HARSH DOWNSHIFTING TRANSMISSION ISSUES

[FORDTEXAS]

Does anybody experience what feels like a f*cking grand slap when their truck goes from 6th to 5th gear?? Well i do and it’s pissing me off. Please tell me that there’s a TSB out there somewhere in regards to this matter! I can’t believe Ford hasn’t perfected their 10 speeds yet and this isn’t the first year they were available that’s for sure!

Sponsored

 

[Paul Neubauer]

Mine has a harsh clunk dropping from 10 to 7 when driving around 50 mph and accelerating to pass.

 

[FORDTEXAS]

Mine has a harsh clunk dropping from 10 to 7 when driving around 50 mph and accelerating to pass.

geez that’s a lot of gears being skipped. Ford better fix this sh*t asap!

 

[Porpoise Hork]

If you have never driven a Ford with the 10R80 there's a few caveats I really believe needs to be told to everyone who buys a Ford with it equipped.

How many miles are on the transmission now and when you bought it? If there close to or were more than 250 miles on it when you bought the truck, Use Forscan to reset the shift tables. The 10R80 is an adaptive system and "learns" your habits over time to perform as best as possible to your driving style. This happens in the first 250 or so miles of driving the truck. During that time shifts may be harsh, and/or erratic. After that it usually settles down quite a bit. If the truck was test driven a lot or a service loaner before you bought it, these shift tables are all jacked up and the transmission shifting will be all kinds of messed up.

The 2nd thing about these transmissions is Ford has historically underfilled them anywhere from 2-3 quarts. This can/will cause issues like converter cavitation, harsh and/or erratic shifts, excessive gear skips when shifting etc. Ford did not install a normal dipstick on it, instead it has a dipstick plug and can only be accessed from underneath. The next time you take it in to the dealer have them check the transmission fluid level and top off if needed. My 2020 Ranger (same transmission) was right at 2 qts low. After topping it off I reset the tables with Forscan and it made a massive improvement in how it behaved.

If you don't have Forscan and want to do reset it PM me and we can meet up and I'll do it for you.

 

[FORDTEXAS]

If you have never driven a Ford with the 10R80 there's a few caveats I really believe needs to be told to everyone who buys a Ford with it equipped.

How many miles are on the transmission now and when you bought it? If there close to or were more than 250 miles on it when you bought the truck, Use Forscan to reset the shift tables. The 10R80 is an adaptive system and "learns" your habits over time to perform as best as possible to your driving style. This happens in the first 250 or so miles of driving the truck. During that time shifts may be harsh, and/or erratic. After that it usually settles down quite a bit. If the truck was test driven a lot or a service loaner before you bought it, these shift tables are all jacked up and the transmission shifting will be all kinds of messed up.

The 2nd thing about these transmissions is Ford has historically underfilled them anywhere from 2-3 quarts. This can/will cause issues like converter cavitation, harsh and/or erratic shifts, excessive gear skips when shifting etc. Ford did not install a normal dipstick on it, instead it has a dipstick plug and can only be accessed from underneath. The next time you take it in to the dealer have them check the transmission fluid level and top off if needed. My 2020 Ranger (same transmission) was right at 2 qts low. After topping it off I reset the tables with Forscan and it made a massive improvement in how it behaved.

If you don't have Forscan and want to do reset it PM me and we can meet up and I'll do it for you.

my odometer is at 82XX and counting. i will definitely swing by the dealership and have them check my transmission fluid levels! i unfortunately do not have Forscan so potentially may need your assistance.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

That was about the same mileage the Ranger had on it when I had the trans level checked. And LMK on Forscan.

 

[FORDTEXAS]

If you have never driven a Ford with the 10R80 there's a few caveats I really believe needs to be told to everyone who buys a Ford with it equipped.

How many miles are on the transmission now and when you bought it? If there close to or were more than 250 miles on it when you bought the truck, Use Forscan to reset the shift tables. The 10R80 is an adaptive system and "learns" your habits over time to perform as best as possible to your driving style. This happens in the first 250 or so miles of driving the truck. During that time shifts may be harsh, and/or erratic. After that it usually settles down quite a bit. If the truck was test driven a lot or a service loaner before you bought it, these shift tables are all jacked up and the transmission shifting will be all kinds of messed up.

The 2nd thing about these transmissions is Ford has historically underfilled them anywhere from 2-3 quarts. This can/will cause issues like converter cavitation, harsh and/or erratic shifts, excessive gear skips when shifting etc. Ford did not install a normal dipstick on it, instead it has a dipstick plug and can only be accessed from underneath. The next time you take it in to the dealer have them check the transmission fluid level and top off if needed. My 2020 Ranger (same transmission) was right at 2 qts low. After topping it off I reset the tables with Forscan and it made a massive improvement in how it behaved.

If you don't have Forscan and want to do reset it PM me and we can meet up and I'll do it for you.

another question.. i noticed you said there was a “massive improvement” in the behavior.
does the poor shifting still occur at all or is it 100% gone?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

On the Ranger, the shifts did smooth out considerably when it had the right fluid level in it. So much so that for the most part I could barely feel it when it up/down shifted. Every now and then it would get a little confused and seemingly hunt for skip gears. You could also try switching it to tow/haul. It's a different shift table than normal mode but it will tend to hold gears for a longer period of time when under hard acceleration. Tow mode oddly enough also netted slightly better fuel mileage for most who tried it. Nothing stellar but an increase of 2-3mpg on average gains were typical.

Then I went and put a tune on it and that changed everything.

 

[FORDTEXAS]

On the Ranger, the shifts did smooth out considerably when it had the right fluid level in it. So much so that for the most part I could barely feel it when it up/down shifted. Every now and then it would get a little confused and seemingly hunt for skip gears. You could also try switching it to tow/haul. It's a different shift table than normal mode but it will tend to hold gears for a longer period of time when under hard acceleration. Tow mode oddly enough also netted slightly better fuel mileage for most who tried it. Nothing stellar but an increase of 2-3mpg on average gains were typical.

Then I went and put a tune on it and that changed everything.

believe it or not, the harsh downshifting occurs very often when i am in tow haul mode or sport mode compared to normal mode. my gas mileage does worse as well when i am not in eco or normal mode.

 

[Viper]

I found out yesterday that by using tow/haul mode all my shifting problems go away. I hope this gets me through to my Ford service appt in Oct 17'th.

Funny note, I went to the local ford dealership today asking about mud flaps, and he asked me what model I had and I said 'Powerboost', he looked at me like I was from Mars, I said the model above the Ecoboost and he replied the electric one? No not the Lightning and he just said ok. Guy was clueless and no, not in stock.....

Sponsored