My brother in law has a 04 or 05 F150, v8 4x4 extended cab. He was driving home last night, put it in D like normal took off and it shifted from 1-2 fine then when it went from 2-3 he said the RPM just romped up like it slipped into neutral, he cant get it to go over second gear, he had to drive home in 2 all the way home about 40 mph. Anyone have any idea what would make it do this? It drives in first and second just fine and dandy but will not shift to 3rd

Thanks for the help.

 

Check the fluid for any burnt odor or color. The direct clutch could have failed. You can also pull the pan off and check for any debris on the magnet.

 

You could take it to the tranny shop for a scan.
I like to start simple,;
do a seach on this web site
crawl under and take a quick look for broken wires and stuff.
,disconnect the battery for twenty min., maybe it would reset the computer.
then change the tranny fluid/filter.