KB41786
New Member
- Joined
- January 29, 2013
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- North Carolina
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2009 Mercury Mountaineer
Hey all, has anyone had a problem with their Explorer having a really hard downshift into 1? Mine is an 09 Mountaineer AWD 4.6 and I think the problem is a hard downshift, anyway. I may not be searched correctly, but I can't find anything on the tranny or this forum about this specific problem. The problem is: When I am slowing down, just before I come to a stop, the vehicle shifts down into too low of a gear for the speed I am going. It's pretty uncomfortable and I can watch (in my mirror or the corner of my eye) my passengers' heads or entire bodies bob forward pretty significantly.
This is my second Mountaineer, I previously had an 04 (and I still would if I hadn't totaled it). My Dad also has an 06 Explorer and my uncle has an 03. None of them has ever done this.
I bought this thing at a dealership 250 miles from me and I didn't drive it in a stop and go fashion enough to notice it (like an idiot, I got it out on the highway and only tested high speed stuff). I took it to my local tranny whiz and then to my Ford dealership and both said that they felt what I was talking about and thought it was a bit odd, but neither knew what to do about it. The tranny whiz said that the problem was with the computer (which is beyond his realm) and the only thing that could be done was a dealer flash of the computer. The dealership flashed it, but no change. The dealership did find a leak at the rear of the tranny and said that the tranny fluid was extremely high (pretty fishy, for a leaky tranny). They lowered the level to the appropriate level and I drove the 250 miles back to the dealership I bought it from to get them to fix it or take it back. They refused to take the vehicle back (even though I had returned 7 days from when I bought it). They did fix the leak, though, and said they too felt the lunge and thought it was a problem, but later said it was normal operating conditions. Now, for the last two days, while I am driving on the interstate, I get a red screen that says "Service RSC Now" and a very loud chime to go with it. When this happens, the tranny starts bucking and I can't accelerate. Both times I was only 5 minutes from my destination and I got there. After letting it sit for a few hours while there, the vehicle drove fine back to my house.
I researched and found out that this RSC problem is likely the throttle position sensor, which I replaced today to the tune of $110. I drove it for a while today, after replacing the TPS and I didn't get the RSC alarm. I was hoping that this was somehow also the cause of the lunging when I near a stop, but no dice. It still lunges just before I stop and sometimes it is really bad--other times it isn't.
So, with all that info, does anyone have any idea of what I should try to fix this?
This is my second Mountaineer, I previously had an 04 (and I still would if I hadn't totaled it). My Dad also has an 06 Explorer and my uncle has an 03. None of them has ever done this.
I bought this thing at a dealership 250 miles from me and I didn't drive it in a stop and go fashion enough to notice it (like an idiot, I got it out on the highway and only tested high speed stuff). I took it to my local tranny whiz and then to my Ford dealership and both said that they felt what I was talking about and thought it was a bit odd, but neither knew what to do about it. The tranny whiz said that the problem was with the computer (which is beyond his realm) and the only thing that could be done was a dealer flash of the computer. The dealership flashed it, but no change. The dealership did find a leak at the rear of the tranny and said that the tranny fluid was extremely high (pretty fishy, for a leaky tranny). They lowered the level to the appropriate level and I drove the 250 miles back to the dealership I bought it from to get them to fix it or take it back. They refused to take the vehicle back (even though I had returned 7 days from when I bought it). They did fix the leak, though, and said they too felt the lunge and thought it was a problem, but later said it was normal operating conditions. Now, for the last two days, while I am driving on the interstate, I get a red screen that says "Service RSC Now" and a very loud chime to go with it. When this happens, the tranny starts bucking and I can't accelerate. Both times I was only 5 minutes from my destination and I got there. After letting it sit for a few hours while there, the vehicle drove fine back to my house.
I researched and found out that this RSC problem is likely the throttle position sensor, which I replaced today to the tune of $110. I drove it for a while today, after replacing the TPS and I didn't get the RSC alarm. I was hoping that this was somehow also the cause of the lunging when I near a stop, but no dice. It still lunges just before I stop and sometimes it is really bad--other times it isn't.
So, with all that info, does anyone have any idea of what I should try to fix this?
