Buzzing noise when shifter to the left of gate

I swear that I have read (or seen a video) about this noise somewhere, but could not locate it. Funny thing is this noise just appeared today on my manual V6.

So I will describe it again here: The noise occurs whenever I push the shifter against the left side of the gate. But the noise stands out in the following two scenarios.

Scenario 1: When I downshift from 3 to 2. As I always double clutch when downshifting, I would blip the throttle and increase the rpm (by a lot, b/c 3-2 gear ratio) in neutral and push the shifter against the left side of the gate for downshift. It is at this moment when I hear a high-pitched noise around the shifter area. This was how I first noticed the noise at the first place. And I could reproduce this every time I did 3-2 downshift with double-clutch.

Scenario 2: Car stopped in neutral at idle rpm. Push the shifter to the left of the neutral position against the gate, and I can hear a faint (but very distinctive) buzzing/whirring noise at the shifter area.

I think the 2 scenarios has the same trigger -- shifter against the left side of the gate. Only difference is in the rpm, one high one low, resulting different pitches/volumes in noise.

Question: what is the course? Can this be easily fixed under warranty? Will an aftermarket shifter (I am thinking MGW) fix it?

Thanks.

Mine makes a little noise too if I put to much side pressure on it while in gear. Unless it's reaaaaaally bad....they will probably just say normal noises and to some extent that's true. Manual transmission do make some noise

Especially when it's a linkage shifter. A cable shifter will isolate the noise and you won't hear it. Our shifters, since attached by solid rods do transmit noise through the shifter. And you'll also notice the noise changes when you use a different shift knob

Maybe all manuals do this, more or less. For my V6, the noise at idle does not bother me at all. But the noise when doing 3-2 downshifting is very noticeable. I will bring it in to a dealer and see if they can do something. As I was flirting with the idea of shifter upgrade anyways, I just hope an aftermarket shifter will eliminate the noise.

buzzing sound from shifter

I know this is old news but this is my first opportunity to reply. I have the same issue and the ford service mgr. told me it is a "characteristic" of this car I have a 16 eco mt. He told me that ford is aware of it but as of yet they dont have a solution .Both m.t. mustangs on the lot have the same issue. So for now I guess we'll have to live with it.

Se 29/16:
'Just picked up my new 2016 EB M/T last night. Driving out of the dealership I noticed immediately that there is a whining noise when I'm in 1st or 2nd. It varies in intensity until/unless I pull the shift knob VERY GENTLY toward my leg...which makes the noise ten times worse. Likewise if I push very gently away from my leg it vanishes. It does not change in pitch or volume, but the random placement of the shifter during "normal" driving results in varied noise levels. Once I'm up into 3rd gear and beyond there is no noise.

Not a hissing.
Not a clunk.
Not a clank.
Not a thump.
Not a grinding.

Imagine a brake rotor or drum spinning on a lathe in readiness for dressing with a cutting tool. You slowly crank the handle until the cutting tool just barely contacts the steel surface. But because your rotor (or drum) is slightly out of round (or there's a high spot) you hear a zzzt zzzt zzzt zzzt. It's because for the first few thousandths of an inch the tool doesn't drag constantly. That's the sound I can reproduce by alternately pulling/pushing my shifter toward/away from my leg when in 1st or 2nd gear.

Then - as the cutting tool reduces that high spot and it is cutting all the way 'round -- that's the sound I hear when I pull my shifter toward my leg and hold it gently in that position.

I'm not worried that there is something expensive occurring...but I am annoyed. And I don't see why I should have to spend over C$630 to upgrade the shifter assembly in a brand new car just to address what I feel is a significant NVH problem!

* UPDATE *

I took the car in for this. I explained that I am ironclad certain that the noise is being transmitted into the cabin by the reverse lock-out touching the underside of the console or (more likely) the LHS of the aperture in the tunnel sheet metal. I verified this by lifting up on the reverse lock-out ring whilst cruising along in second gear; the noise stops instantly & completely. If I then allow the collar to drop back down into its normal position, the noise resumes.

The dealer told me there's nothing wrong. He claimed to have tested an identical (new) car on the lot and found it to be "even worse".

He further suggested that if I would just drive the car for a year or so to rack up 15K or 20K km's...the gears would have a chance to get worn-in and the noise would lessen.

I tried to explain that it wasn't about how noisy (or rough) the internal components are...it is about how much of the spinning-gears-and-bearings noise was audible inside the cabin. But he dismissed my concern.

I realize that I can solve all of the shifter-related problems/complaints with an aftermarket device (that MGW looks pretty sweet!) but this should not be necessary on a brand new $42K car.

Next stop: the (D)istrict (S)ervice (M)anager. Maybe the DSM will be more understanding.

Thanks for the update. Good luck on finding a solution.

I have learned to accept the noise. It does not seem so annoying now ;)

Horse said:

I swear that I have read (or seen a video) about this noise somewhere, but could not locate it. Funny thing is this noise just appeared today on my manual V6.

So I will describe it again here: The noise occurs whenever I push the shifter against the left side of the gate. But the noise stands out in the following two scenarios.

Scenario 1: When I downshift from 3 to 2. As I always double clutch when downshifting, I would blip the throttle and increase the rpm (by a lot, b/c 3-2 gear ratio) in neutral and push the shifter against the left side of the gate for downshift. It is at this moment when I hear a high-pitched noise around the shifter area. This was how I first noticed the noise at the first place. And I could reproduce this every time I did 3-2 downshift with double-clutch.

Scenario 2: Car stopped in neutral at idle rpm. Push the shifter to the left of the neutral position against the gate, and I can hear a faint (but very distinctive) buzzing/whirring noise at the shifter area.

I think the 2 scenarios has the same trigger -- shifter against the left side of the gate. Only difference is in the rpm, one high one low, resulting different pitches/volumes in noise.

Question: what is the course? Can this be easily fixed under warranty? Will an aftermarket shifter (I am thinking MGW) fix it?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

When you push the shifter against the gate, you're essentially over-extending the shift linkage. It's normal for ANY car to have some vibration/noise under that condition.

FordTechOne said:

When you push the shifter against the gate, you're essentially over-extending the shift linkage. It's normal for ANY car to have some vibration/noise under that condition.

Click to expand...

I understand what you are saying. But still Ford could/should have done better in designing the shifter.

FWIW, the shifter does not make the noise when pushed to the right against the gate.

Horse said:

I understand what you are saying. But still Ford could/should have done better in designing the shifter.

Click to expand...

Amen to that. I completely agree. And I am willing to acknowledge that things like this do occur. But when 33 or 69 or 177 customers take the time to compose long posts about it...and go so far as to take their precious vehicles in to the stealer for investigation...the company should sit up and take notice. They should be at least pretending to care! And they should be reaching out to their "upline" tech personnel to ask for guidance/solutions. It's not as if this is a brand spanking new issue. And it's not as if it only seems to be affecting two people. Come on, FoMoCo!!

Horse said:

FWIW, the shifter does not make the noise when pushed to the right against the gate.

Click to expand...

Ditto.

So - please try something for me if you would:

Find a section of road where you can safely drive along in second gear for several hundred feet, and while GENTLY pressing the shifter toward your seat, set a constant speed where the noise is really obvious. Now pull up on the reverse collar. The shifter will of course slip a little closer to your seat, but that is irrelevant.

Does the noise stop?

Now allow the collar to drop back down (you may need to relax your gentle leftward pressure slightly)

Does the noise resume?

A little experimentation like this will yield some surprising results. AND it will show you what you need to do when you demonstrate the issue to your dealer rep..

Horse said:

I swear that I have read (or seen a video) about this noise somewhere, but could not locate it. Funny thing is this noise just appeared today on my manual V6.

So I will describe it again here: The noise occurs whenever I push the shifter against the left side of the gate. But the noise stands out in the following two scenarios.

Scenario 1: When I downshift from 3 to 2. As I always double clutch when downshifting, I would blip the throttle and increase the rpm (by a lot, b/c 3-2 gear ratio) in neutral and push the shifter against the left side of the gate for downshift. It is at this moment when I hear a high-pitched noise around the shifter area. This was how I first noticed the noise at the first place. And I could reproduce this every time I did 3-2 downshift with double-clutch.

Scenario 2: Car stopped in neutral at idle rpm. Push the shifter to the left of the neutral position against the gate, and I can hear a faint (but very distinctive) buzzing/whirring noise at the shifter area.

I think the 2 scenarios has the same trigger -- shifter against the left side of the gate. Only difference is in the rpm, one high one low, resulting different pitches/volumes in noise.

Question: what is the course? Can this be easily fixed under warranty? Will an aftermarket shifter (I am thinking MGW) fix it?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I had similar buzzing and rattle coming from the shifter, all it took was switching to an aftermarket short throw shifter to get rid off the annoying buzz. Its the spring and the plastic reverse lock out causing the noises. It was noticeable at first and second gear on high rpms. It would disappear after shifting to 3rd gear.

ronemca said:

Amen to that. I completely agree. And I am willing to acknowledge that things like this do occur. But when 33 or 69 or 177 customers take the time to compose long posts about it...and go so far as to take their precious vehicles in to the stealer for investigation...the company should sit up and take notice. They should be at least pretending to care! And they should be reaching out to their "upline" tech personnel to ask for guidance/solutions. It's not as if this is a brand spanking new issue. And it's not as if it only seems to be affecting two people. Come on, FoMoCo!!

Ditto.

So - please try something for me if you would:

Find a section of road where you can safely drive along in second gear for several hundred feet, and while GENTLY pressing the shifter toward your seat, set a constant speed where the noise is really obvious. Now pull up on the reverse collar. The shifter will of course slip a little closer to your seat, but that is irrelevant.

Does the noise stop?

Now allow the collar to drop back down (you may need to relax your gentle leftward pressure slightly)

Does the noise resume?

A little experimentation like this will yield some surprising results. AND it will show you what you need to do when you demonstrate the issue to your dealer rep..

Click to expand...

Well I did not try it while driving. But I tried it while standing. Indeed, when you lift the collar up the noise stops while the shifter is at the gear 1-2 position (i.e., without pushing the shifter further left to the gate of reverse gear). But, while the collar is up, if you do push the shifter further left to the reverse gear, then again I can hear some noise (maybe not as loud).

Dec/16 Update...

Since the stealer pooh-poohed my concern, I installed a hybrid body/tranny -mounted BARTON SS, which eliminated the noise from the reverse lock-out collar. I still have a fairly steady zzzzzzz-ing (in all gears) but I have my fingers crossed that a few thousand km's of break-in will smooth out the gear edges. That - couple with the likelihood of my switching to a synthetic tranny oil in the spring of 2017 - should quiet it satisfactorily.

AND...

I am delighted with the improvement in feel/consistency/predictability delivered by the BARTON SS. There again there's some breaking in still to go, because it's pretty tight and quite "clicky". But I plan to remove two of the four user-accessible tension springs inside the cartridge next spring...which should see it configured perfectly to my liking.