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Old Jan 12, 2012 | 03:19 PM
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F150 Hard Downshift

My 2009 Super Crew STX 4x4 drives great gets great gas mileage if i drive right(4.6 engine) when i floor the accellerator to lets say pass someone @ 55 the Tranny down shifts hard/slams almost like you might have a bad u joint but i dont or like the transmission slips and then catches hard and takes off

Any thoughts??????? thanks

43ford
 
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Old Jan 12, 2012 | 04:01 PM
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2009 with 5.4 same

I know this is a never ending question but read on.My tranny does the samething. Had it into the dealer 3 different times for the TSB's. 1 for the slip yoke (it took 2 days to get the parts and install them). 2 different times to reflash the transmission. The 3rd and last time I took it back in I was told (in a email from Ford) that this is a characteristic of the 6 speed transmission and the adaptive learning strategy and it will be fine. The transmission is preserving itself with higher pressures and that is what causes the hard down shifting. To me it seems wrong that the transmission is doing this after 45K, it works fine before the dealer did a tranny flush at 41K. Has anybody had the tranny fixed or replaced under warranty? Did it take care of the problem?
 
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Old Jan 12, 2012 | 05:09 PM
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I thought the STX only had the 4 speed trans? Unless it has the 3 valve 4.6 maybe? I got an SCT X3 programmer from Mike at 5 Star Tuning and my trans shifts great now
 
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Old Jan 12, 2012 | 10:27 PM
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people used to pay big money to get 'em to shift like that ....

i dunno, seems like the adaptive shift strategy isnt very smart and has a hard time figuring out what to do when the driver sudenly changes their driving style.

if you lean on it more often, it will "learn" not to shift so hard, but it will "forget" how to shift when you stop leaning on it .... i havn't found the key yet. perhaps standing on it once and a while to get it to kick down would help it learn how to handle that throttle input without being so abrubt about it? it's an idea, anyway.

my empolyer will buy me a new truck in 10-12 years whether i need it or not, so i just drive it like i stoled it truck seems to have figgured it out and plays along.
 
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Old Mar 24, 2012 | 07:55 PM
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no there is no fix it is a junk trans mine has been changed 2 times and it still there the new 6 speed all of them are like that they said it was fix in the 11 and 12 but it not sad to say but ford is geting like dodge was years ago so i am going to sale this one and get me a 2003 f150 i never had no issues at all
 
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Old Mar 25, 2012 | 06:52 AM
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Originally Posted by junkford67
no there is no fix it is a junk trans mine has been changed 2 times and it still there the new 6 speed all of them are like that they said it was fix in the 11 and 12 but it not sad to say but ford is geting like dodge was years ago so i am going to sale this one and get me a 2003 f150 i never had no issues at all
Well good luck then. I'll keep my 6 speed, which is working just fine.
 
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Old Mar 25, 2012 | 12:04 PM
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Originally Posted by junkford67
no there is no fix it is a junk trans mine has been changed 2 times and it still there the new 6 speed all of them are like that they said it was fix in the 11 and 12 but it not sad to say but ford is geting like dodge was years ago so i am going to sale this one and get me a 2003 f150 i never had no issues at all
Maybe when you "sale" that one you can pull $20 out of the deal to buy a new keyboard that features punctuation and SHIFT keys?

92K on my 09 Screw here... 6-speed still working great...
 
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Old Mar 25, 2012 | 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by tvsjr
Maybe when you "sale" that one you can pull $20 out of the deal to buy a new keyboard that features punctuation and SHIFT keys?

92K on my 09 Screw here... 6-speed still working great...
^^^ I was thinking it, you said it Sorry to hear if you are having issues but it doesn't apply to "all" F150 6-speed transmissions as you said.
 
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Old Mar 25, 2012 | 06:00 PM
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Ford actually is having tranny issues with the new engines last I heard from another forum they were holding them at the plant to work out some issues, ford is keeping it pretty quiet won't tell people why their trucks r not shipping
 
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Old Mar 25, 2012 | 06:04 PM
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As long as they fix it I say right by them. There have been to many cars with issues over the years that fall on deaf ears.
 
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Old Mar 26, 2012 | 09:33 AM
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I'd reccomend at least getting the slip yoke lubed per the TSB.
 
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Old Mar 30, 2012 | 09:56 AM
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Update to my problem.

I got all the warranty service work done on my truck and still had the hard downshifting. I purchased a programmer that you can adjust the transmission shift pressure up 25% and installed the regular fuel settings. So far my mileage has increased about 1 to 2 mpg and the hard downshifting into 4th gear at 70 mph is gone. It downshifts 1 gear at a time. Only noticeable thing is the downshift from 3 to 2 and 2 to1 when stopping is kind of firm but not problematic. Oh ya the extra horsepower from the 5.4 is very convenient at a stop light when lined up against chevy 5.3.
 
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