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Another Ranger starting to see Trans issues

Tann3rth3hamm3r

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Are people having luck with Ford ESP PremiumCare covering this on trucks outside of the factory warranty range?
Mine was covered and so was the rental for the 3 or so days it took to fix as they had to order additional parts beyond the CDF Drum, valve body,etc. Bought the warranty for $2400 worth every penny. I always buy new and never get the warranty and sure enough first time I did I needed it.
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ScarzRanger21

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Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky? My 2021 ranger has just under 60k miles and I haven’t noticed any shifting issues. I don’t tow very often and when I do, it’s a small aluminum boat that hardly weighs anything. Every now and then I’ll tow my utility trailer on a dump run into town but that’s it. With the grille guard, bed rack, tool boxes, winch, and everything else I keep loaded up in the truck I’ve probably added 250-300lbs to the total weight. You’d think if I was going to have transmission problems, they would’ve already made themselves known?

The only thing I’ve noticed is when I hit the brakes hard, it will lurch a bit when downshifting into first gear. It’s done that since it was brand new, so I figured it was just “one of those things” and never thought much of it. My wife has a 2019 ranger, I think hers has about 50k miles, but it hasn’t had any issues either.

Not sure if both of us just happened to get lucky or if our time is coming…
 

TJC

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I've never towed anything, and have never has more than 300lbs in the bed. I also am a conservative driver. I did a lot of travel the first 12K miles. And I have had transmission problems since about 5K.
 

VAMike

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Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky? My 2021 ranger has just under 60k miles and I haven’t noticed any shifting issues. I don’t tow very often and when I do, it’s a small aluminum boat that hardly weighs anything. Every now and then I’ll tow my utility trailer on a dump run into town but that’s it. With the grille guard, bed rack, tool boxes, winch, and everything else I keep loaded up in the truck I’ve probably added 250-300lbs to the total weight. You’d think if I was going to have transmission problems, they would’ve already made themselves known?

The only thing I’ve noticed is when I hit the brakes hard, it will lurch a bit when downshifting into first gear. It’s done that since it was brand new, so I figured it was just “one of those things” and never thought much of it. My wife has a 2019 ranger, I think hers has about 50k miles, but it hasn’t had any issues either.
The issue does *not* seem to correlate to towing or fluid changes or anything else you can do--it's a design flaw that will bite you if it wants to, regardless of what folk wisdom you employ to avoid it. We have no information about the frequency of problems, so we don't know the odds of any particular transmission dying. Mine never really felt all that bad, but it had occasional wonky shifts and every once in a while a crazy hard shift (these felt like something breaking, maybe 3 times in 6 years). Toward the end delayed shifts at startup were maybe getting a little more common, or it could have been my imagination and difficulty remembering how it drove 6 years ago. It mostly ran fine but given the history of the 10r80 I kept up on the TSBs (reflash, got a valve body rebuild, etc). The trouble is that it's not easy to tell how much "occasional weird stuff" matters. In my case when they tore it open there were enough burnt and broken bits that it wasn't worth rebuilding. It never drove like it was about to die, but inside it was probably only a matter of time before it would have stopped working altogether.

Are people having luck with Ford ESP PremiumCare covering this on trucks outside of the factory warranty range?
I got a new transmission for $100 deductible, no arguments or discussion. The problem is that it depends on the tech who looks at the truck deciding that it shifts bad enough to look at. I'd hoped that since Ford added a diagnostic procedure this would become less subjective, but people are reporting that they can't even get their dealerships to run the test so it seems to still be a crap shoot (whether original warranty or extended).
 

ScarzRanger21

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Is that something Ford will cover under warranty or will they wait until there’s actually noticeable problems before they do anything? I’m pretty sure my truck has a 60k mile warranty. I’m at 58 or 59 right now. If I’m going to do anything, it needs to be immediately.

My other issue is that I’ve put a lift and bigger tires with offset wheels. I’m sure they’ll probably say that voided the warranty…
 


Stevedbvik1

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Is that something Ford will cover under warranty or will they wait until there’s actually noticeable problems before they do anything? I’m pretty sure my truck has a 60k mile warranty. I’m at 58 or 59 right now. If I’m going to do anything, it needs to be immediately.

My other issue is that I’ve put a lift and bigger tires with offset wheels. I’m sure they’ll probably say that voided the warranty…
If you have any shifting issues at all ( even minor) take it in .
 

VAMike

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Is that something Ford will cover under warranty or will they wait until there’s actually noticeable problems before they do anything? I’m pretty sure my truck has a 60k mile warranty. I’m at 58 or 59 right now. If I’m going to do anything, it needs to be immediately.
It's 5 years or 60k miles, whichever comes first...
 

Chris M

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Update for me:
Dropped off Truck at Surprise Ford for transmission rebuild and new driveshaft assembly (supposedly/hopefully). If all goes well I get Truck back on Saturday.
Rental is an F150 FX4 STX Offroad. Sits nice. Fits on the big side of the garage. But not as "nice" of a truck as my Ranger XLT Sport.

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Chris M

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Update:

Got Truck back last night.
The service writer told me to expect some somewhat harsh shifts still while the transmission re-learns what it's supposed to be doing. He was right, but it's not at all as bad as I had expected, and feels much "tighter(?)" than it did when I took it in. I think I'm gonna like it...I WANT to like it...but am gonna try to keep an open mind.
The only thing this cost me was the gas I had to put in the loaner F150 (about $14). What a blessing!
Below are all 5 sheets of my repair paperwork so you knowledgeable guys can see what happened and maybe help me make sense of it.

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Stevedbvik1

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Update:

Got Truck back last night.
The service writer told me to expect some somewhat harsh shifts still while the transmission re-learns what it's supposed to be doing. He was right, but it's not at all as bad as I had expected, and feels much "tighter(?)" than it did when I took it in. I think I'm gonna like it...I WANT to like it...but am gonna try to keep an open mind.
The only thing this cost me was the gas I had to put in the loaner F150 (about $14). What a blessing!
Below are all 5 sheets of my repair paperwork so you knowledgeable guys can see what happened and maybe help me make sense of it.

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So three things that stand out (good things). Updated CDF drum
Updated Outer shell ( trash can)
Overhauled valve body

You should be in great shape
 

TJC

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I've been observing over time how people have reacted to this transmission debacle as it has unfolded. It really is a serious systemic issue that Ford is starting to finally address. But what has been reinforced in me is the "normalcy bias" that people exhibit. It is real.

When faced with a negative perception about possible problems with the truck, you see replies like "Only the 0.5% of the people join these forums, and most join to discuss their problems with the truck." 99.5% of the people don't have these problems."

And people simply keep driving a truck that is degenerating before their eyes. It is a slow process. The truck doesn't just stop one day without exhibiting symptoms. I think that maybe it is the "lobster in the boiling water" syndrome.

We accept the abnormal odd shift every now and then as normal. Soon the abnormal shift becomes the normal shift. "It's always done that!" or "Once it warms up it is fine."

The Ford Dealerships didn't help. Early early on I was told my transmission was normal. I knew it wasn't. I also knew Ford wasn't going to fix it without a major fight.

Time seems to help as more and more folks reach the breaking point, and reality begins to set in and take root. And Ford finally appears to be stepping up... at least a little.

I just read where a fellow is on his 4th transmission within 80K miles. I have visions of the Chevy Vega engine debacle in the 1970's. Overheating, radiator too small, poor valve stem guides, aluminum block without steel cylinder sleeves, abnormal ring and cylinder wear... it wasn't a single problem, it was systemic design issues mandated by management goals.

I looked at Chris's initial post and then his repair report. He noticed the odd shifts and thought he might as well get it checked out. There was severe damage to key areas of his transmission. 4 of the 7 mentioned defects (shortcuts) that Ford took as outlined by the NextGen Engineering folks were listed as replaced.

- Problem #1 - The Torque Converter
- Problem #2 - The Valve Body (not mentioned as replaced, but it caused the failures in 4, 6 ,& 7)
- Problem #3 - The Oil Pump
- Problem #4 - The "E" Clutch Assembly
- Problem #5 - The Oil Pan
- Problem #6 - The "B" Clutch Assembly
- Problem #7 - The C-D-F Drum Assembly


I am convinced that running these transmissions at 200F+ temps shortens the life of the unit. 160F-180F is a far safer range. And it allows for a larger margin of safety. I also believe the "holy grail of EPA mandates" is driving the thinner oil / fluid specs and causing increasing wear resulting in shorter life cycles of components.

Finally, expectations have met harsh realities... I think people are coming to a consensus that the Ford Spec 10R80 transmissions are not reliable.

They can be made extremely reliable. but not with Ford parts and components.

Even with a hew transmission, change the fluid early and often, or you are going to find yourself replacing the transmission again sooner rather than later.

I am hoping that 20K mile fluid changes will be sufficient. But I didn't get 18K before I had serious issues.

Time will tell... My wife keeps repeating two words to me.... For Sale! I am not there ... yet.
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