Bucking/Jerking at Low Speeds When Cold

[Mav_27]

Mine does it every day. 22 XL AWD 4K. After driving for 10-15 minutes it goes away. I’ve taken it to the dealer and it’s no problem found/normal from them. Even had Ford rep here on forum intervene and still no help. I’ve given up and learned to live with it..sad

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[MightyMaverick]

Mine does it every day. 22 XL AWD 4K. After driving for 10-15 minutes it goes away. I’ve taken it to the dealer and it’s no problem found/normal from them. Even had Ford rep here on forum intervene and still no help. I’ve given up and learned to live with it..sad

That's what I've been doing. I've just learned to accept it. If it's normal, that's all I care about. I just thought it was abnormal at first. But after warming it up and driving for a little while, it goes away. And it doesn't do it every time. Just on occasion. As long as it's not an isolated issue I'm okay with it.

 

[Jah.]

Just guessing but could be low on trans fluid ? Surprise dealership doesn't check trans level fluid at least as courtesy to a customer .

 

[yamahaSHO]

Ours does it, however, I think I know what the cause of it is. I need to do some more logging, well... Remember to log first thing in the morning. If it is what I think it is, I plan to tune it out.

 

[lavaspill]

I experience the same with my AWD 4K. Terrible in traffic as well even after warming up. Seems to hunt for the right gear all the time.

 

[Professional Waiter]

I've experienced this too and I actually just got my Maverick back about a week or two ago from the dealership service department. When I first start it up and drive It seems to buck a bit forward and back when slowly accelerating or holding speed around 25mph until it upshifts (I'm thinking it's shifting either into 3rd or 4th). After it upshifts it runs fine even if I go back to 25mph and it downshifts back to the previous gear.

What the dealership found on their initial inspection was that there was clutch material found in the torque converter and something else with the solenoid I believe. I'll check the paperwork again after work. They also reset the adaptive transmission tables before test driving it after the replacement parts were installed.

I can say for certain it still bucks a bit when holding at 25mph even after those parts were installed and the adaptive tables were reset. I've only had it back for a week or so though, so it may change after some more driving.

 

[Mav_27]

I've experienced this too and I actually just got my Maverick back about a week or two ago from the dealership service department. When I first start it up and drive It seems to buck a bit forward and back when slowly accelerating or holding speed around 25mph until it upshifts (I'm thinking it's shifting either into 3rd or 4th). After it upshifts it runs fine even if I go back to 25mph and it downshifts back to the previous gear.

What the dealership found on their initial inspection was that there was clutch material found in the torque converter and something else with the solenoid I believe. I'll check the paperwork again after work. They also reset the adaptive transmission tables before test driving it after the replacement parts were installed.

I can say for certain it still bucks a bit when holding at 25mph even after those parts were installed and the adaptive tables were reset. I've only had it back for a week or so though, so it may change after some more driving.

My experience after they looked and did the transmission reseting is that nothing changed. Tranny fluid looked fine too.

I was thinking maybe looking at an ignition issue. Flaky mass air flow sensor?

 

[T Bone]

just my 2 cents, but day before yesterday I put the livernois 87-93 performance tune on my truck. the shifting IMMEDIATELY got soooooo much smoother. they told me to expect hard shifts until it "learns" my driving patterns. well if it gets any smoother you wont even be able to know it is shifting. like night and day. I love it.

 

[Snox801]

just my 2 cents, but day before yesterday I put the livernois 87-93 performance tune on my truck. the shifting IMMEDIATELY got soooooo much smoother. they told me to expect hard shifts until it "learns" my driving patterns. well if it gets any smoother you wont even be able to know it is shifting. like night and day. I love it.

Reading this whole post I was thinking, man I’ve never really noticed anything with mine. Then got to your post and thought ahhh yes. Also running that tune. It does indeed shift very good now.

 

[HolyCarp]

I've also noticed the lack of smooth shifting when cold on my 23 FX4 4K. Only for a block or two though. Don't notice it as much if I put it in Eco mode.

 

[Mav_27]

Sad that I would need to spend hundreds of $ to fix a Ford problem

 

[McSwine]

just my 2 cents, but day before yesterday I put the livernois 87-93 performance tune on my truck. the shifting IMMEDIATELY got soooooo much smoother. they told me to expect hard shifts until it "learns" my driving patterns. well if it gets any smoother you wont even be able to know it is shifting. like night and day. I love it.

Not Livernois, but I installed the Cobb 93 tune w/the sport transmission tuning yesterday and like you said, it's like night and day. I mentioned in another thread that the extra power is nice, but the transmission tune makes all the difference in the world.

 

[yamahaSHO]

After a bit more logging and testing changes, I'm pretty sure it's the torque converter. I got the weird 4th gear RPM dip to go away, which was the torque converter, and I was able to log the jerking today as well, which also looks to be the torque converter. I was able to get it to show in higher gears, so I will have to adjust based on the shift scheduling of done.

My 10R80 in my Ranger sucked from the factory as well. I enjoy it a lot more since I tuned it.

 

[22_Mich_Mav]

I'm sure it's normal, maybe I'm just a newbie that's not well educated but I've noticed lately that when I let my truck warm up and start driving at low speeds (i.e., parking lot or out of the driveway) it starts heavily bucking and jerking until it's fully warmed up. Sometimes the idle gets high, around 2K r.p.m until it decides to shift. However, it's fine once it's fully warmed up and been through several stop and goes. It hasn't done this before, just lately. That's why I bring it up in the first place. I'm concerned if it's premature wear that's occurring or a sign of transmission failure/tuning which I've heard is an issue with these.

I'm one of those types who always lets the vehicle idle for a minute or two before driving off. It gives the engine some time to get lubricated. I've been taught that if you drive your vehicle right away when it's ice cold, it'll add premature wear and tear to your engine in the long run. But I've also been told that in order to get your vehicle to warm up faster, you start driving it but at low rpms first before it hits normal operating temperature.

I’ve had this problem on my 22 eco for over a year but could never solve it. After another problem cropped up and was fixed the bucking/jerking during cold startup is gone.
I started having issues with my outside temperature reading. It started saying 110, then 130. Heat set at 85 would blow cold with ac. There are many posts attributed to this issue. The sensor is located under the fender liner and was replaced by the dealer with a pigtail.
After this was fixed my truck runs smooth at cold startup now. I don’t think it’s a coincidence and my only thought is that sensor is used to set initial fuel mixture(maybe a tech can chime in). I read in the posts about the temp/sensor that some just cleaned the contact/pigtail with dielectric grease so maybe some of you with the bucking issue could look into that….

 

[Sonicaceman]

I can join the club on this. I only get the hard shift when I first pull out of driveway and go down the road when it’s not warmed up. I have a 24 XLT FX4 AWD and I’ve been thinking it’s just bad transmission software from Ford. It’s sad an aftermarket tune that will risk voiding our warranty seems to be the fix…. I want a tune but as I’m still under my 3/36 and my 5/60 warranty I’m not going to chance it. You would think Ford would come up with an update otherwise I love the truck.

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