This may have been noted in other threads, but I have not seen it. I’m mentioning it here as it might save somebody some grief. My ’04 3.0L with the CD4E transmission started shifting very roughly. Shift points were also much different from normal. After all the negatives that I’ve seen about this transmission, I started thinking that I was going to have to repair it.

When I got into the Ford Factory Manual for the Escape to see what was involved in tearing down the tranny, I found that, after the battery is disconnected for twenty minutes, the PCM has to relearn the shifting strategies. The surprise was that the manual states that this can take several hundred miles. I’m familiar with relearning on the engine, although I’ve never noticed it taking more than a few miles.

Since I had disconnected the batteries for a couple of days while I was replacing the alternator, I decided to wait it out and see what happened. Sure enough, over the next three weeks and about 350 miles, the shifting gradually smoothed out and the shift points returned to normal.

I thought that I would mention this in case someone has suddenly developed some problems with their transmission right after the battery was disconnected. You might be in luck and there be no problem at all.

 

This must have been corrected in later models. I have had the battery go completely dead in my 2017 SE several times during the winter since I drive it so seldom. Not once did it affect the transmission shifts after I charged the battery. Thanks for the tip.

 

The CD4E was last used in the 2008 models, nine years before your Escape was built....

 

Good to know, Thanks.