My 2007 Expedition EL got the dreaded torque converter shudder at 140k miles. Happens under light load in 4th gear (typically ~35-45mph) and varies from slight shudder to awful shaking. If you turn off OD it disables the torque converter clutch (TCC) and helps avoid the shudder. Or you can manually put it in 3rd gear and accelerate through 45mph. If you don't want to mess with the shifter, a deft touch on the gas pedal can be used to accelerate through the range (kicking it down to 3rd and then timing throttle lift off to shift into 5th) or you can avoid light load situations that require 4th gear (try to keep it in 5th, coast if it's in 4th).
A buddy of mine works for Ford and told us to get rid of it before it hits 150k miles. The F150 forums talk about the SHUDDER as well. It's important to make sure you don't have a spark plug or coil-on-plug issue as they have similar symptoms.
'Fix' options:
- Transmission/torque converter replacement (ranging from $400 ebay, $2k from Rockauto rebuilt, to $3-5k from various tranny service/dealers).
- Fluid/filter change.
- Friction additive.
My tranny fluid went from looking new and red at 130k miles to looking kinda nasty after my wife got fed up with the shudder, so I opted to order 8 quarts Mercon SP (for 07-08) and a filter from Rockauto.
FordTechMakuloco on youtube has some helpful videos. He suggests avoiding the purge treatments since a thermostat will keep them from actually purging most of the fluid anyway.
You can do this without jacking up the car (a tight squeeze and I usually bonk my head some), but it's easier if you level the truck on jackstands or use a lift.
1) remove filler plug with 19mm (do this to break the vacuum holding the pan on).
2) remove dipstick straight up to avoid breaking (or see below for my fix).
2b option) stick a fluid transfer pump hose in the fill hole and pump out as much fluid as you can - I got about 5-1/2 quarts from the pump and only had to dump 1-1/2 quarts from the pan.
3) remove 21 8mm pan bolts starting at the rear (you will probably need a wobble or u-joint to get the ones above the exhaust) and leaving the front for last (so you can hopefully catch most of the fluid when the rear edge drops first).
4) drop old filter (sometimes it falls out), make sure rectangular o-ring isn't stuck in the hole.
5) keep reservoir under tranny as it will keep dripping.
6) clean up pan/gasket surfaces - don't use the cheap gasket that comes with the filter kits as the stock one is higher quality and reusable.
7) replace filter (make sure your replacement looks the same as Ford switched styles in December 2007), make sure the o-ring seats firmly in the correct hole - it will be dangling unsupported so you want to do the next step quickly before the filter falls.
8) stick gasket/pan back up.
9) put a few front bolts in loosely to hold the pan up and keep the filter from falling, then get the rear ones started as they are the hardest.
10) don't tighten the bolts until you have them all started, then snug them all up.
11) Use a transfer pump to pump in fresh fluid (hook hose through transmission cooler line bracket just forward of the fill hole), I put in about 5 quarts before it started overflowing.
12) You can start/stop the truck briefly and add in about 1-1/2 more quarts but after that mine overflows unless the truck is running.
13) With the truck running in park, add fluid until the level is correct on the dipstick (I shot for low as I don't like working around that hot catalytic converter - wear a leather glove and long sleeves). I put mine about a 1-1/4" or 30mm from the bottom of the dipstick 'cold' but running in park. Put the cap back on with the truck running or it might overflow like mine does. When refilling, note how much fluid you drained. I pulled out ~7.5 quarts and put about 8 back in.
I recommend using a fluid transfer pump to suck out most of the fluid from the pan before you drop it.
If you have a 2007 Expedition built before December, it may have a shallow transmission pan, in which case the Filter that everybody insists is correct won't fit. A helpful guy at Oreilly did a reverse look up for me and then sent me on a quest for an in-stock 2007 Ford Explorer 4.6L transmission filter before it started raining. Autozone had it for $12.99. The later pans have an obvious center sump sticking down low and the filter is much larger and square-er (left filter in pic).
My dipstick snapped off and apparently isn't made of ABS as ABS plastic solvent didn't stick it back together (black glue in pic). I cut off the remaining stub of the broken dipstick, drilled/tapped the handle for a 10-24 bolt, glued it in with 5-min epoxy (you can speed it up drying with a heat gun), then cut the bolt off at 47mm like the stock dipstick. Permanent marker a few 1/2" or 10mm increments and aim to fill ~3/4" or 20" from the top.
The fresh fluid seems to have solved my shudder issues and you can always try the anti-shudder additive tricks later.
Fluid transfer pump, 'later' filter on left is bigger, squarer and bottom has huge pickup which sticks out in the a bulging sump in the bottom of the pan. Pre December 2007 filter on right is for flat pan (used in 2006-2011 Expeditions supposedly).
Broken stock dipstick left (black is failed ABS solvent repair) and drilled/tapped screw epoxied in handle and cutoff to 1-7/8" 47mm.
A buddy of mine works for Ford and told us to get rid of it before it hits 150k miles. The F150 forums talk about the SHUDDER as well. It's important to make sure you don't have a spark plug or coil-on-plug issue as they have similar symptoms.
'Fix' options:
- Transmission/torque converter replacement (ranging from $400 ebay, $2k from Rockauto rebuilt, to $3-5k from various tranny service/dealers).
- Fluid/filter change.
- Friction additive.
My tranny fluid went from looking new and red at 130k miles to looking kinda nasty after my wife got fed up with the shudder, so I opted to order 8 quarts Mercon SP (for 07-08) and a filter from Rockauto.
FordTechMakuloco on youtube has some helpful videos. He suggests avoiding the purge treatments since a thermostat will keep them from actually purging most of the fluid anyway.
You can do this without jacking up the car (a tight squeeze and I usually bonk my head some), but it's easier if you level the truck on jackstands or use a lift.
1) remove filler plug with 19mm (do this to break the vacuum holding the pan on).
2) remove dipstick straight up to avoid breaking (or see below for my fix).
2b option) stick a fluid transfer pump hose in the fill hole and pump out as much fluid as you can - I got about 5-1/2 quarts from the pump and only had to dump 1-1/2 quarts from the pan.
3) remove 21 8mm pan bolts starting at the rear (you will probably need a wobble or u-joint to get the ones above the exhaust) and leaving the front for last (so you can hopefully catch most of the fluid when the rear edge drops first).
4) drop old filter (sometimes it falls out), make sure rectangular o-ring isn't stuck in the hole.
5) keep reservoir under tranny as it will keep dripping.
6) clean up pan/gasket surfaces - don't use the cheap gasket that comes with the filter kits as the stock one is higher quality and reusable.
7) replace filter (make sure your replacement looks the same as Ford switched styles in December 2007), make sure the o-ring seats firmly in the correct hole - it will be dangling unsupported so you want to do the next step quickly before the filter falls.
8) stick gasket/pan back up.
9) put a few front bolts in loosely to hold the pan up and keep the filter from falling, then get the rear ones started as they are the hardest.
10) don't tighten the bolts until you have them all started, then snug them all up.
11) Use a transfer pump to pump in fresh fluid (hook hose through transmission cooler line bracket just forward of the fill hole), I put in about 5 quarts before it started overflowing.
12) You can start/stop the truck briefly and add in about 1-1/2 more quarts but after that mine overflows unless the truck is running.
13) With the truck running in park, add fluid until the level is correct on the dipstick (I shot for low as I don't like working around that hot catalytic converter - wear a leather glove and long sleeves). I put mine about a 1-1/4" or 30mm from the bottom of the dipstick 'cold' but running in park. Put the cap back on with the truck running or it might overflow like mine does. When refilling, note how much fluid you drained. I pulled out ~7.5 quarts and put about 8 back in.
I recommend using a fluid transfer pump to suck out most of the fluid from the pan before you drop it.
If you have a 2007 Expedition built before December, it may have a shallow transmission pan, in which case the Filter that everybody insists is correct won't fit. A helpful guy at Oreilly did a reverse look up for me and then sent me on a quest for an in-stock 2007 Ford Explorer 4.6L transmission filter before it started raining. Autozone had it for $12.99. The later pans have an obvious center sump sticking down low and the filter is much larger and square-er (left filter in pic).
My dipstick snapped off and apparently isn't made of ABS as ABS plastic solvent didn't stick it back together (black glue in pic). I cut off the remaining stub of the broken dipstick, drilled/tapped the handle for a 10-24 bolt, glued it in with 5-min epoxy (you can speed it up drying with a heat gun), then cut the bolt off at 47mm like the stock dipstick. Permanent marker a few 1/2" or 10mm increments and aim to fill ~3/4" or 20" from the top.
The fresh fluid seems to have solved my shudder issues and you can always try the anti-shudder additive tricks later.
Fluid transfer pump, 'later' filter on left is bigger, squarer and bottom has huge pickup which sticks out in the a bulging sump in the bottom of the pan. Pre December 2007 filter on right is for flat pan (used in 2006-2011 Expeditions supposedly).
Broken stock dipstick left (black is failed ABS solvent repair) and drilled/tapped screw epoxied in handle and cutoff to 1-7/8" 47mm.
