I have a new 06 F-150 5.4 auto 4WD. The problem is it needs RPM to make power. It will shift out of 1st gear early under light throttle then if you hammer it it will not shift back down to 1st so it is pretty slow until it gets into the band again. I tried to manualy shift it down which it will do but when I move the shifter to second it is like I put it neutral. Not good! The same thing goes if I shift it down to 2nd from 3rd , when I shift back to 3rd, neutral again! I haven't taken it back to the dealer yet because I wanted to know if this was common among others or is it just mine. It will go into the higher gear if I let off but I would rather have a slap in the back.

 

I'm willing to bet that it has safeguards in place so it doesn't break. I'm no expert but it seems logical, and bieng electronic it may have a certain gear vs speed vs rpm criteria before it can safely go into that gear. I know what you mean though, you go to pass someone say and you think it will kick into first, but you're just too quick for that to safely happen. I've always been leary of manual shifting in this case anyways. With the chip I installed and had programmmed by Sean Hyland, it clears up alot of slop in shifting, so maybe look into a programmer or chip. I believe the programmer allows you to tune shift points and firmness so give it a wurl.

 

A transmission that is working properly will NEVER go to neutral unless the shifter is in N. There's something wrong here, bring it to the dealer.