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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.
 
#3,719 ·
I had the complete 'fix' in August(?) and it has been perfect in both cold and hot weather. Not one stumble, missed shift, hesitation, etc. Gas mileage is still 30'ish around town and 40 on the hwy at a steady 65. It's a shame some folks are still having 'half measures' performed by dealers but, per my dealer, the parts are on national backorder and my complaint to Ford's EVP was all that got me 'jumped' to the front of the line.
No, I'm no better than anyone else but I am bulldog that doesn't take half-measures lightly. Complain, folks. CSR's are limited to a script and, despite their best intentions, can't fix this problem without the dealer getting the necessary parts.
 
#3,721 ·
There's been quite a few people reporting that the latest fix is making their Focus better than new.

I found this thread really interesting "Did a tune help your DCT"
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/...12-current/616681-did-tune-help-your-dct.html

The thread is in the performance section of the forum which may not be a place where people with DCT problems would look but it seems people who get a "Focus-Power tune" who previously had DCT problems saw great improvement after the tune.

"Hey guys, just wanted to share my experience with our Focus. I've read almost every post on here for over a year, and just like you guys I've dealt with Ford way to much over the issue and I will say Carl Gregory Ford has been outstanding, however as most of you know the dealerships are not magicians and can only do what Ford tells them updates, clutches, new trans ect. I noticed after the 1st clutch change that the clutches still slipped and mentioned this to our dealer, they said they could only put in the updates Ford gave them, so I said well I'll bring it back when it starts shuddering again. About one year later, we were back with the very mild AKA- NORMAL Shudder. As time passed the car no longer had the so called normal shudder, which was every takeoff, but was jumping like a jack rabbit at least 2-3 days a week, what I did notice was after every reflash ours did great for 2 weeks, so I decided it had to be in the factory tune and began to decide which tuner we were going with. The last visit the Tech never even started to say it was within specs, but his words were, this car has got to have clutches, it's jumping!! We had about a month to test a tune, which was gonna be our deciding factor for whether or not we would keep the car after the new clutches and decided to go with Tom and cannot be any happier, after the base file and programmer arrived we had 3 weeks to test it with the bad clutches, during the time we had absolutely no shudder whatsoever, and trust me we tried our best to get a shudder, but couldn't on top of that our takeoffs, up shifts, and downshifts were so much better, so much that my wife says if we had never had any shudder the tune would still be worth it. I did return it to stock after 2 days with the tune, thinking it might just be having a good week, shudder was back instantly, so tune went back in, shudder gone instantly. Long story short this is the first time in 60000 miles we have been happy with the car, it now has a little over 78000. Now I will say why I went with Tom I called a few, and I kept hearing if you have shudder carry it to Ford, well Ford couldn't fix it, but TOM did lol."
 
#3,722 ·
update

I had the flash update done about Sept 1st. It was driving VERY SMOOTHLY for a while. It has been about 6-7k miles since then and the shudder has started again, not as bad as it was before but is slowly getting worse. I am due for oil change (free from ford dealer) in 2k miles so I will be back again with the same DCT issues. I'm worried that because the clutch parts are so far backordered that they will just insist on another flash update, just pushing me back a few more months until the issue resurfaces.

My question is, has anyone had any luck with Ford doing a buyback? I am getting to the point of just eating the money I put into it (my trade in + downpayment) and seeing if they'd be wiling to buy back the car for what I owe and put me into something different. I love this car but I can't handle the constant issues that seem to crop up every few months with this DCT BS. If it would just drive as smoothly as it did the first 5k miles after the flash, i'd be in love with this thing.

Chris
 
#3,723 ·
I had the flash update done about Sept 1st. It was driving VERY SMOOTHLY for a while. It has been about 6-7k miles since then and the shudder has started again, not as bad as it was before but is slowly getting worse. I am due for oil change (free from ford dealer) in 2k miles so I will be back again with the same DCT issues. I'm worried that because the clutch parts are so far backordered that they will just insist on another flash update, just pushing me back a few more months until the issue resurfaces.

My question is, has anyone had any luck with Ford doing a buyback? I am getting to the point of just eating the money I put into it (my trade in + downpayment) and seeing if they'd be wiling to buy back the car for what I owe and put me into something different. I love this car but I can't handle the constant issues that seem to crop up every few months with this DCT BS. If it would just drive as smoothly as it did the first 5k miles after the flash, i'd be in love with this thing.

Chris
yes they have, just use the search box at the top of the page and type in the word buyback. sorry for what you have gone thru but I hope you get a buyback also. This is completely wrong to treat customers this way.
 
#3,729 ·
I have to say I don't know the success rate but the tune did help mine. I believe the mid 14's and up are in better shape with the newer seals and such. My son's 13 SE needs seals and clutches. Mine was 1st learning to drive it. Once that was accomplished I could force minor shudder although my bigger problems were lagging throttle response and jerky/late trans engagement from a stop.. Everything out of sync. The tune synced the two and now it is a fun, smooth daily driver even in Houston traffic. YMMV
 
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#3,731 ·
Finally traded in the '12 focus on the new F150 Ecoboost. They gave me an extra $1500 towards the truck for the focus DCT problems. I can't believe anyone would buy this car anymore with the DCT. I guess people don't read reviews or consumer reports. It will never be fixed unless Tom's tune is the permanent fix.
 
#3,733 ·
Are they that bad? I haven't been to the library since like 1982. I used to do all my magazine reading there.

Anyway, just type in any search engine, focus DCT transmission and see the thousands of stories from all of us poor suckers who bought one.
 
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#3,745 ·
you can also see them on the facebook page that Ford has for the Focus
 
#3,735 ·
My '12 was fine until around 30k miles, then garbage. Studdering, not moving at all when you push the accelerator pedal until it felt like it, having no power, just junk. Several trips to the dealer later and a regional service manager got me hooked up at another dealer for new clutch pack and whatever.

It worked great until about 60k miles and did the same stuff. Service guys basically told me I didn't know how to drive the car. I told him if they advertised the car with the stipulation that it took a special technique to drive the car, they wouldn't sell any and that it was total BS that you could use a special method to actually make it drive decent. Thanks for the advice though.

They reprogrammed it and it worked for a few days, then it was crap again. We went round and round and finally my salesman, knowing I was going to buy a 2015 f150, offered the 1500 cash towards the truck. I lost my shorts on it really, because I was hoping to put 300k miles on that car. Anyway, I cut bait.

Have fun replacing clutches and being told you are a moron by the service department just for telling them something they already know, the DCT in the Focus is crap.

All that being said, I loved the car when it worked. Buy a 5 speed or an ST people.
 
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#3,736 ·
enginejoe, I fault you not for your attitude since mine pretty much mirrored yours until I got a tad proactive and jumped the org chart at Ford and got ahold of guy by the name of Frederiek Toney who was a former mid-level guy at Honda. Using my friendship with Detroit's mayor as a club, I got Toney to dig into the short stock of necessary redesigned clutch packs to fix the problem and overnight them to my dealer. They did the trick. Am I better or more deserving than any other buyer? No but I am a damn site more ballsy than many and suffer lip-loaded CSR's poorly. Ford did not suspend production of this problematic tranny while it built up the inventory of functional clutches to fix the problem. Heads should have rolled in Dearborn over that idiocy. You don't continue to build a problem, thus exponentially increasing your dissatisfied owner base while waiting for your subcontractors to build up their capacity.
Text book arrogance by a manufacturer.
Be that as it may, the car, when it is equipped with the proper mechanisms, is flawless. But forget about resale since these are less desirable than a hooker in a wheelchair on the used car market.
The class action suit will bring settlements of about $2K-$3K per original owner to offset the loss on resale due to the storied clutch failures. I've got 76K on mine and it's flawless. Looks out of the bos and it meets every demand I have for a car. At 200K I'll flip it to a college kid for a few grand and buy whatever boils my oil at that time. Money is no object and I don't buy on ego. I buy what is fun to drive and the 2012 Focus SE with the final update on the clutch packs is a blast to drive.
Look into the ongoing class action suits to see what you can expect for a buy-out and look at the new Dodges.
 
#3,738 ·
Yeah, well I broke all the rules buying the car in its first year. What could go wrong I thought. Well, everything. I had about 60k miles of awesome car in total, but I didn't want to keep going through fighting the dealer for clutch replacement every 30 - 40k.

Question: When did these new, fix it forever clutches come out? I've never heard of that.
 
#3,748 ·
I have, as stated in previous posts, had all the upgraded parts installed several thousand miles ago and haven't had any recurrence of the problems we've all anguished over. Also, my mileage has NOT declined. I'm am still good for a solid 30 mpg around town and on the highway being a good boy I will get between 37 and 40 mpg. Mileage drops are the result of 'computer tweaking' to try to minimize the shuddering until the parts become available for all vehicles in need of repairs.
 
#3,749 ·
I have, as stated in previous posts, had all the upgraded parts installed several thousand miles ago and haven't had any recurrence of the problems we've all anguished over. Also, my mileage has NOT declined. I'm am still good for a solid 30 mpg around town and on the highway being a good boy I will get between 37 and 40 mpg. Mileage drops are the result of 'computer tweaking' to try to minimize the shuddering until the parts become available for all vehicles in need of repairs.
I had my clutches replaced around 4,000 miles ago. It seems like the shudder is starting to come back, but it's not very noticeable. So I'm not sure this is what's happening for me or not.
 
#3,751 ·
When simply reprogramming of the defective clutch packs is performed yes, the problem will reoccur. Not, however, when the updated clutch packs Ford is 'rat holing' for new vehicle production are installed. It took an old industry exec connection to get to the right person af Ford in Dearborn but it resulted in the right parts being installed.
 
#3,753 ·
I recently had my clutch pack replaced about 10000 miles ago and my problems are worse than they ever have been. I love everything about my focus except the crap transmission. I wish Ford would get it together. I want another focus when I get a new vehicle but not if they refuse to fix their problems.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
#3,760 ·
The US isnt still selling the "old 2L" in 2012 it totally changed to the new 20L Duratec and the 6 speed DCT Auto trans and 5 speed straight drive

I have tuned a few Aus and they seem to have the same engine and trans as here from 2012-2016 what body styles do you have there ? From what I understand the Focus is a " world car " and the same everywhere with the exceptions of options

Tom
 
#3,762 ·
Ford did a mid-life update to the "Darth Vader" version with 1.6L/2L/DCT in 2014 in Australia.

In 2015 Ford then revamped the line, changed to the "Aston Martin" grill, 1L/1.5 liter high power turbo ecoboost, 6 spd manual and 6 spd auto torque converter. Dumped the entry level models and the 2L diesel with the wet DCT. We currently only have the sedan and hatch bodies.

A constant difference between the Australian and US model is Australia is right hand drive and that mean lots of different components plus quite different fuel mixes.

Something I haven't quite worked out about the US Focus is why does it still have drum brakes in the rear in some models? In Australia we phased out drum brakes in cars many years ago.

Here's the link to Ford Australia's Focus page Ford Australia - Focus | Introducing the 2015 Focus Focus Trend. 2015 Best Small Car.
 
#3,767 ·
OMG - some of those Land Rovers missed the 25 yr. mark to be legal by MONTHS (even though the model year was correct). TERRIBLE.

Fresh EPA testing would be needed, they might actually do better when working properly.
 
#3,769 ·
The problem is that there are dud cars from most manufacturers. VW has no credibility after the mess they made with the DSG and then diesels, don't even mention CVT autos, want to buy a cheap Honda wth a CVT anyone?, Subaru has a lawsuit with oil consumption problems in their gas engines and the list goes on and on and don't mention to anyone should they buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It is very easy at the moment to go from a problem Focus straight into another problem car. You would think after all these years since the Model T someone could make a reliable car.

On the bright side except for US Focus owners is that for 2012 owners at the end of their 3 year lease the next Focus can be one with a 1.5L ecoboost turbo motor and an excellent torque converter auto. With so many US 2012 Focus owners at the end of their leases and the main Ford option is another DCT Focus, why would you buy one when you know the next model is so much better? Ford has certain missed this sales opportunity.
 
#3,772 ·
There is no defense of Ford's handling of this problem. I am retired from 40 years in the industry in both 'wholesale (factory) and retail (retired dealer).
I have seen the right way to handle product defects and, as much as I find my fixed Focus to be the car just right for me, Ford has a long way to go to dig itself out of this P.R. hole. BTW, not everyone who can afford a top of the line Mercedes buys one. I drive what I like and a Focus rental from Enterprise in late 2012 'sold me' with size, performance, seating comfort and fuel economy
It has been noted on this forum that CSR's read off the 'company line' page with the lame "this transmission is unique in the way it performs" and that is not true although they are not at a level in Ford Motor Company to know that. Don't get ugly with them but don't waste time with them either other than to register your VIN for Ford's files.
The fix is out there and it involves expensive (to Ford) repairs including the replacement of clutch packs with the revised designed ones which Ford is having trouble sourcing in sufficient quantities. Keep 'climbing the corporate ladder' and ask for Mr. Frederiek Toney's address (yes, the spelling is correct). Send him a certified, return receipt letter marked, "To Be Opened By Addressee Only." Include copies of your repair orders (r.o.'s) along with a cover sheet.
It works.
 
#3,773 ·
I agree completely but I have always been stunned at how many people accepted the party line and even made up helpful threads here explaining why folks weren't driving it right, and how YOU could adapt to all these problems.

We live in a world where if your microwave did this, you would promptly return it and I can't fathom why people would spend 15,000+ of their hard-earned money and just take this.
 
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#3,777 ·
I never said anything about 'throwing parts' at the problem. The bad clutches installed in these cars in original production have been superceded by improved-design units which I, and others, have had installed. The repeated 'reprogramming' by dealership service departments, often referenced, on the original equipment clutches is useless but the installation of the newest clutches being delivered to Ford assembly plants/parts warehouses by the submanufacturers function as originally intended. No stutter, hesitation, bucking, etc.
If you are not a Ford dealership service/parts manager you do not have access to the OEM replacement units so you must be an independent repair shop. Nothing wrong with that except you cannot access the supply chain for these new clutches.
That having been said, to all of you owners still suffering with the problem, contact Ford in Dearborn certified mail per my previous post and stay aggressive. Do NOT be put off by well-intended by lip-loaded CSR's.
 
#3,778 ·
I have a 2012 with the stock clutches , stock program , never an update , If I take my Custom tune out it will shake your teeth out on take off ,grind changing gears, It isnt the clutches that are bad thats causing the issue ( oil leak yes )

I have a 2013 , shudder is there not as bad as the 2012 , stock clutches , never an update , Custom tune loaded no issues

I have many customers with stock and with updates clutches , still shudders , load my Custom tune shudder goes away , this tells me the majority of the clutches are not "bad" and ford is throwing parts at the Focus to fix it

Have a customer with 3 clutch changes , still shuddered , the " new " clutches didnt fix his and many others , it isnt the clutches

Know of many with new TCM installed , still shudder and grind , more throwing parts at it when the new part didnt fix the issue

Tom
 
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