97 AWD V8 tranmission shifting too high

[MountaineerGreen]

I had the P0442 code intermittently for a while now- I think I found the solution yesterday.

I dropped my spare, above the spare location there is an evap contraption held on by three bolts. There are 2 or 3 canisters on the plastic bracket, one says "To Canister" it has a rubber hose that connects to what I assume is the purge valve. The other end is open.

Mine was full, and I mean full of dirt and dust. I tapped on it knocked lots of stuff out, then ran water through it to clean the rest of it out. It seems to have a pressure valve, only releasing when it gets to a certain pressure. I think the dirt hung the valve open, causing the evap leak. My light hasn't come on so far......

 

[JGood325]

I had the P0442 code intermittently for a while now- I think I found the solution yesterday.

I dropped my spare, above the spare location there is an evap contraption held on by three bolts. There are 2 or 3 canisters on the plastic bracket, one says "To Canister" it has a rubber hose that connects to what I assume is the purge valve. The other end is open.

Mine was full, and I mean full of dirt and dust. I tapped on it knocked lots of stuff out, then ran water through it to clean the rest of it out. It seems to have a pressure valve, only releasing when it gets to a certain pressure. I think the dirt hung the valve open, causing the evap leak. My light hasn't come on so far......

From what I read, that's exactly what I'm thinking, except possibly even the valve would be rusted as well. My truck has been shifting perfect now for a day or so, but I forgot to reset the code when I scanned it so I still have a light. Not sure if it will go off or not. Either way, I'm dropping the spare and taking a look. My spare tire cable and stuff is all rusted and loose, the tire kinda swings. I'm sure there's rust above it near that stuff. I find it hard to believe an evap line would cause shift points to go up that high. 3500 rpm's under light throttle is really high. This is why I own older BMW's that aren't controlled by complicated and failure-prone electronics... just the reliable and simple Motronic 1.1-1.3 that always makes sense and is easy to figure out.

Thanks again for the help guys, I'll let you know what I discover this weekend when I tear into it.

 

[ghh97eb]

Hello,

I also have a 97 V8 AWD Explorer with an automatic transmission. When I bought it in late 2005, it had 102K miles on it and soon after I began driving it, I noticed that the tranny seemed to "shudder" at around 40 MPH, just before (or after?) switching gears. The "shudder" was the same sensation I got when I used to drive a stick shift, and the engine was not at a sufficiently high RPM to smoothly operate in a particular gear (in other words, I should not have shifted into the next gear above the one I was in before shifting). Is that similar to the "shudder" you are describing? If so, I cured mine by doing a full transmission fluid flush and replacing the fluid with a full synthetic. The Explorer now has 136K miles on it and I have not experienced the "shudder" since. I don't know if this would help with the shifting issues you are describing, but perhaps a transmission fluid flush and replacement would help?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

From what I read, that's exactly what I'm thinking, except possibly even the valve would be rusted as well. My truck has been shifting perfect now for a day or so, but I forgot to reset the code when I scanned it so I still have a light. Not sure if it will go off or not. Either way, I'm dropping the spare and taking a look. My spare tire cable and stuff is all rusted and loose, the tire kinda swings. I'm sure there's rust above it near that stuff. I find it hard to believe an evap line would cause shift points to go up that high. 3500 rpm's under light throttle is really high. This is why I own older BMW's that aren't controlled by complicated and failure-prone electronics... just the reliable and simple Motronic 1.1-1.3 that always makes sense and is easy to figure out.

Thanks again for the help guys, I'll let you know what I discover this weekend when I tear into it.

Well, I thought about this after I posted- the evap code shouldn't affect your shifting. My evap code hasn't caused any issues that observed except for the light.

I'd guess its a TPS problem.

 

[JGood325]

Well, I thought about this after I posted- the evap code shouldn't affect your shifting. My evap code hasn't caused any issues that observed except for the light.

I'd guess its a TPS problem.

My shifting has been fine for 2 days. CEL is still on after ~100 miles. I'll clear it, forget about it, and hopefully nothing will come of it again.

In other words, I'll likely be tearing into the evap system next week

 

[BritinMN]

Hi everybody!
I'm wondering if anybody ever came up with the solution to this problem?

I have a 97 XLT, AWD with the 5.0, 132K miles. This is my winter beater that I've had for around a month. (while the Mustang is sound asleep for the winter )

My symptoms are the same as previously described - intermittent, and only happened once in the last month, then 3 times in the last 2 days!
High revving before shifting 1-2 and 2-3, with 'hard' shifts when they finally happen.
One thing I noticed this evening while having this problem is that the car 'feels' like you are giving it more gas than you really are. When I got home after a 45min drive, it seemed to be idling higher than usual, and if you blip the throttle a little the revs take longer than usual to come down.
I re-checked the Transmission fluid, looks good on the dipstick, looks relatively fresh, no burning smell. When the car is 'behaving' it runs and shifts great... smooth shifts with no aparent slipping.
I'm going to try to pull OBDII codes tonight and then take it to a Transmission shop tomorrow to see if there's any that my generic reader can't pull.

Any recommendations on where to start? Depending on the codes (if any) I get, I was thinking about changing the TPS - but then not sure what to try next?? One other thing I thought of was the battery - a Range Rover I used to have was VERY sensitive to a marginally bad battery, with lots of weird codes/issues, including transmission issues, that suddenly went away with a new battery.....

Thanks for everyone's help! This forum has been a great source of info over the last month, and was actually one of the big reasons I bought the truck!! This is one of the last issues I have that I haven't resolved yet, so fingers crossed!!

 

[reserved50]

I was looking thru the manual, go to Ford and say you want a trans fluid and filter change and let them know your concerns

Might have high line pressure?
Might have wrong tire size?

beats me?

 

[JGood325]

Hi everybody!
I'm wondering if anybody ever came up with the solution to this problem?

I have a 97 XLT, AWD with the 5.0, 132K miles. This is my winter beater that I've had for around a month. (while the Mustang is sound asleep for the winter )

My symptoms are the same as previously described - intermittent, and only happened once in the last month, then 3 times in the last 2 days!
High revving before shifting 1-2 and 2-3, with 'hard' shifts when they finally happen.
One thing I noticed this evening while having this problem is that the car 'feels' like you are giving it more gas than you really are. When I got home after a 45min drive, it seemed to be idling higher than usual, and if you blip the throttle a little the revs take longer than usual to come down.
I re-checked the Transmission fluid, looks good on the dipstick, looks relatively fresh, no burning smell. When the car is 'behaving' it runs and shifts great... smooth shifts with no aparent slipping.
I'm going to try to pull OBDII codes tonight and then take it to a Transmission shop tomorrow to see if there's any that my generic reader can't pull.

Any recommendations on where to start? Depending on the codes (if any) I get, I was thinking about changing the TPS - but then not sure what to try next?? One other thing I thought of was the battery - a Range Rover I used to have was VERY sensitive to a marginally bad battery, with lots of weird codes/issues, including transmission issues, that suddenly went away with a new battery.....

Thanks for everyone's help! This forum has been a great source of info over the last month, and was actually one of the big reasons I bought the truck!! This is one of the last issues I have that I haven't resolved yet, so fingers crossed!!

My problem went away ALL summer. Then one day it came back, and did it for about 10 minutes. I pulled over, turned the truck off and back on, and it hasn't done it since.

Mine also did the high idle thing exactly as you described, so I think we are on to something... I just can't troubleshoot mine anymore since it's so intermittent.

Another issue with driveability - ever since I bought it, when I'm on a slight uphill at around 40mph with just enough gas to keep the speed there, I get a fairly big shutter for 1-2 seconds every 5 seconds or so. It's only with a certain throttle input/speed.

 

[BritinMN]

Wow - thanks for the quick responses guys!

ummhh... I thought about taking it to Ford - but they'll probably end up charging me more than I paid for it !! (a true bargain so far at $1500... and a grand total of $50 in repairs, $30 of which was the RainX winter wipers )

I haven't encountered the shudder yet - I'll be on the look out for it now!

I might swap the current battery in the Explorer for the Mustangs just to see if it could be that easy....

I'll post back with how things go with the battery swap and code pulls, etc.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

 

[ZBlackBeast]

Hello,

I also have a 97 V8 AWD Explorer with an automatic transmission. When I bought it in late 2005, it had 102K miles on it and soon after I began driving it, I noticed that the tranny seemed to "shudder" at around 40 MPH, just before (or after?) switching gears. The "shudder" was the same sensation I got when I used to drive a stick shift, and the engine was not at a sufficiently high RPM to smoothly operate in a particular gear (in other words, I should not have shifted into the next gear above the one I was in before shifting). Is that similar to the "shudder" you are describing? If so, I cured mine by doing a full transmission fluid flush and replacing the fluid with a full synthetic. The Explorer now has 136K miles on it and I have not experienced the "shudder" since. I don't know if this would help with the shifting issues you are describing, but perhaps a transmission fluid flush and replacement would help?

This shudder is caused by the torque converter not locking into place and slipping because the fluid id bad. And replacing the fluid will fix it. I always recomend changing the tranny fluid as much as possiable if there are tranny issues.

 

[BritinMN]

Hi again!

I tried to pull codes last night with my generic (cheap) code reader, and came up with no codes.

I pulled the battery cables from the battery and let it sit overnight - so a 'little' longer than 15 mins. I hooked it up again this morning and fired her up, and she behaved PERFECTLY on the 1 hour commute.

When it happens again I'll take it to a local transmission shop and see if they can pull any codes, and post back.

I'll also (family and weather permitting) change the front and rear diff, and transfer case fluids this weekend, as a bit of preventative manitenance.

Got to love these intermittent problems! If anybody else has any insight/experience with this problem please let us know!
Thanks!!

 

[CDW6212R]

That uphill shudder is likely from the torque converter locking up. When locked the rpms will be lower, and that extra stress may be the cause of the shudder. It's likely that the PCM corrects it each time by taking it off lockup. If that is what's happening there, the best fix may be a valve body kit, which makes the trans more responsive(sensitive) to throttle input. Good luck,