Stalls When Shifting Into Reverse - Transmission Going?

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.

Rebecca

New Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Posts
4
Reaction score
0
Location
Northern Virginia
Hi All,

I'm new (just posted my intro in "New Member" section) and I am in need of some advise/guidance.

For the last few months, my truck has been stalling when shifting it into reverse from drive. If I go to say, parallel park, within a second or two of changing gears from drive to reverse, the RPMs drop significantly and then it stalls. If I gas it quickly enough when it's safe to do so, the RPMs recover and then I can proceed but usually that isn't possible. Now, once it stalls, I put it in park and it starts back up just fine and then when I put it into reverse from there, I don't have any issues. Also, if I'm just getting in and need to back out of a parking spot, I again have no issues (going from park to reverse). Honestly (and yes, this was probably pretty stupid) I haven't been all that concerned about it. It's a nuisance but that WAS about the extent of my worry. Fast forward a few months...

I brought the truck down to a shop Wednesday last week for my inspection, front brakes/rotors and a major issue with the front suspension. I was pretty sure it was the idler arm (hitting a bump or bad pavement at higher speeds threw the entire front end into mass chaos...felt like the wheels were going in two different directions...scary and dangerous - another story for a different day). Anyway, mechanic experienced the stalling which I had totally forgotten to mention given the pressing issues and he proceeded to tell me it was more than likely my transmission is going out. So, if your still with me, here's my question/dilemma...

Is this stalling definitely symptomatic of a failing tranny or are there some other possibilities I can look at first? We did check the transmission fluid levels - good to go and I haven't experienced any other issues that would be related to the tranny...in fact, it shifts very smoothly both in and out of 4WD and in extremely aggressive driving conditions (DC metro traffic). Although I'm bracing myself for the worst, I'm praying it's not that significant of a repair. Between replacing the heater core (that was ugly), starter, pitman and idler arms, upper control arm, and a myriad of other repairs I've sunk a great deal of money into it in the last 9 months in addition to the initial purchase price of around $7,500 I spent on it just 12 months ago, I feel like I have too much money invested in it now to walk away. I'm hoping I don't have to ask myself the question of "When do you just draw the line and accept that the upkeep costs are just not economically viable anymore?".

I apologize for the long winded post and I'd greatly appreciate any/all suggestions and thoughts you all can offer...

Thanks - Rebecca
 

turtlejoe

Active Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Posts
35
Reaction score
0
Location
Ft. Worth, TX
Rebecca, I'll qualify my input by immediately by saying that I've had my Expedition for exactly 5 days ... and know next to nothing about Ford transmissions and such.

But, we had a similar symptom on our 93 Grand Cherokee and it turned out to be the IAC (Idle Air Control) unit. The old one was very dirty/sticky and even a good cleaning didn't eliminate the problem. It helped, just didn't cure it. Put a new one in and cleaned everything I could think of in and around it. Worked.

Again, I have no clue if that's the issue or not. Just thought I'd chip in a little something for the experienced folks to chew on too.
 

toms89

technical advisor
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Posts
5,177
Reaction score
440
Location
MD
My guess would have been something in the tune.. but don't know these auto trannys well enough so I did a search online.

Oddly enough trans filter issues seems to come up most often for cause of stalling when put in reverse?! Might be a good time to change tranny fluid and filter..see if this helps.
 
Last edited:

JUST4FUN

Admin
Staff member
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Posts
2,097
Reaction score
139
Location
Il
I think i would go for the cheapest thing and change the trans fluid/filter like toms89 said. start from there and keep us posted
 

LoveMyExpo

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2012
Posts
1
Reaction score
0
Location
Boston, MA
It has been my experience that when this happens it could be a number of things. Not to get off topic but the first generation Expeditions had lots of issues with rotting! The trailing arms typically rot out and so do the transmission cooling lines so my first question would be is it leaking any tranny fluid? If it is leaking fluid it is most likely due to the fact that your tranny cooling lines are rotted and need to be replaced. You can check to see if you see any rot on them by crawling under the front bumper and looking for the transmission cooler (looks like a mini radiator) and is actually next to the radiator. The lines run from the transmission cooler to the transmission and there is also one that runs to the radiator. Typically the only ones you will need to replace are the ones that run from the tranny cooler.

If you are not experiencing a loss of tranny fluid then you maybe experiencing what is called a Torque Converter Lock Up. Does it stall when sitting at a red light or slowing down, or is it just when it is put into reverse? If it happens sitting at a red light or when slowing down try shifting the transmission into first gear manually by putting into 1. This will reset the transmission into first gear, see if it stalls. If it happens when you are shifting into reverse then it could be that your Torque Converter Clutch is being engaged at idle. In this case I would recommend doing a complete transmission flush and replace the transmission filter and fluid. This should solve your issues and if it doesn't then the next step would be to look into a Torque Converter or possibly even rebuild the transmission. Hope this helps, please keep us posted with any updates!
 
Joined
Jan 30, 2012
Posts
8
Reaction score
0
Location
dayton ,wy
When you change the fluid and filter if you see a bunch of black friction material in the botom of the pan its possible that you could have some sticky valves in the valve body creating a cross leak in the valve body aplying forward clutches and planetaries at the same time. if you can put the vehicle on a hoist with the wheels of the ground and check trans pressures while duplicating the conditions that cause it to kil the engine a ford service manual should have the correct pressures for each gear. So if you notice the wrong pressures in rev or first you might be abld to track down the sticking valve.
 
Top