Transmission weird behavior

[seanellaz]

At 22k with a Roush tune, I have noticed since I went from the OEM sport wheel 17" tires to the Goodyear Ultraterrains 265/70/17, the transmission shift points in "D" seem pretty awful and the transmission gets easily confused. Around 50mph, it will go from 9th gear to 10th, almost everytime i do a small gas pedal touch. 10th feels like its lugging at 1,400rpms or so at 50mph. Also going up hills in "D" it just seems to try and stay in the highest gear possible almost lugging up hill, its pretty bad. "S" seems to improve the uphill and flat land behavior, but on the steep downhills "S" causes 4,000rpm which just sounds bad, and ill have to shift to "D" to keep the revs down on a downhill.

The only other thing is I recently took a new job with almost 6000 ft of combined elevation gain in the morning (over 3 mountain ranges), and quite a bit less on the way back.

Recently I did a trans flush with Mercon ULV, it is back up to the correct level which is 4-5 at 207F-215F. I dont know if its better or worse since I have done that but feels about the same.

Anyone had similar issues in "D" they were able to resolve?

https://media.ford.com/content/dam/...roduct/2020/ranger/2020-Ranger-Tech-Specs.pdf
If I understand the specs correctly, all gears above 7th are "Overdrive", so 10th gear ( 0.636:1 ) is pretty tall. Ford seems to have programed the shift points in D to minimize fuel consumption and engine wear. My truck has 3" lift and 295/70 17 tires. @ Constant speed, interstate, flat road, 10th gear is fine. Uphill grades, headwinds, need for acceleration all need downshift which does not happen until I squash the pedal. I am a control freak so sometimes put it in Sport mode then manually shift to keep RPM in higher range, 2K+. Trailer Tow mode will do this for you, and also hold in lower gear when going downhill to engine brake, downshifts more when decelerating to engine brake also. If the Roush Tune is behind your trouble, I'd take it back to dealer for looksee.

Sponsored

 

[Frenchy]

I have been driving around town in tow mode, with the 7,8,9 and 10 locked out for in-town driving at 35mph or below and that has solved a lot of the performance issues. For speeds up to 45 mph, I change the overdrive gear lockout as needed to keep the rpms above 1500 and below 2000. Anything above that I turn off the tow mode and the lockout. My issue is that if I hit the gas hard, in tow mode and accelerating from about 30 mph or so, the trans will not shift from 3rd to 4th or 4th to 5th; the rpms will get up to 4000 and it doesn't matter if I ease up on the accelerator or not, it won't shift until I take it out of tow mode. It doesn't always do this. Any ideas?

Tow mode is a more sensitive mode for load sensing. Will it take an extra moment or two to shift into the next gear? Sure. If you just stepped on it and then let off do not expect it to shift up because with tow mode belives you may want that gear still as it does not know if you are about to hit another hill. My suggestion, even with tow mode you do not want to drive it as agressive vs sport mode. Why? Well for one you bought a truck, not a Ferrari(even though a lot of us think we did?). Dont get me wrong, I understand when someone decides to piss you off then you want to just gun it and these trucks will allow it. You just need to drive a little bit more moderately and things should be just fine.

 

[FunInTheSun]

<snip> My issue is that if I hit the gas hard, in tow mode and accelerating from about 30 mph or so, the trans will not shift from 3rd to 4th or 4th to 5th; the rpms will get up to 4000 and it doesn't matter if I ease up on the accelerator or not, it won't shift until I take it out of tow mode. It doesn't always do this. Any ideas?

I think it's not related to Tow mode. Mine does this in D also. I have assumed it is that once the machine builds boost, it is reluctant to dump it. Not sure why, it's just a guess. I've never had a turbo vehicle before. It's a little annoying, though. I'm used to just giving a little squirt and shutting it down, and having things settle down when I take my foot out if it. Continuing to howl for a block and a half after a brief blast draws unnecessary attention. It's not accelerating, but the RPM stays way high with no engine braking, and eventually it drops back to cruise rpm.

 

[outdoorphotog]

How does one lock out a gear in tow mode?

Sponsored