Apparant downshift at highway speeds (until warm) | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Apparant downshift at highway speeds (until warm)

djherr

New Member
Joined
October 1, 2013
Messages
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City, State
Virginia
Year, Model & Trim Level
1995
Hello,

New member, and first time poster here! I have a strange set of issues going on with my '95 that I wanted to share and get some opinions on from anyone that cares to offer some feedback. I've been a long time viewer of these forums/threads, and I've found a number of posts/threads that partially get at the issues I'm seeing, but can't find any that totally nail it. Caveat: I'm not very mechanically inclined, but just looking for potential or probable causes for what I'm seeing (or things that I should try) that I can check or have inspected.

My ride: '95 Explorer XLT, 4dr, 4WD (4.0L engine), 242,000 miles

The situation:

For background, I've done trans rebuild (~140K miles), and a replacement with scrapyard tranny (done at ~180K miles, with a tranny that had ~88K on it). Also had the transfer case replaced with a reman unit at ~160K.

About 6 weeks ago, I had some routine maint done: plugs/wires replaced, coolant flushed, and tranny fluid/filter changed (pan dropped/cleaned, etc.). Fluid was still generally pink, but just starting to get that brown tint to it. Mechanic said the pan wasn't bad (no sludge, metal shavings, etc.).

Since that time, I've had an issue that only occurs at highway speeds, and only until the car is warmed up: When I get on to the highway (after about 3 miles from my house), and get up to ~65+, it feels like it is repeatedly downshifting (RPMs increase suddenly by about 700, then drop back to prior level after a second or two). It will do this for about 5 minutes, then it stops and settles back to the lower, typical RPM and shifts perfectly smoothly for the rest of the trip no matter how long. Once it gets past that initial issue, you couldn't ask for it to work any better or more smoothly.

I did have one other thing happen last week - just as I was slowing down to exit a highway, the o/d on/off light flashed about 4-5 times, and then stopped (and hasn't happened since). Also, the 4WD/4WD Low light also did the same thing the next time I drove it. They haven't appeared since. The o/d light flashing was the precursor to my first transmission failure, but it was on constantly in that case, so this seems different.

In looking under the hood two weeks ago, I did notice that the hose connecting the air intake to the oil fille next was unplugged at the air intake (maybe was knocked out when they were replacing the plugs/wires). I plugged it back on to the intake, and also replaced the dirty air filter and cleaned the MAF per suggestions I had seen here, but still no change.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what I might try next? I drive this car about 65 miles/day, and would love to keep it rolling! I can't figure out if this is really a transmisson end of life kind of issue, or if it is something being triggered by some other root cause. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks, and love the forum!
 



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It sounds like the torque converter is unlocking due to a bad Throttle position sensor, or maybe something dragging which causes you to depress the throttle. Maybe the emergency brake is dragging?
 






I don't know if this is relevant, but, try shutting off the O/D until the truck warms up. See what happens then. I know my 96 does not shift into O/D or the torque converter locks up for a considerable distance (app 3 miles) when the weather turns cooler.
 






I don't know if this is relevant, but, try shutting off the O/D until the truck warms up. See what happens then. I know my 96 does not shift into O/D or the torque converter locks up for a considerable distance (app 3 miles) when the weather turns cooler.

Real good suggestion! Too bad I'm more aware of exactly how the O/D gear and Torque Converter Clutch work in the 3rd. gens., but not the 2nd.

If the issue he has seems to not occur with "O/D OFF", my guess would be a possible shift solenoid intermittent problem.

What about trouble codes? imp
 






Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for the pointers and suggestions. I did double check the emerg brake this morning, and no drag there. On the way to work today, I tried it on the highway with O/D off, but still experienced the same weird issue (just out of 3rd), so it doesn't look like the classic overdrive slippage that I've experienced in prior transmissions. Slightly lower RPM spike, but same thing. As usual, about 2-3 miles down the highway it stopped and drove perfectly the rest of the way.

I did discover something else, however, that is potentially problematic. After my 32 mile commute, I checked the trans fluid (running and in park). First thing I noticed was that the dipstick was not properly seated (not sure if that is a big deal). It appears to me that the trans is overfilled a bit (it was over the hatch marks by probably about the length of the hatched area (less than an inch over, but definitely over). Definitely a bummer, and something I should have checked a while ago, but I kind of assumed that the refill had been done correctly.

Any thoguhts as to whether this could be the culprit? I know I need to have that addressed very quickly, and the bad thing is that I've already driven ~4K miles since this refill. Any chance I've done permanent damage here?
 






Here is my experience. I hope it does not bore anyone. But some background. I have owned my Ex for 2 1/2 years now. Two years ago, on a trip from Nebraska to Arizona, everything was fine until I got to Santa Rosa,Nm. Then the trans wouldn't shift into either O/D or The torque convertor would not lock up. Fought this problem all the time in AZ. until I got to eastern Colorado on the way back to Ne.Installed an aux trans cooler in line with the Radiator cooler. Wa ha! no more trans problems since. Not saying that is the cure, but it sure fixed mine.
 






Here is my experience. I hope it does not bore anyone. But some background. I have owned my Ex for 2 1/2 years now. Two years ago, on a trip from Nebraska to Arizona, everything was fine until I got to Santa Rosa,Nm. Then the trans wouldn't shift into either O/D or The torque convertor would not lock up. Fought this problem all the time in AZ. until I got to eastern Colorado on the way back to Ne.Installed an aux trans cooler in line with the Radiator cooler. Wa ha! no more trans problems since. Not saying that is the cure, but it sure fixed mine.

Not bored, but filled with wonder! I wonder......if.........

imp
 






Not bored, but filled with wonder! I wonder......if.........

imp

Yea imp, I have been wondering what the Hell for over two years. But a cross country trip back to AZ (moved, truck loaded to the roof) and not a sign of trouble.
 






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