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DCT / PowerShift Transmission Update TSB Thread

1M views 4K replies 556 participants last post by  rczrider 
#1 ·
Well, I just scheduled an appointment on Monday to get my update for my 6-speed dual clutch. Seems like some dealers are willing to hand over the update (another poster on this board did), some dealers will still give the ole "its not a torque converter" mantra, and some dealers (the one I just called) don't know that there's a TSB out there, and when researched will come up with it. And the dealer I called fell into the latter (after I went to another dealer who gave me the mantra).

I'm happy with my DCT but I'm willing to see what this new update does for the transmission (in terms of smoothness and less hesitation). Hopefully, I'll have some noticeable difference. Did anyone else get an update? If so, how'd it work out for you. I'll let you know my thoughts after a good drive on Monday.
 
#81 ·
I can vouch for what Kabigon is saying as we had the re-program done last Friday and picked it up on Monday, After picking it up the trans was better but had a rough feel to it which I was told it would be somewhat harsh so I was ok with that. My wife just let me drive the car again today and I tried various ways and means to get it to screw up and I could not get it to act ill mannered. The only thing I noticed and I fully understand why it does this is when you take your foot off the brake and let it creep up a slight incline. There it would chatter a bit and as I said I fully expected that and have no issues with it. They key here is don't let it creep on it's own, Foot off the brake and foot on the throttle.

Now as long as the transmission continues to act in this manner all will be good.

When in D I would get right about a 2500 RPM shift with moderate throttle in the first 3 gears, In S mode without using shifter buttons and about the same throttle input and road grade I would get to about 4000 RPM in the first 3 gears. Obviously this was not a controlled test or any scientific data to back it up but just thought I would throw it out there.

Montana
 
#82 ·
I did not even know about this update. Took my car in for another reason and on the way home noticed the shifting felt different. I read the paperwork and sure enough they made these updates. I had to search the Internet to even know what the heck these were. I really never had an issue with the transmission before, so will be curious how I like it now. It said it takes a couple days to re-program itself so not expecting it to continue as did on the way home, which was to hit much higher RPM's before shifting.
 
#84 ·
It said it takes a couple days to re-program itself so not expecting it to continue as did on the way home, which was to hit much higher RPM's before shifting.
Actually, the only "continued learning" that will happen (assuming that the dealer did everything right) is with the acuation of the clutches.

It will shift at higher RPM's with the new programming, except with light throttle applications.
 
#83 ·
DCT trans reflash TSB

Had my focus PCM and TCM reflashed under the TSB 11-10-2 this past tuesday (11/1/11). after some initial problem w/ a clueless service advisor, the second (very good) advisor went thru the trouble of looking up the TSB, talked w/ me about the symptoms, and scheduled an appointment. Dealer even provided a free loaner car for me.
the reflash was totally worth it - driveability is much better. before the reflash, the trans hesitated to downshift when i applied partial throttle, especially noticeable when coming out of a turn. there was a very small throttle window in which the car would accelerate away at a good speed - not grandma slow and not teenager fast. accelerating from stop was the same and at highway speeds, you literally had to floor the pedal to get a down shift/jerk/acceleration.
After the reflash, shiftpoints were generally higher - around 2750 -3500 rpm. much less hesitation accelerating from stop, coming out of corners, and highway speeds. reflash also cured the rpm surge when coming to a stop. still wish they offered the 5sp manual, but this rework makes the car much more enjoyable. i do not know what the affects on gas milage will be, but TSB was not supposed to lower milage. i would gladly trade a little mgp for driveability. btw, getting 33.0 mpg to date w/ the handling package (tracked mileage on xlsx).
 
#85 ·
Had my focus PCM and TCM reflashed under the TSB 11-10-2 this past tuesday (11/1/11). after some initial problem w/ a clueless service advisor, the second (very good) advisor went thru the trouble of looking up the TSB, talked w/ me about the symptoms, and scheduled an appointment. Dealer even provided a free loaner car for me.
the reflash was totally worth it - driveability is much better. before the reflash, the trans hesitated to downshift when i applied partial throttle, especially noticeable when coming out of a turn. there was a very small throttle window in which the car would accelerate away at a good speed - not grandma slow and not teenager fast. accelerating from stop was the same and at highway speeds, you literally had to floor the pedal to get a down shift/jerk/acceleration.
After the reflash, shiftpoints were generally higher - around 2750 -3500 rpm. much less hesitation accelerating from stop, coming out of corners, and highway speeds. reflash also cured the rpm surge when coming to a stop. still wish they offered the 5sp manual, but this rework makes the car much more enjoyable. i do not know what the affects on gas milage will be, but TSB was not supposed to lower milage. i would gladly trade a little mgp for driveability. btw, getting 33.0 mpg to date w/ the handling package (tracked mileage on xlsx).
With the new programming, it is smoother and smarter.
It took a while but IMO they nailed it.
 
#87 ·
Hmmm....so some of us weren't crazy when we were "whining" and "complaning" about the shift quality, shuttering, and grinding of the PowerShift transmission. We were told by Ford it was "normal" and by many FF members that were valiantly defending Ford that we just didn't understand how a dual clutch transmission works.

And I see that some of the Ford defenders were the very first to schedule an appointment to have their transmission software reflashed. Hmmmm.

I would like to note that without the "complainers" that kept on Ford day after day and had to wait 6+ months while being told it's "normal", they would of had less of a reason to rewrite the code and we would still be stuck with the crappy software.
 
#88 ·
After several days of driving with the update, I can say I do feel a difference. While I still have some shudder at a stop, I can't say I've felt any at low speeds like I've tried to reproduce, and as stated before, the transmission is more willing to downshift when I give it some gas. Throttle response, thus, is much better than before, when I would also get the dead spots through corners and at stoplights.

Overall, much more capable feeling car now.



Noted and understood, but a lot of us also didn't complain about our transmissions before and got along just fine, and opted to get the update to see what was actually changed. In my case, I only ever really had shudder at stops and occasionally at low speeds, it wasn't anything I couldn't live with, but I will admit that the update has made the car more responsive to throttle input, without a doubt.

I see your point, without complainers Ford wouldn't fix the issue, but at the same time, threads upon threads upon threads of the same complaint on a forum isn't doing much to help that cause, just cluttering the boards, that's why I'm always urging new posters posting already established problems to post up in relevant threads.
 
#92 ·
I called my dealer to schedule the update (build date Aug 4th, I just barely missed it) and they told me they'd have to keep the car for a few hours / road test, etc. I griped a little about that, told them the symptoms matched perfectly whta the TSB was intended to address but they wouldn't budge.

So now I'm going to wait until 5k miles when it's time for the first free oil change and let them do both together. Will have to live with the slushbox performance until then. This won't hurt anything will it?

Disappointed in the response by my dealer (Liberty Ford, Baltimore MD)
 
#93 ·
I was so mad yesterday, my car seemed to revert back to it's old jerky sluggish ways... but I'm hoping that was just the last day of the re-learning process, because today it was silky smooth, better than it's ever been, and it felt great!



I wouldn't wait if I can help it... just gives them another reason to say no, in case they try to give you the business about "waiting too long with a problem making it worse" or something stupid like that.
 
#94 ·
Got the update done Thursday while the car was in for a couple other things. The other things were keyless entry install, "buzz" in the dash on slightly rough roads and the intermittent nature of the A/C.

First the tranny update. Before it was done I never felt the "shudder" at any speed but did notice some gear hunting and sluggish take off but nothing too irritating. I did have the 70 degree startup in the temp so the update was gonna happen. The wife picked it up on Friday afternoon and I didn't get a chance to drive it until today. I liked it before but now I'm questioning the wisdom of ordering mine with a manual. SWEET!

Drive like a grandma (not from Pasedena) and you can't even tell it's shifting other than watch the tack oscillate 500rpm. A little more gas and it shifts closer to 3K. Seems a little high but I could get used to it very fast and it may change as the tranny relearns. I semi punched it getting out of traffic on a left turn and it was impressive. Still no "shudder" at any speed and I tried 3mph and even took my foot off the brake and let it creep a few times.

They said they fixed the "buzz" but only managed to cause 3 others. Either they cropped up after the wife picked it up (I kept asking if it was gone but got a "I haven't noticed" answer) or the guy that test drove it was deaf (or they didn't test drive it). Going back for that.

When the wife demonstrated the A/C for the service manager he admitted it was not right but by the time she got it back deemed it normal operation. Which it may be but still if it is "normal" to the designer is broken to anyone that wants A/C. Still not finished with that. A/C is kind of important in Tucson. When it doesn't work as well as a 10 year old Nissan Frontier or a 10 year old Corolla there's a problem.

Got the keyless entry installed though.
 
#95 ·
So I got my car back last night after the flash and I definitely see some differences. Some seemingly pretty good and some I'll have to learn to love I suppose. The higher shift points kinda make me wonder about gas mileage in the long run (but Ford claims it won't hurt mpg's so we'll see). The new shift points do seem more intuitive and smooth almost like a true automatic though (but it still proves it's not when you stop on an incline and it offers up that little roll-back like a manual). Since it's relearning my habits I have noticed a few stumbles/rough shifts when I've had to stray from the norm (but I predict these will go away). One concern I have, but don't want to assume is permanent yet because I'm only on day two of the re-learning process is that even though lower speed driving seems vastly improved, it seems to be less willing to respond at higher speeds. I found today when I was cruising along at 55-60 and needed to speed up to around 70 it took more pressure to do so than before the flash and it proceeded to downshift rather than smoothly climb to speed (this is less time consuming and more fun for play-time of course, but less friendly on gas). I bet the kinks will work therir way out and it'll be all good, otherwise Ford wouldn't have recommended it. I haven't played with sport or select-shift mode since the flash as I want to give it a few days to learn my habits again in drive before I play with it too much. Plus I'm at a quarter tank and trying to make it last until payday. Will post any other findings as the come.
 
#97 ·
Ran a vehicle health report today and it came back with this on the owner website:
ID: 11E04
Title: REPROGRAM THE POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE (PCM)

I'm thinking that Ford might be taking the TSB a step further and applying it to all transmissions.
 
#98 ·
Hmm. I'll have to check my owner site after running a health report myself. Good find!
 
#101 ·
I finally got home (11/4) and have sporting around in my Focus for 3 days. I'm happy to report my 6 spd DCT (car built in Sept) seems to be working fine. No probs for me (so far)!
 
#102 ·
I will run my health check tomorrow. I took my car in to a second dealer and I have the Powershift TSB in my hand and they heard a little noise, but was told to wait until the first oil change to see if it improves. Also, I was dissappointed to read that the emissions calberation info posted on here also does not update the TCM. I wish it does because that will kill two birds with one stone!
 
#103 ·
After putting a few miles on the car Sunday (it's the wife's car so I don't drive it much) and being very impressed with the new shift pattern and off the line performance I took it out for a spin testing the SCV (Speed Compensated Volume) which was disabled by default. What's up with that?

Pulling into my driveway (which I hate since it is about a 20% grade and 3 feet longer than my car. This makes it fun to get my a$$ of the sidewalk without going through the garage door) I got a lurch and a loud clunk.

Couldn't duplicate it but it did not ever happen to me before the update and the wife never experienced it either. Probably just the perfect storm (my driveway) for this type of tranny. We'll see.
 
#105 ·
Might be suspension related rather than transmission related, just unlucky and a coincidence that it happened AFTER the TSB update.
 
#106 ·
Just dropped off Lady K for the TSB.... All fingers crossed... I'm using Planet Ford here in North Houston which is a large dealership. Although I live next to Tomball Ford, I wanted the advantage of hopefully having a technician that is familiar with this TSB... Pipe dream? I'll update later after she returns.
 
#115 ·
My Focus (Red Candy SEL Sedan) ordered in May 2011, was finally built in August 3rd (delivered August 10th to Sarnia Ontario). With 2400 miles on it, the shudder is gone, however there was one instance when going around a corner when the light turned green (left turn), that the engine just revved as in neutral. I think I was in S mode and went into D and all was ok. Otherwise the tranny has been smooth. I don't want to make it worse, but if this last TSB is the end all to be all, I don't want to live with a car that is not all it can be!. Should I or shouldn't I reflash, that is the question!
 
#116 ·
I thought the tranny was OK before I got the update but it is much better now. I was kind of like you in that I only experienced an odd tranny slip on a couple of left turns at lights and some gear hunting at times. Not since the update.

I have experienced one "lurch/clunk" in my driveway and my wife told me today she got it once (in my driveway) since the update. Stay tuned.
 
#117 ·
I called my dealer (North Country Ford) here in MN, and got the run around from the service adviser tonight. Kept telling me that she didn't see anything about the TSB. Pretty frustrated after dealing with her, so I'll let it wait a week and try again I guess. I should have known to ask for someone else when she asked me twice if it was the 2.5 liter....
 
#119 ·
Dropped the car off today with Ford Service. They seemed very hesitant to give me the update and are having their Transmission guy test the car and let me know. Since it's not a recall, he said I'm not guaranteed the update.

Apparently, I'm the first at their dealership to address the issue, and the guy tried to tell me that nobody else is having this problem. Apparently, he doesn't read Car & Driver, MotorTrend, Consumer Reports or The New York Times. I told him that I follow online discussion forums for the car to keep an eye on parts and issues and that everyone mentions how much better the car is with the update; however, he shrugged it off as a select group that's overly critical and doesn't represent the general population.

After leaving, I called the Sales manager who I purchased the car from and went through my facts and findings with him. He has been a family friend for 20 years and is the reason I purchased the car from him. I'm hoping he can encourage their Service Department to perform the update - as I'm doubtful about them coming to my same conclusion (I've put 4,000 miles on the car since June 30th. They might just take it around the block).

Here's hoping I don't have to fight for it!
 
#120 ·


So the dealership called me yesterday and at first said my car already had the latest software... After expressing my disbelief he called later and said it had been updated... Not sure what I believe, but with my paperwork they included the attached piece of paper showing the current version installed... Anyone have an opinion on it? So far Lady K does seem to have more pep off the line.. I should have a better opinion after my 500 mile road trip this weekend.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.760147,-95.362440
 
#121 ·
I just scheduled an appointment for next Tuesday for an oil change(i only have 2,000 some odd miles but I've had the car since June so figured it was time lol) and this TSB.

How long does the TSB typically take to perform? I am debating taking the day off from work and waiting until they fix it that day. When I called the service person said they couldn't see a TSB out but asked if I was experiencing any problems. Honestly, I have not at all but I told her I was experiencing sharp shudders at low speeds and when coming to a red light.

My service department is typically very good so I hope they aren't going to give me the run around.
 
#122 ·
I'm updated! Haven't tested it out, but the drive back from the dealership did seem to feel like the car had a higher shift point.

Fortunately, I didn't have to fight for it. The guys were really great!

I'm including the following, in case it's helpful to anyone:
Primary cause for them looking into the problem: "A C/S Vehicle not downshifting when it needs to (Will Shudder when coming to a stop)." <--I knew this was on the TSB and used it as my reason with the dealership. It actually happened a few times for my vehicle, so I figured I'd use a symptom that I know they were addressing.

Result: "M Technician Reprogramed PCM and TCM as per TSB 11-10-2 (Also see SSM 21918)"

SSM 21918 is a special service message about how our transmission does tend to "shudder" and how it will not cause reliability/durability issues. As long as there is no leaking tranny fluid, there is no need to investigate that issue further.

I was worried going into the dealership, but I'm very happy with the outcome.
 
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