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Those not happy with the 12b37 update

14K views 83 replies 21 participants last post by  Bakaboy 
#1 ·
For what it's worth. After I had mine done there seemed like some minor occasions where the shifting was fine but for the most part my biggest gripe was the inconsistent behavior of where it seemed way too eager to shift to the highest gear possible all the time and wanted to lug/bog the motor.

Even while I'm accelerating from a light it would suddenly shift down to 6th way way too early and fall flat on it's face and would rarely drop a gear when trying to speed up a tad. Just more lugging.

Well I know there's been a lot of threads on the topic of the 12b37 update and I happened to catch where one person said something about having disconnected the positive battery cable for 10 mins and forced the car back into the adaptive learning mode. I didn't like the idea of having to lose all my settings and just never really put much weight into thinking that would ever work anyway.

Well about a week ago I was tinkering under the hood and decided what the hell and disconnected my battery. I purposely waited this long to make sure this wasn't a fluke but ever since doing that the DCT has been acting WAY different. It holds the gears longer when I want it to (while accelerating normally) and doesn't seem to try and immediately lug the motor. Also a little pedal action is all it seems to take now for it to drop a gear and help with slight passing, etc. Whereas before it would just Bog until a point that you've pushed the pedal down so far that it violently downshifts. Ugh.

It's still not a 100% though because every once in a while the perfect traffic situation will pop up where it may confuse the DCT with what I'm wanting to do and the 90 degree turns still doesn't seem to figure out what gear it should be in (2nd.. ITS 2nd!!! put it in 2nd Gear!!!) but overall a remarkably drastic improvement for me. It even seems to pull harder which is probably the a result of not shifting short of peak torque.

Just wanted to pass it along and see if anyone else notices an improvement. I just hope it doesn't revert back to it's old habits.

The only theory I can come up with is maybe there's some adaptive learning data from before that was still there and would take a lot of driving to work out or the dealer didn't take the time to wipe the memory, etc. who knows.

Oh and by the way. All your radio Presets, BT Phone, etc do not get erased. the MFT must have it's own battery backup.

[werd]
 
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#10 ·
Not sure if your referring to the DCT's Manual mode or that I should have bought a 5 speed.

@AZFocus - The drive cycle is some crazy convuluted procedure that I guess Ford came up with to throughly set the DCT for optimal shifting. I guess exposing it to every situation but you'd almost need a closed test track to do it. It has you doing 0 to 20, hard braking, slow take offs, hard takes offs, Putting the car in park to drive a dozen times. Its just insane if you ask me. Im sure you can find the procedure on this site somewhere. Aside from doing one Wide Open Throttle beat down after I did the 10min Battery disconnect. Ive been driving normally.

Its still doing great!. I've been watching my shift points lately and a moderate (not wide open) acceleration my shifts are occurring just over 4k RPM, where as before they were around 2500 to 3k.

Its feeling a lot like the Programming prior to 12B37 IMHO.

[thumb]
 
#13 ·
Oh, crumbs. I just don't trust myself to try this out.

I wish I could though, because I've been so-o-o-o-o frustrated with the horrendous shifting . . . and especially while doing a 90 degree turn and up an incline. It's just outrageous!

Do you think my local dealer would at least do the work under the hood for me? Then I could take it to some empty parking lot and try putting it through its paces there.
 
#14 ·
If you do anything, and I mean anything to the driveline of this car, then do the battery disconnect procedure. It will save you lots of headaches.

And come on folks, it's one bolt (negative terminal) located just to the right of the battery box on the fender well. Pull the bolt out, leave it disconnected for 20 mins then just reconnect it (10 according to everyone else, but I always double things). It will default your ECM/TCM and allow it to relearn the driving and shifting patterns that suit your style.

My June 2011 build Ti (17K miles) has the latest ECM/TCM update, with a K&N drop in filter. It runs better and more smoothly today than when I drove it home from the dealership the first time. In addition, I picked up almost 1.5 MPG in fuel economy on the last update and default procedure. I never trust a dealer mechanic to have done this, so I do it myself after any work is done on my car(s). It's a free tune-up folks.
 
#15 ·
Just to add to what Underbird said. I popped the plastic cover off the battery. Its not bolted down or anything. Just lifts right off. Theres a small 10mm nut facing UP that clamps the terminal to the battery's 12volt Positive side. I didn't even think to do that with the Neg. but As Underbird said, you can easily do it right there.

Anyhow either way you go about it. Its SOOOOOOOO Easy and for me the results have been a tremendous noticeable improvement. Night and day!.
 
#16 ·
I've done this, before I read this post, and I experienced the same behavior. HOWEVER, my car always seems to revert to the poor shifting. Once I disconnect the battery, the car is fine for about a month or so, and then it's back to like it was before the battery pull.

I wish there was a way to disable this adaptive learning, and just program in shift points. The way my transmission performs, it's like a teenager learning how to drive a stick shift, literally.
 
#17 ·
[80?] [mad] I assume thats with the 12B37 update as well? If so that's discouraging and would indicate the adaptive learning is a huge Fail!. Maybe there's a way to disable that.
 
#18 ·
...Well I know there's been a lot of threads on the topic of the 12b37 update and I happened to catch where one person said something about having disconnected the positive battery cable for 10 mins and forced the car back into the adaptive learning mode. I didn't like the idea of having to lose all my settings and just never really put much weight into thinking that would ever work anyway.

Well about a week ago I was tinkering under the hood and decided what the hell and disconnected my battery. I purposely waited this long to make sure this wasn't a fluke but ever since doing that the DCT has been acting WAY different. It holds the gears longer when I want it to (while accelerating normally) and doesn't seem to try and immediately lug the motor...

...overall a remarkably drastic improvement for me.
I may give this a shot, thanks for sharing!
humm, ...I may try this aswell too...before I drop a K&N filter in. Thanks for sharing.
I may have to try this. I did the series of hard accelerations in both "D" and "S" and it made a dramatic improvement in the parking lot speed functionality and some improvements in general shifting...
I hate this update for a slightly different reason... I CAN'T STAND THE BRAKE PEDAL FEEL WITH SLIGHT MODULATION IN TRAFFIC!
...I've been so-o-o-o-o frustrated with the horrendous shifting . . . and especially while doing a 90 degree turn and up an incline. It's just outrageous!

Do you think my local dealer would at least do the work under the hood for me? Then I could take it to some empty parking lot and try putting it through its paces there.
Interesting. Did you perform the Ford "drive cycle" after reconnecting the battery or just drive normally?
The adaptive drive cycle is a little odd:
1. Press brake
2. Shift to drive
3. Wait 15 seconds
4. Shift to reverse
5. Wait 2 seconds
6. Repeat 1-5 10 times
7. Accelerate under litle throttle to 15 mph
8. Brake gently (6 seconds) to a stop
9. Repeat 7-8 5 times
10. Accelerate under light throtle through 4 th gear keeping revs between 1700-2000 RPMs
11. Accelerate to between 50 and 65 mph keepling revs under 3000. Hold speed on level ground for 2 minutes
12. Repeat 11 2 times

...Given the physical location of most dealers I doubt that road conditions allow the drive cycle to be completed properly. I wonder how many dealers even try.
Hey everyone -

If you've had the 12B37 program completed on your transmission and are still experiencing issues, please PM me your VIN, mileage, phone number, and dealer name; I'll escalate this with the Customer Service Manager of your regions. If you've worked with a CSM before, I'll document it for our engineering rep.

Where did you obtain this drive cycle, dan50?

Have a great Labor Day weekend, [clap]

Thomas
 
#20 ·
K&N makes a replacement air filter for the engine that just "drops" into the standard air filter housing and replaces the paper element filter with one made of cloth. It allows for better air flow without the expense of changing the entire air intake system and is reuseable, cleanable, and can be re-oiled to last the life time of the vehicle rather than replacing the paper one every 12-20k miles.

http://www.amazon.com/E-2993-Round-Performance-Replacement-Filter/dp/B001C4SLOU/ref=au_pf_ss_1?ie=UTF8&Make=Ford%7C54&Model=Focus%7C679&Year=2012%7C2012&carId=001&n=15684181&s=automotive

 
#23 ·
Well $50 once give or take, + supplies to recharge/ clean at 30-50k miles should probably end up costing less than replacing the O.E. filters every 12-20k miles over the lifetime of the vehicle, it seems to at least slightly perceptiblly have a positive benefit to throttle response vs the O.E. paper element filter, etc. I think it was worth it, but only you can decide. \

However if you do go this route I'd recommend not waiting until your current filter needs replacement as you will want to keep the original or a clean replacement o.e. filter if you need to drive the car while the K&N filter is drying after being cleaned and oiled.
 
#24 ·
while the K&N filter is drying after being cleaned and oiled
Did you see my confession (above)? One Amazon review said that replacing the filter is not exactly straightforward. Will I be able to take care of this myself?

[wish I hadn't lost my family mechanic 3 weeks after he told me he'd be available for 3 years!]
 
#26 ·
I don't know, if you're not mechanically inclined it might be difficult, but its just four semi long 8 mm bolts iirc and the lid comes straight off. You might need to remove the front half of the battery cover which slides right off to get to the rear two bolts.

Lid comes off, slide filter off of the air ducting, slide the new one in which is not uni-directional like the o.e. filter, and button everything back up.
 
#29 ·
I just tried this and after a short 1-2 mile drive with many starts and stops, I have to say the DCT is just as terrible as before. I would say that I hope it improves with more driving, but I've given up hoping for anything better.

I was one of the people who was fairly happy before all these updates... now I hate driving my car. I'll be trading it in sooner rather than later.

Originally, the DCT was only a mild annoyance on an otherwise outstanding car. It had it's quirks, but did what it was supposed to do in the manner I would expect a dual clutch transmission to operate.

Now that it's been 'fixed', it makes me want to punch my dashboard every time I go for a drive. It has a massive gap in power delivery every time it shifts, and it is even more eager to upshift and reluctant to downshift. The hill start assist being active in park is highly irritating. And it launches so, so badly... I don't think the 1-3-5 clutch is fully engaged before the damned thing is shifting to 2nd gear, despite the increasing throttle. If you want it to hold first gear past 3K you literally have to floor it.

It is nigh intolerable, and I never would have purchased the car if it had operated in this manner when I test drove one. I wish I could put it in a time machine and send it back to last summer, when I loved it and didn't hate it... before it was ruined with software 'fixes'.

Oh well. Now I'm just counting down the days until it makes financial sense to get something that doesn't make me want to smash stuff every time I drive it.
 
#30 ·
Ford definitely took a step backwards with V4.0. Is it me or does it seem like all they did was make "D" more like "S" and "S" more like "D". Seems I can barely tell any difference in the two where as before it was an obvious difference. If I wanted it to rev to 4K at partial to mid throttle I could always select "S", now it does this in "D", with little difference in the shift pattern in "S". Ford needs to come up with at least two versions and let the owners decide, because this one size fits all isn't working. I kinda liked the short shift/hypermile mode in "D" with an obviously more aggressive pattern in "S". If I didn't won't the short shift, all I had to do was give it more throttle input, and all was good. Or I could just go to "S" mode. Now it all seems to be about the same.
 
#31 ·
What I don't understand is why some cars seem to be just fine and others are troublesome. Even when operating the same software version and built around the same time. Are some us just fussier or could there be that much variation in the hardware? Or is this the dreaded adaptive learning gone wrong?

Sometime these things seem almost like teenagers: they get sick, they heal, they learn the wrong lessons, become petulant...
 
#32 ·
I'm no mechanic but I plan on doing this myself. I figured that if I can put on winter tires myself on my car, I can swap an air filter. I think it's a 4 screws removal to get the air filter lid off, do the swap and bolt the lid back on.
 
#34 ·
Is there something wrong with the adaptive learning, or is it learning bad habits from the drivers, but if that was the case then why bother with adaptive learning and just stick with a set shift point rather than custom tailoring the programming to the unit and its driving conditions?

I don't know, since mine shifts about how I would expect it to, early and often up at light throttle, medium throttle raises the shift points depending on how far you push it, if you coast down and its downshifting all the time but then suddenly accelerate it holds the lower gear to higher revs as it accelerates and readies the next gear.

Maybe they should have pulled a Fiat/Chryco and given an option for a basic planetary gearset automatic with a torque converter, but it would be less efficient because of the energy lost through torque converter. It would also be less desirable to me. The 1.4L Fiat engine is mated only to the 6MT or the 6DCT which is very similar to the Ford Getrag DCT-250/DPS6.

Once it's learned the clutch touch points and gear positions it could just shift according to speed and load, but that would be far too easy apparently.
 
#35 ·
It's not just the shift points, it's HOW it shifts. Mine literally jerks into gear, slips into gear, and sometimes sputters in a gear (or neutral I think) before finally shifting into the next gear. Today it was absolutely terrible.....and the behavior inconsistent from one day to the next, but seems to be really bad the hotter it gets outside. It was pretty warm today.
 
#37 ·
I see, I wonder why some like mine do not exhibit these symptoms. It shifts quickly through the gears at light throttle, almost imperceptibly, although with heavier throttle applications it shifts at higher revs just the same as it does with light throttle. That is to say the way it is meant to be as far as I can tell. However since I'm use to having to pay attention to this while driving a manual I can still tell when it shifts by feel.

Today it was in the 90s according to the car on the way home from work. I've driven in similar weather but in stop and go traffic and even then mine seems to not act up, but its also never been updated, having been assembled fairly early in the Job 2 builds, but in the second year of 2012 production, (4/23/12).

Since 500 miles or so I've been running a k&n drop in air filter which is supposed to help throttle response, but honestly I'm not sure it made that big a difference, the main reason for wanting one was that its reuseable and you can go longer between services of the air filter, if it helps throttle response then that's a nice secondary benefit.

From about 1800 miles I've been experimenting with 93 octane fuel as well, which doesn't seem to have effected the average fuel economy that much but does seem to allow the engine to advance timing and make a small amount of extra power, at least if my memory is correct, but the only way to really tell for sure, apart from the evidence provided in the octane threads would be to run a tank of 87 octane again to verify the difference in feel.

I still find my self driving most of the time in just plain old drive and letting the gearbox do what it wants. Is it possible to confuse things if you're slowing down and then suddenly speed up again? Perhaps, but that's the same as virtually every other gearbox of this type, since it functions sort of as a pre-selector gearbox where the next higher or lower gear should be already spinning and ready to go waiting for the alternate clutch to kick in.

If the car improperly learned the clutch touch points after a hard reset where the battery is removed long enough for the TCM to lose its memory that could cause the clutch pack to slip while it learns where the engagement is. This is why the drive cycle is so important if and when the TCM's keep alive memory is actually wiped rather than just updated.

Some cars were having issues with the actual mechanisms that actuate the gear selection, some were losing clutches due to a leaky gearbox seal coating them in oil. There were software updates to try and change the shift behavior, but arguably not every one is satisfied with either the programming or the gearbox it self. I guess this is why Dodge is going the cumbersome route of offering a hyundai 6 speed auto with the 2.0L i4 which was a Chrysler/Hyundai/Mitsubishi joint venture before Chrysler bought them out, and the DCT mated to the fiat 1.4L engine which is essentially similar to ours and is also a dry clutch system.

It would be frustrating to have issues with a new car, and I'll admit that the Focus isn't necessarily perfect, although mechanically mine's been great so far. Kind of worried about the heated seats not getting terribly warm even on 5 though.
 
#51 ·
I don't know if this is normal or not but so far the DCT is still shifting great except for any 90 degree turns. Like clock work the tranny is in a peak torque and pulling into the turn just fine and then I let off the gas just a little and make the turn and then it just dies and seems to shift into 6th. I put my foot back on the gas to roll out of the turn and it just stalls for a few seconds and then makes a big downshift and resumes. Is there something in the CAR that it can detect body lean? Like a VSC sensor (Vehicle stability Control) or something like that?

Also the other day I dropped something under the hood and it fell down to the bottom of the engine compartment. I got down in front of the car and removed a couple of those bolts so that I could lower that little engine cover and I noticed a good bead of Oil formed between the Engine and the Trans (it just collected on a protruding metal housing between the two). Now I had just gotten my oil changed recently and I didn't see any signs of oil dripping on the engine cover but I immediately thought of Oil Seals contaminating my clutches. I plan to check it again today (1 week later). My clutches seem to be holding fine other than when it's in 6th and you push down on the gas a little you can hear what sounds like a raccoon in trashcan sound.

Hopefully thats normal. (The sound).
 
#57 ·
Just wanted to add my recent experience on this subject. I disconnected the battery for 15 minutes as others have and followed with the adaptive drive cycle posted elsewhere.

Very surprised and pleased with the results: much better throttle response, less engine bogging, no more lunging and lurching from launch and during 1/2 shift and no more occasional harshness on 4/5 shift. Remarkable difference.

Only drawback is the time it takes, losing trip mileage, time and mpg and having to reset auto up/down windows (phone pairing, station presets,etc are not affected). We'll see if it lasts, but if not this may become just another 5,000 mile maintenance item.

If the DCT does in fact have adaptive learning, something seems haywire in what it learns or how it learns it. Why this is a problem for some and not for others is a mystery.

Anyway, if you're not happy with how your Focus is running you may want to give this a try, as others have suggested.
 
#59 ·
Just wanted to add my recent experience on this subject. I disconnected the battery for 15 minutes as others have and followed with the adaptive drive cycle posted elsewhere.

Very surprised and pleased with the results: much better throttle response, less engine bogging, no more lunging and lurching from launch and during 1/2 shift and no more occasional harshness on 4/5 shift. Remarkable difference.
Hmmm, I wonder if doing this would reset my 6th gear shift point back down to 35 mph.
 
#63 ·
I've never tried, but letting off the brake does the DCT creep forward? I know when the DCT came out for VW one of the complaints was that the 'auto' didn't creep. If Ford tried to make this transmission creep that could cause a lot of the low speed shuttering as its massaging the clutch to creep forward.
 
#65 ·
Yes it does creep, mine always did even before 12B37.

If you haven't experienced the violent shudder or "jolt" that I and many others have reported, you can't understand how abnormal it is. Many are reporting a shudder / jolt miraculously went away after 12B37, others are reporting it unmiraculously appeared after 12B37. These people are presumably driving pretty much the same before and after 12B37, i.e. not all of a sudden employing tricks or massages to get the shudder to all of a sudden go away or appear.

My violent launch shudder appeared with about 500 miles on the clock and gradually disappeared after 5 hard launches at about 1500 miles. The changes had nothing to do with any updates since my first update was 12B37 with over 5,000 miles on the clock. The car drove noticeably worse after 12B37 but has gradually gotten back to the way it was.

And my shudder only happened after 20 minutes or so of suburban driving (i.e. after the tranny got hot). I didn't all of a sudden change my driving style 20 minutes into my commute. I have seen several others on here report this same thing.

All of this tells me this is a software (i.e. adaptive learning) issue or a hardware (clutch pack) issue. It is NOT a driving style issue in my opinion, as just about everyone who has been lucky enough to not have the shudder / jolting problem insists it must be.
 
#68 ·
Well, I just came back from the Ford garage. The guy who looked at the car actually went for a ride with me. Of course it wasn't acting up like it had been previously (nothing ever seems to go wrong like it should when I take any of my vehicles into the dealer), but there were mild cases of what I was describing. The mechanic told me that I can expect the transmission to, at times, perform as I described (being jerky on some shifts, etc..), because it was not going to act like a normal automatic transmission.

I came home, pulled the battery and instantly noticed smoother shifting. As kam327 mentioned above, I do believe it IS a software/hardware flaw....and I can't help but think it's all in this "adaptive learning"....because the battery pull clears that out...and that's when my car starts shifting better....until the adaptive learning "learns" again.

I'm still not keeping this car past the 36,000 mile warranty.
 
#69 ·
The mechanic told me that I can expect the transmission to, at times, perform as I described (being jerky on some shifts, etc..), because it was not going to act like a normal automatic transmission.

I'm still not keeping this car past the 36,000 mile warranty.
Yeah I can accept some jerky shifts, but it's all relative, right? Depends on what one would label "jerky". I have the benefit of my car having run the gamut of good to bad tranny performance, so I know how well (and non-jerky) it can perform when all is right. So I think I can expect it to perform at the best that I've experienced it all the time.

Personally I won't go as far as to get rid of it at 36k. I'll wait until the tranny hardware warranty runs out which is 60k and then decide whether to get an extended warranty to continue coverage.
 
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