My 2004 FX4 has a problem I’ve never encountered before. If I manually take off in 1st gear it feels like I’m pulling a loaded trailer. It’s slow to rev and sluggish. Same goes for 2nd gear but as soon as I shift into drive, the RPMs jump up 200 or so and it’s like the imaginary trailer is unhooked. Taking off in drive doesn’t cause this problem and it goes through all gears having the same power. Anyone ever run into this? Thanks.

Mine isn’t the same problem. It shifts fine it’s just as if it’s being held back in 1st and 2nd only when manually shifting.

I do have codes P0420 and P0430. I’m planning on replacing the cats and o2 sensors if I can ever find replacement mid pipes cheaper.

Catalytic converters

Sorry about not posting that in the original post. Maybe the cats are plugged. My local shop still wants $250+ to cut off the rear cats and bust out the the front cats. To install 2 new cats would be about $260 more. I might as well break down and buy both new mid pipes with new cats for $600. Are there any cheaper alternatives?

I’ve never ran into a problem like this before. It’s weird that manually shifting is different than just taking off in drive. I’ve purchased new plugs and am saving for coils.