My 2002 F150 4X4 (88,000 mi.) has a noticeable downshift from OD and from 3 to 2. Would this be normal? The transmission is fully warmed-up when this happens. The transmission shifts well going up in gear. Could it be that the drivetrain is a little sloppy from age?

 

Don't know about an F150 but I experienced this on my wife's Taurus once and really got tired of the hard down shifts when coming to a traffic light. The Ford dealer said it was normal (they are trained to say this while it is under warranty) but it did not do it when the car was new. The upshifts were very smooth, just noticeable hard down shifts. Just after it went out of warranty the hole transmission failed with one big hard downshift. Long story short............after a few phone calls to Ford in Detroit... my transmission was replaced!!

 

My tranny in my 97 F150 the downshift out of OD to 3rd is noticable but it's not harsh. Mine has been doing it eversince I changed the original filter at 170,000, and I have 197,4xx on the truck now and it still donwshifts the same as it did at 180,000. I took mine as normal.

 

By chance are you punchin' the accelerator ? If so,the pcm is probably the problem. Mike Troyer had a good explanation of this "problem".

 

Nope I'm just coasting and when i hit about 30mph you can feel it down shift. I am wondering if a fluid and filter change might clear it up. It started doing it not long after i replaced the original filter at around 170,000 miles. The downshift hasn't gotten any worse.

Could you possible post the link to the explanation.