Rough running/shifting/slop feeling in drivetrain while under neutral throttle

deeve

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I have read through some of the rough shifting/surging threads and am not sure if my problem is covered by one of the TSB's. I have had instances with rough running/shifting when cold but not too many. Recently I have found a new problem. My vehicle is a 2019 with 12k miles on it. When going down the road with a warm engine and neutral throttle (just cruising and holding speed) the truck feels like it is surging or there is slop in the drivetrain. It almost feels like it is shifting in and out of gear but the gear indicator on the dash shows it is not changing gears. The there does not seem to be any sounds associated with it that I can pinpoint. If anyone has any experience with motorcycles, it is when you have either a loose chain or worn drivetrain and you have that "slop" in the system under neutral throttle.

I need to make an appointment but curious if the group has any thoughts?
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Does rpm change? Maybe torque converter locking and unlocking. Bret
 

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I have read through some of the rough shifting/surging threads and am not sure if my problem is covered by one of the TSB's. I have had instances with rough running/shifting when cold but not too many. Recently I have found a new problem. My vehicle is a 2019 with 12k miles on it. When going down the road with a warm engine and neutral throttle (just cruising and holding speed) the truck feels like it is surging or there is slop in the drivetrain. It almost feels like it is shifting in and out of gear but the gear indicator on the dash shows it is not changing gears. The there does not seem to be any sounds associated with it that I can pinpoint. If anyone has any experience with motorcycles, it is when you have either a loose chain or worn drivetrain and you have that "slop" in the system under neutral throttle.

I need to make an appointment but curious if the group has any thoughts?
This sounds like what my '16 Tacoma felt like in all gears. I have never felt this with the Ranger, it's always smooth as glass. Have you noticed if it's always the same gear when it's doing this or is is random gears? Also is this at different speeds or one consistent speed like 40 mph? Like Bret said it might be the TC locking and unlocking if you're right between shift points.
 

myothercarizahearse

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i'd try manual shifting and see if it does the same. do you have cruise control on and set?
 

myothercarizahearse

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I'll go more in depth. sometimes when I have cruise set at 25-30 MPH the truck goes into 8th gear and runs around 1100RPM and get sort of a surge when the it tries to feed itself some gas. No big surge just a little bump. I found that limiting it to 6th gear helps. Then i go on the highway and forget I limited it to 6 and find myself cruising at 5000RPM at 75MPH.
 


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deeve

deeve

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Thanks for the thoughts.
not using cc
Manual shift does not seem to effect it. Still
Occurs at various speeds abs gears.
if RPM’s drop it is only a few hundred. Hard to tell.
I forgot I have a code reader. I’m going to plug that in when I get home tonight and see if anything shows up.
Prior to this, it always shifted super smooth and was almost imperceptible. Now the shifts do feel a lot harder.
 
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deeve

deeve

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I should add that a buddy borrowed my truck to move his daughter to school from Oregon to Colorado. He was pulling a pretty light trailer and had a couple of things in the truck bed.
I’m wondering if bad gas would cause this?
 

P. A. Schilke

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I should add that a buddy borrowed my truck to move his daughter to school from Oregon to Colorado. He was pulling a pretty light trailer and had a couple of things in the truck bed.
I’m wondering if bad gas would cause this?
Hi Dave,

That was my thought when you posted. Bad Gas...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 
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deeve

deeve

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My buddy did say that he found 85 octane gas somewhere along the way. He did not use octane that but made me wonder if that was the case. Other than filling with good gas is there anything else maybe I can put in the tank like maybe dry gas or something?
 

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I've been having a similar, if not the same, issue you are lately. For the past few weeks if not over a month. It almost feels like the transmission is slipping slightly then locking back in again. It comes and goes and doesn't seem to have any consistency or correlation to a driving condition or style, at least not that I can determine. Bad gas has been one of my theories as well. I do tend to fill up at the same station most of the time. And it could correlate to running better when I fill up at other stations, but I can't say for certain. Maybe I'll try another station for a little while and see what happens. Otherwise I have an oil change appt for next Friday and I'll mention it then if it hasn't gotten better.
 
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deeve

deeve

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Two bottles of Star Tron gas cleaner is it was maybe better. Took it to the Ford and they ran it about 50 miles. Said they could feel what it was doing but after comparing it to other Rangers there, felt it was "normal". They all did it to some extent or another. They did reset the transmission learning and told me to try that. The drive home was probably the worse shifting it has ever had. It was not smooth and really felt like something was wrong. Shifting from reverse to drive felt like I hit something it was so sharp. I will drive it for a while and see if it gets better but so far not too happy. Prior to I was impressed at how smooth it was..now not so much.
 

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Two bottles of Star Tron gas cleaner is it was maybe better. Took it to the Ford and they ran it about 50 miles. Said they could feel what it was doing but after comparing it to other Rangers there, felt it was "normal". They all did it to some extent or another. They did reset the transmission learning and told me to try that. The drive home was probably the worse shifting it has ever had. It was not smooth and really felt like something was wrong. Shifting from reverse to drive felt like I hit something it was so sharp. I will drive it for a while and see if it gets better but so far not too happy. Prior to I was impressed at how smooth it was..now not so much.
If the transmission was reset it will take a few hundred miles at least to settle down. I tend to think the dealerships are too quick on this because then they can legit tell you to go away for a while.
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