primalurges

Hi all I'm experiencing a delay of approximately 2 seconds when going from park to reverse or to drive. Also, when slowing down quickly from 40mph to 20mph and accelerating the engine will reg up and slam into gear ( feels like a neutral drop). The truck is an 04 with 112k miles that has regular ATF flushes every 30k. Oil has about 2k miles on it. Feels like if oil level is low however it appears to be in range. Anyone experience anything like this and how was it resolved?

dixiemudder4x4

I'm disappointed to see nobody replied to your question as I have a similar problem. Looks like this is an older thread so if you see this and fixed your problem please let me know what you found.

I have an '08 f-150 5.4l with about 40,000 miles. About 3 months ago my truck started hesitating when engaging drive only. I first noticed it when backing out of a parking spot and going from rev to drive. It has since gotten worse when the trans is cold it takes around 5 seconds to engage.

Recently I have noticed it will not downshift from over drive to regular drive and slow the truck under compression. This is a common practice for me when towing. I haven't flushed the trans yet due to the cost of fluid. I would prefer to have a direction to go rather then just throwing $100 of fluid at it and pray!

07cruiser

Sounds like you clutch packs are starting to go. So with only 40k though, you could just have a plugged filter or line. Or you transmission is just a lemon. With millions made, some are destined to die before others. Every company has a small percentage of acceptable failures. They may not tell you this up front but no matter what the product is, this will exist. So for dixiemudder4x4, i'd start with dropping the pan and putting in a new filter.

My question for the OP, why change your transmission fluid every 30k? Transmission fluid is basically just hydraulic fluid with a detergent in it. So every time you are changing your fluid, you are playing Russian roulette with your clutch packs. Every time you change your fluid, the new detergent in the fluid will eat away at the wear on your clutch packs. IMO, if you feel the need to change your fluid, I'd only do it once at 60k-70k, and just change the filter.

dixiemudder4x4

Thanks for the input. I'll try to give a little more information. I did a lot of searching and asked a few friends who are Ford techs with no help other than let a tech diag it. It only does it going into drive and once engaged there is no slipping. I was frustrated and decided to test it. I took a freeway on ramp from about 20 mph and put the pedal down it instantly dropped to first and ran through the gear range without a problem, no noise, shuddering,nor slipping just as you would expect a transmission would operate. Based on this I would be surprised if there was any internal wear or failing clutch discs or bands. There no codes present.

As far as the changing fluid Ford recommends changing every 30,000 miles in extreme conditions such as heavy towing. I cannot argue the effects of detergents on the internals but I would argue the benefits of changing burnt fluid over leaving it. Auto trans fluid has friction modifiers which break down over time and abuse hence the importance of keeping a trans cool.

In my case there is very little heavy towing and the level and condition looks fine I don't feel there is an issue with the fluid. I'm not against changing it but if there is an accumulator piston that I should check I would like to know this prior to dropping the pan. I believe it is a pressure issue but where?

07cruiser

It is a possibility that your accumulator spring for 1st gear is going causing it to take a while to shift into first. Your best bet will be dropping the pan and doing an inspection.

If you downshift from 2nd to 1st manually do you feel anything?

papa tiger

Take it to a good tranny shop and let M take care of it before U have to instal a rebuilt.

dixiemudder4x4

Once in "forward" shifting between gears is fine. From neutral to forward is the problem. Neutral to first is the same delay. It also won't downshift from over drive to drive when I press the o/d off button. Drive to second and second to first is fine when downshifting manually.

papa tiger

When U pull the trany valve and pieces fall out U found it.

primalurges

I've added about 4k miles since I first noticed the delay in engagement. After the delay I started to notice hard shifting. I took down the pan and changed the filter which was black. I also noticed that the magnet had metal sludge on it presumably from the clutch plates. Shifting didn't improve so I took to dealer which basically drove it and charged me $100 to tell me I need a rebuild. Not wanting to fork down cash to rebuild a tranny that's still running I bought a bottle of Lucas stop slip and within the first 2 miles of driving the shifting improved by like 70% and a couple of thousand miles later I'd say my hard shifting is almost 100% gone. Granted my transmission has 118k miles now so I my problem may be different than yours. I do believe that this is a low pressure problem yet don't know if the low pressure is as a result of normal wear or something else. I would change filter first to see if that helps. If it doesn't get an opinion from dealer. If they tell you that a rebuild is necessary then you may want to consider the $14 bottle of Lucas. I believe that because I added the Lucas early on when I first noticed the shifting problem, my eventual rebuild was delayed, by how long is anyone's guess. At this point I will stop with the 30k mile flushes and just drop pan and replace fluid, filter, and Lucas stop slip.

dixiemudder4x4

I'm not sold on the flush as you stated. A good friend and Ford tech told me there is a thermostat in the trans that will only allow some of the fluid to flush. And on top of that you don't replace the filter. I will probably drop the pan and look for anything obvious and proceed from there. Thanks for the reply.