1996 Ford F350 crew cab dually 2wd Powerstroke.

My E4OD shifts very firm 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd is normal, shifts to a ghost gear dropping RPMs 300, then shifts to overdrive.

My third brake light with an incandescent bulb operates normally.

What's going on here?

 

Ghost gear is the torque converter locking.

can’t help with the hard shifts.

 

These transmissions were not the smoothest shifters around. As Mike said, the ghost gear is the torque converter locking.

The first step to determine if something is wrong is to read the codes. Even if lights are not on there can be codes stored.

The places that read codes free CANNOT read these codes. The best way is to get Forscan. You can download it free at www.forscan.org. Their page shows how to select an adapter to plug into the OBDII port. I bought mine from Amazon for less than $30. You could also take it to a good independent shop or a Ford dealer to get the codes read. Once you have the code numbers we can help determine what's going on.

 

Then what's giving me the next gear after ghost gear?
My edge guages indicate no changes 3rd to ghost gear, but recognizes overdrive

 

I can read codes with my Edge gauges and Torque app. There are no stored codes

 

Overdrive is giving you the next gear.

if you could set your edge to read the torque converter commands, you would see where it is being commanded to lock and the RPMs drop.

Typical E40D/4R100 shift strategy under normal acceleration is 1-2-3-3L-4L. (Where “L” represents the converter being locked.

sometimes under a load it will shift 1-2-3-3L-4L-4–4L. Where it shifts into OD with the converter locked but can’t accelerate, then it will unlock the converter to gain speed then relock when you back out of the gas pedal.


when very heavily loaded, it will lock the converter in 2nd or even 1st to help control transmission temperature. This happens a lot going up hills when loaded very heavy. If you push down past about 3/4 throttle you can see the converter lock.

We’ve hauled hay with our 2004 quite a few times and it spends a fair amount of time in second gear with the converter locked. But we are hauling 20,000 plus, so your foot is always deep in the throttle.

not sure if that was any help. But your ghost gear is just the converter locking.

 

You're confusing overdrive with the torque converter lockup.

A torque converter is a fluid coupling. Fluid couplings have slip by design, often well into the hundreds of RPM. The torque converter in the E4OD has a clutch inside it. When commanded by the PCM the clutch applies and the converter input and output are locked together. There is no more fluid coupling and no slip. This is the ghost slip that you're seeing.