car didn't start anymore) and at my kid's school dropoff (super embarrassing).

 

[peterk9]

Do you know if they disconnected the battery while it was in for service? If so, it may have to relearn its shift points but I don't think that should result in the hard shift you described. There are other posts here about that same thing.

Peter

 

[Thombos]

Hello Peter,

thanks for your reply. The dealer found a mechanical problem with the transmission/clutch, don't have all the details, but they attribute it to the accident from last year and say its therefore not covered by warranty. I'm continuing in the crash thread since its related to that, rather than having two separate threads.

Thomas

 

[Thombos]

Hello again,

I'm going to continue in this thread. Talking to the mechanic again, they now seem to think that the broken clock spring is responsible for the bad shifting behavior. The day I dropped it off it was very difficult to get going from stop, it would either just shiver (and the needle on the rpm display would be moving up and down very rapidly) and move very slowly and make a very scary noise or rev high and then suddenly take off like a rocket, so I left it at the dealer as undrivable. The driver airbag light also came on that day. I think the clock spring is part of the steering column and from what I read the airbag light makes sense, but could it really explain the rough shifting followed by really bad shifting in the last week?

Thomas