Taking my '21 FX4 to dealer for possible transmission issue

[Stevedbvik1]

The way I see it, I just saved myself several thousands of dollars. And maybe much much more, as I was to the point of unloading the truck. This was the last attempt at correcting the problem.

My wife is still gun shy of it. She does not yet trust it for anything but local trips.

I have been driving it constantly since "the cure" to demonstrate that it is not going to repeat its bad behavior. All of our shopping and grocery runs with her riding shotgun have been in the Ranger since. She is slowly coming around.

We have a major road trip planned, and she is questioning whether we can trust it on a 1500 mile round trip. I am running the mileage up to prove to her (and maybe myself) it is now reliable again. But I completely understand her concerns. They are justified. The last thing she wants to have happen is being stuck in a small town hundreds of miles from home with a truck that needs a new transmission.

You must understand that we had essentially stopped driving it for over a year... taking it out only enough to keep the battery charged.

Are/were you out of the 5yr/60K warranty period?

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[Chris M]

The way I see it, I just saved myself several thousands of dollars. And maybe much much more, as I was to the point of unloading the truck. This was the last attempt at correcting the problem.

My wife is still gun shy of it. She does not yet trust it for anything but local trips.

I have been driving it constantly since "the cure" to demonstrate that it is not going to repeat its bad behavior. All of our shopping and grocery runs with her riding shotgun have been in the Ranger since. She is slowly coming around.

We have a major road trip planned, and she is questioning whether we can trust it on a 1500 mile round trip. I am running the mileage up to prove to her (and maybe myself) it is now reliable again. But I completely understand her concerns. They are justified. The last thing she wants to have happen is being stuck in a small town hundreds of miles from home with a truck that needs a new transmission.

You must understand that we had essentially stopped driving it for over a year... taking it out only enough to keep the battery charged.

Not that I'm advocating for you to sell, but in my experience the peace of mind of my bride is of the highest importance. I suppose for you there is that to consider as well.
Good luck with your final decision!

 

[TJC]

Only 21K and 4 years old. So I am in the drive train period, I also took out the ESP for 125K that expires in 2030. I have never purchased an extended warranty before. I'm a little angry that I felt it necessary.

I've taken my truck in to Ford when I began having issues. This was well before he ground swell of transmission problems began to surface. I got the "its normal" speech. Only it wasn't... I did not go back even when it worsened. The transmission wasn't bad enough to throw a CEL, but it was very erratic, and I felt unsafe. I could literally hear the shift solenoids slowly transition from inside the cabin while driving at slow speeds.

I am keenly aware of the symptoms and I am constantly evaluating the transmission's performance. At the first sign of problems, the fluid will be changed again and another 18 oz of LubeGard Platinum is going back in. I may end up changing it at 10K intervals.

If the transmission requires frequent fluid changes I am OK with that, as long as it lasts 150K - 200K miles. I have the MBS "FitzStick" Dipstick installed and a PPE deep pan ready to go on when the filter is to be replaced at 50K miles.

The fluid exchange process is now very simple and quick. I pull out the fluid with an inexpensive pump through the dipstick directly into two 1 gallon jugs marked at each quart. I replace with exactly the same amount that I pulled out. No crawling under the truck, just lift the hood and do the job. Takes me 30 minutes to do the complete job, faster and less dirty than changing the engine oil.

And results have been amazing. Ford lies when they state that the transmission fluid will last the life of the transmission. In my experience It simply is not the truth.

 

[TJC]

Not that I'm advocating for you to sell, but in my experience the peace of mind of my bride is of the highest importance. I suppose for you there is that to consider as well.
Good luck with your final decision!

I hated to sell as I had corrected the shakes from the driveshaft (Tom Woods Drivesahft to the rescue). I corrected the fan hose bridge issue, and changed out the poor shocks. The truck was amost where I wanted it to be.

In the middle of all of this I decided to hedge my bets and rebuilt my 2005 Ranger from top to bottom to insure I had a reliable truck. It literally is new. Drive train, suspension, AC, brakes, fuel system.

I am actually very hopeful now that I think I have found a solution to the problem.

I am keenly aware of her feelings, and you are correct, they do come first. We discussed our options, and she gave me one last chance to correct it, and I finally took ctechbob's advice about LubeGard.

It took me a year to mull it over, as I never put additives in my engines or transmissions.

But I was down to my last straw and the truck was going to be sold this summer if it could not be corrected.

I am still impressed at how quickly it worked. The change was immediate!

And it has only gotten better over time. 4th gear was sightly harder than all the others (only slightly) and I probably wouldn't have noticed if I had not had so many shift issues prior. I added another 8 oz of LubeGard after speaking to the LubeGard tech support to insure I wasn't going too far. They informed me I was good to 24 oz.

The last 8 oz went in and 4th is now shifting as smooth as all the other gears. This stuff works!!

I've been driving it as often as possible to see if the issue resurfaces, and it has only improved. Not a single missed or rough shift up or down. No more hanging on when coming to a stop and jerks when taking off from a stop.

All the issues are gone. I am still amazed.

 

[RescueMe1060]

Truck got dropped off to dealer last night. It lost acceleration 3 times throughout the day and slammed in and out of gear rolling up to stop signs and through the metering lights merging on to the freeway. I hope they can replicate what is happening and fully address this because the truck is not safe

 

[shovelhd]

I hope it threw codes.

 

[RescueMe1060]

I hope it threw codes.

I didn’t have a single light or warning symbol pop on the dash when it happened. I’ve also never had a single check engine light pop in all my years of driving it.

has anyone gone the lemon law route with these trucks yet and how did that work out for you.

 

[Msfitoy]

I didn’t have a single light or warning symbol pop on the dash when it happened. I’ve also never had a single check engine light pop in all my years of driving it.

has anyone gone the lemon law route with these trucks yet and how did that work out for you.

You're going through the early failure phase, ie slipping, slamming into gears, hunting grears etc...there were zero warning lights or messages...if you don't get it fixed now, the next phase will be extreme slamming into higher gears, dropping down into low gears while at speed and getting stuck in high gear while stopped...you will see the wrench light at this point...and tranny fluids running covering the bottom of your truck!

 

[Dereku]

You're going through the early failure phase, ie slipping, slamming into gears, hunting grears etc...there were zero warning lights or messages...if you don't get it fixed now, the next phase will be extreme slamming into higher gears, dropping down into low gears while at speed and getting stuck in high gear while stopped...you will see the wrench light at this point...and tranny fluids running covering the bottom of your truck!

Just get it good and warm within walking distance of the dealer for a few hours. Guarantee it will throw a code of fail. Also call ford corporate and complain. They covered $4k out of warranty for me. Maybe you can get something.

 

[RescueMe1060]

Have the forum members come up with any ideas of the what why and how this happens to all of our trucks that arent even 5 years old yet? Was it really just shit engineering and bad manufacturing parts due to Covid? Really makes me lose faith in Ford because my safety and those who are driving behind me on the freeway; their lives matter just as much.

 

[TJC]

Have the forum members come up with any ideas of the what why and how this happens to all of our trucks that arent even 5 years old yet? Was it really just shit engineering and bad manufacturing parts due to Covid? Really makes me lose faith in Ford because my safety and those who are driving behind me on the freeway; their lives matter just as much.

I feel your pain... been there... done that...

 

[ctechbob]

Have the forum members come up with any ideas of the what why and how this happens to all of our trucks that arent even 5 years old yet? Was it really just shit engineering and bad manufacturing parts due to Covid? Really makes me lose faith in Ford because my safety and those who are driving behind me on the freeway; their lives matter just as much.

Sure, I have lots of ideas.

Idea #1 is that the 'new style' solenoids in the 10R transmissions are super sensitive to dirty fluid and bore wear. Solution is to keep the fluid clean and changed and supplement it with Lubegard Platinum. Yes, lots and lots of people will cringe at that thought, I was never one for additives in my transmission (or anything really). What I can say is that I have been running it since around 10,000 miles on my own truck and didn't start recommending it until I'd put about 20,000 miles on the fluid/additive combo and since then we've had several people that report positive results. And I work my truck hard, pulling over an over 6000# travel trailer to the tune of 8000 miles in 2 years. Not nearly as many as @Grumpaw, but still a bunch of hard miles here in the south, in the summer mostly.

Is it a permanent fix? Ehh, probably not. Wear will probably eventually get my transmission if the CDF bushing doesn't. But I have hopefully pushed that to well over 150,000 miles which is when my warranty ends. (Or till just before 150k so I can get a new transmission).

The aftermarket has come up with updated valves as well that should cure the problem if you have a transmission builder handy that would be willing to install them.

https://www.sonnax.com/units/631-10r80

Idea #2, the CDF Bushing. This one is a little harder. From what I can tell, GM is using the same/similar bushing in their 10L transmissions and don't seem to have as much of a problem.

My only thought(s) on this are twofold.

I think GM is largely using aluminum pans on their 10L's. Is there a case stability problem with the Ford plastic pan? Will an aftermarket aluminum pan help? Maybe? It isn't unheard of for weak transmission cases to cause misalignments of the internal components.

I also think GM runs their units just a hair cooler from what I've seen. Seems like they hover around 190-200 whereas Ford seems to like them in the 200-210 area. Dissimilar expansion and contraction of the materials that hold the bushing in? Who knows.

At the end of the day, the only thing we can easily control is keeping the fluid clean and the valves moving (hopefully) freely. There is a LOT of fluid gymnastics going on inside these things and it doesn't take much to throw everything out of whack causing slamming gears or binding and when it does, all that energy doesn't do the hard parts any favors.

 

[NotBudule2]

I would add a quart of beach sand to mine if I could get to the fill hole, anything to quicken it's inevitable demise...

 

[shovelhd]

I believe that the root cause of these 10R80 issues are a) the adaptive learning programming and b) the pre-2022 CDF drum bushing issue. Both software and hardware.

 

[got3fords]

Truck got dropped off to dealer last night. It lost acceleration 3 times throughout the day and slammed in and out of gear rolling up to stop signs and through the metering lights merging on to the freeway. I hope they can replicate what is happening and fully address this because the truck is not safe

What are "metering lights"?

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