I'm pretty sure every manufacturer takes back and analyzes component failures, particularly after a design is introduced. They certainly can't do that with every failure, though… Can you imagine how expensive it would be to tear down thousands of transmissions? Remember these are among the highest volume vehicles on the road, and this transmission is also shared with the Expedition, Ranger, the new Explorer, and several Lincoln products. Even a tiny failure rate would flood Dearborn with truckloads of very complex components that are expensive to analyze.

I'm not sure how many they take back and tear down, but perhaps @Mark Kovalsky can share some insight from his time at Ford?

 

Ford does take warranty returns back for analysis. I've analyzed warranty returned transmissions. We had several transmission techs at each transmission plant that tore down and analyzed returns with engineering support. I don't know the percentage that was analyzed, but for a new transmission, it was close to 100%.

Each engine will have a different software release. The base software is usually identical, the calibrations (what people here call the tunes) will be different for each engine. For most of my career, my job was creating the calibrations.

 

I believe the Ford 10 speed is also in Camaro Zl1's , Yukon's, Tahoe's and Escalades, and probably soon to be in their trucks too.
I had an isolated problem early on but it went away and now the trans is as smooth as silk. Can't say as much for that clunky E-loc rear axle though.

 

Update: dropped off my 2018 f150 v6 2.7 liter off on the 17th. The good news was that they called me and reported that they were able to duplicate the jerky slipping issue I was experiencing. The service technician updated the firmware for the transmission as the resolution and reset the auto-learning much like someone else told me to do in the forum.

Got it back yesterday and drove it home without issue. Today, left for lunch and as soon as I hit 4th gear it slipped and sprung me forward and then slammed back in my seat once the gear caught. Same exact issue I brought it in for. Hopefully they'll have better luck this time around but i'm skeptical.

Till next update gentlemen!

 

Well that's a disappointment. It's good that they acknowledge the issue, which is not always a guarantee with a subjective shifting concern like that.

Thanks for the update, I'm very curious to hear what they come up with.

 

Right not i would rather not publicly mention the dealership because my salesman is a good person and i am not totally down on my dealership. Its just they have the sorriest service department around. Sorry for the misunderstanding the truck only has 27,000 miles. Its been back 3 times and i am taking it back again tonight and leaving it again. My worst problem is when the truck is acting up i call them and ask for an appointment and they will never call back. After a few days its gets livable and since i am in Real estate business i am always needing the truck, and it takes several times of calling them and they just will not return the call. When i take it to them which is about 25 miles away they will put it on the list and it has to wait a few days and i am out of a truck for a few days. So if the truck is running ok i just try to live with the problem a little longer until i can find time to leave it with out an appointment. It may go 3 or 4 weeks and be tolerable and then it may go for two months giving off and on problems with whinning, chattering, slipping and jerking.
This time i am just going to leave it and rent me something if they dont give me a descent loaner. If its not repaired correctly this time i will pursue it further. I was just looking around on the net to see if i was the only one with the problem and it seems as if this is a huge major issue with 2018 Ford F150 with the 10 speed. I was wondering if anyone had formed a group to make ford solve this problem. Anyway they will find a major problem now. It just came out of the shop last Tuesday and now it will not hardly pull the hat off your head until it warms up for several miles and it is finally making a God awful noise. Been recording it on my phone now. Someone it going to have to do something. I am easy to get along with. If they would just totally replace the transmission i would be grateful. I actually love the truck, Especially since i have always been a GM owner. This truck just drove and rode so much better than the new Denials and was about 10 grand less. Its just sad i have had so much problems. I have purchased a new GM truck or Suv about ever 3 years for the last 30 years and i have never once had a warranty claim. First Ford and its been so very frustrating!!!!

 

^^^^^^

Duane,

Welcome to FTE! I'm sorry that you are having so many issues with your truck but it sounds like it's only in the transmission. Hate to say it but if you were to go back to a GM Product right now, you would have a truck with the same transmission but tuned and geared a bit differently.

We had so many discussions on here about why the Ford / GM joint venture would be a good thing and we all pretty much agreed that these issues would likely be avoided. Hopefully it's a bad batch and not a fleet wide issue.

Please keep us looped in.

 

Since I started this thread, I have had 3 other F150's and with the exception of the first lemon that was bought back by Ford they have all been good trucks. Obviously I don't keep them long term but I never really have.

 

I am having many of the same issues mentioned in this thread. Rough shifting transmission in lower gears, especially crossing 3 and 5, jerky acceleration, and a pop in the right front of the truck if I really get on it. Sounds like a valve or something slamming closed. From all of the research I have done, it appears to be more common in 2018 F150 trucks manufactured in late 2017 and early 2018. I have had the latest software update on the truck to attempt to fix the rough shifting transmission and it was not successful. Will take back to the dealership, may try the hard reboot of the truck to see if that helps. Frustrating thing is that it drives great on the highway, but stop and go and low speeds it is terrible. Even more frustrating is that about 20% of the time, it drives fine in all conditions.

2018 Ford F150 V8 FX4.

 

That symptom sounds more like the IWE problem associated with vacuum issues.

 

After about a week of smooth shifting after the software update, the truck is back to having some odd and mis-timed/missed shifts. Pretty disappointing. I'll have to send it back to the dealer and have them keep it overnight so they get some cold shifting experience.

 

Has anyone used aftermarket tuning, for example Five Star Tuning, to attempt to fix these transmission issues?

 

That was going to be my next step. I have 42,xxx on the truck now. Haven’t decided if I want to wait til the warranty is up or just go for it.

 

The 5 Star Tune will cure allot of your problems they tune your Engine and Transmission better throttle Response and the Transmission has smooth shifting using all 10 gears

 

Thanks for the feedback. They're expensive, but I may go that route.