transmission "popping out of gear"

[texevora]

Have a '19 Expedition Limited 4WD. This issue has been occuring in 2H mode which i'm in 99.9% of the time.

At highway speeds (70-85mph) while coasting then attempting to accelerate (ie while trying to pass slower traffic), the car will lurch/make a clunk sound and "pop out of gear" (rpm’s will rise as if in neutral and car won’t accelerate). When you let off the gas, the transmission will lurch/make another loud clunk and engage a gear, then proceed to accelerate normally when you re-apply throttle. No errors/warnings on the dash. The clunk sounds are pretty painful to hear, not going to lie.

This happened once or twice yesterday on a 3 hour roadtrip, then at least 3-4 times today on the return trip earlier today.

Anyone experienced this/have any idea what the issue is? I've got 44K miles on the odometer, so I assume this would be covered under the powertrain warranty, but i'm quite annoyed that i'm having transmission problems on a car <2 years old and one with 95% highway miles and diligent maintenance.

 

[NukeLife]

Video record your dash as this happens.
just get out on the interstate and start coasting and flooring it until it happens on camera.
then take it to your dealership and show them.

when you play it back in slow motion you will be surprised to learn it is not “popping out of gear”.
Much worse.
it is downshifting to FIRST gear at 70 mph.
The dealership will fix the problem with a new main valve body.
And then you will have to convince them that your transmission is permanently damaged and that they need to replace the whole thing.

 

[texevora]

Ughh. Any idea what the specific issue is with the valve body? Did you experience this issue on your car?

Curious if you have any suggestions/tips on getting them to replace the entire transmission.

 

[aggiegrad05]

Have a '19 Expedition Limited 4WD. This issue has been occuring in 2H mode which i'm in 99.9% of the time.

At highway speeds (70-85mph) while coasting then attempting to accelerate (ie while trying to pass slower traffic), the car will lurch/make a clunk sound and "pop out of gear" (rpm’s will rise as if in neutral and car won’t accelerate). When you let off the gas, the transmission will lurch/make another loud clunk and engage a gear, then proceed to accelerate normally when you re-apply throttle. No errors/warnings on the dash. The clunk sounds are pretty painful to hear, not going to lie.

This happened once or twice yesterday on a 3 hour roadtrip, then at least 3-4 times today on the return trip earlier today.

Anyone experienced this/have any idea what the issue is? I've got 44K miles on the odometer, so I assume this would be covered under the powertrain warranty, but i'm quite annoyed that i'm having transmission problems on a car <2 years old and one with 95% highway miles and diligent maintenance.

I have had this happen to me twice earlier this month, both times on a road trip. I was coasting and accelerated to pass or merge. Instead of downshifting to an appropriate gear, it couldn't find one and hit the rev limiter, then tried to get back into gear in 1st (as @NukeLife said), then found the right gear and continued on. It was...unsettling. No codes, no warnings.

I have the "thunk" from 3rd to 5th (https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/transmission-clunk-3rd-gear.40054/),
and it also runs really sluggish in the lower gears since my cam phaser job (https://www.expeditionforum.com/thr...ting-6th-set-of-cam-phasers.47602/post-444067)

I have an appointment to drop it off next Thursday. Dealer said if it's a transmission issue I should plan to be without the vehicle for 2+ weeks. Luckily they offer a loaner.

 

[Team_Z]

I have had this happen to me twice earlier this month, both times on a road trip. I was coasting and accelerated to pass or merge. Instead of downshifting to an appropriate gear, it couldn't find one and hit the rev limiter, then tried to get back into gear in 1st (as @NukeLife said), then found the right gear and continued on. It was...unsettling. No codes, no warnings.

I have the "thunk" from 3rd to 5th (https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/transmission-clunk-3rd-gear.40054/),
and it also runs really sluggish in the lower gears since my cam phaser job (https://www.expeditionforum.com/thr...ting-6th-set-of-cam-phasers.47602/post-444067)

I have an appointment to drop it off next Thursday. Dealer said if it's a transmission issue I should plan to be without the vehicle for 2+ weeks. Luckily they offer a loaner.

This is the reason I ended up with my 21 Expedition. Took my 18 F150 for this exact issue. They did a PCM reprogramming/replacement (there was an FSA for this now it’s gone) the jumping out of gear issue was gone but still shifting like crap (I drove it until the problem was soo bad that you couldn’t drive it, I wasn’t going to deal with them not being able to duplicate) doing this caused internal issues. So they rebuilt the trans, they no longer just drop in units. In doing this they didn’t replace the VB, so after it was out together still the same issue. So they ordered a VB. Replaced it but the then they couldn’t drive the truck without the CEL coming on for incorrect gear speed or some sh it but the truck drove perfectly fine. All this started the first week of April. Traded her in on June and they are still trying to fix the truck!

when it pops out of gear just left off the gas, the RPMs will drop and it will get back in to gear.

I took several videos.

 

[aggiegrad05]

This is the reason I ended up with my 21 Expedition. Took my 18 F150 for this exact issue. They did a PCM reprogramming/replacement (there was an FSA for this now it’s gone) the jumping out of gear issue was gone but still shifting like crap (I drove it until the problem was soo bad that you couldn’t drive it, I wasn’t going to deal with them not being able to duplicate) doing this caused internal issues. So they rebuilt the trans, they no longer just drop in units. In doing this they didn’t replace the VB, so after it was out together still the same issue. So they ordered a VB. Replaced it but the then they couldn’t drive the truck without the CEL coming on for incorrect gear speed or some sh it but the truck drove perfectly fine. All this started the first week of April. Traded her in on June and they are still trying to fix the truck!

when it pops out of gear just left off the gas, the RPMs will drop and it will get back in to gear.

I took several videos.

Do you have a way you could send me the videos? Direct message or something? I'm not saying I'm going to claim your videos as my own when I take it in, but I'm also not saying I'm not going to do that....

It would just be nice to have some backup with me in case I get the dreaded "cannot replicate the issue".

 

[MBTexasStyle]

I have a 2019 platinum with 55k miles that started having the same transmission issues as the OP. The dealer replaced the valve body and swapped a couple of bolts to a different style. This did literally nothing and it drove and shifted just as bad (dealer said this is normal and there is nothing else they would do). The worst is when pulling out in traffic and speeding up it would forget what it is doing almost putting you on the dash. I ended up getting an custom email tune which has fixed the issues the transmission was having.

 

[Team_Z]

Do you have a way you could send me the videos? Direct message or something? I'm not saying I'm going to claim your videos as my own when I take it in, but I'm also not saying I'm not going to do that....

It would just be nice to have some backup with me in case I get the dreaded "cannot replicate the issue".

Yeah private message me

 

[texevora]

After a week at the dealer, they finally got to my vehicle... and did basically nothing.

"Electronic transmission diag. KOEO pass. KOEC pass. KOER pass. Check fluid level and condition, OK. Reset KAM and shift tables. Perform adaptive drivecycle. PID monitor road test 15 miles at highway speeds verify repair."

So they basically just checked the logs and reset the software.

Something tells me I'm going to be back at the dealer before long. GRRRRRR.

 

[aggiegrad05]

After a week at the dealer, they finally got to my vehicle... and did basically nothing.

"Electronic transmission diag. KOEO pass. KOEC pass. KOER pass. Check fluid level and condition, OK. Reset KAM and shift tables. Perform adaptive drivecycle. PID monitor road test 15 miles at highway speeds verify repair."

So they basically just checked the logs and reset the software.

Something tells me I'm going to be back at the dealer before long. GRRRRRR.

What dealer did you go to in DFW? Really hoping it's not Park Cities.

 

[texevora]

Indeed it was. THey changed their name to Planet Ford, FYI. Sending you a PM.

 

[Soliyou]

What dealer did you go to in DFW? Really hoping it's not Park Cities.

Hey Aggie, how many miles do you have now? Do you think this transmission issue is related to the PCM re-flash that comes with the phaser repair??

 

[aggiegrad05]

Hey Aggie, how many miles do you have now? Do you think this transmission issue is related to the PCM re-flash that comes with the phaser repair??

47k

I don’t know. The shift from 3 - 5 was already REALLY rough before the cam phaser job, so something was definitely up. That said, the sluggish performance, the unusual turbo lag, and the thing occasionally losing it’s way when downshifting all started after the cam phaser job. Buuuut, I talked to the dealer that did the cam phaser job and they are adamant they did not do any software update as part of the job (I call BS, but whatever).

 

[Soliyou]

The older TSB had the software update but it was removed from the last one, and now the PCM update is under the FSA 21B10.

i feel that mine is heading in the same direction. I use manual shifting most of the time now to prevent the harsh shifting.

 

[aggiegrad05]

After a week at the dealer, they finally got to my vehicle... and did basically nothing.

"Electronic transmission diag. KOEO pass. KOEC pass. KOER pass. Check fluid level and condition, OK. Reset KAM and shift tables. Perform adaptive drivecycle. PID monitor road test 15 miles at highway speeds verify repair."

So they basically just checked the logs and reset the software.

Something tells me I'm going to be back at the dealer before long. GRRRRRR.

They did, literally, the exact same thing on mine. They said everything checked out, nothing wrong anywhere. Suggested that perhaps it got a glitch in the “adaptive process” along the way and that clearing the trans computer would allow it to learn from scratch without the glitch.

I mean, I guess that’s possible. Maybe something they did with my cam phaser service freaked out the trans and now it will be better.

Oh well. My service advisor is excellent and just told me to keep driving and bring it back if it’s still acting up and they’ll dig back in. He was sympathetic.

 

[lv2drive]

my 3-5 is dumb terrible & still “cannot be replicated “ even though i can replicate it every. single. morning. i’m sure they just don’t want to open her up. for what it’s worth, it was like this before the cam phaser surgery & seems unchanged
since - & i made extra sure they did not flash anything at all. although i will say there’s an occasional clunk at random points of confusion for the tranny, which has recently appeared to be more often than before.

frustrating

 

[houlster]

My new-to-me 2018 did this same exact thing a few times the first week I had it. Final time was much worse. Dash lit up and error messages popped up in the display about a shift fault. It did start going again after 5-6 seconds of coasting in no gear.

Engine and wrench lights stayed on and when I got home, it would not go into reverse. If I shut down and restart it would, but not after driving forward.

I need to check the paperwork, but the dealer replaced either shift valve(s) or the valve body. It's been great ever since though..

 

[texevora]

Exact same issue is occurring after my service visit 2 weeks ago. Taking it back to the dealer, hopefully they do something substantive this time as I caught it on video luckily.

So annoying.

 

[MattCostin]

Have a '19 Expedition Limited 4WD. This issue has been occuring in 2H mode which i'm in 99.9% of the time.

At highway speeds (70-85mph) while coasting then attempting to accelerate (ie while trying to pass slower traffic), the car will lurch/make a clunk sound and "pop out of gear" (rpm’s will rise as if in neutral and car won’t accelerate). When you let off the gas, the transmission will lurch/make another loud clunk and engage a gear, then proceed to accelerate normally when you re-apply throttle. No errors/warnings on the dash. The clunk sounds are pretty painful to hear, not going to lie.

This happened once or twice yesterday on a 3 hour roadtrip, then at least 3-4 times today on the return trip earlier today.

Anyone experienced this/have any idea what the issue is? I've got 44K miles on the odometer, so I assume this would be covered under the powertrain warranty, but i'm quite annoyed that i'm having transmission problems on a car <2 years old and one with 95% highway miles and diligent maintenance.

Has this been resolved yet as I’m experiencing a similar issue. They reset the PCM 3 times including a software update. Still happens but not all the time.

 

[MattCostin]

Has this been resolved yet as I’m experiencing a similar issue. They reset the PCM 3 times including a software update. Still happens but not all the time.

Can I also ask if you are running stock wheel size? I have 35s on it now