Alright, well the struggle continues. After solving several issue with my truck, my hard shifting issue has returned.

A little back story here;

91 150 5.0L, E40D transmission ~126000 miles. Had issues with stalling when reversing once hot, and trouble restarting.

After dropping the transmission pan, I was happy to see that my reversing issues were caused by a trans filter that had dropped out of it’s seat. Replaced with a new Motocraft unit and added a clip.

The trans fluid was very clean, and there was very little debris in the bottom of the pan. I reused the same fluid.

Truck now has no issues stalling, and an intermittent issue I was having where the truck would hard shift from 1st to 2nd and sometimes 2nd to third seemed to be resolved!

Hard starting was caused by a weak battery, and very tired battery cables.



After about 200km of trouble free driving, the truck is back to intermittently shifting hard from 1st to 2nd and sometimes 2nd to 3rd gear. It only does this when driving normally, if you are on the gas accelerating hard, it will never hard shift. When I say hard shift, it’s almost like the truck has a shift kit the way it hits.

TPS tested good two years ago when I was trouble shooting other issues with he truck, MAP sensor was new two years ago, VSS on the trans was changed a year ago due to fluttering speedo, computer was changed with a reman unit 2 years ago due to capacitors that had failed in the original computer.

Trans fluid is at the correct level when checked hot.

Other than the above, the only thing that I noticed was that if you place the column shifter in 2nd gear, the truck does not start in 1st and shift to 2nd gear. It seems to start in 2nd gear all the time. What could be causing this?

Thanks, hopefully someone here can help with some input! I think my next step will be to drop the pan and confirm the filter is in fact still seated correctly, because after the filter change everything was perfect!

 

That is what suppose to happen. When it's in 2nd, it's in second. When you put it in first, it's in first. Simple.

As for you other issues. You got to do some testing. Check for codes is where I would start. Checking the line pressure is the next thing if there are no codes. If you got code, make the tests to determine why the ECU is storing them.

 

I've never heard of an automatic doing that as it's very hard on the transmission.
Normally, 1st will limit the transmission to not shifting past 1st gear , but placing in 2nd will have the transmission start off in 1st, but only shift to 2nd and no further. At least that is how every other automatic I've ever driven functioned.

If it is in fact supposed-to stay in 2nd and only 2nd, that's great as this alleviates one problem to chase down.
last I checked, I did not have any codes coming up but I will scan again.

 

When you talk with engineers, they have an answer/reason for everything. The last time I worked with a manufacturer about a problem, I learned it was much easier to understand why they do things vs how I think they should do things. I'm retired from the dealership, but the factory engineers never asked me how they should do anything. It was almost like they did not care.

If you are in the snow, it's better to start off in 2nd because you are less likely to slip the tires. Ford is not the only one that does that. It does have a purpose, maybe something you don't appreciate, but their reasoning is valid.

If you don't have any codes, I personally would check pressures. I've had issues building my transmission with a bunch of parts that I thought complimented each other. Until I put a dash pressure/temp gauge in, I always wondered why shifts were hard because of the pressure or because of the parts I put in. With a tuner, I was able to dial in the pressures and I am super happy now.

 

I just don't recall ever having an automatic that worked like that. I know ever Japanese car I've driven functioned as I described, but I can't recall what my ford ranger did. Quite honestly, I don't know if I ever even used the column shift in 2nd , only ever in 1st lol.

Happy to learn something new today!
As a sanity check, I'm going to drop the pan once again and make sure the trans filter hasn't shifted out of it's seat at all (not fallen down completely, but a slight air gap) .
I did make a clip, but maybe it isn't doing it's job fully.
When I did the filter, and it was seated correctly it completely eliminated all of the problems I had since owning the truck hence why I'm wondering if maybe it's not in quite right.
Where would you tee in for verifying the trans fluid pressures?

 

Japanese cars don't have the power to break loose the tires in the snow.

You do you, but I hate wasting time and money. If I knew I installed the filter right, I would not check that again, not unless the diagnosis leads to that. It's a messy job and filling my transmission is a PITA.

Why did Ford put the transmission dipstick tube so far back [and short] that you cannot reach it? When when you do need to check it, bring your asbestos gloves. Yes, they did not ask me if they thought it was a good idea.

 

loll Japanese cars are definitely a different animal than what we're looking at here that's for sur ha.

And yeah, the dipstick tube is a real PITA! I wish there was just a fill /level plug like a differential.
I really have no desire to drop the pan again, but last time I was able to reuse almost all of the fluid, and it only took about an hour from start to finish so not the end of the world . At least if I look at it and nothing is out of order, I can move on to electronic troubleshooting with the first culprit being the MLPS. (the connector is not corroded at all though)

 

I'm just one opinion here. There are many more that are more knowledgeable about this transmission than me. I built mine and I spent more time researching vs playing with it.

 

I had similar hard shift issues, and my truck once went into neutral on a busy highway at 60 mph, but dropped back into gear after letting off the gas pedal. After reading many posts here, I decided to replace the MLPS aka neutral safety switch. I have had no problems since.

 

 

How is starting in second gear “hard on the transmission?” The C6 in my FSB works the same way. First is only first. Second is only second and Drive is all three gears.

Maybe @Mark Kovalsky could explain to you the reason why.

 

Ford's standard for at least several decades is to start in second when the shifter is in the 2 position. It's for low traction situations. Not all manufacturers do this, but Ford has for a long, long time.

I went for my driving test to get my driver's license on my 16th birthday. It was December in the Detroit area. It was snowing so hard that the examiner was surprised when I showed up. We went to my parent's station wagon for the road test. He got in the passenger's side, and I got the snow brush out. I cleaned the windshield, the right side windows, the rear window, and the left side windows. By then (maybe a minute and a half) the windshield was already covered. I just got in and turned on the wipers.

During the road test, I stopped at a stop sign. When I went to accelerate, the rear wheels just spun. I let off the gas, moved the shifter to 2, and gently pressed the go pedal again. It had traction and we were off. I might not have been able to drive away if the Ford trans started in first when in the 2 position.

I got my license that day.

 

AFAIK every Ford automatic trans from the original 3-speed auto called the Cruise-O-Matic (later the FMX) all the way thru the E4OD does this. I cannot speak to the newer 6-speeds and 10-speeds, but all the 3 and 4 speed autos do it for the reason stated.