I have a '99 F-150 XLT Supercab with ~96,000 miles.

About a week ago, I started noticing the transmission shifting hard and fast into 3rd gear. The truck jumps forward when it shifts. The problem got worse after that, now affecting 2nd & 3rd. Since then, it gets better and worse from time to time. Sometimes it's just 3rd, sometimes 2nd & 3rd.

- It does it under any acceleration, from slight acceleration to wide open.
- Temperature doesn't seem to have any affect.
- No other symptoms. No shudder, no loss of power, no vibration, no effect on upshift, etc.
- The tranny was serviced (along with everything else) at ~90,000
- Fluid level is fine, fluid looks great, etc.
- I haven't been to AutoZone to check codes yet, but let's assume for now that there are no codes.

The vehicle is completely driveable, but I'm trying to figure out what this could be and get an idea of what I'm getting into. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

Surprise surprise...no codes in the computer. Any ideas folks?

 

Stuck pressure regulator valve?

 

Broken 2-3 accumulator spring?

 

Nah I leave them out all the time he has to have a pressure problem for it to happen on both shifts. All the pressure in the world still wouldn't make od hard because it is a band.
Alan

 

Ok, thanks for the ideas. So the question now is, what should I do about this? The vehicle is perfectly driveable, as the hard shifts are just an annoyance at this point.

 

Sorry to bump this back up TTT, but I have a bit of an update. The tranny problem is still there, but now I have a new problem that I think is related.

The truck is surging on idle when in gear (like when you are stopped at a light with your foot on the brake and the tranny in gear). It normally idles at 500, but is surging to about 900 consistently every 2 seconds. 2 seconds at 500, 2 seconds at 900, 2 seconds at 500, etc. Still does it with the A/C off. You have to keep your foot mashed down on the brake to keep it from taking off. This is not good.

Here's the gag though, it only does it in "D" or "2". It idles normally in "P", "R", "N", and "1".

What in the world is going on here? Any ideas are appreciated! Thanks.

 

I had the same problem. Thought I would try the easy fix first and it worked perfectly. I had the transmission flushed and hard shift went away! Mine had 127k miles on it, been shifting smoothly now for two weeks. First time I did anything with the tranny.
Steve, Marlton NJ

 

Well, I just had the tranny flushed about 6,000 ago, so I don't think that doing it again would help much.