2011 5.0, skipping 2nd gear downshift
12-16-2014, 11:12 AM
#1
2011 5.0, skipping 2nd gear downshift
Hey friends! I've been lurking for a long time. Small introduction - My name is Matt, I'm in the panhandle, and I have a beautiful dark blue 2011 5.0 RWD 6.5' bed that I've owned since Feb 15th (took me 1 yr to find with ext cab+rwd v8 so hard to find). Just rolled 40k miles 
Only dealer maintenance so far is getting the clunk fixed about 15k miles ago. It is starting to ever so slightly come back though, although that's for another thread...
I've read what I can find on these boards about these trucks skipping 2nd gear but haven't found much recent info or any fixes. It's getting to the point that it's driving me crazy. It's especially bad coming up a hill from a turn. The computer will fight as hard as it bloody can to stay in 3rd until it gives up and quickly jumps in to first which causes the truck to lurch. 'Rolling' through a stop is equally frustrating because it will downshift straight to 1st right as you transition to rolling on the throttle (expecting the low rpm of 2nd) which will again jerk my truck. This happens the most when I need to be especially delicate at low/stopping speeds because at those times I've got my bed&cab filled with my big expensive model airplanes that I fly. I can't have them jerking around when the truck lurches in a hard downshift. I've discussed with dealer on the phone and he said it sounds unusual but I feel once I drop her off I'll get the 'it's normal' routine. I mean, I CAN live with it, it just isn't right as far as I'm concerned.
Has anyone had any success with the dealer on this? Or any success of any kind at all outside of a dealer? Any tips or advice? Secondly, could I purchase an aftermarket re-programmer flash thing and do this myself? I am very technically inclined and work as an engineer if that makes any difference. Or am I just making a big deal out of nothing?
Only dealer maintenance so far is getting the clunk fixed about 15k miles ago. It is starting to ever so slightly come back though, although that's for another thread...I've read what I can find on these boards about these trucks skipping 2nd gear but haven't found much recent info or any fixes. It's getting to the point that it's driving me crazy. It's especially bad coming up a hill from a turn. The computer will fight as hard as it bloody can to stay in 3rd until it gives up and quickly jumps in to first which causes the truck to lurch. 'Rolling' through a stop is equally frustrating because it will downshift straight to 1st right as you transition to rolling on the throttle (expecting the low rpm of 2nd) which will again jerk my truck. This happens the most when I need to be especially delicate at low/stopping speeds because at those times I've got my bed&cab filled with my big expensive model airplanes that I fly. I can't have them jerking around when the truck lurches in a hard downshift. I've discussed with dealer on the phone and he said it sounds unusual but I feel once I drop her off I'll get the 'it's normal' routine. I mean, I CAN live with it, it just isn't right as far as I'm concerned.
Has anyone had any success with the dealer on this? Or any success of any kind at all outside of a dealer? Any tips or advice? Secondly, could I purchase an aftermarket re-programmer flash thing and do this myself? I am very technically inclined and work as an engineer if that makes any difference. Or am I just making a big deal out of nothing?
12-16-2014, 11:51 AM
#3
Steps I would take
1. Hows the transmission fluid. If its mirky at all I would flush it. Probably not the problem but good maintenance anyway.
2. Have the dealer reset the transmission. These trannys learn. They learn how you drive and the change their strategy's off of the information gathered. The dealer can go in and set it back to point 0 and it'll relearn while driving off its base strategy.
3. I thought there was a PCM update available for this concern but again that's a dealer thing. Have them check the calibration.
Check those three things and then reevaluate. Again dont shy away from the flush due to price. Regardless of what everyone else is going to bash me on about 100k services and blah blah blah. You have a problem and need to get everything back to base first. The electronic solenoids in these CAN get finicky, dirty fluid doesn't help. But if your fluid is clear that's probably not the issue. But this could be a electronic thing with one of those solenoids
1. Hows the transmission fluid. If its mirky at all I would flush it. Probably not the problem but good maintenance anyway.
2. Have the dealer reset the transmission. These trannys learn. They learn how you drive and the change their strategy's off of the information gathered. The dealer can go in and set it back to point 0 and it'll relearn while driving off its base strategy.
3. I thought there was a PCM update available for this concern but again that's a dealer thing. Have them check the calibration.
Check those three things and then reevaluate. Again dont shy away from the flush due to price. Regardless of what everyone else is going to bash me on about 100k services and blah blah blah. You have a problem and need to get everything back to base first. The electronic solenoids in these CAN get finicky, dirty fluid doesn't help. But if your fluid is clear that's probably not the issue. But this could be a electronic thing with one of those solenoids
12-16-2014, 11:26 PM
#4
Steps I would take
1. Hows the transmission fluid. If its mirky at all I would flush it. Probably not the problem but good maintenance anyway.
2. Have the dealer reset the transmission. These trannys learn. They learn how you drive and the change their strategy's off of the information gathered. The dealer can go in and set it back to point 0 and it'll relearn while driving off its base strategy.
3. I thought there was a PCM update available for this concern but again that's a dealer thing. Have them check the calibration.
Check those three things and then reevaluate. Again dont shy away from the flush due to price. Regardless of what everyone else is going to bash me on about 100k services and blah blah blah. You have a problem and need to get everything back to base first. The electronic solenoids in these CAN get finicky, dirty fluid doesn't help. But if your fluid is clear that's probably not the issue. But this could be a electronic thing with one of those solenoids
1. Hows the transmission fluid. If its mirky at all I would flush it. Probably not the problem but good maintenance anyway.
2. Have the dealer reset the transmission. These trannys learn. They learn how you drive and the change their strategy's off of the information gathered. The dealer can go in and set it back to point 0 and it'll relearn while driving off its base strategy.
3. I thought there was a PCM update available for this concern but again that's a dealer thing. Have them check the calibration.
Check those three things and then reevaluate. Again dont shy away from the flush due to price. Regardless of what everyone else is going to bash me on about 100k services and blah blah blah. You have a problem and need to get everything back to base first. The electronic solenoids in these CAN get finicky, dirty fluid doesn't help. But if your fluid is clear that's probably not the issue. But this could be a electronic thing with one of those solenoids
12-16-2014, 11:45 PM
#5
Senior Member
you can reset the transmission to factory default setting by disconnecting your battery. i do this on my wifes Flex all the time. takes both sides off and clean your terminals while you are at. I also take the positive side cable and put to ground to drain any voltage stored. do this before taking it in to the dealer. plenty of You Tube videos showing exactly how to do this. I will look at my truck when it downshifts coming to a stop, pretty sure it skips some gears. seems like this has been discussed before.
12-16-2014, 11:51 PM
#6
Senior Member
You can also drain it by disconnecting the negative and turning your headlights on for about 30 minutes to drain any residual power out. The lights won't come on.
12-17-2014, 01:50 AM
#7
I had this same aggravation. I have a 2013 fx4 screw 5.0. At the time I noticed it (had just moved to a very hilly area, turning onto my road it was uphill and it would annoyingly hang in 3rd gear) I was running 5star tunes at the time. They tried revising it twice to no avail. When I told them the 3rd time that it didn't work, they stated that I would be charged for any further revisions ($120 I believe). So I went to MPT, ordered two tunes without mentioning any of this. Long story short (too late, I know) the mpt tunes were all perfect for this exact "problem" right off the bat.
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12-18-2014, 07:05 AM
#9
Senior Member
My trucks did this too. Only a tune fixed it...
12-18-2014, 08:52 AM
#10
I had this same aggravation. I have a 2013 fx4 screw 5.0. At the time I noticed it (had just moved to a very hilly area, turning onto my road it was uphill and it would annoyingly hang in 3rd gear) I was running 5star tunes at the time. They tried revising it twice to no avail. When I told them the 3rd time that it didn't work, they stated that I would be charged for any further revisions ($120 I believe). So I went to MPT, ordered two tunes without mentioning any of this. Long story short (too late, I know) the mpt tunes were all perfect for this exact "problem" right off the bat.
