Hi everyone,

I am new to this site but hoping y'all can help me out even though I am not a huge truck know-it-all.

I have a 2002 Ford Expedition XLT, 4.6L V8.

It has been jerking a bit while driving, usually from 30-50 mph. My father-in-law gave me the truck. He said it used to do that when he had a coil pack go bad on him (happened twice). So, I bought a whole set of coil packs (he only had the bad ones replaced) but I hadn't installed them. I was waiting for a bit cooler weather (working on vehicles in Mississippi summer heat is no fun).

Other day, I ran out of gas on the interstate (first time in over 25 years but still no excuse). My wife brought me 2 gallons then I pulled off at the next exit and filled up. When I was leaving the gas station, the expedition was bucking like a bronco (horse, not the truck). I figured there was some air in the lines so I kept going. Then it didn't seem to want to shift gears. I had to really give it some gas to get it to pop into 3rd. A few miles from my destination, it no longer went into 3rd at all. Stuck around 25 mph and RPM's went up so I just pulled over and got it towed to a buddy's shop.

My father in law said it did the EXACT same thing when the coil packs went out on him. So, I told my buddy's shop mechanic to go ahead and replace all the coil packs and plugs. He called me and asked me why because he said it was running perfectly and no codes (I also checked for codes on my neighbors computer a couple weeks ago--no codes then either). I explained what happened and how my first instinct was the transmission since it wouldn't go into the higher gear but my father in law said it did that for coil packs. He said he didn't want to steal my money but he would do it if that's what we thought it was. So, he changed them out and sure enough, it still won't shift into 3rd (or overdrive of course).

My question: with no codes showing up, the plugs and coil packs replaced, what is my next step? The truck has 162k miles on it and other than this transmission issue, it's in perfect shape inside, outside and engine purrs like a cat but I also don't know if there is something(s) I can do before bringing it to a transmission guy and say "fix it no matter the cost". I'm a working man and not made of money so I would like to exhaust all avenues before just saying put in a new transmission.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

 

So is the jerking all gone?

 

Yup. Jerking went away. Just like 3rd gear.