2010 Ranger 2.3L 2WD Transmission Issues

[MtMitch]

I’ve been having some issues with my work truck, listed in the title. I believe it has the 4R44E or 4R55E transmission. The transmission was rebuilt in August 2023, and has been mostly trouble free since then. The internal speed sensor did go out at one point a few months back, so we had that replaced by the same shop that rebuilt the transmission. Since then it seemed to run pretty well until about a week or two ago when I started having this problem:

When the truck is warmed up and I’m going faster than 45 to 50 mph (top gear) and I take my foot off the gas it seems to downshift and then shift back up into the proper gear rapidly. Sometimes it’ll do it several times. It seems like it’s hunting for the right gear, but it doesn’t do it every time and not when the truck is cold. It’s also started to feel a bit sluggish off the line and in between 1 and 2. When it first happened I checked the fluid level and it was high, so I pumped some out and it seemed to get better for a week but now the problem is back. I’m not sure if the trans is overheating and that’s causing problems, or if it’s something in the valve body/solenoids or internally in the transmission. If it’s a valve body or solenoid issue, I feel capable of repairing it myself, but if it’s something inside the transmission it’s gonna need to go to the shop.

I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and knows what it might be, or how to go about diagnosing it? Ultimately if it needs to go to the shop it will, but if this is something I can resolve I’d prefer to fix it myself.

Any advice or suggestions are appreciated!

 

[franklin2]

If you knew someone who had one of those high dollar scanners, they could pin point it right away. The big question is, is the transmission being told to shift up and down by some sort of errant signal, or is it the transmission itself. A bi-directional scanner would probably be able to narrow that down.

 

[MtMitch]

If you knew someone who had one of those high dollar scanners, they could pin point it right away. The big question is, is the transmission being told to shift up and down by some sort of errant signal, or is it the transmission itself. A bi-directional scanner would probably be able to narrow that down.

I'm thinking that the transmission is overheating and maybe the vent is clogged? Would that cause these problems? Also, do you know where the transmission vent is located on this model? I’d like to at least check that before resigning to taking it to the shop.

 

[franklin2]

No I don't. But it's most of the time up high and hard to get to. If you think that is a problem, why not run without the dipstick as a test. It should be able to breath through there.

 

[MtMitch]

For anyone with a similar issue, I ended up replacing the throttle position sensor and it seems to have resolved the problem! I had put a new one in a few months back but it must have been faulty. I’ll update if any further issues show up.