Transmission - Strange Behavior in lower gears

[TJMarchand]

Hey everybody,

I have about 32,000 miles on my Ranger. I've noticed recently that driving 30 mph - 40 mph if you take your foot off the gas the truck clunks shifting down while coasting. It seems to happen between 5th and 6th gear.

This morning, the truck would not shift above 7th gear in Drive. I was doing 80mph in 7th with the tach climing over 3,000RPM to cruise which is unusual. I shifted in to sport, and it was immediately in 9th gear. I could also manually select the gears without issue. Couldn't find a dealership with an opening to drop it off until next week so for now I just have to see how it goes.

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[Tom_C]

OT question. How do you see your gear while in sport?

 

[TJMarchand]

OT question. How do you see your gear while in sport?

If you press the +/- button on the shifter it will appear.

 

[Tom_C]

If you press the +/- button on the shifter it will appear.

Well, duh. I always do that in D but never tried it in S.

 

[TJMarchand]

i hope as a first step they just reflash your shift strategy.
you can find the process to reset it yourself, but at this point, if anything worse is going on inside, you should let the dealer do it.
I suggest this only because shifting to sport made a difference.
it is just programming at that point.
if you had a clutch problem one would think D or S would still have the same issue.

I agree, since I believe I'm still under warranty I just want them to do it for peace of mind. I don't want to rush to some crazy conclusion that it's the end of the world.

 

[tfisher15]

Well, duh. I always do that in D but never tried it in S.

When you press the +/- button in S you will be in manual shift mode. To change gears you have to continue to press the button. When you stop, the transmission will downshift to “1” but stay there when you accelerate until you press the button for “2” .

 

[Tom_C]

When you press the +/- button in S you will be in manual shift mode. To change gears you have to continue to press the button. When you stop, the transmission will downshift to “1” but stay there when you accelerate until you press the button for “2” .

OK, that's sort of what I thought and why I never pressed the +/- buttons. So, there is no way to see the gears in S without being in manual shift mode?

 

[tfisher15]

OK, that's sort of what I thought and why I never pressed the +/- buttons. So, there is no way to see the gears in S without being in manual shift mode?

Correct.

 

[FX4Offroad]

OK, that's sort of what I thought and why I never pressed the +/- buttons. So, there is no way to see the gears in S without being in manual shift mode?

Yes you can.

When in Sport mode, the gear shows as a little red number on your display - I don't remember exactly where but it does show in Sport mode. It doesn't show in the usual place when in Drive mode.

 

[TJMarchand]

Yes you can.

When in Sport mode, the gear shows as a little red number on your display - I don't remember exactly where but it does show in Sport mode. It doesn't show in the usual place when in Drive mode.

Top left corner, it just shows 1 number at a time.

 

[D Fresh]

Depends on trim level/dash I believe.

I've found no way to display gear in S without manually selecting the gear in my Lariat.

 

[TJMarchand]

Depends on trim level/dash I believe.

I've found no way to display gear in S without manually selecting the gear in my Lariat.

Fair point, I have an XLT.

 

[Superdannyboy]

I'm at work, but for whoever has access to the manual, I remember reading about the process to switch it back to letting it shift automatically in S mode after manually selecting gears. So I always wondered if I put it in S mode and pressed + or - to see the gears on the screen and then did the sequence to get it to shift on its own again while still in S mode if it would still show the gears on the screen but automatically shift.

Just never cared enough to try it but it might be worth a shot.

 

[tfisher15]

I'm at work, but for whoever has access to the manual, I remember reading about the process to switch it back to letting it shift automatically in S mode after manually selecting gears. So I always wondered if I put it in S mode and pressed + or - to see the gears on the screen and then did the sequence to get it to shift on its own again while still in S mode if it would still show the gears on the screen but automatically shift.

Just never cared enough to try it but it might be worth a shot.

Nope, not at least on my 2020 XLT.
When put in “S” mode no gears show up. Push the +/- button an a gear shows up in red. Shift to “D” and the red gear number disappears. If you had the White gear numbers appearing in “D”before you went to “S”, they come back, if not they don’t.
Just tried this to verify.

Best to play with this yourself to get familiar with what your truck does. You can’t hurt it.

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