2012 Focus Transmission Shaking

[Kabigon]

Originally Posted by richard4872

I did hire an attorney and I filed under my states lemon law act. I have had my transmission rebuilt twice in one year. At 25000 miles my rear main started leaking. They opened it up there was fluid all over the place which is why they said the cluches were slipping. 600 miles after the rebuild, I had a grinding sound whenever the car was under torque. They opened it up, bad clutches. They said it must of been a bad batch of parts. So they ordered parts from a different batch and rebuilt it a second time. Now when I leave from a dead stop on a hill, it slams into gear like a 2000 rpm neutral drop. I have built everything from custom rock rigs to 11 sec fox bodies. I know when there is a mechanical failure. This tranny is crap. I have driven Fords since 1985. Ford has pemanently lost my buisness.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the dealer tech did not properly follow the procedures for clutch replacement.

There is a set of highly detailed instructions for replacement of the clutch assembly that must be followed exactly, including the proper use of special tools and jigs.

There are many people in this forum that did have their clutch assembly replaced with good results. There is certainly no good reason why your transmission should not work properly at this point.

[Kabigon]

Originally Posted by Jim_J

Actually there are very few people who know the long term results

His transmission should be properly repaired first before we worry about the long term results.

Originally Posted by Jim_J

On top of that, if a clutch pack needs a brain surgeon to replace it properly or it goes out again in a few thousand miles, it's bad design that will cause headaches down the line for hundreds or thousands of owners. Dealers can't even get it right.

You don't need to be a brain surgeon to follow detailed instructions. What you do need is the right tools and attention to detail (which some people do lack).

Originally Posted by Jim_J

Ford replaced millions of firestone tires, they need to do the same here, offer an alternative transmission if they can't restore confidence in their product and the people who repair it.

An "alternative transmission" is not realistic as the DCT is here to stay.
Unfortunately, dealer service will screw up even an oil change sometimes. What Ford can do to improve that is another discussion altogether.

[lorddave]

Hello, first time poster. And reader.

I can't say I read this whole thread but I found it with a search for the transmission problems of the 2012 ford focus SEL. My wife is looking to buy it but found people had issues with the transmission.

Some further digging and I found that it was sort of fixed with a software upgrade. This this accurate?

The focus she's looking to get has 33,000 miles on it and it was a rental from Florida. I would think that if it has any transmission problems that it would have shown up by now. Is this also a fair assessment?

Thank you for any information and advice you can give.

[gostinger]

If it's a rental, it is highly unlikely any warranty work has been done including software updates. I personally would never buy a rental car but to each their own. There is a lot of information in these forums about the transmission and mine is horrid. My advice is DO the research here and formulate your own decision.

[symbology]

Originally Posted by lorddave

Hello, first time poster. And reader.

I can't say I read this whole thread but I found it with a search for the transmission problems of the 2012 ford focus SEL. My wife is looking to buy it but found people had issues with the transmission.

Some further digging and I found that it was sort of fixed with a software upgrade. This this accurate?

The focus she's looking to get has 33,000 miles on it and it was a rental from Florida. I would think that if it has any transmission problems that it would have shown up by now. Is this also a fair assessment?

Thank you for any information and advice you can give.

Only some of the issues have been addressed, namely rolling back on hills. Some rough gear changes, grinding, etc have not been fixed unless the clutches were found to have lots of wear and tear or oil contamination.
For 33k miles, the transmission will exhibit any quirks off the bat, unlike those of us who bought new and had to find out after a few thousand mile break in period.
I would listen for grinding between gear changes, how smooth the shift is, especially from a stop, if the car rolls back on hills (probably not easy to reproduce in Florida), etc.

[lorddave]

Originally Posted by gostinger

If it's a rental, it is highly unlikely any warranty work has been done including software updates. I personally would never buy a rental car but to each their own. There is a lot of information in these forums about the transmission and mine is horrid. My advice is DO the research here and formulate your own decision.

Thanks. I'll definitely do that. And I can ask the dealership to make sure all the software updates were done prior to us buying it.

Originally Posted by symbology

Only some of the issues have been addressed, namely rolling back on hills. Some rough gear changes, grinding, etc have not been fixed unless the clutches were found to have lots of wear and tear or oil contamination.
For 33k miles, the transmission will exhibit any quirks off the bat, unlike those of us who bought new and had to find out after a few thousand mile break in period.
I would listen for grinding between gear changes, how smooth the shift is, especially from a stop, if the car rolls back on hills (probably not easy to reproduce in Florida), etc.

We're in New York so hills shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the info and advice. Should I ask the dealer if the clutch has been changed?

[symbology]

Originally Posted by lorddave

Should I ask the dealer if the clutch has been changed?

Wouldn't hurt to ask, but I would also ask to see the repair history manifest.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by lorddave

...The focus she's looking to get has 33,000 miles on it and it was a rental from Florida...

If you haven't already, lorddave, I recommend checking out our Certified Pre-Owned site here: http://www.ford.com/certified-used/. All of our vehicles have passed a 172-point inspection and come with a peace-of-mind limited warranty.

Crystal

[lorddave]

Originally Posted by FordCustomerService

If you haven't already, lorddave, I recommend checking out our Certified Pre-Owned site here: http://www.ford.com/certified-used/. All of our vehicles have passed a 172-point inspection and come with a peace-of-mind limited warranty.

Crystal

I'll be honest Crystal, after reading about all the people having problems I'm quite concerned. Especially since many of them have to sue under lemon laws to get Ford to take the car back. If a straight from factory didn't have a proper inspection, how can I be sure the dealer did the 172-point inspection properly?

[dan50]

Originally Posted by lorddave

I'll be honest Crystal, after reading about all the people having problems I'm quite concerned. Especially since many of them have to sue under lemon laws to get Ford to take the car back. If a straight from factory didn't have a proper inspection, how can I be sure the dealer did the 172-point inspection properly?

If you know the VIN number of the car, go to etis.ford.com and enter it in the "vehicle" section. This will show you how the car is equipped and what "Field Service Actions" are outstanding. In particular, look for FSA 12b37: this was the major reprogramming of the DCT software.

My personal advice is to look elsewhere. The Focus is a terrific car but until the DCT issues are completely resolved and the dealer network begins to be able to deal with it, IMHO it's too big a risk.