I have a 2001 expedition 5.4l. accelerates fine in 1st gear but i have to lift off the gas to get it to shift to 2nd. Also when it drops into passing gear I have no drive at all and it redlines. If i lift off it will shift and i have drive once again. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like the shift solenoids are not doing what they should, did you check all the fuses under hood and underdash, sometimes these trucks leak water from the windshield and get the gem module wet and that will cause problems as well, look under the dash on the drivers side, you will see the gem module to the left of the parking brake make sure nothing is wet and there is no signs of water there.

 

Your transmission doesn't have any such thing as a "passing gear". It has first, second, third, and overdrive.

The GEM has nothing to do with shifting of the transmission, that's all directly controlled by the PCM.

 

The PCM sits in there too right

 

There are many thing that can cause this to happen. With symptoms like these you're much better of getting it into a tranny shop. They can connect their computer to it and pretty much tell you what's going on without any guesswork.