DCT / PowerShift Transmission Update TSB Thread

[VOLDAR]

No, I am not here for bashing people for getting great mileage. I bought this car for its good mileage too. I only say that if you are so concerned about your tranny, treat it as it should and as stated in the Owner's manual for the first 1000 miles.
Which is the following:

Your vehicle does not need an extensive break-in. Try not to drive
continuously at the same speed for the first 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of
new vehicle operation. Vary your speed frequently in order to give the
moving parts a chance to break in.

And forget about the mpg during this time and you'll never have shuddering, especially after getting the last TSB on your car.

kam327 - I stand corrected. And I appologize for everything I said about heat and all (to all). What I was bashing was the fact that everyone of you was out here talking about a "design flaw". Which, as proved by yourself, it is not true. It is something normal in certain conditions. So case closed for me.

[kam327]

Originally Posted by VOLDAR

No, I am not here for bashing people for getting great mileage. I bought this car for its good mileage too. I only say that if you are so concerned about your tranny, treat it as it should and as stated in the Owner's manual for the first 1000 miles.
Which is the following:

And forget about the mpg during this time and you'll never have shuddering, especially after getting the last TSB on your car.

kam327 - I stand corrected. And I appologize for everything I said about heat and all. What I was bashing was the fact that everyone of you was out here talking about a "design flaw". Which, as proved by yourself, it is not true. It is something normal in certain conditions. So case closed for me.

Thank you for your reasonable response, much appreciated. Yes others have suggested my break in procedure was faulty, but by the quote from the manual you just provided, I had no choice but to follow the recommendation to the letter. With suburban commuter traffic, continuously varying speed is a must. I probably average a stop light every mile and never use cruise control. If I drove it across country on cruise control straight off the lot, then yes, shame on me...

It was I who used the phrase "design flaw." I don't back down from that possibility, however remote. If the clutches are indeed overheating under certain driving conditions (as necessitated by road conditions, not driver habits) I think that leaves the door open... Perhaps they should have stuck with wet multiplate clutches which have been more proven in the field, no?

[dan50]

Originally Posted by kam327

Thank you for your reasonable response, much appreciated. Yes others have suggested my break in procedure was faulty, but by the quote from the manual you just provided, I had no choice but to follow the recommendation to the letter. With suburban commuter traffic, continuously varying speed is a must. I probably average a stop light every mile and never use cruise control. If I drove it across country on cruise control straight off the lot, then yes, shame on me...

It was I who used the phrase "design flaw." I don't back down from that possibility, however remote. If the clutches are indeed overheating under certain driving conditions (as necessitated by road conditions, not driver habits) I think that leaves the door open... Perhaps they should have stuck with wet multiplate clutches which have been more proven in the field, no?

I dunno about the design flaw being a remote possibility. If the clutch overheats in conditions that drivers can reasonably be expected to experience (an hour of stop and go driving, for example), it sure seems like a design flaw to me. On the other hand it's also possible that the design is fine but a few bad parts got into the system.

If Ford had an answer for this it would suggest bad parts. As they don't seem to have an answer...

Oh, and mine was broken in exactly according to the Owner's Manual as well.

[kam327]

Originally Posted by dan50

If Ford had an answer for this it would suggest bad parts. As they don't seem to have an answer...

Makes sense. The telltale will be if they quietly change clutches or add some sort of cooler or something similar on the '13s.

[dan50]

Originally Posted by kam327

Makes sense. The telltale will be if they quietly change clutches or add some sort of cooler or something similar on the '13s.

There's a new "long rivet" clutch out there according to one of the car mags, but don't know when Ford introduced it into production. So they do seem aware that something is not working quite right.

My car is going in next Monday for a diagnosis. Not optimistic, but I'll post any interesting news.

[bobakman]

Quote:
Originally Posted by kam327 View Post
"Makes sense. The telltale will be if they quietly change clutches or add some sort of cooler or something similar on the '13s."

A Transmission cooler is being added to the 2013's? Is this correct? My next question. is the transmission in the 2013's the same as the one in our 2012's? If so The cooler would be a "no brainer".

Bob

[kam327]

Originally Posted by bobakman

Quote:
Originally Posted by kam327 View Post
"Makes sense. The telltale will be if they quietly change clutches or add some sort of cooler or something similar on the '13s."

A Transmission cooler is being added to the 2013's? Is this correct? My next question. is the transmission in the 2013's the same as the one in our 2012's? If so The cooler would be a "no brainer".

Bob

NO NO NO NO, I was just saying "what-if"

I don't think there's any info out on the '13 yet.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by bobakman

Quote:
Originally Posted by kam327 View Post
"Makes sense. The telltale will be if they quietly change clutches or add some sort of cooler or something similar on the '13s."

A Transmission cooler is being added to the 2013's? Is this correct? My next question. is the transmission in the 2013's the same as the one in our 2012's? If so The cooler would be a "no brainer".

Bob

No one knows if there will be a transmission cooler added to the 2013, that was just kam327 speculating that it would be a tell tale sign if they had changed the clutches or if they were to add an auxillary cooler to the transmission fluid, although if its the clutches that are over heating and they are dry friction disks I'm not sure how you would add a liquid cooler without destroying the clutches or going to a wet clutch design. The whole reason for going with the dry clutch design is greater efficiency.

[bobakman]

Originally Posted by bobakman

Quote:
Originally Posted by kam327 View Post
"Makes sense. The telltale will be if they quietly change clutches or add some sort of cooler or something similar on the '13s."

A Transmission cooler is being added to the 2013's? Is this correct? My next question. is the transmission in the 2013's the same as the one in our 2012's? If so The cooler would be a "no brainer".

Bob

Originally Posted by kam327

NO NO NO NO, I was just saying "what-if"

I don't think there's any info out on the '13 yet.

OK Thanks for clearing things up.

Bob

[kam327]

Originally Posted by dan50

There's a new "long rivet" clutch out there according to one of the car mags, but don't know when Ford introduced it into production. So they do seem aware that something is not working quite right.

My car is going in next Monday for a diagnosis. Not optimistic, but I'll post any interesting news.

Yeah see what you can find out about it. I see now where it was mentioned in Motor Trend's "much improved" article:

"Perhaps this issue was addressed by some rolling changes to the hardware that have been rolled out on more recently built cars, including revised "long-shoulder rivets" in the clutch itself, to reduce chatter/vibration during launch, and new right-hand engine mounts to quell a vibration at idle."

The article was published on 12/23/11 which means it was probably already incorporated into production long before my car was built on 12/2/11.

So Ford has in fact been making hardware changes to this tranny in response to customer feedback. Interesting...

I'm meeting my sister-in-law's boyfriend for the first time next week - he's a Ford mechanic. Hoping to get some juicy info from him.