My transmission went out at 9,000 miles. I have been told that this is common but when I asked the ford dealer they said it has not been common. Does anyone Know if this is a common occureance. I have heard that the auto trans cant take the tork from the diesel engine.

F250 crew cab diesel

 

Hi Billy, welcome aboard.

It does happen with more regularity than I'm sure Ford, or consumers would care to experience. My brother in law has 60K on his with a PSD and a full Banks set-up with no problems on his auto. My buddy has 50K on his stock set-up with no problems. BUT, if you poke around these boards, you'll hear guys talk about this same issue. Go get it fixed under warranty and try it again.

 

Yes this is all to common!
Make sure they flush the system good and ask for a inline filter to be put in .or you'll be doing this again on down the road .

Rich




02 F250 4x4 SC 5.4v8 6spd 3.73ls Trueblue/Silver and Chrome Nerfs

"All Levers"

 

COMMON? Absolute crap! Less than .2% of Ford Autos have problems. Where did you hear that this is COMMON? The only people that will agree with you are standard owners. I have driven over 750,000 on ford autos pulling more than you will ever think about and never have had a single problem. Its why the big rigs went AUTO...

 

>Its why the big rigs went AUTO...




News to me.

Waxy

 

I don't think it is all that common considering the number of them out there. I know there are quite a few people on here that have had problems but this is a place to discuss problems. I talked to a guy this summer that had 100,000 miles on his F-350 psd and was on the 3rd auto tranny. He said both times it went out was the driver's error though (not shifting out of OD pulling trailer in hilly terrain). I guess I can't really speak about it much though since I'm not a big auto fan, but I don't think they are all the troublesom.

Now, the reason I had to respond was because of the comment about the big rigs going to autos. Any truck ads I look at are usually manuals except for smaller powered trucks designed more for around town delivery. I think you'd have an awful hard time finding an over-the-road truck with 450+ horsepower with an auto if you could find any. The do have an autoshift feature on some but I believe they are still a manual tranny that can shift itself. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, it's good to be wrong so I can learn more

 

Being the owner of a small trucking company, and being involved in the idustry i can tell you that yes, full auto OTR (over the road) class 8 trucks do exist. They are not very common, and are not favored at all by "professional" drivers. The reasons for their dislike are many including the weight factor being one of the biggest complaints. Auto trans weigh much more than manual. Also there is the loss of control the driver has in selecting gears. The newer Auto rigs do have a "hold" feature on the trans allowing the driver to "hold" the truck in a certain gear but it does not replace the flexibility of a manual.

Auto trans in big rigs have been tried for a number of years, usually with great failure. Today they are more succesful than they have ever been in the past. They were first developed in response to the large driver shortage that plauged the industry. It was thought that the less complicated the truck is to operate, the more possibilities of attracting newer less in the know drivers. To some extent this did work, some of the very large carriers do have a few autos in their fleet for just this reason. Another huge drawback to a class 8 Auto is cost, they are far more expensive.

It boils down to this, you wind up spending more money, for a heavier trans that cuts into your allowable payload and you have less control and less durability. You can see why they are not favored in the mainstream. They are not favored by companies that purchase them, nor the drivers that operate them.

More common are as someone else mentioned, autoshift in top gear. With this trans, the driver shifts the truck as normal until he reaches the top gear, At this point the truck will shift between OD/and direct on its own, but only in the top gear. This feature is most useful in trucks with cruise control.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 08-Dec-02 AT 06:01 PM (EST)]Yeah, I know autos are out there. I just took exception to "all the big rigs are going to autos". That's about as false a statement as one can make.

We had a truck with a Allison auto at work. It was alright for short trips and deliveries around town, but I hated it.

I like the new "auto splitter" trannies (that's what we called them anyway ) like Rockwell described they're a real nice feature going down the highway and I can see more development along those lines.

Also, I understand that the large Tonka type trucks used in open pit mining are all automatics. I think this is due the the need for user friendly operation in a complex environment. (I understand that other than size, they're no harder to operate than your average Focus, but I can see myself getting flamed on that one.) More important I think is the fact that they don't operate under any weight restrictions.

The simple fact is that for weight, reliability (including maintenance costs), and functionality the manual transmission is unbeatable in a heavy truck application and it's not going to be replaced any time soon.

Waxy

 

>Yeah, I know autos are out there. I just took exception to
>"all the big rigs are going to autos". That's about as
>false a statement as one can make.
>
>We had a truck with a Allison auto at work. It was alright
>for short trips and deliveries around town, but I hated it.
>
>I like the new "auto splitter" trannies (that's what we
>called them anyway ) like Rockwell described they're a
>real nice feature going down the highway and I can see more
>development along those lines.
>
>Also, I understand that the large Tonka type trucks used in
>open pit mining are all automatics. I think this is due the
>the need for user friendly operation in a complex
>environment. (I understand that other than size, they're no
>harder to operate than your average Focus, but I can see
>myself getting flamed on that one.) More important I
>think is the fact that they don't operate under any weight
>restrictions.
>
>The simple fact is that for weight, reliability (including
>maintenance costs), and functionality the manual
>transmission is unbeatable in a heavy truck application and
>it's not going to be replaced any time soon.
>
>Waxy

Waxy, right you are! The Tonka type trucks are actually "luxurous" inside! These trucks have great success with auto trans because (although they operate at major weights) they are operating in a controlled enviorment, no surprises. An OTR rig has far more a complex job in that it operates in many ever changing enviorments, (speed, road conditions, changing weights, weather and far more operating hours) and thats a stress that adds up. Also, the Tonka trucks are never far from maintenance and are usualy on a regualar schedule where as an OTR rig is not as easily able to get attention right away when needed.

What I do think we will be seeing more of in the future is Synchro in big rigs, it is very common in Europe, yet in America there is still a resistance to it, although I think thats changing at a rapid pace. I agree with you, the manaul is here to stay for a very long time and im glad of it

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 08-Dec-02 AT 07:12 PM (EST)]It seems like there are 1-3 tranny failures reported a week. Been that way since 1999. Granted, only those with problems complain. Ford knows they have issues with the tranny behind the PSD.

 

I have been over at the diesel stop and it seems like those guys all run propane or a 125+HP chip, or injectors or something for big power. Granted i have a chip and i had a tranny faliure, but it was with my 78HP chip. Ford replaced it under warranty. My feeling is that some of the guys "over there" dont care if there warranty is void. They go and replace their trans with a BTS, Suncoast or ATS trans unit. They are all about power, where as FTE is about keeping a happy medium with some power but still keeping it in perspective. Am i rambling???



2001 F-350 CC Lariat 4X4 LB PSD SRW, Heated leather, off road package, western snow plow, strobe lights in parking lights, headlights and backup lights, tinted windows, stull billet insert, pioneer cd player, rockford fosgate 700S amp rocking 3 JL Audio 10W0's behind back seat,Infinity Interiors and an Alpine amp, husky liners front and back,Banks transcommand, K&N FIPK, ATS Ported Turbo Housing, Diablo Sport 110HP chip, Hypermax pryo/boost gauge, Hypermax 3.5 inch downpipe and 5 inch exhaust.

2002 F-350 XL 4X4 PSD DRW, XL Decor Package, 9' Heil Dump Body, 8' Western (for now) Poly Plow, Western Pro-Flo 1, Strobes Front and Back, toolboxes and Wheel Simulators.

 

Jimmy Green
I can't say how common these Tranny failures are, But I do know that I had two (2) tranny failures between the first 3,000 and 8,000 miles I put on my New 2001 F-250 SWB PSD A.T. Equipped with a (DEALER INSTALLED POWERBRAKER EXHAUST BRAKE). Both failures consisted of loseing reverse. At the time of the first failure no one copld offer any reasoning as to what, why or how in happened. They replaced it under warrenty and sent me on my way with no advice on how to insure that it would not happen again.
Approx. 7 months later the same thing happened again. The tranny was again replaced under warrenty, but this time someone had a idea. You see I pull a 30' 5th wheel and I live in the Mountains of North Carolina. So when we travel we must decend a 3 mile steep grade of 15%. So I would pull the transmission down into 1st and turn on the exhaust Brake (after all, this was why I negociated so hard for it). Anyway what happened as a result is that tranny was unable to build sufficient line pressure to cool it's self and by the time I reached the bottom of the grsde my tranny was scorched .
If you have an exhaust brake, or if you descend steep grades in 1st gear, that could be the cause of your tranny failure. Good Luck .

 

>Also, I understand that the large Tonka type trucks used in
>open pit mining are all automatics. I think this is due the
>the need for user friendly operation in a complex
>environment. (I understand that other than size, they're no
>harder to operate than your average Focus, but I can see
>myself getting flamed on that one.) More important I
>think is the fact that they don't operate under any weight
>restrictions.
>

Actually, the big mining trucks are not direct drive. Meaning they work like a locomotive, the big diesel engine just drives huge generators and each wheel has an electric motor driving each wheel. So they also get braking out of the motor.

Those trucks are amazing. If you ever get the chance to get a tour of a strip mine or anything, take it, the scale is unreal. One the best trips I ever took.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-Dec-02 AT 10:20 PM (EST)]What year is your truck? The '01's have faulty sprags (one-way clutches) FORD only fixes them if they fail under warranty (unless you have 4 Ford pick-ups and a Kenworth and you threaten bodily harm to the owner of dealership)

 

>COMMON? Absolute crap! Less than .2% of Ford Autos have
>problems. Where did you hear that this is COMMON? The only
>people that will agree with you are standard owners. I have
>driven over 750,000 on ford autos pulling more than you will
>ever think about and never have had a single problem. Its
>why the big rigs went AUTO...

I BELIEVE EVERYTHING I'M TOLD BY MY FORD DEALER
DUUUHHHH

Big rigs are going AUTO so scumbag trucking companies can hire any no-shifting, no-driving, no-english speaking monkey to work for nothing

Besides, these new big rigs don't use AUTO's, they use AUTO-SHIFT MANUALS!

REASON?? ALLISON'S are junk, always have been, always will be...look at who's using them now....GM!