I was driving to work today and all of a sudden the truck won't shift out of 2nd gear into 3rd gear. What are all the possible different scenarios/solutions that this could be? Or is there only one and that's blown transmission, needs to be rebuilt?

 

Are you running a tune?

If so return it to stock, then see if it is still an issue.

 

Can you hold it in manual 2, cruise along for a bit then shift it into "D" and go into third gear or overdrive?

 

uh oh. thats what happened to me this summer driving up I-5.

it wouldnt shift into 3rd, and wouldnt go over 50 mph without the clutch kickin in. so i drove up I-5 for 2 hours going 40 mph (yes, 40, big rigs were blowin by me) and made it to Corning Ford, they took a look, sure enough 3rd gear and overdrive bands were both fried. Luckily they were able to ship a rebuilt tranny in from another CA dealership so i had it back in 2 days.

it was not a fun one to pay for, especially since im a poor college student.

 

happened to me also.

For me it was the transmission synchros being out of tolerance. I have the paperwork describing exactly what was replaced. It wasn't too expensive, all the parts plus labor was around $550. I'll find my reciepts and post back if it says something different from what I have posted.

 

Well I just had my independent mechanic look at it today; a family friend that I trust. We were going to try changing the fluid, filter, etc... When he took the pan off, he said there were metal shavings in there, and that ain't good. He said I will need a new transmission in the future. I can get a rebuilt one w/ a 1-year warranty for $2,300 or a brand new one with a 75k mile warranty for $2,800-$3,000. It's drivable for right now, but it isn't going to last.

Quintin, yes, I could do that.

I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of this heap. All the little problems, and now this are just making me tired of owning this.

 

If its not too noticable right now I would be at the dealership in the morning when they open ready to trade!

 

It's on my mind, believe me. I won't be trading in for another Ford though. I'm out. One Explorer full of problems and one F-150 full of problems was enough for me.

I just sent a scathing e-mail to the Service Manager of the dealership I was going to. I had pointed out some early warning signs that possibly could have prevented this disaster (while under warranty). Though, they don't have anyone there with a clue. Fortunately I have all the documentation and can you believe they actually typed on their workorder "bring it back if it worsens" as a solution?

I'm not expecting a thing from them, but if they do offer something I'd be pleasantly surprised.

 

how many miles are on your truck? the dealer may suprise ya, or not.

 

67,700 miles

Believe it or not, things are working out better than first expected right now. I don't want to go into any deatails yet, because I don't want to jinx it.

One bit of advice to everyone though, is keep all paperwork you get back from any work you have done on your vehicle. Documentation to backup my gripe was very key in this situation.

 

They can't fix what isn't broken. If the problem is very intermittent or not that bad at the time, there's really not a thing the dealer can do about it. So yeah, "bring it back if it worsens" isn't unusual or unheard of.

 

The only complaint I would have against that is if it starts doing it at 20,000 miles and you take it in and they tell you that...then you take it back at 30,000 and they still tell you the same thing...then at 40,000 you need major works and the warranty expired.

 

Well since my mechanic changed the fluid and it was full of metal shavings, I'd say it was broken. I complained of the hard shift at about 50mph between 2nd and 3rd gears. Funnily enough, those are the same gears that wouldn't shift when I was driving recently. I brought it to their attention twice before the warranty expired. The second time when they couldn't fix it, they told me it was a "characteristic of the truck." I don't know about the rest of the guys on this forum, but I don't think a characteristic of everyone's truck is a metal on metal, gradually deterioriating transmission. It never really got "worse" until it didn't shift. And if they're telling me it's a "characteristic of the truck," what good would it to for me to bring it back again and complain of the same issue? So they could charge me another diagnostics fee and tell me again it's a characteristic?

 

Thus is life sometimes. Realistically, since in your scenario the problem has been documented twice (once at 20K, once at 30K), the dealer should/could repair it under warranty in the name of customer satisfaction, but they aren't by no means obligated to...

The dealer's responsibility is not to pre-emptively search for problems under warranty. Anyone who provides a warranty with a product, whether it's a truck or an aftermarket stereo or a home PC, that's not their job. Their job is to repair the vehicle (or product) to factory operating parameters after a problem has occurred. It sucks, I know.

Yeah, sounds like they kinda copped out of a fix, but as a consumer and a dealer guy I can see the story from both sides of the fence.

Ford is paying them little to nothing to drive/diagnose/test your truck and locate a problem under warranty. I ain't saying that your hard 2-3 shift wasn't a problem, but if the dude working on your truck drove it and didn't really feel anything extraordinarily wrong, I can see where he would have said "Well, there's really nothing I can do with it now, it may just have to get worse before we can definitely pinpoint what's wrong." I've had to do the same before, because honestly I literally can't afford to spend a bunch of time chasing down a problem that may not be very severe at the time I'm looking at it.

Case in point - a few months ago, I was working on '05 Navigator with a 5.4 3V with a misfire. Customer said it was blowing out black smoke from the exhaust, lacked power, I knew I had an injector or two stuck, black soot all over the rear bumper of this white Navigator was telling me at one time it was running rich, but it passed every test I could throw at it at the time and ran like a top, even with about 40 miles worth of roadtesting. Ford won't let me replace fuel injectors at random, so I had to tell the customer that they'd just have to bring it back when it starts acting up again. For all I know, it could throw a rod through the oil pan when an injector hangs open again, and I wasn't really able to do anything about it at the time. With my diagnosis time, including all that roadtesting, I had about 3 hours clocked on this truck, but I only got paid 1.1 for it. I haven't seen that truck again since, FWIW. I spent a lot of time trying to find a problem, and I couldn't, and I didn't get paid for it. That's just the way the ball bounces at most dealerships, and as much as it sucks, a lot of guys are finding different ways to minimize this.

Who knows, when you first complained of the hard shift, that metal in the transmission pan may not have been there. So if I were to say, remove the trans pan on a hunch and look and I didn't see any abnormal wear or metal bits stuck to the magnet, that means that at the time, the work I just did in draining/removing the trans pan, cleaning the pan, reinstalling it, and refilling the trans was all done in vain - I probably didn't get paid the time I had in it, and we didn't get any closer to fixing your problem, so we're both spinning our wheels, ya know?

I ain't saying it's right, just saying how it is. Hopefully since your transmission problem was documented, they'll help you out in getting it fixed without you coming out of pocket too much if at all.

 

At this point, that is what I'm hoping. That wasn't really my intent when I even wrote the e-mail. I'm so tired of getting rooked around by companies in general that I refuse to be one of those people who just sit there and take it and end up spending a lot of money or being unsatisifed.

The second time I took it in to be looked at, I received back a hand-written photocopy of a workorder, rather than a completed invoice. The last time this happened was at a different Ford dealer when I had my Explorer and it had defective Firestone tires on it (before the recall). They refused to give me real invoices because Lemon Law would have come into effect; though they didn't say that.

When that happened to me again this time, during a problem the dealer couldn't fix, it became too coincidental and I had to speak up now that the warranty was up and I need a new transmission.

I e-mailed the Service Department Manager and then the actual President/CEO/co-owner of the dealership. Both have been extremely helpful since receiving my e-mail and I hope are working to ensure I get 100% satisfaction, as somewhere along the line it looks like their staff dropped the ball on this one.

Today when I went in, the Service Advisor asked me where I got the President's e-mail address and why I took it to the top without calling here first. I basically said, that I wanted to make sure this was handled properly, becuase I feel this is something that should have been fixed at least once during the multiple times I brought it in stating there was a problem. And now because it wasn't I may have to shell out $3,000 for it to get fixed.

Had I simply called the Service Department we all know I'd be paying through the roof for something I shouldn't be.