Transmission Shaking To/From 1st Gear

[dan50]

Originally Posted by nick625

When I come to stop at a light, with my foot on the brake, it's fine, but when I take my foot off the brake to creep forward, it idles rough and shakes, almost like the engine is going to die (it doesn't), like if you weren't clutching properly in a manual transmission. Anyone else experience this? Mine is a 2012 made in 6/12.

This may be normal. When you take your foot off the brake it signals the car to engage the clutch, whether or not you touch the gas. It's pretty much like letting out the clutch without adding throttle in a conventional manual.

[InfinityCubed]

This rough idle and shake however does not occur when you let out the clutch without adding throttle in a conventional manual.

[scoteaerl]

I'm another with the lovely shudder on take-off. It really sucks to have people hop in the car to ride with me go "what was that?". Makes me real proud of my investment - not.

At least my dealer is giving the appearance of trying to fix it. I had the SB37 update which didn't resolve the shudder. This was followed by the "put 4000 miles on in and see if it breaks in" response. At 5K miles the shudder persists, so back to the dealer.

This time, the service report says:
Reprogrammed PCM TCM and relearned trans adaptive
Retested OK Hotline said if it keeps reoccurring clutch will have to be replaced

Anybody else have a similar experience? Has clutch replace resolved the problem?

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by scoteaerl

I'm another with the lovely shudder on take-off. It really sucks to have people hop in the car to ride with me go "what was that?". Makes me real proud of my investment - not.

At least my dealer is giving the appearance of trying to fix it. I had the SB37 update which didn't resolve the shudder. This was followed by the "put 4000 miles on in and see if it breaks in" response. At 5K miles the shudder persists, so back to the dealer.

This time, the service report says:
Reprogrammed PCM TCM and relearned trans adaptive
Retested OK Hotline said if it keeps reoccurring clutch will have to be replaced

Anybody else have a similar experience? Has clutch replace resolved the problem?

If the clutch is worn in improperly then replacing it would solve the clutch shudder issue at least until you continue to drive it in the same manner that lead to the clutch pack failing, if it was an environmental stimulus rather than a software or hard ware failure causing it initially.

[InfinityCubed]

Originally Posted by suss6052

If the clutch is worn in improperly then replacing it would solve the clutch shudder issue at least until you continue to drive it in the same manner that lead to the clutch pack failing, if it was an environmental stimulus rather than a software or hard ware failure causing it initially.

It kind of urks me that almost every post you make on these threads involves the driver doing something improperly, as if the problem could never have been a defect in manufacturing.

Take it from the guy in the other thread. You got lucky in getting a perfect Focus right out of the box. Just be happy about it.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by InfinityCubed

It kind of urks me that almost every post you make on these threads involves the driver doing something improperly, as if the problem could never have been a defect in manufacturing.

Take it from the guy in the other thread. You got lucky in getting a perfect Focus right out of the box. Just be happy about it.

I said it could be either caused due to driver error in which case replacing the clutch won't fix anything, or more likely a manufacturing defect that it will fix the issue if you could get them to acknowledge it. Just because I mentioned the environmental condition first didn't imply that it was the first and most likely scenario, just the first thing I wrote.

I understand that there were the possibilities of manufacturing defects, e.x. the leaky transmission case dripping fluid onto the clutch assembly destroying it, or the reason why they had to update the software. Of course there was also the fact that they marketed it as a normal automatic but mechanically it isn't. That would also fall upon Ford and the dealers to inform the customers.

It irks me to hear that just because some one had a bad experience that by extension they must all be junk. Ok so mine works fine so I'm happy with it. I don't need to defend anything to anyone.

No one is discounting the fact that defective hardware gets sold in the field, which is why one must push to get the dealer and Ford to honor the warranty and repair it properly.

If the clutch pack failed due to the software mistiming the application of torque from the engine then it would be an inherent defect from manufacturing.

Cars that grind gears are in my mind defective and one should not have to drive around them. These however are the exception and not the rule.

[InfinityCubed]

Originally Posted by suss6052

It irks me to hear that just because some one had a bad experience that by extension they must all be junk. Ok so mine works fine so I'm happy with it. I don't need to defend anything to anyone.

Are you putting words in my mouth there? I'm pretty sure in all of my posts here on FF I've never once said they must all be junk, nor have I even come close to saying a good percentage of them are junk. In fact if I had to wager a guess, I'd say somewhere around 4-5% have the transmission slippage/shuddering/grinding issues. Also I'd say about 0-0.5% of them are from being driven improperly. I believe some could be from an improper drive cycle being performed after a fix at the dealership, or possibly no drive cycle at all being performed. 4% is a small number, but when you're consistently selling 30,000+ units a month and, assuming my percentages are correct, 1,200 of them are having this issue, that's a pretty large amount of customers. Even if the number is closer to 1%, which I doubt, that's still 300 unhappy customers a month, with no actual fix in sight.

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by InfinityCubed

Are you putting words in my mouth there? I'm pretty sure in all of my posts here on FF I've never once said they must all be junk, nor have I even come close to saying a good percentage of them are junk. In fact if I had to wager a guess, I'd say somewhere around 4-5% have the transmission slippage/shuddering/grinding issues. Also I'd say about 0-0.5% of them are from being driven improperly. I believe some could be from an improper drive cycle being performed after a fix at the dealership, or possibly no drive cycle at all being performed. 4% is a small number, but when you're consistently selling 30,000+ units a month and, assuming my percentages are correct, 1,200 of them are having this issue, that's a pretty large amount of customers. Even if the number is closer to 1%, which I doubt, that's still 300 unhappy customers a month, with no actual fix in sight.

No I'm not putting words in your mouth, but there were others here who thought this way, e.x. allyy, but they either traded the car or the last update and drive cycle seemed to have fixed their issues and they went away.

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283965 One such example, but there are many many more.

I concur there shouldn't be a high incidence of mechanical failures from a new vehicle.

Although I do believe you're underestimating the potential for it to be induced by heavy stop and go traffic since this is when people treat the car like a normal automatic and creep forward heavily on the clutch at times, although I can't say that the few times when I found myself in this situation that the car responded poorly, but then I also try to give a little bit of space, as impossible as that may actually be when in stop and stop traffic.

Of course its equally likely if not more so that the dealers are mucking up the drive cycle after each update by erasing the transmission's brain before hand but not following through with the drive cycle since the TSB/FSA doesn't call for it.

[hotleadsingerguy]

I didn't have a single problem with this until after the TSB. The day I got home after getting the TSB it was shuddering while I was pulling into the garage (foot only on the brake). It did that every time I pulled into the garage, and then a few weeks later (around 2) it started doing it on takeoff. Every single time I put my foot on the gas to pull away from a stop it shudders, and it's horribly annoying and makes the car feel like junk to anyone in it.

I don't drive into the garage in a weird way...I pull in with the gas until I'm close, then just ease it in with my foot on the brake (no more gas). We're talking like 5-10 seconds total from breaking the plane of the door to putting it in park. This problem most likely stemmed from the TSB update.

[BPEW584]

To update you all, ~1,500 km's after the battery pull, and my car is 90% smooth when shifting now. The odd time, there's a slight stutter, but overall, I'm satisfied. To close, that annoying grinding/ratting is almost completely gone as well. And yes, it is still smooth well after the tranny is "warmed" up.

I suggest you all try the battery pull, along with some patience. Though, just be prepared to re-program you auto windows (a mere 1 minute task).