2021 Explorer with Momentary Neutral-Out Issue - Fixed

[sejones3]

I recently received my 2021 Explorer back from the dealer after a transmission repair under TSB 23-2249 (replaces 23-2120) which is titled, "Momentary Neutral-Out Condition in Drive." I consider myself lucky as my issue occurred at 43K miles and was fully covered by the powertrain warranty. Expedition and ExplorerST forums seem to address this issue, but I could not find it here. I'm posting this to be sure anyone searching for the issue understands that it is very serious and gets it corrected under warranty before they are left holding onto a very expensive repair (10.8 hrs plus parts.)

The issue occured when my explorer jumped out of gear and when downshifting on the freeway and sounded like grinding glass. It did this twice within a few minutes. Once with a message on the display and once without. In both cases, I began pulling off the road when it when back into gear and drove okay. I was more than 1500 miles from home and managed to baby the car home by shifting manually while on the freeway and attempting to avoid accelerating downshifts. The dealer located a stored code in the PCM and I had no issues getting it repaired except for a long discusssion regarding a loaner vehicle that finally went my way. I have driven it almost 2000 (mostly) highway miles since the repair and so far, so good. I still have a few thousand miles on the powertrain warranty, but I'm sure there will be many people that will have no issue until the warranty expires. Since it impacts both the 10R80 and 10R60s, I had no trouble matching my symptoms with others who had the same issue. The TSB on the Explorer is for those built before 25-Jan-2021, so those with vehicles built after that likely won't experience the issues as it appears to have been fixed by a redesign (Valve Body Separator Plate).

 

[Rick]

Thanks for the info. I had not heard of this issue before. Best of luck with your repair. I hope it lasts.

I suppose the TSB will only apply if the issue is present when it's brought in, and not something they will do proactively?

 

[sejones3]

Thanks for the info. I had not heard of this issue before. Best of luck with your repair. I hope it lasts.

I suppose the TSB will only apply if the issue is present when it's brought in, and not something they will do proactively?

I'm hopeful it lasts too. The TSB pays 3.2 hours for a "no damage" occurrence which does not require a trans removal. I doubt there will be ANY "proactive" repairs. Too expensive for FMC.