Manual Trans. Thud when shifting

[ridenfish39]

If anyone feels what you’re experiencing is not normal, please bring your vehicle in to your Ford Dealer and get it checked out.

Deysha

We have, and dealers will deem the problem ''normal''.....like the oil consumption problem my 12 had. The ''thud'' doesn't really bother me, I'm just hoping the transmission lasts. And, something definitely changed with the 15s, because the 11-14s did not have this problem. I have driven quite a few and none did it including my own. I have driven 2 other 15 manuals, and they both ''thud''.

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[KilluminatiDre]

My car before the S550 was a '91 R32 Skyline GT-R, now that was a loud transmission. The S550 pales in comparison when it comes to transmission noises lol

 

[EXP Jawa]

Also, as per my Technical Expert; with the 2015 Mustangs, we have higher power outputs, so we have to have heavier duty transmission internals to deal with it. This will make for more noise when driven.

That still comes across as a cover story for the unwashed masses. What I do know (from experience) is that if my part of this car's drivetrain developed enough backlash to make a clunk like that, Ford would be all over us to get it fixed. They would never ever in a million years accept me telling them that "its heavy duty, so it makes more noise". That would never be acceptable. One of the key criteria of the ESOW is a part that meets the performance requirements without NVH issues. So, for Ford to turn around and use that excuse to its customers is a bit disappointing, to say the least.

 

[ZIGZGT]

I have a 2016 GT PP. It is present in the new cars as well. It's not a big deal to me, but it is definitely noticeable.

 

[mustang_guy]

I have some local buddies that don't have the thud with the mt-82. I also have a few that do. I can report the magnum XL does not make thuds. The s550 gt I test drove did not make this noise either.

 

[stageron]

Try this scenario. Sometimes when I need to inch the car forward I put the car in first and start to release the clutch, as the car starts to move and the clutch pedal is about half way out I step back down on it. I've never heard a sound like this in any car, I don't know how to explain it. Best word I can think of is BOING!. Happens every time. Add that to the Thud and the scraping noise. This is one of the worst manual transmissions I have ever owned. To make matters worse, according to Ford "It's operating normally".....Wow, this will be my first and last Mustang/Ford. It's on to the new Camaro for me.

 

[foghat]

Well, NVH is a catch-all term for any undesirable noise, clunk, buzz, thunk, etc that can emanate from a part. A "thud" when putting into gear would certain qualify. Typically in gear systems, they're looking at clunk in the gear operation, which is generally the result of back lash. I know that they'd been looking at trying to reduce lash in other parts of the drivetrain to minimize the impact that the transmission issues had, but there's only so much one can do with that.

I've always considered something to be NVH when it is more of a constant thing. Like gear whine/chatter or any vibrational noises that may occur. But I am not stuck on my interpretation of nvh.

 

[EXP Jawa]

In my experience with various manufacturers, any sort of noise will do. Even ones that only happen once in a vehicle drive cycle.

In the Fox body era, heck even 10 years ago, NVH in a car like this was allowed and, expected even, to an extent. Cars in general were just not sophisticated enough to warrant damping every little noise concern. But the expectation today is entirely different - not only has bar raised considerably in terms of what is allowable, the cabins of cars are quieter generally, so NVH noises stand out more.

Frankly, anything that stands out is likely on some level to translate into a dealer complaint and possible warranty claim (even ones that are "normal"). And that, in turn, has driven the automakers to be much more proactive in rooting out NVH concerns before they get into customers hands. Which is why I'm still shocked that Ford has let this get this far with this many apparent complaints. I suppose rubber stamping as "normal" gets them out of warranty claims, but it doesn't help the perceived quality overall...

 

[redline727]

Just playing devils advocate here because I'm a service advisor for BMW and get put in the middle of customers and BMW all the time. It's not an easy place to be in. Let me give you an example, when the N20 4 cyl turbo came out the direct injection was noisy as hell, It sounds like a diesel. And STILL is years later. We had tons of customers complain because their "mechanic" buddies told them something was wrong with the valve train and needed it looked at immediately. So they bring it in and we looked over quite a few. BMW field rep has been down multiple times confirming nothing is wrong and it's just the DI. So that's the information relayed to the customer. Through 4 years the improvement that was made was to the acoustic cover for improved sound deadening. Please remember the dealerships are at the mercy of the OEM just about as much as the owner. Believe me I get no enjoyment telling people when I don't have a solution to something in cases like this. I get paid off commission warranty and customer pay parts and labor. I would love to replace a transmission for every time I got this complaint. The dealership gets paid by the OEM to do warranty work. They want Fords money too. But there has to be just cause and approval for such large repairs like this. So keep that in mind when talking to your service advisor. Not making excuses because I know some dealerships really lack in their customer service skills, but there is truth in my statements.

Moral to my story is if Ford deems this normal then that's more than likely how its going to stay till they kill off the MT82. And ask yourself, if someone says ok you're right Mr. Customer we are going to rebuild your trans. They do and the noise is still present. Then they completely replace it and still does it. What will you do then? And along it was "normal"...you wasted all that time without your car...and the new/rebuilt trans could still grenade... It's as if people think Ford will just up and say the MT82 is junk! Tremec T56 MagnumXL's for everyone!!!

 

[EXP Jawa]

What I imagine is happening is that Ford is telling people that its "normal" (as in typical of what that specific version of the MT82 tends to do) to keep people at bay, as it hasn't yet shown to actually be detrimental to the transmission operation. At the same time, with enough complaints, they'll be doing a root-cause analysis to get to the bottom of what is actually generating the noise.

Once they have that, they can go about devising a fix for it, assuming a fix can be made. However, I have to believe that if a fix can be implemented, they'll do so, just to stem the tide of complaints. It has to be apparent to them by now that the complaints will continue until the issue is settled. That assumes, of course, that the level of complaints that we're witnessing here in this group is indicative of the population of buyers as a whole. It may not be - it is entirely possible that we're all piling on because someone else brought it to our attention. But in the outside world, it may be somewhat less apparent to the average. It would be interesting to see some data on customer complaints versus the number of manual transmission cars sold...

 

[mustang_guy]

Just playing devils advocate here because I'm a service advisor for BMW and get put in the middle of customers and BMW all the time. It's not an easy place to be in. Let me give you an example, when the N20 4 cyl turbo came out the direct injection was noisy as hell, It sounds like a diesel. And STILL is years later. We had tons of customers complain because their "mechanic" buddies told them something was wrong with the valve train and needed it looked at immediately. So they bring it in and we looked over quite a few. BMW field rep has been down multiple times confirming nothing is wrong and it's just the DI. So that's the information relayed to the customer. Through 4 years the improvement that was made was to the acoustic cover for improved sound deadening. Please remember the dealerships are at the mercy of the OEM just about as much as the owner. Believe me I get no enjoyment telling people when I don't have a solution to something in cases like this. I get paid off commission warranty and customer pay parts and labor. I would love to replace a transmission for every time I got this complaint. The dealership gets paid by the OEM to do warranty work. They want Fords money too. But there has to be just cause and approval for such large repairs like this. So keep that in mind when talking to your service advisor. Not making excuses because I know some dealerships really lack in their customer service skills, but there is truth in my statements.

Moral to my story is if Ford deems this normal then that's more than likely how its going to stay till they kill off the MT82. And ask yourself, if someone says ok you're right Mr. Customer we are going to rebuild your trans. They do and the noise is still present. Then they completely replace it and still does it. What will you do then? And along it was "normal"...you wasted all that time without your car...and the new/rebuilt trans could still grenade... It's as if people think Ford will just up and say the MT82 is junk! Tremec T56 MagnumXL's for everyone!!!

:lol: You deal with bmws every day too. Its good not to be alone. Our customers are the most self important, grandeur complex people ive ever met working at multiple different brand dealerships.

 

[redline727]

Yeah, more than likely we are the minority. This trans had been out long enough with its fair share of complaints. Ford chose to stay with it again in the s550 for what in my opinion must be obvious monetary reasons to keep this car in the price point it needs to stay at. And for now it's cheaper to deal with issues as they come about. Like declaring the thud normal and worry about blown transmissions as they happen. Which I will bet will be less than 10-20% of all of them on the road s197 and s550. And the ones that do grenade they can probably blame on modifications and not have to pay out anyway and plenty of s197's coming out of powertrain warranty.

Plus how many of us had this trans once already and still bought a s550 with it?. I didn't like this trans in my 2013. But didn't hate it enough to get an automatic and give up the Performance Pack.

 

[mustang_guy]

The whole Mt-82 transmission issues are blown way out of proportion. The minorities speak the loudest. The mt-82 trans isn't that bad. In my opinion, people that think its just horrible might not have driven vehicles with much worse problems. I find the mt-82 is hardly a bad trans. Its not amazing, but it surely isn't pile of crap that its portrayed as.

 

[Asharus]

they mustve come from audi/vw MTs. those things are butter.

ive only had the pleasure of driving bmw and subaru MTs. the bimmer trannies were ok (getrag as well) but the subaru 5 speed was junk.

 

[redline727]

[emoji38] You deal with bmws every day too. Its good not to be alone. Our customers are the most self important, grandeur complex people ive ever met working at multiple different brand dealerships.

You say that until you deal with Mini customers haha. My store used to be BMW/Mini until they recently built them their own store right next to us. We often would fill in or help out with the Mini advisors and vise versa. When ever I was hating life with BMW I would help out Mini and would go running back happy to help a BMW customer haha. Seriously Mini's have a cult like following...they love their cars so much but don't take care of them and when there 03 with 120K miles needs a timing chain set bc they let the motor get low on oil for lack of maintenance they want Mini to pay for it. Bc they have no money, it's there only car, they do volunteer work or are in there 8th year at some art school and they need a loaner...haha

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