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Transmission Issues

BC Porter

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Joined
July 24, 2018
Messages
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City, State
Traverse City
Year, Model & Trim Level
2011 Explorer Limited
2011 Ford Explorer Limited

3 Main issues.

#1 Sometimes when doing a slow roll up to a stop and then getting on the gas before coming to a complete stop it feels like the transmission slips and then slams with a bang into gear. But it doesn’t do it all the time.

#2 When going down hill if I back off the throttle and lightly tap the brakes it starts down shifting.

#3 When going up a steady incline its always shifting up and down and the shifts are not very smooth. You can definitely feel it. The more people in the vehicle the worse it gets.

Are these the signs of a transmission on the verge of failing or do they always shift a little hard?
 






Welcome to the Forum.:wave:
There is a TSB on the first issue that you describe. Does this sound like it? 2011 + Explorer TSB's & SSM's
As for #2, the transmission does downshift at a certain speed. I don't recall exactly at what speed. I believe it is around 30-40 mph.
I don't know about #3. Has it always done this or did it just start?
How many miles on the Explorer? Is the transmission fluid full?

Peter
 






Thanks for the reply Peter,

117,000 miles. The fluid is full.

#1 Yes , This TSB pretty much nails it.

#3 Just started doing this a month ago but then stopped and hasn’t done it since.

Soooo..,

I took it into the Transmission shop today and of course couldn’t get it to do any of the symptoms. He scanned for codes and couldn’t find anything. No charge for test drive and code scan! Awesome! During the test drive he said it is shifting perfectly. His suggestion is to keep driving it until I can reproduce the symptoms and or get a check engine light and then to try and bring it in immediately so he can scan it again while light is on.
 






So I went through this very same thing (#1) with my '12 limited. I had to engage Ford with a complaint to push the dealership into trying harder. They finally updated the Trans software code (they would not give me any details however) that finally addresses this. That being said, the new tranny code is a bit "lazy" with the 2nd to 3rd shift and I still have a once in a while issue where under the same conditions (#1) I get a slight "miss" on the upshift, dont know how else to explain that. However, the new code did indeed stop the very hard bang that made me look in the rear view mirror for parts in the road :(

I have also read that there were two different TSBs for this issue and was told by the dealer that my car should not have had to have this update but apparently somehow mine slipped thru the factory with the older code I suppose.

That being said, you have a 2011 ask them about a shifting TSB. I am sure the link above from peterk9 will help you tell them which one.
 






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