DCT over revving, car not accelerating. Dangerous

[VectorZ]

Originally Posted by jellybean

Update:
My wife is driving to work the other day, and calls me while exiting the freeway. She says it feels like the car has slipped into neutral. She said it seemed like it took excessive time to get back into gear. After that it seemed fine again. While I had her on the phone we tried to reproduce the error when she was in an empty road. We could not.

This is simply ridiculous....I am at a complete loss. Taking it back to the dealer is going to get me nowhere as they won't do anything unless there is a code or visible issue.

I am at the end of the line with Ford. I guess that "is normal too."

Paid premium for all the goodies...and nothing works correctly....slipping tranny, MFT that should be called something else (leave it to your imagination), rattling headliner, trim paneling not put on correctly, strut mount issue....etc...etc...etc...

I am very patient, and have not even brought up the other issues, besides the tranny and strut(which they fixed), but how can a car company put out product like this.

If this was my business, I shudder to think how many customers I would lose.

Thanks for letting me vent.....

Thankfully my car has been problem and drama free for 4k miles. That said, if that were my car I'd invest in a small camera (or mount your phone) and DOCUMENT IRREFUTABLE video evidence of the issues. I know you have issues, but when you take your car to the dealer and it works fine for them, and there are no codes what exactly are they supposed to do??

Anyways, I'd document multiple instances of the car displaying those issues and then promptly trade it in. Then, I'd compute my losses and sue Ford in small claims court for those damages. I'd also be filing NHTSA complaints each time this happens. There's no way I'd jeopardize the safety of my family while Ford tries to sort this out.

[pakeane]

Experienced the same issue just this afternoon:
Cruising down the highway at speed, attempt to pass another vehicle and the rev’s climb to 5k without any acceleration. Massive clutch slippage in any gear at any speed until the vehicle is shut off and restarted (at which point normal operation resumes).
No CEL, nor codes stored in memory (checked via ScanGaugeII).

Spoke to dealer’s service department via telephone & should the issue arise again, I will limp the car to the dealer (without shutting off) where they will have their tranny expert meet me in the parking lot and accompany me on a test drive to verify the condition.

[jellybean]

Originally Posted by pakeane

Experienced the same issue just this afternoon:
Cruising down the highway at speed, attempt to pass another vehicle and the rev’s climb to 5k without any acceleration. Massive clutch slippage in any gear at any speed until the vehicle is shut off and restarted (at which point normal operation resumes).
No CEL, nor codes stored in memory (checked via ScanGaugeII).

Spoke to dealer’s service department via telephone & should the issue arise again, I will limp the car to the dealer (without shutting off) where they will have their tranny expert meet me in the parking lot and accompany me on a test drive to verify the condition.

My car is currently at the dealer for the second time for this issue. The first time I took it in for the issue described in the first post. The second time, it happened while coasting on the freeway and then when the accelerator was applied to keep up with traffic, it revved up to 5k, with no acceleration.

Ford Customer Service and the dealer have told me there is nothing they can do until they can reproduce the issue....I call BS on this. Does someone have to get hurt before they decide to take action?

Can you tell me how many miles you have on your car and the other info below:
Mine has 18000 miles.
Titanium
Build Date: 10/11
Software: 12B37

Something definitely needs to be done about this

[pakeane]

I agree that it is unnerving and a potentially dangerous issue - The intermittent nature makes it very hard to diagnose short of physically delivering the car to the service department with the issue present (getting there at 5MPH while bouncing off the rev limiter will be a treat I’m sure).

I’m at about 7000KM or 4375Miles.
SE Sedan with Build date: 22.06.2012
Unknown software version.

[jellybean]

It sounds to me that this could be a software issue. The only way for us to correct the issue was to "reboot" the car, by turning it off and back on again.
I asked my dealer to re-flash the software the first time it happened and they did not. This time, I asked Ford Customer Service to ask the dealer to do it. They told me they would. We will see....
Please keep me posted on your situation and I will do the same.

[pakeane]

Indeed - I’ll certainly keep you in the loop and hope for a solution that can be implemented for others experiencing the issue.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by pakeane

I agree that it is unnerving and a potentially dangerous issue - The intermittent nature makes it very hard to diagnose short of physically delivering the car to the service department with the issue present (getting there at 5MPH while bouncing off the rev limiter will be a treat I’m sure).

I’m at about 7000KM or 4375Miles.
SE Sedan with Build date: 22.06.2012
Unknown software version.

Hi pakeane,

I'd encourage you to call the fine folks at Ford Canada. They can reach out to your dealership and ensure that your concern is resolved. You can contact them at 1-800-565-3673.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a PM and I'll see how I can help.

Thanks!
Crystal

[armoore]

I've been experiencing everything from the shuddering, dropping gears in the middle of the highway trying to get to speed. car acted differently while the TC was off. stalling going up hills, unresponsive acceleration.
I had taken it in multiple times to different dealers with no help just telling me everything was up to date and I didn't know how to drive.
I was at the end of my rope and I contacted a lawyer and was actually told I had a good case. I really didn't want to go down that road I just wanted my car fixed. Last ditch effort I took it to the dealership I bought it from. And they actually listened to me (might have helped I mentioned the lawyer) After having it for about 2 days they found the seals leaking at the clutch areas. Having a new clutch pack put in 2013 version and should fix all the issues. This seems to be more and more of the solution to people having the issues we all are having..

[Craeshen]

If you ask me it seems like our tcs is too sensitive stepping in before it needs to causing issues.

I have had the exact issue described happen 2x within the first 5000k/m on my car.

Had the transmission slip into neutral @ a stop sign and the only way to get moving again was to shut the car off and restart it. Both clutch pairs seemed to be stuck in limbo because I could not select drive or S.

Had it happen in a somewhat busy intersection too the person behind me was not impressed.

2nd time it happened happened on a deserted back road after coming off the throttle and back onto it rapidly was in some twisties.

Now have over 20000k on the car and it's been well behaved.

[armoore]

Originally Posted by pozi240

Well, as I posted in this thread, and the other TCS/DCT thread started by hotleadsingerguy here: http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298984, I had erratic shift behaviour happen and was told there was "no codes", and just reflashed the TCU (with 12B37) and told it's fine now. Then, I started having the "shuddering" at take off that I never had before (had the car over one year with 40k km's on it now), so, I tried the TCS trick (disabling), and it helped a LOT. So, my car went in this morning for an oil change, and I mentioned the shuddering and how disabling the TCS helped a lot, and they wrote that down in my work order for the tech, I also mentioned the TSB 11-12-13 about the transmission seals in the clutch housing, and they said they would check it out.
Well, I just got the car back, and they (my dealer) actually took me seriously this time, and low and behold, my clutch packs are "heavily" contaminated (their words, not mine, LOL) with transmission oil from the bad seals. One of the techs (who I was told was their "DCT guy"), said that a LOT of the earlier build Focus (mine was a May 2011 build) are driving around out there with bad seals and consequently, bad clutches and don't even know it yet.... I had to laugh when I heard that. He surmised that the reason my car shifted smoother with TCS disabled, was because my clutches were wet with oil and "chattering", causing the TCS system to engage to try and "smooth" it out, which of course, it can't.... causing the issues I was seeing. By disabling the TCS, the contaminated clutches could continue to "slip" and engage on thier own, making the vibration go away. I asked him how long did he think I could drive with damaged clutches that way, and he said it depended on how "harshly" I drove the car, but, most likely not too long, most likely within the warranty period anyway.... yeah right!
Another interesting note from my dealer, they actually had a replacement clutch pack in stock (no seals though), but, Ford Canada has advised them NOT to use that "version" of the clutches anymore, apparently there is a "new" design (same as the 2013's I'm told) that they have to order to repair mine with. Not only that, the service writer said they just changed the part number for the DCT transmission oil as well.......... hmmmmm.... I think Ford knows very well that a lot of early build DCT's out there are prone to issues and has quietly changed out a few parts....
The take away (especially those that find the shudder goes away when disabling the TCS as per the other thread), you should get your dealer to check your transmission seals as per TSB 11-12-13 to make sure you don't have a leak, slowly ruining your clutches... if your car is an early build, there is a good chance it's your clutches..

Interesting on the TCS issues.. Hope you are enjoying the clutch Pozi240 My dealership just got the parts today I should have it by Monday... It will be like a new car only with 23000 miles on it.
Didn't know if anyone else would be interested in this other link http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=299751
It's about the clutches being replaced