Transmission Issues?

[Billy Dunwoody]

Anyone have any hesitation from 2-3 and on downshifts? Just took it to my local dealer who said it might be a week before it even gets looked at. Service advisor said it might be as simple as a TCM update.

 

[SteveAZ]

Billy, I don't know about downshifts but every time I drive the Platinum with a cold engine the transmission stumbles through second gear then a little better through third, and then smooths out. It's really bad until the engine reaches normal operating temperature. I doubt the engine temp has much to do with it but the temperature of the transmission oil does, I assume.

It doesn't matter whether I'm using Sport, Econ or Normal mode. It just sucks. One example that I argued with the dealer involved pulling on to a major street. You can't get a smooth shift regardless of the temperature when you make a right turn from a side street and accelerate to join speeding traffic. Try pulling out into commuter traffic only to experience a major stumble. It's like the engine quit or it was starved for fuel. It only lasts a couple of seconds but it can make your heart stop.

Ford has not responded to any of my queries and I can tell you that I'm really careful about maneuvering in traffic.

This problem has been shared elsewhere on the forum. Perhaps I just more vocal about it.

BTW, this is just one of my complaints. The front suspension rumbles and rattles constantly and Ford has not found a solution for that issue either.

Regards,

 

[Livernois]

We have had several customers with the 2020 Explorer STs and Aviators 3.0L Ecoboost that had told us they experienced some shifting quirks they did not care for on the stock transmission calibrations. When they took their trucks into the dealer often times there were software updates for the trans cal that would help a bit and also change their stock ECU codes. But the performance tuning improvements we've since set them up with seemed to really make their vehicles much more enjoyable. So it's also always strongly suggested if you end up tuning them to make sure you check the ECU strategy codes after any service visits since they seem to keep changing the stock codes often on the 2020s.

 

[Vash610]

Billy, I don't know about downshifts but every time I drive the Platinum with a cold engine the transmission stumbles through second gear then a little better through third, and then smooths out. It's really bad until the engine reaches normal operating temperature. I doubt the engine temp has much to do with it but the temperature of the transmission oil does, I assume.

It doesn't matter whether I'm using Sport, Econ or Normal mode. It just sucks. One example that I argued with the dealer involved pulling on to a major street. You can't get a smooth shift regardless of the temperature when you make a right turn from a side street and accelerate to join speeding traffic. Try pulling out into commuter traffic only to experience a major stumble. It's like the engine quit or it was starved for fuel. It only lasts a couple of seconds but it can make your heart stop.

Ford has not responded to any of my queries and I can tell you that I'm really careful about maneuvering in traffic.

This problem has been shared elsewhere on the forum. Perhaps I just more vocal about it.

BTW, this is just one of my complaints. The front suspension rumbles and rattles constantly and Ford has not found a solution for that issue either.

Regards,

I have the same issue, from 1st to 2nd gear after starting the car the shifting lunges you forward sometimes. What you described is exactly what I am experiencing. I just got at tune and it didnt resolve the issue. It might be I need a few more miles for the tune to adjust to my driving to see but just installed it last night and no luck driving today.

 

[buzzard302]

Billy, I don't know about downshifts but every time I drive the Platinum with a cold engine the transmission stumbles through second gear then a little better through third, and then smooths out. It's really bad until the engine reaches normal operating temperature. I doubt the engine temp has much to do with it but the temperature of the transmission oil does, I assume.

It doesn't matter whether I'm using Sport, Econ or Normal mode. It just sucks. One example that I argued with the dealer involved pulling on to a major street. You can't get a smooth shift regardless of the temperature when you make a right turn from a side street and accelerate to join speeding traffic. Try pulling out into commuter traffic only to experience a major stumble. It's like the engine quit or it was starved for fuel. It only lasts a couple of seconds but it can make your heart stop.

Ford has not responded to any of my queries and I can tell you that I'm really careful about maneuvering in traffic.

This problem has been shared elsewhere on the forum. Perhaps I just more vocal about it.

BTW, this is just one of my complaints. The front suspension rumbles and rattles constantly and Ford has not found a solution for that issue either.

Regards,

Mine is exactly the same. Happens every time when the vehicle is not yet warmed up. After a few miles of driving, everything warms up and it acts normal. I hate the 1-2 shift hesitation when the vehicle is cold. I was last in my dealership back in January and complained about it. They said there was no update to the transmission program available. But that was 4 months ago, maybe something has become available since then.

 

[Livernois]

I have the same issue, from 1st to 2nd gear after starting the car the shifting lunges you forward sometimes. What you described is exactly what I am experiencing. I just got at tune and it didnt resolve the issue. It might be I need a few more miles for the tune to adjust to my driving to see but just installed it last night and no luck driving today.

Once you install a tune / flash the vehicle it usually takes a good week or so to fully adapt to the changes made and to relearn how you drive again. It wipes the memory fro the transmission's adaptive learning curve and has to start over with a blank slate. So it usually starts out shifting a bit harder than usual and I always suggest to drive it a bit more tame than usual for the first 50-100 miles or so to teach it normal driving patterns and habits if you want it to smooth out the shifts a bit. Also we will usually forward date our customers if they were on an older ECU strategy code that's been updated already by Ford, not sure the other calibrators have those same abilities like our Mycal programmers would. But feel free to shoot me a PM if you have one of our tuners and I can make sure you are on Ford's latest and greatest stock strategy.