Yeah, honestly if they covered parts,fluid and filter and wanted to just charge me the $400 in labor I would say go right ahead.

 

Mine was not as bad. Once it hit 4th, all issues went away for 5th and 6th.
Only once did my transmission get stuck in 5th one day slow rolling up a hill in my subdivision. Right before it nearly stalled the engine, it barked the rear tire and shifted to 1st with a bang.
All of my issues were from 1st-3rd with the shift from 2nd to 3rd being 80% of the problems and they were bad. It was never the first start of the day. Always the second start after a soak and sometimes future starts that same day but not always. Cold weather makes the issue even worse, as you are experiencing.

My dealer had my truck a number of times. It took Ford a long time to figure this out or maybe it just took too many of us complaining.

It did not fix the issue 100%, I would say 80% but it is night and day difference. In the rare times it has an issue now, mostly in the summer (so the conditions did a 180) it nearly stalls shifting into 3rd instead of high RPMs. It only does this (again still rarely) if I drive like a normal person and will never do it if I decide to pretend I'm in a rocket ship which I do from time to time.


Also, don't say it's fixed after a firmware update. Each time we did an update on the TCM, it would be fine for about 2,000 miles and then like clockwork, the problem would return like the transmission was programmed to do it. Once I made it to 5,000 miles after this fix was applied, I was convinced Ford finally fixed it.

 

Thank you for the extended detail of your experience hopefully my outcome will be as good as yours. It looks like this big expense is going to have to wait until after Christmas, I'll keep this updated with what happens.

I am honestly thinking about dropping the pan and pulling the solenoids myself, I don't understand why there is a need for a new flash if new solenoids with the same band I.d. are being reinstalled. The transmission should still be able to shift. We'll see.

 

It was a hardware and programming change. I don't know what was changed with the new firmware version but you could certainly try doing just the hardware fix to see what results you get. I know the issues were not just hardware but it's also obvious the old solenoids were at fault. If you do it yourself and then decide you want the flash, it seems that would only be an hour of a techs time which should be much cheaper.

 

Yes this is what I'm planning to do, I just wasn't sure if these new transmissions would be goofy and not want to shift at all with the new solenoids although I really can't see how that would be possible.

If I do this when I take my truck in for the flash am I requesting "the latest tcm calibration" or is there something specific I need to mention other than me replacing solenoids?

It appears the newer flash automatically turns on the gear indicator correct? If so my truck is still on the original calibration as you have to manually select the gear indicator and also the oasis report indicated no updates have been performed.

 

Be sure to write down or take pictures of the new pieces in case it does have to be programmed into the computer.


I would expect to pay 1 hour diag fee if you do the work yourself. Put a new filter on it too.


Other option might be to explore a private trans shop. By now they should be able to fix these too.

 

Hi powerstroker100,

I'll push this up the line to your regional customer service manager (CSM); they'll be able to see if there are any programs in place to assist. To get the ball rolling, PM me your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership.

Crystal

 

My understanding is the latest release contains rollups of all of the firmware releases over the years. You should only need the most recent but the tech should know that, especially if you have the TSB with you.
Yeah, if your gears do not remain on after a shutdown, you have the original firmware from around April 2010. Wow.

Crystal, I hope you can get Ford to assist in some way, even if he has to pay the tech/dealer for their time (that's completely fair and is how the tech earns a living). I know a warranty expiration means no warranty because there must be an end to supporting a product but this is a known flaw with an issued fix.


This was a real problem and it was actually dangerous, at least with my truck. It took Ford way to long to resolve the issue but I stuck with it. I pre-ordered my truck in 2010, it showed up with 4 miles on it and Ford didn't resolve this issue until I had 32,000 on it, if I remember the mileage correctly. For powerstroker100's truck, I don't know how the previous owner was able to drive it to 94,000 miles or that person simply didn't care.


Also, thanks for continuing to hang out with us here. It's nice having you here to lean on resources at Ford when necessary.

 

If you have the original flash then maybe it can be covered under the recall?

 

Good point, I can't remember what the paperwork said about warranty on the 14E03 recall.


Also, does he even have the 400 hp/800 tq flash (10B17) with an August build? Wasn't that released in September 2010?

 

Yes,


Maybe those will take care of the flash.

 

I'll certainly do all I can to help out, kper05. Thanks for the kind words!

Crystal

 

Wow thanks for all the great responses guys.

And thanks again Crystal for trying to help me out here.

So here is the update, I have since parked the truck until I can find out what is going to happen with either me fixing the transmission or ford possibly helping me out. Ford customer service tried contacting me but unfortunately I didn't have my phone so I made sure to call back but no one answered, they said in the voicemail that they will try to contact me again on Monday.

 

Well I'm back to update and close this up for anyone that's been following. This may turn into a small rant.

I got pretty aggravated over the last few days, Thursday I received my first call from the ford customer service rep at around 1:30pm, I missed the call but called back within 30 minutes and never received a call back. The next morning (Friday) at around 9 am I receive a second call from ford but missed it again and called back at 10am, never received a return phone call. Now both times I called I left a nice detailed message and asked the customer service rep to please give me a call back, it states on her answering machine she is there until 5:30pm. Now just to put this in perspective... They know I own an f250 super duty TRUCK, where do they think I was both times they called? At home on the couch? No I was on a job site in the cold trying to do 100 things at once, of course I'm not paying attention to the phone.

One of the greatest sayings is if you want something done right, do it yourself.

Drain the transmission pan, 1/2" drain plug, then remove the pan bolts (8mm) and there are quite a bit.

Now drop the pan down and weasel it out being careful not to bump any thing around for fear of knocking debris, dust, rust or dirt into the valve body area.

The gasket is a reusable crush proof (metal insert) style, mine stuck to the pan side during removal.

Locate the 7 solenoids and start unclipping all of the pigtails, there are no clips on them, just grab firmly and pull straight down. Although keep in mind it is plastic that sees extreme heat and cooling cycles, which can cause things to become brittle.

Do not cut any of the zip ties holding the harness together as it keeps all the pigtails in the correct position so you know which solenoid connects to which pigtail. If you follow the harness closest to the driver side you will see another 2 wire connection that goes into the valve body with a gray connector. Unplug that one too.

Now you have enough slack in the harness to swing it out of your way to actually get to the solenoids. First get a T-30 torx with at least 1.5" shank to clear the solenoids and unscrew the 8 bolts holding the solenoid retainer to the valve body. Once they are out the retainer just falls out.

Now is the important part, you need to document each solenoid and which port it came from in the valve body, each solenoid has a DIFFERENT BAND NUMBER AND THEY DO NOT INTERCHANGE.

Find your band number then look up the part # I had two M and one N code solenoids, my local ford dealer had them in stock.

Put some transmission fluid on the new solenoids o rings and reinstall them to their corresponding valve body ports. Then continue to put everything back together.

My truck immediately shifted better, I took it for a test drive this morning as well and it did not slip in between 2-3 or have reverse engagement problems. No wrench lights, no slipping, no cussing as I pull off to the side of the road in morning traffic because my truck won't shift out of 2nd, it shifted as it should even with it being a quart low in fluid. Which reminds me, buy more than 10 quarts because with the pan removed for an extended period of time and removing the solenoids you will lose more than a typical "drain and fill" servicing.

I also did not get any flash or software update, I checked my door tag and my truck is in fact mfd 6/10 so it's earlier than I thought.

Oh yeah and thanks for nothing Ford.

 

Glad you sort of got your problem, at least to some extent, sorted out.