This is a follow up to my post (#97) on page 9 of this thread. Crystal asked me to follow up, but I thought others may benefit. I had my Focus at the dealer on 10/1. They redid the 12B37 update, and checked a couple other items on the work order that I couldn't decipher. I really didn't notice any difference, but like I said before - this issue was very intermittent. Well I had another instance of the transmission shaking this morning. But the conditions under which it happens are starting to come together.
I was on my way to work on a particularly horrible traffic day. I was on the road for an hour when the shaking happened, and at least 30 minutes of that was stop and go traffic. It started when I was on a slight up incline and traffic was stop-and-creep (always under 10 MPH). Because of the slight incline, I wasn't able to let off the brake and just let the car creep forward. I had to put my foot on the accelerator ever so slightly to move up. After a few minutes of these conditions, the shaking started. Accompanying the shaking was the transmission making a repetitive click-click-click-click noise, which I was only able to hear because the radio was turned way down. I'm used to hearing the click when the car upshifts or downshifts, but it's always a single click as it moves from one gear to the next. As soon as I was able to be a little bit heavier on the accelerator, it straightened right out. Other environmental conditions at the time were as follows:
- Weather was in the mid-50's F with off and on drizzle.
- HVAC was on mid-temp with combination windshield defroster and floor vents. Fan speed was on 1.
- Traction control was turned on
- Radio was at a volume of 2
- Headlights were on automatic, but not illuminated at the time.
- My ride is a stock SFE
I tried to reproduce the exact conditions, but was unable to. By the time I got to a spot with a slight incline and no traffic, the car had been moving at normal highway speeds for at least 20 minutes. I'm starting to see a pattern of this being
highly conditional for me. Every time it's happened, the car has been operating for at least 45 minutes with stop-and-go traffic in the minutes prior. I have been in a situation where I'm at very low speed (under 10mph) with a feather-light touch on the accelerator. Once the shaking starts, if I retain the feather-light touch on the accelerator, then the shaking continues. If I back off the accelerator and coast, or give the car a little more gas, it straightens out immediately.
I do not recall having this issue prior to the first 12B37 update in July. I did notice after the update the transmission seemed to take longer to make up its mind what gear it wanted to be in. Before the update the shifts seemed crisper.
I've been following the Traction Control Thread
HERE, and have tried turning it off. With the T.C. off, the shifts seem crisper. It's subtle, but I notice it. The odd thing is the crispness seems to disappear the longer I drive. I know this last point is purely subjective. I have no way of telling if it's really different, or I just get used to it. For now, I'm going to get in the habit of turning the T.C. off, and hope the driving conditions occur again.