THANK YOU! Finally someone else with my exact same (and former) problem!! >
> In a short statement, you're going to need a new transmission; and it's not
> going to be easy convincing the dealers of this (I have tried).
>
> If you want a background of my enormous problems with this.... read on: >
> Same happened to my 4.0 V6 on my XLS. First 2 weeks it shifted
beautifully...
then it started one night with this lurching back and forth and it nearly scared
> me. I took it into the dealership the next day and they could not find anything
> wrong. All diagnostic codes checked out. They told me this transmission was
> designed different, and that occasional firm/soft shifts were normal as it
> learns your driving habits. I didn't buy it, but had no other choice. >
> About one month later, on a Saturday, I decided to wax it. I took my time, and
> after 5 hours of waxing it, it was polished perfect. I had to run an errand, and
> while I was going down a local street, it started shifting funny again. I
> approached a stop light, and stopped. Then, when green, I engaged the gas... but
> to my surprise, I was at 3000 RPM's and I wasn't any faster than 15 mph. I gave
> it a bit more gas, and it surged up to 4000 RPM's and I was at 20 mph. At this
> point, the vehicle was surging back and forth (like I was driving a standard and
> didn't know how... like it was trying to change gears but couldn't). I pulled
> over, and stopped, and turned off the engine. Upon restart, it drove fine,
> except from that moment on, it ALWAYS shifted very firm (if not downright HARD
> with noticeable jerks in the shifts and occasional "thunk" noises). >
> After that incident, I took it back to the dealership. They opened the
> transmission and could find no metal shavings. All diagnostic codes passed. They
> sealed it back up, and the tech rep gave me a printout of a TSB regarding this
> transmission. The TSB just referred to the firm/soft shifts as being normal. I
> was disappointed, but being a novice at vehicle's inner-workings, I just left
> unhappy.
>
> Furious with their performance in trying to find my problem, I got a second
> opinion at another dealership. They also could not find a problem, and only
> reprogrammed the PCM again. So, that was 3 times I had taken it in for this
> single hard shifting problem.
>
> Needless to say, I could not drive down the street under a mile to a relative's
> house without having this hard shifting problem. It really got me depressed and
> I was SO ready to just trade it in (when they say it was running NORMAL) and buy
> a GMC Envoy :)
>
> But, I could not bring myself to do that in light that I'm almost done paying
> this one off.
>
> On January 27 of this year, we had a cold snap. When I left to go to work, it
> was 11 degrees outside (but it had been colder than that before). It was
> shifting hard as it always had... but I was noticing it was taking longer to
> shift than it had been before. As I turn onto a main street, it does the
> surging back and forth bit again (which is probably the 3rd time since I bought
> it that it had done it this bad). I pulled off, and turned it off and restarted
> it again. When I go back onto the street, it does it again and I just eased off
> the gas.... I tried to accelerate again, and it still did it. It would not
> shift out of first gear. I called the boss, said I'd be late.
>
> Continued to try to take the rest of my 13 mile commute using side streets,
> going only 20mph in what was usually 45mph zones. But, I didn't get even a mile
> further from that point before I noticed my RPM's were in excess of 5000 and I
> wasn't even going 20mph... my speed had slowed to 15mph. Then, I began to smell
> something burning, and a light haze entered my vehicle thru the heating system.
> I quickly pulled off the side of the road and stopped. Upon re-engaging the gas,
> it would jump to 4000~5000 rpms and wouldn't even go a foot. It was toast.
>
> I pulled out my Roadside Assistance card, and a tow truck was there in under 45
> minutes. They towed it to my dealership.
>
> Here is a verbatim quote of what my service ticket reads regarding this: >
> C/S VEHICLE IS SURGING AND WILL REV UP UPON ACCELL BEFORE
> SHIFTING THRU THE GEARS
> PERFORMED AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION DIAGNOSTICS. EEC CODES KOEO
> PASS, KOEC PASS, KOER PASS. FLUID LEAKING FROM BELL HOUSING.
> FLUID SMELLS BURNT AND IS BLACK. TRANS SLIPS. WON'T PULL. TOWED
> IN. REMOVED TRANS AND DISASSEMBLED FOR COST CAP ANALYSIS.
> FOUND CONVERTER BLUED, HUB SCORED, FRONT PUMP BUSHING AND SEAL
> DAMAGED. FORWARD CLUTCHES BURNT. METAL THROUGHOUT. CONTACT
> HOTLINE. OASIS ID ### ### ###. CONTACT ID ######. HOTLINE
> SAID CAUSAL PART WAS VALVE BODY. COST TO REPAIR EXCEEDS COST
> CAP. REPLACED TRANSMISSION ASSEMBLY WITH FORD QUALITY RENEWAL
> 4.0L ENGINE 4X4. FLUSHED COOLER LINES AND COOLER. VERIFIED
> CORRECT FLUID LEVEL. ROAD TEST. RETEST EEC. KOEO PASS, KOEC PASS, > KOER PASS.
>
> As you can see........ MAJOR TROUBLE. They replaced it with a factory certified
> used transmission (why not new, I'll never know). BUT I was assured that it will
> still be covered by my 36mo/36,000mi warranty.... Also, a friend said to be
> thankful, as those factory certified ones go thru more testing than the new
> ones.
>
> But anyway, it's been almost a full 3 months and it's still shifting GREAT!! I'm
> so thrilled! I've put my plans for that GMC Envoy on the backburner for now ;-)
> But, occasionally, I still get the rather firm shifts, BUT they are not
> downright HARD like they were before. When it happens like this, it's
> noticeable, but does not bother me. I think THIS is what the TSB was talking
> about. But, I maybe get one of these once every other week, if that. >
> Sorry for the long saga..... :-) but I hope it was informative. Let me know
> what happens, as I can only hope that what happened to me can be prevented for
> you and others.
>
> Tim
>
>
> > My 2002 XLt with the 4.0 V6 has experienced intermittent hard shifts since I
> > purchased it. I have had the PCM reprogrammed twice. Lately it seems as
> > though the first stop I make (before the engine and transmission are
> > completely up to temperature) produces a noticable lurching of the vehicle
> > just before it stops. It feels like it doesn't downshift soon enough and
> > when it finally does the car jerks. After the first stop it seems ok. If
> > the car sits and cools for an hour or two it will do it again. > >
> > I was just wondering if anyone else has run into this problem, and if so
> > what the resolution was. I wanted to check before I took it to the dealer,
> > because they always just tell me there are no fault codes, and they can't do
> > anything unless there are fault codes. This one seems fairly repeatable
> > though so I am thinking of giving the dealer another try.
> >
> > Any Ideas?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Dale
> >
> >
> >
>
>