Shift Flare on 1-2 shift?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Beckta10

Active Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Posts
44
Reaction score
6
Location
Illinois
Could you all take a look at the video below and let me know if this qualifies as shift flare during the 1-2 shift? Overall it's smooth and there's no jerking when it goes into gear, but the vehicle hasn't always behaved this way. A little more background info is below:

We recently took a trip of roughly 380 miles one way for a total of roughly 760 miles round trip. Upon returning from the trip we noticed when driving that during one of the shifts the car feels like it dumps you forward a little bit. It reminded me of accelerating hard with a manual transmission and then depressing the clutch to shift gears where the car leans forward a bit as it loses momentum. This alerted me to begin paying attention to the shifts where I discovered this was happening during the 2-3 shift.

We’ve continued driving the vehicle and have been paying close attention to the shifts since then. The dumping feeling has mostly gone away on the 2-3 shift, but I did notice that it appears we’re getting shift flare on the 1-2 shift and sometimes the 2-3 shift. This doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen fairly often. It happens more often when the transmission is at it’s normal operating temperature of roughly 200 degrees. It also happens more often and is more noticeable the harder you accelerate. For example, a hard acceleration from a stop that brings you to 3,000 – 3,500 RPMs will cause a shift flare of 500 RPM or so. An acceleration to 2,500 RPMs or so will give you a shift flare of roughly 250 RPM to 500 RPM, which varies between events.

In addition to this and in case they are related, we’ve also noticed the following two issues as well:

1. A slight clunking with the 2-1 downshift. It’s nothing violent or terribly concerning, but with the other issue I thought I should mention it.

2. The car regularly takes what seems like a little too long to shift from reverse to drive. It’s not obnoxious, but it can sometimes take 1.5 to 2 seconds to shift and even once that action is complete there will occasionally be a hesitation when hitting the gas. After that initial engagement, the vehicle drives fine.

 

16plati

Full Access Members
Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Posts
1,359
Reaction score
448
Location
VA
Could you all take a look at the video below and let me know if this qualifies as shift flare during the 1-2 shift? Overall it's smooth and there's no jerking when it goes into gear, but the vehicle hasn't always behaved this way. A little more background info is below:

We recently took a trip of roughly 380 miles one way for a total of roughly 760 miles round trip. Upon returning from the trip we noticed when driving that during one of the shifts the car feels like it dumps you forward a little bit. It reminded me of accelerating hard with a manual transmission and then depressing the clutch to shift gears where the car leans forward a bit as it loses momentum. This alerted me to begin paying attention to the shifts where I discovered this was happening during the 2-3 shift.

We’ve continued driving the vehicle and have been paying close attention to the shifts since then. The dumping feeling has mostly gone away on the 2-3 shift, but I did notice that it appears we’re getting shift flare on the 1-2 shift and sometimes the 2-3 shift. This doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen fairly often. It happens more often when the transmission is at it’s normal operating temperature of roughly 200 degrees. It also happens more often and is more noticeable the harder you accelerate. For example, a hard acceleration from a stop that brings you to 3,000 – 3,500 RPMs will cause a shift flare of 500 RPM or so. An acceleration to 2,500 RPMs or so will give you a shift flare of roughly 250 RPM to 500 RPM, which varies between events.

In addition to this and in case they are related, we’ve also noticed the following two issues as well:

1. A slight clunking with the 2-1 downshift. It’s nothing violent or terribly concerning, but with the other issue I thought I should mention it.

2. The car regularly takes what seems like a little too long to shift from reverse to drive. It’s not obnoxious, but it can sometimes take 1.5 to 2 seconds to shift and even once that action is complete there will occasionally be a hesitation when hitting the gas. After that initial engagement, the vehicle drives fine.

Check your U joints for any play, left right up down. Front and rear

Also. Year, gears, el or non el, current mileage 2WD or 4WD
 

JExpedition07

That One Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2017
Posts
6,510
Reaction score
3,123
Location
New York
Could someone explain to me what a shift flare is? I haven’t heard this term before.
 

16plati

Full Access Members
Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Posts
1,359
Reaction score
448
Location
VA
Could you all take a look at the video below and let me know if this qualifies as shift flare during the 1-2 shift? Overall it's smooth and there's no jerking when it goes into gear, but the vehicle hasn't always behaved this way. A little more background info is below:

We recently took a trip of roughly 380 miles one way for a total of roughly 760 miles round trip. Upon returning from the trip we noticed when driving that during one of the shifts the car feels like it dumps you forward a little bit. It reminded me of accelerating hard with a manual transmission and then depressing the clutch to shift gears where the car leans forward a bit as it loses momentum. This alerted me to begin paying attention to the shifts where I discovered this was happening during the 2-3 shift.

We’ve continued driving the vehicle and have been paying close attention to the shifts since then. The dumping feeling has mostly gone away on the 2-3 shift, but I did notice that it appears we’re getting shift flare on the 1-2 shift and sometimes the 2-3 shift. This doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen fairly often. It happens more often when the transmission is at it’s normal operating temperature of roughly 200 degrees. It also happens more often and is more noticeable the harder you accelerate. For example, a hard acceleration from a stop that brings you to 3,000 – 3,500 RPMs will cause a shift flare of 500 RPM or so. An acceleration to 2,500 RPMs or so will give you a shift flare of roughly 250 RPM to 500 RPM, which varies between events.

In addition to this and in case they are related, we’ve also noticed the following two issues as well:

1. A slight clunking with the 2-1 downshift. It’s nothing violent or terribly concerning, but with the other issue I thought I should mention it.

2. The car regularly takes what seems like a little too long to shift from reverse to drive. It’s not obnoxious, but it can sometimes take 1.5 to 2 seconds to shift and even once that action is complete there will occasionally be a hesitation when hitting the gas. After that initial engagement, the vehicle drives fine.

Something is definitely going on there between 3200 and 3700ish rpms.
 
OP
OP
B

Beckta10

Active Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Posts
44
Reaction score
6
Location
Illinois
Check your U joints for any play, left right up down. Front and rear

Also. Year, gears, el or non el, current mileage 2WD or 4WD

Year: 2017
Gears: How do I find this?
Non EL, regular length
Mileage: 44,600 or so
Drivetrain: 4X4
U-Joints - should I just grab the driveshaft and pull? It's been about 10 years since I've had a vehicle with bad U-joints and I don't remember what the symptom was. I think we were replacing the clutch on my 88 F-150 and noticed they were bad. That truck was a learning project anyway I bought for $400 with holes in the floor board so big you could practically stand in them so it was a POS anyway.
 

JExpedition07

That One Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2017
Posts
6,510
Reaction score
3,123
Location
New York
So google says a shift flare is basically slipping on an upshift. U-Joints will cause clunking but no slippage.
 

16plati

Full Access Members
Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Posts
1,359
Reaction score
448
Location
VA
Year: 2017
Gears: How do I find this?
Non EL, regular length
Mileage: 44,600 or so
Drivetrain: 4X4
U-Joints - should I just grab the driveshaft and pull? It's been about 10 years since I've had a vehicle with bad U-joints and I don't remember what the symptom was. I think we were replacing the clutch on my 88 F-150 and noticed they were bad. That truck was a learning project anyway I bought for $400 with holes in the floor board so big you could practically stand in them so it was a POS anyway.
Yeah just grab and try to move them left and right and towards the floor boards and towards ground.
 

16plati

Full Access Members
Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Posts
1,359
Reaction score
448
Location
VA
Maybe a TCM reset would fix that too
 

jrc50

Full Access Members
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Posts
82
Reaction score
20
Location
Mobile, Al.
Could you all take a look at the video below and let me know if this qualifies as shift flare during the 1-2 shift? Overall it's smooth and there's no jerking when it goes into gear, but the vehicle hasn't always behaved this way. A little more background info is below:

We recently took a trip of roughly 380 miles one way for a total of roughly 760 miles round trip. Upon returning from the trip we noticed when driving that during one of the shifts the car feels like it dumps you forward a little bit. It reminded me of accelerating hard with a manual transmission and then depressing the clutch to shift gears where the car leans forward a bit as it loses momentum. This alerted me to begin paying attention to the shifts where I discovered this was happening during the 2-3 shift.

We’ve continued driving the vehicle and have been paying close attention to the shifts since then. The dumping feeling has mostly gone away on the 2-3 shift, but I did notice that it appears we’re getting shift flare on the 1-2 shift and sometimes the 2-3 shift. This doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen fairly often. It happens more often when the transmission is at it’s normal operating temperature of roughly 200 degrees. It also happens more often and is more noticeable the harder you accelerate. For example, a hard acceleration from a stop that brings you to 3,000 – 3,500 RPMs will cause a shift flare of 500 RPM or so. An acceleration to 2,500 RPMs or so will give you a shift flare of roughly 250 RPM to 500 RPM, which varies between events.

In addition to this and in case they are related, we’ve also noticed the following two issues as well:

1. A slight clunking with the 2-1 downshift. It’s nothing violent or terribly concerning, but with the other issue I thought I should mention it.

2. The car regularly takes what seems like a little too long to shift from reverse to drive. It’s not obnoxious, but it can sometimes take 1.5 to 2 seconds to shift and even once that action is complete there will occasionally be a hesitation when hitting the gas. After that initial engagement, the vehicle drives fine.

Ok, what year and mileage is this Expedition? Symptoms on my 2017 Limited transmission woes were somewhat similar to this.
 
OP
OP
B

Beckta10

Active Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Posts
44
Reaction score
6
Location
Illinois
Ok, what year and mileage is this Expedition? Symptoms on my 2017 Limited transmission woes were somewhat similar to this.

2017, same as yours.

Edit: 44,800 miles.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Top