RPM drop in 3rd gear

[Sako887]

Hey guys, first post here. Recently bought a 2019 ranger lariat fx4, have about 1200 miles on it. Build date according to the door jam is 4/19.

Loving the truck so far but I have noticed 2 things that are bugging me. First, on cold start the first shift from 3rd to 4th feels kinda rough but smooths out after the first time. Mine tends to shift from 1-3-4-5 and on, skips 2nd gear.

Second, under any type of acceleration, I have noticed an rpm drop of 100-200 in 3rd gear between 2000-2500 rpm. It’s more pronounced the harder I accelerate. It’ll accelerate then drop from say 2500 to 2300 and then it’ll climb back up. From what I’ve read, it sounds like it can be the torque converter locking up but I haven’t seen anyone else bring this up.

I’m not too concerned about the shift from 3-4 being rough since it only happens on cold start and it smooths out if I warm up the truck before driving it. But has anyone else noticed the rpm drop in 3rd gear? Just trying to figure out if it’s normal.

I have hooked it up to forscan and didn’t have any DTC’s. Haven’t noticed any other issues regarding rough idle or engine shutter.

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[Cape Cruiser]

Hey guys, first post here. Recently bought a 2019 ranger lariat fx4, have about 1200 miles on it. Build date according to the door jam is 4/19.

Loving the truck so far but I have noticed 2 things that are bugging me. First, on cold start the first shift from 3rd to 4th feels kinda rough but smooths out after the first time. Mine tends to shift from 1-3-4-5 and on, skips 2nd gear.

Second, under any type of acceleration, I have noticed an rpm drop of 100-200 in 3rd gear between 2000-2500 rpm. It’s more pronounced the harder I accelerate. It’ll accelerate then drop from say 2500 to 2300 and then it’ll climb back up. From what I’ve read, it sounds like it can be the torque converter locking up but I haven’t seen anyone else bring this up.

I’m not too concerned about the shift from 3-4 being rough since it only happens on cold start and it smooths out if I warm up the truck before driving it. But has anyone else noticed the rpm drop in 3rd gear? Just trying to figure out if it’s normal.

I have hooked it up to forscan and didn’t have any DTC’s. Haven’t noticed any other issues regarding rough idle or engine shutter.

Skip shift is normal. There is a TSB on rough shifting when cold and it makes a big difference. Not sure about this rpm drop. Good luck Bret

 

[Sako887]

Skip shift is normal. There is a TSB on rough shifting when cold and it makes a big difference. Not sure about this rpm drop. Good luck Bret

Thanks for the info! I don’t think the tsb applies due to my build date being after what was specified in the TSB. Has anyone had any success with getting the TSB applied if it didn’t fall under the date parameters?

 

[Cape Cruiser]

Thanks for the info! I don’t think the tsb applies due to my build date being after what was specified in the TSB. Has anyone had any success with getting the TSB applied if it didn’t fall under the date parameters?

There have been people outside the date that had it done with success . My build date is passed yours and mine was done. Bret

 

[doug910]

It's just the torque converter locking/unlocking. The slip is much pronounced in modern autos because we have the tech to lock it much more often than in the past. Computer is just trying to figure out optimum slip level based on load, throttle input, temp, etc.

 

[Sako887]

There have been people outside the date that had it done with success . My build date is passed yours and mine was done. Bret

Awesome, thanks for the input! I’ll be taking it in today.

 

[Sako887]

It's just the torque converter locking/unlocking. The slip is much pronounced in modern autos because we have the tech to lock it much more often than in the past. Computer is just trying to figure out optimum slip level based on load, throttle input, temp, etc.

Thanks that really puts me at ease!

 

[Pancake]

My truck is doing the exact same thing. I took it into the dealership and they experienced the problem, but didn’t note any codes and the pressure test was normal. They told me this was a characteristic of the 10 speed transmission. I don’t believe them. My truck was manufactured in August.
Please let me know what your dealership says.

 

[Sako887]

My truck is doing the exact same thing. I took it into the dealership and they experienced the problem, but didn’t note any codes and the pressure test was normal. They told me this was a characteristic of the 10 speed transmission. I don’t believe them. My truck was manufactured in August.
Please let me know what your dealership says.

I was unable to take it in that same day, they were swamped. I’m going to call tomorrow to make an appointment. I’ll keep you updated!

 

[Darek661]

Subbed!

I've been having the exact same issue! However, I have a custom tune as well as having quite a few performance mods that I've done. My tuner and I have been trying everything we can think of to get it to stop doing this but the problem seems to be very pronounced and exaggerated by the tune. It almost seems like there is a TCU that is a piggyback to the main ECM, no matter what you do, the transmission is always learning and correcting on the fly. Whats really strange, he can get the transmission to stop skipping gears via a tune, but it either begins to skip gears again after a little while, or it will "unlearn" his tuned settings and go back to a more stock shifting shedule. Mine seems to settle down about 4 or 5 key cycles after flashing a new tune, but the problem still exists from time to time. I'd love to take mine into the dealership to have them do the TSB but my build date is 06/2019 and falls outside of the TSB. Also, I'm fairly heavily modified at this point so I'm not even sure they will entertain the idea of performing any warranty work on the engine or transmission. I've been too afraid to take it in for fear of them rejecting it lol. At any rate, it could be possible that the transmission has it's own "firmware" within a secondary TCU and that any tuning that I do, is only changing parameters on top of a transmission that need to be updated first by Ford, and then flashed with my tune. Anyone have any insight into this?

 

[mstealth22]

Same issues. Bugs me, a lot. I've read most trans threads on here, and it does seem like the majority are happy or feel the transmission shifts awesome, with a mix of folks identifying small issues.

Going from a stop, up a hill, mild-med acceleration, through 3rd, the slip, clunk feel, rpm drop in 3rd is horrible. Way better with tow haul on, but only due to not skipping 2nd in my opinion, so it is just shorter or less pronounced. It is still there. It feels wrong. The rough downshifts coming to a stop bug me, catch me off guard frequently. Dealership said normal, or can't repro. I love most everything about this truck, but this transmission does not agree with me.

I was outside the date range, but the dealer pulled and did the TSB the first time I took it in. Things got a little better, but ultimately no major change. I've been to dealer 3 times, adaptive reset twice, both times 1000+ miles of odd shifting (but not consistent reproducible) things then settles down but never feel great. Cold start is better, but I still have some shutter in a narrow temp range like 50-60 f cold truck, stumbles like it is going to die for 5 seconds or so, as soon a you go forward. Mostly reproducible leaving work, or just pulling straight ahead no backout, cold truck.

I'm at 16K miles. It has been this way from about 1000 miles forward.

 

[Darek661]

Same issues. Bugs me, a lot. I've read most trans threads on here, and it does seem like the majority are happy or feel the transmission shifts awesome, with a mix of folks identifying small issues.

Going from a stop, up a hill, mild-med acceleration, through 3rd, the slip, clunk feel, rpm drop in 3rd is horrible. Way better with tow haul on, but only due to not skipping 2nd in my opinion, so it is just shorter or less pronounced. It is still there. It feels wrong. The rough downshifts coming to a stop bug me, catch me off guard frequently. Dealership said normal, or can't repro. I love most everything about this truck, but this transmission does not agree with me.

I was outside the date range, but the dealer pulled and did the TSB the first time I took it in. Things got a little better, but ultimately no major change. I've been to dealer 3 times, adaptive reset twice, both times 1000+ miles of odd shifting (but not consistent reproducible) things then settles down but never feel great. Cold start is better, but I still have some shutter in a narrow temp range like 50-60 f cold truck, stumbles like it is going to die for 5 seconds or so, as soon a you go forward. Mostly reproducible leaving work, or just pulling straight ahead no backout, cold truck.

I'm at 16K miles. It has been this way from about 1000 miles forward.

Holy crap man, you're experience is absolutely identical to mine!! Granted that I have a tune, my tuner has changed the shift schedules and tables for my tune and sometimes, it sticks to the the tune and never missed a gear. Other times, on the same tune, it'll just start skipping gears and just randomly shifting like dog shit between 4th and 5th, like it'll drop out of 4th and then lose rpm, then slam into 5th and make the whole truck shudder. Almost feels like dropping the clutch in a manual. It's been driving me absolutely crazy. I've got 24 flashes on my truck so far and just shy of 9k miles. I got it with 900 miles on it, it was the dealer demo truck. Anyways, I got it for an amazing price, so the first thing I did was to reflash the TCM through Forscan. It helped for a little while and then kept randomly going nuts and then fixing itself.

Man what I wouldn't give to throw a 6 speed in this truck and call it a day!! Anybody looked into seeing if the mustang transmission would bolt on and fit? I'll totally be the first to do it lol.
I'm a CNC machinist so I can make an adapter plate if I need to.

 

[2000rpm]

The skip-shifting (most noticeable 1-3) is quite normal. Mine does it also. If you engage tow/haul mode, you can see it quit most of the skip-shifting. Also under heavy acceleration, it will do 1-2-3 instead of 1-3.

I believe, but haven't verified, that the RPM drop in 3rd is the torque converter clutch (TCC) engaging. Feels like an additional shift. The TCC is used quite aggressively in this tranny.

For those of us in cold weather, you'll notice the TCC is not used when the transmission is cold. Until it warms up a bit, you won't see the RPM drop in 3rd and on.

 

[Sako887]

Quick update. Dropped the truck off at the dealership this morning. We’ll see what they say. . . Also, I wonder if it could be from the transmission fluid being low. . . I saw on some other forums that people had low transmission fluid straight from the factory in the 10r80, granted they were in f-150’s and mustangs. About 1.5-2 quarts lower than it should be.

 

[Sabasigh]

Subbed!

I've been having the exact same issue! However, I have a custom tune as well as having quite a few performance mods that I've done. My tuner and I have been trying everything we can think of to get it to stop doing this but the problem seems to be very pronounced and exaggerated by the tune.

I've gone thru a few 5star 93 tunes trying to smooth out the trans. No go. Seems any tune amplifies any "quirks" of the 10-speed. Herky, jerky, clunking...just brutal.

Stock its liveable for now. Honestly, bout what i expect from a Ford transmission.

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