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Trans issues


Camride

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I thought I'd go ahead and start a thread on this. My car has started shifting badly on the 2nd to 3rd gear shift. It's absolutely horrible when cold, it actually feels like the car hit something. When it's warm it does it sometimes but not always (and not as bad). I did take it into the dealership when it first started doing this but it wasn't consistent and they said they couldn't reproduce it. It is getting worse, so I'm going to wait a few more weeks and take it back so that they can't dismiss it this time.

 

I wanted to see who else was having issues. I heard from a friend that he's talked to two people that have new Fusions with trans issues, one specifically mentioning the 2-3 shift. I've heard some people here mention the Park to Drive shudder, though I don't often get that (and when it does happen it's not bad).

 

I'm not going to lie, this makes me seriously reconsider keeping the car.

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R to D shudder has been remedied by myself by and an extra "1 count" before changing directions. I always came to a complete stop anyway but I am stopping and "1 count" and then switch so I have not seen it since. Should I have to be required to do it; no. But its something that I can work around without irratation.

However my flare from 2=>3 is beyond ridiculous and its annoying. If I accelerate spiritedly its not there, but for me thats like .001% of my driving (unlike my youth when it would be 98% of the time :-) ). When I am granny driving and trying to get my MPG, it takes forever from 2=>3. I would really like it to go away for sure. Its on my list to address at next appointment as well as drooping oh schnikey handle in back, fuel tank recall, and MFT reprogram for fuel quantity. I do highly expect to get the "operates normal" response though. However we will see. My local dealer has surprised me in the past...


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I just have to say something here, I know when I first saw the new fusion, I knew I was going to have one of the new ones as soon as it came out. Fortunately for me, I shop off the dealer lot and was lucky enough to get a 2.5 l, same engine as my 2010. Except for the headlight recall and the recall for the fuel pump, my 2013 has been fantastic. My gas mileage has also exceeded Fords EPA projections at 26/36 (without trying hard). I'm glad that I did not opt for the FFH or the turbo charged models, not in the first year anyways.

 

I wish you guys much luck and I hope you some day love your fusions as much as I love mine.

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When I first bought my car I had this same issue, but from 3rd to 4th. It has not been a problem since I broke the 1000 mile mark (rough estimate). Though, I know your car isn't new, so it isn't really a good comparison. Have you had your battery disconnected recently for a long period of time, and it's trying to re-learn it's shift points?

 

Here is the audio I took of what my car did at the time:

 

Kind of hard to hear, but it would surge a bit then shift hard into 4th.

Edited by jinx8402
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I have the same problem. When cold the 2-3 shift feels delayed and then shifts hard. . I have brought it to ford and they reset the shift adapt.. It worked for less than a day.I was a Ford transmission tech about 8 years ago and i was always having to replace/repair valve bodies. To me i think that the valve body needs to be replaced. I have not noticed the transmission getting any worse so i have not been in a huge hurry to bring it back. So from i experience i found that ford transmission valve bodies are aluminum and the slides inside are steel. What happens is that the 2 metals expand and contract at different rates. If there is a 2-3 shift slide that is a little tight the ecu commands the shift solenoid to shift. That solenoid either opens or closes to allow epc pressure to flow to one side of the valve. That valve moment allows fluid to flow to the correct clutch. If that slide in the valve body hangs up at all then you feel that delay and then the hard shift. The pressure from the epc solenoid will increase until it can see that it shifted. When the transmission warms up the clearance between the aluminum valve body housing and steel slide increases and the sticking valve is no more. That is a very crude description of how a electronically controlled transmission works. Until ford comes out with an updated valve body they may replace your with another bad one. There are some tricks to modifying the valve body but without a lot of confidence in what your doing then you will damage it. For jinx840 i would never let the transmission flair like that. It doesn't take much to burn up a clutch pack and then your talking about a rebuild or total replacement. Let me know if this helps at all. Or let me know if you get it fixed.

 

Scott

2013 Black TI

9700 miles

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Jinx, no, the battery hasn't been disconnected ever as far as I'm aware. This didn't happen when the car was new, it started probably 2 months ago, so maybe ~9k miles? I have 11,000 on the car now. Mine is getting a little worse and starting to happen more often. I've never had a new car before so this is a bit disappointing to me. Also, completely unrelated, but I'm already noticing some small squeaks around the car and I'm getting the impression that the long term durability of this car may not end up being that great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've had the dealer look at it twice so far (5k for first oil change, 12.5k for second change and recall). Both times they said they couldn't dupicate it but "reset it" anyway. Both times, pulling out of the parking lot of the dealership, it hesitates then thunks into gear like always. No sounds or anything, just a nice big ol' lurch. Hasn't seemed to be getting any worse, so I'll just have them look at it AGAIN during the next oil change.

 

Maybe I'll make the the service adviser go for a drive with me so I can make sure he knows WTF I'm trying to describe. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with the problem

Edited by boogs
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  • 2 weeks later...

The issue is *almost* reproducible if I'm taking a hard left while it tries to shift from 2nd to 3rd. I have a traffic light that's near my house that if I'm first in line and take it at a decent speed (hard left) it will almost always hesitate and thunk into 3rd. It also looks like I'm losing coolant.... Went on a trip to SC and noticed before I left that the coolant was about an inch below "min". I filled it back up and I'm going to see if it drops again. If it does I've got to take it back to the dealer and see if they can check the trans issue again.

 

Might be looking for a new car soon.

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Mine has been doing this since day one. Figured it was the learning curve of the computer but it's just lingering now that I'm at 4,600k miles.

 

From a cold start (in hot or cold weather) the 1-2 shift is held long enough to feel like I'm driving w/someone who can't time shifts in a manual. But the 2-3 shift is another beast in that I actually jerk forward in the seat the car bogs so badly. I've taken it to the dealer along w/a list of other concerns and they came back with no code=no problem. I'm going to try a different dealer when I take it for the first oil change at 5k.

 

If it's just the car shifting aggressively because it thinks I typically goose it from a stop and it anticipates and gets it wrong this then OK. But in stop & go traffic it's annoying or if I'm just leisurely driving it's embarrassing.

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Had mine in for something else and mentioned that it feels like it shifts hard on the second gear (might have been third). They said there was a TSB software update or something for the transmission so they loaded that and they said its much smoother now. They said they also reset it so it will learn how I drive over the next 50-75 miles.

 

I haven't driven it yet but I will report back to let you know if its smoother!

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Well after driving it for a day or so, it definitely feels smoother than before. Sometimes it still shifts how it previously did though, but I'm hoping that's just a minor hiccup as it is relearning. I don't think its still as smooth as the Ford Escape Ecoboost rental I drove tho (not sure if that was a 2.0L or not and it has been a month or two since I drove that so I could be exaggerating the smoothness of the Escape.)

 

Overall, I'd recommend the fix if you haven't tried it. I didn't notice a TSB number on my receipt but they said I pretty much described the problem word for word with the TSB, so your dealer should be able to help.

 

One thing that also is better is the lurch I'd get frequently when putting the car into Reverse from Park in the mornings. So far that is gone!

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Well after driving it for a day or so, it definitely feels smoother than before. Sometimes it still shifts how it previously did though, but I'm hoping that's just a minor hiccup as it is relearning. I don't think its still as smooth as the Ford Escape Ecoboost rental I drove tho (not sure if that was a 2.0L or not and it has been a month or two since I drove that so I could be exaggerating the smoothness of the Escape.)

 

Overall, I'd recommend the fix if you haven't tried it. I didn't notice a TSB number on my receipt but they said I pretty much described the problem word for word with the TSB, so your dealer should be able to help.

 

One thing that also is better is the lurch I'd get frequently when putting the car into Reverse from Park in the mornings. So far that is gone!

 

Would you mind explaining how you stated your issue to the dealer? I figure if wording comes close it should get the same reaction by my dealer in theory.

 

Thanks!

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Would you mind explaining how you stated your issue to the dealer? I figure if wording comes close it should get the same reaction by my dealer in theory.

 

Thanks!

 

I think I said that when the car shifts from 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 4th (told them I wasn't sure) it is not a smooth transition and feels almost as if someone has bumped into the back of me.

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