17 Tranny issues and question.

[Digger]

This a bit long so please bare with me and I definitely need someone's help. So I brought my 17 to the dealer for an oil change and sway arm bushings and I figured while it was there seeing as mine is one of 17s that has the weird jerky shifting just in the morning and for only like a mile that I'd have them update the shifting codes via the TSB that came out last yr I think. I know that I talk fast because my wife tells me this all the time and I get that he may have misunderstood me when I asked him to flash the ECU for the update. I know he understood me because of the way the convo went after we spoke about it. So I picked my truck later that day and he went over everything that they did and he mentioned that they flushed my tranny per my request and I said I NEVER asked you to do that and why wouldn't just ask me when we were talking about flashing the ECU for the updated shift strategy codes. I drove the truck home and it was fine for the next cpl of days until I hooked up my trailer and headed to the MX races on that Sunday morning. I made about 1 hr into a 2 hr drive and my truck started shifting really oddly and very hard. I glanced in the side mirror and saw that I was leaving a trail of smoke so I slowed down and nursed it to a truck stop a few miles further. I got out and looked under the truck and it was covered with tranny fluid and so was the front of my trailer. I ended up turning around and limping home with it driving 55 the whole way and I got home without an issue. I brought it the next morning and of course they were all apologetic and said they'd get right on it. They called me a few hrs later and said that they couldn't find anything wrong other than it was down 2qts of fluid but they were going to keep it for the day for testing. I picked it up at 5 and they said it was definitely a coincidence and had nothing to do with them flushing my tranny that has NEVER had an issue for 35K and they were adamant that it wasn't their fault. I drove it all week and it totally seemed fine until I went to the races again last weekend and I got roughly halfway there and it started doing the same thing with the very hard upshifts/downshifts and pushing tranny fluid out somewhere because it was all over the bottom of my truck again and the front of my trailer. It's the same trailer that I had with my Gen1 and I pulled it to probably 75 races with my 17 without an issue. It's a 20 aluminum trailer that weighs 2800lbs and probably has another 1000lbs in it max on any given weekend. I brought it back to them yesterday morning with the trailer attached so maybe they can figure out what the hell is going on. Does anyone have any ideas and what could they have done wrong doing a tranny flush to cause this because I'm not buying that its just a coincidence. Thanks for listening to my very long winded rant and please chime because this is a head scratcher and I'm Fn pissed.

 

[smurfslayer]

so ... they flushed your transmission, and subsequently you had shifting problems and were trailing white smoke (trans fluid probably coating the exhaust from a leak I’ll bet) which the same dealer diagnosed as the transmission was 2 quarts low...

this is not their problem, how, exactly?

 

[Digger]

so ... they flushed your transmission, and subsequently you had shifting problems and were trailing white smoke (trans fluid probably coating the exhaust from a leak I’ll bet) which the same dealer diagnosed as the transmission was 2 quarts low...

this is not their problem, how, exactly?

Exactly what the 10 guys that I asked said and 5 of them are master techs from other dealers. Coincidence huh.... I think not. My main concern is how could they have screwed up something as simple as a tranny flush and of the course the tranny flush that I didn't ask them to do.

 

[David Godbee]

Take the skid plates off and get under your truck and find out where it’s coming from. Something about the load your putting it under is causing something to leak fluid and quite a bit it seems. I’m not sure what has to be disconnected to do a flush but you should be able to trace fluid forward till you come to the source of the leak. I don’t trust dealers to do the right thing and when you find the source of your problem go back to that dealership and demand they make things right. Then say goodbye to them and let Ford know what happened and your displeasure with the dealership. Why did you want a flush in the first place if I might ask? Disregard that last sentence. You didn’t ask for one.

 

[jabroni619]

Big wall of text bad
Paragraphs good

 

[moonjim]

My guess is they overfilled it and popped some seal in there now leaking the 2 quarts out

 

[Digger]

Big wall of text bad
Paragraphs good

Not following you. Are you saying that I've got a bunch of run on sentences? My wife constantly rips me for doing that. I was trying to tell the story in detail and of course it went off of the rails with me ranting.

 

[Raptor10X]

Sorry to hear about your challenge Digger, Seems unclear as to what actually happened but it's not safe to assume it didn't have other issues before the boneheads changed the fluid instead of troubleshooting. I can tell you first hand that assuming issues with our vehicles are the same as others on the forum can prove to be a mistake.

To be clear, you had problems prior to the fluid change. You assumed it was in need of ecm re-flash, just as I had on my 17' w/ 15k miles after reading the posts here. The dealer still has to go through the proper troubleshooting. Changing your fluid should not be part of the process based on your description. Putting fresh fluid in a transmission with problems can change things, just as overfilling it can.

I created a post previously with similar issues on my 17' and it turned out to be clutch packs and valve body. Parts were replaced and I am good to go. Hope yours is justa reflash, but sounds like mine.

 

[Digger]

Sorry to hear about your challenge Digger, Seems unclear as to what actually happened but it's not safe to assume it didn't have other issues before the boneheads changed the fluid instead of troubleshooting. I can tell you first hand that assuming issues with our vehicles are the same as others on the forum can prove to be a mistake.

To be clear, you had problems prior to the fluid change. You assumed it was in need of ecm re-flash, just as I had on my 17' w/ 15k miles after reading the posts here. The dealer still has to go through the proper troubleshooting. Changing your fluid should not be part of the process based on your description. Putting fresh fluid in a transmission with problems can change things, just as overfilling it can.

I created a post previously with similar issues on my 17' and it turned out to be clutch packs and valve body. Parts were replaced and I am good to go. Hope yours is justa reflash, but sounds like mine.

No, I had ZERO issues until they flushed my transmission which I didn't ask for. My truck hasn't missed a beat in 35k and has only been in for oil changes and 2 recalls. All the issues happened after I picked it up. My only issue was the weird kind of herky jerky shifting just in the morning and it would go away in a 1/4 of a mile of leaving me my house. I asked for the re-flash for the updated shifting codes that I saw on here and I got a tranny flush instead and that's when the problems started. So they called today and they did see the same code that I saw when I scanned it saying transmission module fault so they changed the module and drove it this morning and it was fine until they hooked my trailer up and drove it for 30 mins and the tranny temps went up to 230 and it started shifting very hard again and pushing fluid out of the overflow so they've got Ford involved now and that's where we're at. I'm not happy.

 

[Blackrapt]

I feel for you now and never trusted the dealer to work on anything I buy. You are now at the mercy of the dealer and here comes the run around and pointed fingers. I don’t believe them what they say and don’t even like going there if I can keep from it. To me I don’t even trust them to air my tires. I had a bad experience with my Tundra as they forgot to tighten my oil pan bolt and luckily I wasn’t on a highway and could of feel out. I chewed there ass out. They rolled out the red carpet after that.