GEN 2 Transmission failure, post-repair noise

[JBSK]

Howdy folks,

Sharing my experience with my '18 SuperCrew thus far for info, advice, and also for the need to rant a bit.

Picked up the truck late September of 2018. Had my eye on the Gen 2 since they came out so I was beyond pumped to get it, and stoked about having a high performance pickup with the hardware to match; not just a sticker and some cheap "offroad" shocks. The first six months were awesome. Got to spend plenty of time off road during hunting season and the truck made our long, snowy winter up here in the Great White North effortless. Truly one of the most rewarding things about having a Raptor is taking a buddy to a previously scouted out stretch of washed out, bumpy dirt track trail and proceeding to scare the crap out of him in Baja mode.

Alas, things took a turn at the end of March. While out for an evening drive, the truck shuddered and shook, and refused to move, although the engine was still running. Final diagnosis was catastrophic failure of the transmission pump gear (chalked up to manufacturing defect or assembly error), which resulted in the gear teeth breaking off and then proceeding to wreck some of the other internal transmission components. Although the dealer had the problem diagnosed and parts ordered within days, the truck was out of commission for three weeks due to parts unavailability, which is standard operating procedure based on what I've read elsewhere on this forum. I expressed my extreme dissatisfaction to Ford Customer Service about this. Never been called sir by someone so many times before.

Immediately after getting the truck back, I noticed a very consistent, obnoxious squeal/squawk sound coming from underneath the truck that occurs only during a start from dead stop (forward or reverse). Back to the dealership to take the service manager for a ride, who confirmed hearing the noise and scheduled an appointment to diagnose and fix. Naturally, the service department could not replicate the noise on the day I dropped it off, so they tightened some crossmember bolts and called it good. The noise is still occurring consistently and the truck is going back in next week yet again. This time, I'm bringing a pair of coveralls with me and I'm not leaving until we verify the noise together, and I won't be taking the truck back until we perform plenty of starts from stop with no noise.

Thanks for reading my tale. Does anyone have an idea what could me causing the squeal/squawk noise? It only occurs on takeoff. Once rolling, there doesn't appear to be an issue. The only guesses I have at this point would be a reassembly error, possibly something torque converter related or the reuse of a transmission component that was damaged by the pump gear failure. The image of a six month old transmission sitting on a bench in pieces is a pretty nauseating one, and aside from the obvious noise the truck is now making, there's a psychological aspect whereby my faith in the truck's reliability is now gone. It's very hard not to let this taint the whole experience of owning a Raptor, even if the issue is eventually resolved.

Thanks again.

 

[Fastback89]

Howdy folks,

Sharing my experience with my '18 SuperCrew thus far for info, advice, and also for the need to rant a bit.

Picked up the truck late September of 2018. Had my eye on the Gen 2 since they came out so I was beyond pumped to get it, and stoked about having a high performance pickup with the hardware to match; not just a sticker and some cheap "offroad" shocks. The first six months were awesome. Got to spend plenty of time off road during hunting season and the truck made our long, snowy winter up here in the Great White North effortless. Truly one of the most rewarding things about having a Raptor is taking a buddy to a previously scouted out stretch of washed out, bumpy dirt track trail and proceeding to scare the crap out of him in Baja mode.

Alas, things took a turn at the end of March. While out for an evening drive, the truck shuddered and shook, and refused to move, although the engine was still running. Final diagnosis was catastrophic failure of the transmission pump gear (chalked up to manufacturing defect or assembly error), which resulted in the gear teeth breaking off and then proceeding to wreck some of the other internal transmission components. Although the dealer had the problem diagnosed and parts ordered within days, the truck was out of commission for three weeks due to parts unavailability, which is standard operating procedure based on what I've read elsewhere on this forum. I expressed my extreme dissatisfaction to Ford Customer Service about this. Never been called sir by someone so many times before.

Immediately after getting the truck back, I noticed a very consistent, obnoxious squeal/squawk sound coming from underneath the truck that occurs only during a start from dead stop (forward or reverse). Back to the dealership to take the service manager for a ride, who confirmed hearing the noise and scheduled an appointment to diagnose and fix. Naturally, the service department could not replicate the noise on the day I dropped it off, so they tightened some crossmember bolts and called it good. The noise is still occurring consistently and the truck is going back in next week yet again. This time, I'm bringing a pair of coveralls with me and I'm not leaving until we verify the noise together, and I won't be taking the truck back until we perform plenty of starts from stop with no noise.

Thanks for reading my tale. Does anyone have an idea what could me causing the squeal/squawk noise? It only occurs on takeoff. Once rolling, there doesn't appear to be an issue. The only guesses I have at this point would be a reassembly error, possibly something torque converter related or the reuse of a transmission component that was damaged by the pump gear failure. The image of a six month old transmission sitting on a bench in pieces is a pretty nauseating one, and aside from the obvious noise the truck is now making, there's a psychological aspect whereby my faith in the truck's reliability is now gone. It's very hard not to let this taint the whole experience of owning a Raptor, even if the issue is eventually resolved.

Thanks again.

I have to agree with you, it would make me sick to have some flat rate ass hole tear into my truck. I sincerely hope they straighten this out for you...

 

[BangBang]

The service department not replicating the noise reads.....
"I don't want to have to redo this transmission. Transmission work sucks and I got to drunk last night to care."

 

[Loaf]

Do you think the noise stops or is drown out by other truck noises? Have you stuck your head out the window or a friends head to try and detect noise?

 

[jabroni619]

Damage from a failed pump is rarely going to be isolated to the immediate area. It would cause a low pressure condition throughout the transmission and either cause failures on the parts or at the very least, excessive wear to the point where components will undoubtedly suffer premature failure. Torque converter and clutch packs being the most susceptible.

I personally would push for a transmission replacement. I would not trust dealer techs to be competent enough to do a rebuild. Especially considering these transmissions are still relatively new and they likely don't have much experience with them yet.

 

[JBSK]

Do you think the noise stops or is drown out by other truck noises? Have you stuck your head out the window or a friends head to try and detect noise?

It seems to occur exclusively from a standing start, although that's a good question, it could possibly be occurring during higher gear shifts, but I haven't been able to hear anything then. I have stuck my head out at an open window at a stop sign quite a few times, yes, for which I've received some odd looks. I've noticed that even since I initially posted about this, it now sometimes is a double squawk/squeak sound versus just a single.

Damage from a failed pump is rarely going to be isolated to the immediate area. It would cause a low pressure condition throughout the transmission and either cause failures on the parts or at the very least, excessive wear to the point where components will undoubtedly suffer premature failure. Torque converter and clutch packs being the most susceptible.

I personally would push for a transmission replacement. I would not trust dealer techs to be competent enough to do a rebuild. Especially considering these transmissions are still relatively new and they likely don't have much experience with them yet.

I agree 100%. According the dealer, they "visually inspected" the internal components, and discarded the front mount due to visible scoring damage, but recycled everything else. There's no way they got it back to perfect factory condition, not to mention the unseen damage like you said. They even admitted that mine was the first 10 speed that they've worked on. The "truck WebMD'ing" I've been doing does seem to point to the torque converter as a possible noise culprit.

A full transmission swap will be the bare minimum that will appease me. Safe to say no one shells out the money for a Raptor only to be riding around with a partially rebuilt transmission six months later. My fault for not insisting on this in the first place.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[TxRap]

Hoping that you will get it swapped. Let us know how this turns out...

 

[Rapt-up]

Repair/rebuild unacceptable-demand a new replacement transmission. I hope they gave you a loaner for 3 weeks while your Raptor was at the Ford dealer .

 

[smurfslayer]

I’ll play devil’s advocate here, as I had a previous vehicle that the trans went bad in, was replaced with a remanufactured unit and but for some loose bolts on the pan and some fluid seeping out from the initial repair, the thing ran fine until I got rid of it long after the repair.

not sure what the squealing noise is but good luck with it.

 

[JBSK]

So after the truck's visit to the dealer last week, the noise from underneath has stopped. Prior to taking it in, I put my phone under the truck and hit record while going back and forth and was able to capture the sound. The dealer lubricated both ends of the driveshaft, which seems to have helped. They also ordered a new slip yoke to be installed on Monday. Seems it at the point where they're just throwing parts at it and hoping for the best.

I agree that the tranny should have been swapped when it failed. The service department did not disclose the extent of the damage and repairs required until the transmission was actually repaired. Whether this was intentional or not, I don't know. I also agree that it's possible that the transmission was repaired properly and could be perfectly fine now.

At this point, there's a huge psychological factor at play in that I no longer trust this truck. I've been deliberating my next move over the last week or so, and when I hopped in the truck yesterday to leave work, the check engine light came on, which was pretty much the nail in the coffin for me. (Can't get diagnosed till next week.) Unfortunately, we don't have lemon laws up here in Canada, so I plan on sitting down with the dealer to see what kind of deal I could get trading it in for a '19. I'm also strongly considering trading it in on something else altogether, even though it would be boring compared to the Raptor. There seems to be a number of Raptor owners who've had faulty units, who've traded up to a newer one. I'm having a hard time with the idea of paying even more for a newer version of the very vehicle that caused me a lot of headache, even though the next one could be perfectly fine. Speaks to how fun these trucks are to drive I suppose.

I appreciate the input.