1997 Expy EB with the 5.4. It has don't this for a while but here recently it has been really bad. You can start from a stop and say you get to 30 and then for some reason you need to pass or get out of the way. You accelerate but it never downshifts. It will ride whatever gear it's in intil it finally reaches what you were asking for. Very frustrating and almost a danger for my wife. If she needed to push it for whatever reason it wouldn't do anything except bog down. It does it at highway soled too. I time you go to pass and it takes off like a bat out of ****. The next time you try and pass it just sits there. Doesn't downshift it just slowly gains speed. It almost acts like it has a miss when you try to make it downshift. I hope I have explained it well enough.

Any suggestions would be great. I replaced the fuel filter probably 30,000 miles ago but never noticed a change when I did it the first time. Also has a fresh oil change on it.

 

When this happens have you tried turning off the O/D or manually pulling the shift lever down into 2nd to see if it takes off or continues to bog down?

 

Have you ever taken it in to the dealer and have them flush the fuel system with a cleaner to clean the injectors out? My 91 F150 with the 5.0 did something similar with hesitation also. Took it to Ford and they cleaned the fuel system out and it was good to go.

 

If I remember correctly the overdrive button does nothing for it but will check today on the drive into town. I will have to look into what it costs to clean out the fuel system. Thanks you guys for the suggestions so far.

 

Sorry about that Seth I guess I misread your post. Did you ck for any codes?

 

No codes, on the highway the shifting to 2 does make it downshift but it seems to be a bit sluggish doing that. Shifting off the overdrive also does make it down shift. I checked the fluid a couple days ago and it was full. I am kinda lost really. Could it be possible that the throttle cable is stretched or something along those lines?

 

I'm not a mechanic, but I've torn enough stuff up to think it may be the tranny. I had an overdrive in a Crown Vic patrol unit start doing that and it was an issue with the internals in the transmission.

Something just occurred to me, and it may just be too simple....is the parking break on when this happens? I know I got in mine the other day after my wife drove it. She always sets the brake when parking. Always. It's not a problem if the E-Brake light is working on the dash. Mine doesn't. Released the brake and it was fine.

I'll be interested to know what the answer is....

 

Sorry Seth but I'm at a loss. I really suck when it comes to trannies. Maybe you can shoot Mark K a PM and see what he might think.

 

No emergency brake on. I don't know what's going on. I also have a bad idea that it is an internal tranny issue also. It's just not right. Seemed to smell a little warm on the trip home today also. Not sure. I guess I am going to have to take her into a tranny shop or something.

 

I wish you luck and may it be nothing but a bad filter!

 

I'd check the TPS for a smooth signal with no dropouts. (That's how the tranny knows you want it to giddy up.)

 

I am guessing that is the throttle position sensor? Can you check that with a scanner or what?

 

I like to use my GMM (Graphing Multi Meter). It will draw a graph of the TPS voltage as you move the throttle through its range of motion.

 

Ya unfortunately I don't have a graphing multimeter. Where is it located at?