2004 LS Sport transmission issues? What issues have been identified?

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lsintoronto

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2004 LS Sport with 72K miles - I've noticed a slight shudder in the car in 2nd and 3rd gear as well as some harsher than normal upshifts.

In the last couple days it was a little more pronounced (happened going up a hill today - engine sounded fined but the car shuddered like if something was slipping or power was fluctuating to the rear wheels; dry roads btw).

Even had an rpm flare-up today where it revved a bit before shifting. Only happened once.

Anyone experienced this before on a 2nd Gen LS?
 
I have heard that the transmission solenoids (?) have been problems in these. I think that what you have described is one of the indicators. Maybe someone else will have a better idea of what you are experiencing
 
i'm not sure about the revving before shifting, but the rough shifts are indictive of bad coils...the bad coils make the tranny seem very rough. I didn't beleive it till I changed mine.
 
I have an 04 with some of the same problems. I would rec. you try changing the fluid (flush and fill with the machines they have for trans service). It costs about $100 and they do add the same additve as ford did on the recall.
I have mine done every 2 years and trans doesnt bang into reverse and on the down shift from 2 to 1 as often but still does occur. I think its worth a shot for a $100 bucks. Good Luck.
 
The first owner (he had it for 4 years until the warranty expired at 48 months and 47K miles) had all the regular service done and I believe the fluid was changed once by him at the dealer with one of the service packages. I had another flush done at the dealer about 7K miles ago so filter and fluid should be ok.

It may have had the odd harsh shift before the last flush but seems more often now and with the one over-revving incident plus this new "shudder" under load, I'm getting concerned.

Would there be any codes when these events occur? I have an OBD2 reader (Equus) so can see if I can get anything.

BTW, have not touched spark plugs as yet but they should still be ok right? Plan to swap them out soon.
 
Hi LS
Misfire codes are readible with tool. do a search there is plenty of info here about them. Thinking of your original post when I had coil problems my car would shudder at aprox 55mph (3rd?) but would throw a CEL shortly after. I cant help you with codes relating to the trans but if you get some post them
here and Im sure someone will be able to help you. Ther are some great mech/troubleshooters on this board. Good Luck
 
Just had the solenoid shift pack replaced, and this was the fix.
A couple coils were bad, and when I replaced all of them(along with the plugs), it fixed allot of the shifting problems, but not all. It continued to get worse, and I finally had my local dealer change them for me.
Their experience was that the flush and fill MIGHT take care of the problem, but not likely.
My LS is an '04, and runs better htan when I purchased it, now.
 
I have a 02 LS v8. I having what appears to be a bad hesitation. I started with the coils and plugs per a lot of suggestions on the site. There was a code for misfire in the 3rd cyl, but that was a long time ago. Nothing is pending or reading now. I have an OBD reader, and no codes are coming up. I ran the crap out of it. It only does it once everything is hot. 10-15 minutes of riding. The RPM gauge never changes during this hesitation, and becoming convinced it may be the lockup for the tranny is kicking in and out. It doesn't have the skip until it drops down into lockup. Anyone have this happen to them? Any suggestions - before it goes to the tranny shop?
 
hey there is a pcm reflash for that issue :ISSUE:
Some 2003-2004 Lincoln LS vehicles equipped with a 3.0L and 5R55S automatic transmission may exhibit harsh 2-3 upshifts between 20-50 MPH (32-80 Km/h), or harsh coasting downshifts between 10-15 MPH (16-24 Km/h).

ACTION:
Reprogram the powertrain control module (PCM) to the latest calibration available using WDS release B37.1 or higher. Calibration files may also be obtained at www.motorcraft.com. Verify diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and keep alive memory (KAM) are cleared. If the condition is not resolved, continue with normal diagnostics.
hope that helps, if it aplies just see your local dealership
 
alcruz said:
hey there is a pcm reflash for that issue :ISSUE:
Some 2003-2004 Lincoln LS vehicles equipped with a 3.0L and 5R55S automatic transmission may exhibit harsh 2-3 upshifts between 20-50 MPH (32-80 Km/h), or harsh coasting downshifts between 10-15 MPH (16-24 Km/h).

ACTION:
Reprogram the powertrain control module (PCM) to the latest calibration available using WDS release B37.1 or higher. Calibration files may also be obtained at www.motorcraft.com. Verify diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) and keep alive memory (KAM) are cleared. If the condition is not resolved, continue with normal diagnostics.
hope that helps, if it aplies just see your local dealership
Click to expand...

That's for the V6 only?
 
I just had my local dealership to a tranny flush this morning, and WOW what a difference.

Unfortunately, it was just under $200.00
 
Well, a couple weekends ago I'm crossing the border bridge in heavy traffic into Michigan on a late Friday afternoon (ie. most shops closing soon) and the car starts to idle very rough and stutter while just sitting in traffic, then the engine light came on flashing. I shut it off, restarted and it was better and the light went off.

About 20 minutes later while driving the engine light came on again and stayed on, with occasional shudder when accelerating from low speeds. A little panicked now as I'm 400 miles from home, no tools, most dealers closed on Saturdays, and passengers with me.

Could not find a dealer to look at the car on Saturday so had Autozone check the code: Cylinder Misfire, Bank 3

Checked with dealer nearby and they said could be spark plug (fouled) or COP, so I bought both to be on the safe side (and I had Nascar tickets so really did not need any more car trouble). Parts guy was cool and called around to find an indy shop in Howell who could do the install and reset the light/code.

The problem went away and seemed fine for the rest of the weekend (did a lot of driving). So far so good but my wife said the car is hesitating occasionally again. Has not happened to me yet but so far no engine light.

Plan to change the remaining plugs this weekend to see if that fixes it.

If those are not the problem, how do you test/check COPs?
 
lsintoronto said:
...If those are not the problem, how do you test/check COPs?
Click to expand...

On the car with an oscilloscope. (Of course this only works if you know what the signal should and shouldn't look like.)

Don't let anybody tell you to do a resistance check. It won't catch the kind of failures (high voltage breakdown in the secondary) that these coils experience.
 
REDBED said:
Hi LS
Misfire codes are readible with tool. do a search there is plenty of info here about them. Thinking of your original post when I had coil problems my car would shudder at aprox 55mph (3rd?) but would throw a CEL shortly after. I cant help you with codes relating to the trans but if you get some post them
here and Im sure someone will be able to help you. Ther are some great mech/troubleshooters on this board. Good Luck
Click to expand...

I initially checked this around the time of your post and did not get any codes then got busy and didn't do anything else until the engine light eventually came on a couple weeks later. That turned out to be a Cylinder 3 Misfire.
 
Hi LS I dont know if you are aware but coils are warnt. on v8 10yr/100k. I see you went to dealer and then had the work done by an ind.
 
REDBED said:
Hi LS I dont know if you are aware but coils are warnt. on v8 10yr/100k. I see you went to dealer and then had the work done by an ind.
Click to expand...

Thanks....I actually found out about this yesterday so will have to call Ford about this. Apparently they will also reimburse if work was done already so I'll try to have it covered.

I wanted to have the work done by the dealer on Saturday morning but the 2 in the area could not look at the car until Monday and I was heading back home (400 miles) on Sunday evening so opted for the indy shop.


It may be a coincidence that the coil went because I got another transmission flare (I forget the correct terminology) this morning where the engine over-revved before shifting up to the next gear. Seems like it would be a transmission issue....maybe solenoid. It also clunks a little too hard into Reverse for my liking.
 
Hi LS Good luck trying to get reimbursed, I hope you get it. If you ever get that bang out of shifting in reverse let me know. My last trans flush in Nov seemed to have cured it but it is now an intermintant event. Doesnt happen too often but when it does its not pleasent. If you go back to the dealer ask about the software upgrade(reflash of pcm) maybe thats rhe answer.
Your lucky you have a V8 and are covered.The bad thing is every time this happens they will only replace the ones that failed. You could be looking at a few trips to the dealer as the older ones fail. I had 7 trips in 3 years just for coils under warnt. At 53k blew another and just had my mech change all and start fresh.
 
According to the letter, the deadline to get reimbursed has already passed. (I did get my first coil failure reimbursed, the rest failed after the program started, so they were covered to begin with.)

The transmission solution for my 04 (harsh reverse, some shifting weirdness) was the replacement on one of the solenoids.
 
joegr said:
According to the letter, the deadline to get reimbursed has already passed. (I did get my first coil failure reimbursed, the rest failed after the program started, so they were covered to begin with.)

The transmission solution for my 04 (harsh reverse, some shifting weirdness) was the replacement on one of the solenoids.
Click to expand...

I spoke with Ford Canada on Friday and the warranty is good for 10 years from in service or 100K miles which I am under. The fact that an indy shop did the work might be a problem so they said they will open a trouble ticket under "emergency service" since I was out of town and it was a weekend and the dealer I bought the parts from couldn't look at the car. The others should be covered up to 100K miles.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

How do these coils go bad?
 
lsintoronto said:
...How do these coils go bad?
Click to expand...

From Ford's letter on the subject...

"Some of the vehicles may experience an engine misfire condition predominantly due to internal
breakdown in the coil and lack of adhesion between the epoxy and the coil housing material."
 
Thanks. I will have to look into that trans solenoid issue.

I replaced the other 7 plugs this weekend. The coils were relatively clean but some of the plugs had oil on them. Not sure what that means?

Here are the plugs I pulled:

Cylinder 1 (passenger side)
Cyl1pass.gif


Cylinder 2 (passenger side)
Cyl2pass.gif


Cylinder 4 (passenger side)
Cyl4pass.gif


Cylinder 5 (driver side)
Cyl5driver.gif


Cylinder 6 (passenger side)
Cyl6pass.gif


Cylinder 7 (driver side)
Cyl7driver.gif


Cylinder 8 (driver side)
Cyl8driver.gif


Cylinder 3
Spark plug and coil was recently replaced by a shop after a Cyl 3 Misfire code - so I did not see that plug or coil
 
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