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2015 T250 Transmission problems since new.

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53K views 32 replies 17 participants last post by  Mavman73  
#1 ·
Since last June Ford has been troubleshooting transmission problems with my 2015 Transit T250 with the Diesel engine. The Van was purchased for my business with plans of purchasing 3-4 more. This van has spent most of the last year in the dealership waiting for Ford Engineering to instruct the dealer on what repairs to try. They will have the van three weeks and we will pick it up. Then have it towed back in the same day.

They have replaced the Transmission Control Module three times. Rebuilt the entire transmission once and that was the only think that worked short term. Now after 6 weeks sitting at the dealership they say they are going to replace the torque converter. They have recently for testing added some external wiring jumpers externally to the wiring harness.

I have purchased fords for years and they have always been flawless. Currently 3-2015 alone plus a bunch of Freestars for service vans. But this van is tarnishing my view of the quality products I thought ford produces.Nobody gives a **** and it takes months for them to fix the problem. When I do engage customer service. (Which can only be done through twitter btw) They tell me yup we are working on it and we provide you with an update in a week or so. Which blows my mind. A week your going to call me back in a week to tell me they are still working on it. Just crazy how nobody cares.

It's to the point that I may have to get a lawyer involved. I tried being the nice guy for almost a year and it has got me nowhere. The van was purchased and operates in Ontario Canada and we don't have any lemon laws here. There is some organizations that help fight for owners but they don't cover any vehicle used for business.

I just want Ford to fix the problem or buy back/trade back the vehicle. The won't talk or entertain any ideas besides actually fixing the vehicle. It getting extremely frustrating.
 
#2 ·
My experiences were very similar. Ford will not replace your vehicle, no matter how often it fails. The CAMVAP arbitration program is available, but will only cover a clear manufacturing defect that can not be repaired. You must prepare your case, and Ford will prepare theirs. Arbitration will not address loss of use, or loss of confidence issues. It also takes several months.

It has been made explicitly clear to me that for replacement, Ford will only respond to a lawyer or a CAMVAP case. They will never voluntarily do anything other than continue to REPAIR the vehicle indefinitely.

That's just the way it is, and it is important that buyers out there are aware of this reality in Canada.
 
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T
#3 ·
Interesting...what's the problem? Losing power, slipping, or something else? Not a common thing to hear about, the 6R80 has been in service with Ford products since 2007. The 6R80 is a licensed reproduction of the ZF 6HP26, which has been used in European brands since 2002.

It's not very common to hear of issues, so I'm curious to hear what yours is doing.
 
#4 ·
Tom, not sure why you would be in a position to hear about every transmission problem with Ford or any other manufacturer. The unfortunate fact is, mechanical things do fail from time to time. The OPs point seems to be more about the repeated failure of the manufacturer to resolve the issue.

Two separate issues IMO.
 
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T
#5 ·
I think you misunderstand me John. My point was that transmission problems are uncommon, which is why I'm interested in what the failure is. Nothing more.
 
#7 ·
Hey Guys, Thanks for your response. Sorry for not getting back sooner. I'd would of expected to get a email if the I had gotten a response to my original posting.

The van always had a shutter and slippage between gears. It would always shutter if you just gave it a little more gas on the HWY. It would shutter before picking up speed or making a shift. After numerous times at for they claimed this "Torque converter shutter is normal for this type of vehicle". Then the vehicle would stop down shifting after I got off the hwy. It would stay stuck in four gear and would stay there until I turned the vehicle on and off again. Ford replaced they Transmission control module and that seemed to correct that issue. Currently the van is on its four transmission control module. After that I lived with the shutter and slipping of the transmission because I actually need this van for my business. Unfortunately the slipping got so bad that the vehicle wouldn't move after about 10 minutes of driving. If I pulled over and let it cool off I could go a few more minutes before it slipped again. Ford then rebuilt the entire transmission, they said they found the problem. It was some sort of transmission cooler/heat exchanger that was allowing engine coolant into to the transmission and contaminating all the plates and clutches. After the rebuilt the transmission worked flawless for about 15,000km. Even the shutter was gone and fast smooth shifts. Kinda funny how Ford claimed that the shutter they couldn't get rid of before which they claimed was normal to that vehicle disappeared after the rebuild. But once again the problems came back. So the poor shifts and shudder are always there but the slipping out of gear usually starts after 45 mins to 60 mins of run time.

It blows my mind how Ford could careless about making this right and fixing my van in a timely matter. It's been a year and still no fix. The van sits at the dealership waiting for repairs for months at a time. They even had to machine the brakes because they all seized up from it sitting so long. I don't want to sell this problem to someone else but it may be time to go back to the sprinters.
 
T
#8 ·
Wow...that's quite a history.

The Transit uses an oil-to-water cooler that exchanges heat between the transmission and the cooling system. Coolant contamination will destroy a transmission in short order, so that part makes sense. You can see contamination easily on the transmission dipstick, but of course Ford made this challenging to check by having the dipstick underneath the van.

Have they pressure tested the cooling system the latest time around?
 
#10 ·
Update -They are still waiting for the replacement torque converter and now are going to replace some internal wiring in the transmission. I phone the dealership once a week for an updates since no one ever calls me. Did I mention I left messages for two days with the service department and even sent a text to the service departments cell phone. Also after complaining on tweeter a little over a week ago the Customer relations people called me within a hour and said they would give me an update in a week..still no word from them, should I be surprised? Finally after waiting on hold for 30 minutes I got an answer today that nothing has happened since last week. Ford just doesn't get customer service or urgency. This isn't some car that I use for my commute, It my lively hood and I need the van to make a living. The 2016 F-150 loaner is useless to me. I have to use my own F-150(because it has a trailer hitch and the rental they gave me dose not) to pull an enclosed trailer with all my tools in to try and take care of business. Then rental they gave me sits in my shop while I put mileage on my own vehicle because no one at ford cares.Instead of having all my tools organised in the my nice big van I stuck tripping over them in a trailer. This van was going to be the first of many for my growing business. We went with ford over Mercedes because we don't like the rust we see on the sprinters and all our other vehicles are ford. I personally own 3-Freestars,2015 F-150 Platinum, 2015 Escape titanium, 2015 Transit T250 High Roof Diesel. My father has a Navigator. I upgrade my pick up every two to three years and have been a very good ford customer. You think they would try and return the favour. Not to mention I have switch countless friends over to ford. Now my friends are all asking me if it was the right manufacture to recommend and honestly I don't think so any more.
 
C
#11 · (Edited)
Time to find out about the Lemon Laws in your state. You need to call Ford Customer Service NOW if you haven't done it already at 1-800-392-3673. Give them all the information about your Transit, how many days it has been at the dealership for repair, and what the problem you are dealing with. Tell them you want the Transit replaced. Then get the information on the Lemon Law and proceed with your complaint.

Once you contact Ford, there is a record of the problem. Then the Lemon Law letter will follow. That should get you some action from Ford and passed to the dealer. What Ford dealer are you dealing with?
 
#12 ·
Why is it that customers must resort to lawyers? I just don't get that.

I got the same response from my dealership. We will repair and mess with your brand new van 35 days in the shop. We will mess with it 35 more. Want a new van? Call a lawyer.

There is something fundamentally wrong with that.
 
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#13 ·
In Ontario Canada we don't have any lemon laws. It was amazing how fast Ford Canada let's you know that on the phone when you mention it. We do have an the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan (www.canvap.ca) but since this vehicle is commercially registered it does not qualify for the program.
 
#14 ·
Update-late last week I got the word that they are going to now replace the complete transmission. This was only after they installed the second new torque converter, rebuilt the transmission, 3 transmission control modules, harness changes. The mechanic said he was all ready to give me back the van but 60km in on a test drive is messed up again. So ford engineering actually came down and looked at the vehicle. They decided to pull the trigger on a complete new transmission. They are telling me its a minimum two week wate for a new transmission to even arrive. When will this ford nightmare be over? They have had my vehicle for over two months this time. In the last year I have had this truck it spent 2/3 of the year in the dealership.
 
#15 ·
Hi Ryan, I hope the new transmission will solve all your problems.

I have had extensive experience with the Ford warranty repair routine. The dealer will work hard, and endlessly, to REPAIR the problems. There appears to be no limit to how much inconvenience this may cause the customer.

Ford CRC is able to offer some goodwill compensation in the form of maintenance or warranty programs. The CRC offer in my case was unacceptable, and declined, but others have done better.

Otherwise, seek professional legal advice or an arbitration process depending where you live.

It's important that Ford customers know this so their expectations can be moderated. Please keep us posted on how your case evolves.
 
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#19 ·
You'l probably be ok if you aren't in Canada, seems like that is where the really bad ones get shipped>:D
 
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J
#32 ·
Disagree with this comment



I have had problems with my 2015 T250 transit since the day I drove it off the lot (not kidding) The service and check engine light were on, it was the end of the day and the mechanics were gone for the day. The owner of the dealership assured me that it was from sitting and that they all do that (In retrospect it funny how he confidently told me that on the day of the sale but can tell me nothing of the problems it is having (its all a surprise to him).

Back to my disagreement. I cant drive anywhere that there is another Transit driver without them approaching me to ask if I'm having problems with mine and then listen to them go on and on about the problems they are having.

Final note about the ford dealership culture. Today I ran into the Owner of the dealership. He asked me how the Transit was running. I told him about the old problems that have never been resolved and the new ones that have cropped up. His response..........................................


"I'm sorry I asked" WTF................................................:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
T
#22 ·
My only suggestion is that fluid color doesn't imply anything about fluid condition. Perfectly normal in these for it to turn dark, that's not a bad thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
B
#23 ·
In my 2012 F150 with the 6 speed transmission I also would get the odd shutter when I let off the gas. Sometimes the shutter was very noticeable. I even had the odd gear bang (clang or such).

I am pretty sure a new transmission will fix the issue. If the transmission was overhauled before there has to be a common fault which is causing this phenomena.

I think it's highly frustrating to have these issues. You know after this many years of manufacturing vehicles I wish they would stop trying to make new designs and absolutely perfect them.

So even if you sold this van and bought something else you may end up with issues.
 
#24 ·
Ryan, where in Ontario are you located, and what dealership are you dealing with? My tranny works, but not right, and naturally, the dealer says there's nothing wrong with it, yet tells me they have no other diesels on the lot to test drive for comparison.
 
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#27 ·
The transmission has been working perfectly since they installed the brand spanking new one. I was so lucky to find a great dealership that was willing to push Ford to replace the complete unit. Ford wanted to try a few more fixes and the dealership pressured the engineers to come out and look at my van. The dealership that made the magic happens was Grimsby Ford in Grimsby Ontario Canada. They are a small dealership that is big on customer service. The owner himself talked to me about the van and said no matter what it takes they will get this thing fixed....and he did. It took a bit but they do have to follow the process the Ford engineering requests. I would recommend this dealership to anyone in fact most of all my friends and family have switch to this dealership. I will never go back to the east end Hamilton for dealer that I have purchased many of my vehicles from. From now on its only Grimsby Ford
 
B
#31 ·
THANK YOU for posting this. I may need a Transit, service, or parts someday, and I WAS going to post something negative here.

(My entire family is under a no dealership ban. Whatever it takes. Ebay, me getting my hands dirty, whatever. Right down to transmission work and taking cylinder heads off)

A dealership in Ontario with actual customer service would be wonderful...
 
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