Hey everybody,

Just recently bought a 2006 Expedition Eddie Bauer with 122k miles. Love the truck, huge amount of space, comfortable, great for the family. Plus, I feel like at $7k I got an OK deal on it (already had the dreaded spark plug maintenance done).

Anyways, I'm coming from driving a Toyota SUV, so I'm sort of unfamiliar with some of the "truckishness" of the Expedition. I wanted to try and confirm the transmission behavior is normal (hopefully). Here are a few things I'm noticing....

- No RPM drop while shifting through gears. I'm used to there being an RPM drop and rebuild during shifts. It doesn't seem to happen in this truck. I can feel it changing through gears, but the RPMs seem to stay at 2,200 or so until the OD kicks in and it finally falls to 1.5k or so. Not the "normal" pattern I'm used to (a slight RPM fall, followed by another climb until it changes again, and another fall, then climb, etc.).

- It also seems to have a large "range" in the single gears (not sure if that makes sense). I'm wondering if this is just because I'm not used to a 4 speed, but it doesn't seem to down and upshift very often. Just stays in one gear and revs up or down depending on the throttle applied. I'm used to more gear hunting.

**Supplemental info: Trans seems to have been well maintained, at 122k miles it's had 3 previous fluid flushes, approx. 40k miles apart. It was a bit low when I bought it, so I topped it off using the method stated in the manual (warm, in neutral, etc.).

Hope this explanation is decent - it's tough to describe sometimes! Looking forward to many years of ownership with this beast.

 

Bump! Still looking for answers

 

Well, I'm not an expert, but your description matches the behaviour of my 2006 Limited exactly. I'm pretty sure everything you say is normal.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but here goes:
- I think these trannies have a torque converter that allows more "slip" while unlocked, so that's why it seems like it's holding one rpm as you accelerate through several gears. I'm pretty sure it doesn't do that however when you're towing a heavy trailer.
- Dropping to 1500rpm is the torque converter locking up. That reminds me - a lot of the "shifting" you feel is actually the torque converter locking and unlocking...
- It's only a 4-speed transmission, so it's not going to hunt as much as the new 10-speed might (looking forward to that tranny actually). The afore-mentioned torque converter behaviour allows the tranny to avoid shifting as much. I prefer this behaviour to hunting, as I believe trannys wear primarily when they shift (and it causes a lot of heat buildup).

As I said, not an expert so maybe more knowledgeable types will comment.