[BF2001SES]

Next time you have your rides in the shop for any reason, be it getting the filter recall taken care of, oil change, or anything, HAVE THEM CHECK YOUR TRANS FLUID!
Some of you might remember back a few months I had been complaining that my car had a funny shudder in first gear, and a few other problems. The shop at the dealership i worked at at the time pluged it into the computer and found no codes, thus, I was told nothing could be done. This past thursday when i went for my annual saftey inspection, i had the shop at the dealership i work at now check the trans as well. Still no codes, but for shits and giggles, my tech checked the fluid. The result: with just 11357 miles on the clock, LMII is headed back into the shop monday at 9 am for a complete transmission overhaul, with the potential for complete drivetrain replacement. The fluid is cooked, scorched almost black. Something inside the trans let go, and at least part of the gears and pinions for first gear are rubbing in a way not designed, but not bad enough to throw a trouble code.
Get your tranny checked pronto if it has any kind of funny vibration, and get your local independant shop to get you a trans cooler installed. My tech is installing mine as part of the overhaul.
PS:
When i know exactly what went wrong, why it went wrong, and any preventative measures to be taked, i will for dammned sure be posting them.

 

[submariner]

Hmmm, I'll check my fluit tonight and get back on it... y shifting's been kinda funny but it might be me subconsciously varying pressure on the gas pedal

 

[Guest]

Interesting discovery Brian... I'm at 50k+ miles now and haven't had a single problem *knocks on wood*, but I'll definitley keep my eye on that.

 

[acreature]

68k and nuttin in mine either. Just changed the fluid and filter at 60k, and all was good. But thanx for the heads up.

 

[tmonster]

Lets hope you just hit a defective one and that its not gonna happen to everyone...I think we were all figuring Ford upped the quality of the tranny's for the Gen 4 h34r: .
That sucks, specially with so little miles <_< :blink: ...good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Guest]

Yeah, it generally seems like if you have something defective you'll notice it at lower mileage (things like that anyways). I can tell a huge difference in my Gen 4 Tranny vs. my Gen 3 - *much* better.

 

[beamout]

I bought mine with 11,000 and I am already up to 16,500 in two months. Nothing like that yet and I had my transmission fluid checked when I did my 15,000 mile checkup. Came out just fine. The good thing is I am assuming it's all under warentee so it will not cost you anything.

 

[golovko]

94k on mine thus far and no problems....knock on wood

 

[submariner]

41k and a nice warm pink color on the fluid

 

[02trs]

I posted not long ago that I had a weird vibration when the engine was under load, got the tranny fluid replaced (dropped the pan, without flushing the converter) and filter replaced, it didn't solve the problem, but i've been told by others it could be the alignment...

 

[Imacarbuff]

'03 SE with 10,600 miles. Trans shifts OK...but the Transaxle light with come on and blink if you drive more than 100-125 miles continuous. No codes...shifts fine. If it's getting ready to bail I hope it goes while under factory warranty.

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by Imacarbuff@Aug 1 2004, 10:36 PM
'03 SE with 10,600 miles. Trans shifts OK...but the Transaxle light with come on and blink if you drive more than 100-125 miles continuous. No codes...shifts fine. If it's getting ready to bail I hope it goes while under factory warranty.

That's weird... if the trans light comes on... that should be enough to tell the dealership something if you take it in I would think...

 

[HokieSES]

Originally posted by BF2001SES@Jul 31 2004, 07:50 PM
Next time you have your rides in the shop for any reason, be it getting the filter recall taken care of, oil change, or anything, HAVE THEM CHECK YOUR TRANS FLUID!
Some of you might remember back a few months I had been complaining that my car had a funny shudder in first gear, and a few other problems. The shop at the dealership i worked at at the time pluged it into the computer and found no codes, thus, I was told nothing could be done. This past thursday when i went for my annual saftey inspection, i had the shop at the dealership i work at now check the trans as well. Still no codes, but for shits and giggles, my tech checked the fluid. The result: with just 11357 miles on the clock, LMII is headed back into the shop monday at 9 am for a complete transmission overhaul, with the potential for complete drivetrain replacement. The fluid is cooked, scorched almost black. Something inside the trans let go, and at least part of the gears and pinions for first gear are rubbing in a way not designed, but not bad enough to throw a trouble code.
Get your tranny checked pronto if it has any kind of funny vibration, and get your local independant shop to get you a trans cooler installed. My tech is installing mine as part of the overhaul.
PS:
When i know exactly what went wrong, why it went wrong, and any preventative measures to be taked, i will for dammned sure be posting them.

This amazes me that so many technicians out there appear to rely solely on codes and that if there are no codes, then there's "no problem" or there's nothing they can do about it. This is crazy. If your tranny shuddered, it shuddered, which it shouldn't do. Just because a code doesn't exist doesn't mean there isn't a problem, which is what you're unfortunately experiencing. It's good that your tech finally went a step further and checked the fluid, even though they should have done this when you took the car for the problem in the first place.

If a code comes up when they scan the computer, that particular code does not tell you what part is wrong with the car - it only tells you that there is a malfunction in a system/circuit. If the code pops up, the technician is supposed to go to the shop manual, look up the code, and follow the diagnostic tree/procedure to test the system that the code represents...Okay, rant over (rant caused by an old Dodge that had stalling problems, yet the dealer couldn't find codes and therefore nothing was wrong, even though the car stalled on them too...needless to say, no one in the family will ever drive a Chrysler product again)...

Good luck with the new transmission...

 

[John in Charlotte]

I bought my '00 Sable Duratech last November with 77,000 miles. Took it to the Merc dealer and had the AT fluid flushed as soon as I got it. With 84,000 miles on it now the fluid still looks very clean, clear and new. I'm most concerned with tran problems since my previous, a '96 Vulcan trans exploded with 108,000.

I never use the dealers but did in this case because I was taking a 1,500 trip and wanted to be certain the change/flush was done with Mercon 5.

My car shifts fine. Much smoother than the '96 ever did even after the AT was changed out

Anyone with Gen IV trans problems, keep us posted. And everyone keep a close watch on your trans fluid level and color.

 

[FullDuplex]

I am somewhat positive that the issue is closely related to cooling system. His tranmission oil was not cooled down properly and cook.

 

[BF2001SES]

OK, initial first peek inside the gearbox estimate:
The problem is most likely the first gear intermediate clutch pack. There are several small clutches that the trans uses to go from Park, Neutral, and Reverse into Drive, one of which is the Intermediate pack. One of the rubber spacers or something like that slipped, tore, got stuck, or whatever, so the clutches are grinding togather. The pack is shot to ****, the question now is did the bad fluid and lack of adequate cooling ruin anything else. My Service writer wont install my cooler on the clock, but others have said slip whoever is doing the work a case of beer and it will end up in there accidentally.
No word on the engine yet, they were going to x-ray and ultrasonic the block or something like that to make sure all the heat didnt damage the linkage or input shaft, and check to make sure the vibrations hadnt caused any stress fractures in any of the components. If it did...well, we took in a Jag version of the engine, complete with wire harness and EEC friday afternoon, (we have an X-type with all kinds of codes that they havent decided what to do with yet, so they got the motor just in case) so i can only pray that i can get that bad boy in there... im not holding my breath tho.
More updates tonite and tomorrow, when all will be made right.

 

[BF2001SES]

As of 6:45 tonite, when they quit, they were still trying to figure out all that they needed to fix the thing. I got to see it, engine ok, but the trans was on a work bench in about 700 pieces.

 

[HokieSES]

Originally posted by BF2001SES@Aug 3 2004, 10:18 PM
As of 6:45 tonite, when they quit, they were still trying to figure out all that they needed to fix the thing. I got to see it, engine ok, but the trans was on a work bench in about 700 pieces.

This sounds ugly...So can they get Ford to cover the $$ to put a new transmission in there?

 

[detroit_raver]

this kinda sounds like what has been happening to my 2004. when i first got it, it kinda felt like at WOT that it had a little bit of a grinding feel to it when the wheel was turned a certain way. now, almost 4,000 miles later, its worse. i almost always feel the grinding feeling when i hit my gas pedal. when i slam on the gas it has a grinding feel really bad up to second gear, and even after 2nd gear, and it feels like their has been quite a loss in power. i can't really describe it, but i know it doesn't feel right. is that kinda like what yours was doing? i checked my fluid and its still pink. is this type of thing covered under warrenty? i mean, it wasn't caused from any kind of my driving, because i noticed it a little bit when i first got the car. i just thought it was normal. but now its worse. anyone have any ideas on what it is?

 

[HokieSES]

Originally posted by detroit_raver@Aug 3 2004, 11:33 PM
this kinda sounds like what has been happening to my 2004. when i first got it, it kinda felt like at WOT that it had a little bit of a grinding feel to it when the wheel was turned a certain way. now, almost 4,000 miles later, its worse. i almost always feel the grinding feeling when i hit my gas pedal. when i slam on the gas it has a grinding feel really bad up to second gear, and even after 2nd gear, and it feels like their has been quite a loss in power. i can't really describe it, but i know it doesn't feel right. is that kinda like what yours was doing? i checked my fluid and its still pink. is this type of thing covered under warrenty? i mean, it wasn't caused from any kind of my driving, because i noticed it a little bit when i first got the car. i just thought it was normal. but now its worse. anyone have any ideas on what it is?

Have you talked to someone in your dealership's service department about this? Maybe take a test drive of another '04 to compare with your '04...