Transmission Problem: Heads Up!

[kilobravo]

Once I saw the crossthreading, my heart sank, John but Tom is, as usual, correct, and I think your approach is appropriate. Clearly a factory defect and even if they claim the gearbox is fine, I believe a solid argument can be made for potential internal damage.

Let's see, I'll have one of those Dee Cee Tee things, please. Thank you. A very costly error that I hope makes it back to Flat Rock in terms of better QA.

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[protraxduner]

Not being argumentative, but I live in the world where if I spent well over $100,000 for a car, there would be no band-aids. Ford screwed it up by cross threading a major bolt holding on a fluid line fitting that fell off due to neglect and workmanship defects. The result is a loss of most (if not all) the fluid. There is no way that transmission is OK. There is no way that I would accept a band-aid on a component that (I believe) is a $30K replacement.

I actually agree with you, but in reality a helicoil would most likely be an acceptable solution, again i don't know the loads of that particular fastener but would imagine it would be fine after helicoil. I don't know enough about DCT's to understand the ramification of complete oil loss but it is possible there is no damage. Again i would also fight for a new tranny, but would be ready for an uphill battle. I hope i am wrong and they do the right thing, especially on a car like this.

 

[Jordan @ Lethal]

A very costly error that I hope makes it back to Flat Rock in terms of better QA.

This^

It's such a simple error but 10/10 in dire importance.

 

[Tomster]

I actually agree with you, but in reality a helicoil would most likely be an acceptable solution, again i don't know the loads of that particular fastener but would imagine it would be fine after helicoil. I don't know enough about DCT's to understand the ramification of complete oil loss but it is possible there is no damage. Again i would also fight for a new tranny, but would be ready for an uphill battle. I hope i am wrong and they do the right thing, especially on a car like this.

I think the point is moot. You can't run a DCT trans out of fluid and have it be ok and serviceable. I think it should be scrapped and a new one installed.

 

[protraxduner]

I think the point is moot. You can't run a DCT trans out of fluid and have it be ok and serviceable. I think it should be scrapped and a new one installed.

Is that true? I honestly don't know.

 

[Tomster]

Is that true? I honestly don't know.

Im not going to get into what I know or don't know. I think John did the right thing and alerted the community about the potential threat for the rest of us. I am going to give him the room to work with Ford to get his new transmission and get on with his life. Ford does read this stuff (Hi Ford) and I don't want to say anything more that could be a problem down the road.

Good luck with your new trans John.

 

[kilobravo]

The telling factoid will be what percentage of the fluid remained, if any. Sure looked like quite a lot on the road surface and too much to just refill and go although I sure bet the mech tries it, unless he has to reference some DCT service protocol which mandates replacement if more than X percentage is lost while moving. I forget how many quarts that thing holds but I'm sure one of you has a much better memory. Eleven?

 

[Diel11]

When I had my first oil change at 1000 miles my dealer found the same transmission line was leaking a small amount of fluid. They replaced the o-ring and torqued it to spec. I'm going to check on it again just in case.

 

[Big John]

I am of the opinion that there is almost zero fluid left inside the transmission. The transmission did hiccup as I was coming to my final stopping point, once off the road.

As stated, this issue started at a red light. I drove less than two blocks before being able to exit the roadway. There is a trail from the light, to when I stopped. I traced my path.

When pushing the car in neutral, to load it onto the rack, we heard a lot of racket we believe coming from the transmission.

My hope is that Ford will do the right thing.

 

[shogun32]

if you overtorque a steel fastener in an aluminum block you strip threads too. My guess the spec is ~25ft/lb. All it's doing is keeping the rubber grommet and tube butted up to the hole - same idea as the pickup tube for the oil pump for the sump.

 

[Epiphany]

I don't see ANY threadlocker in there.

 

[kilobravo]

Me either, Tob and I've decided to bite the bullet, get her on the lift, and then get after as many important nuts and bolts as I can find, including those fluid line mounts, and check the factory install then add some thread locker.

 

[fishpick]

Not that this helps or matters - but a head service tech once told me - if you are driving a car under the factory warranty and something "happens" - keep driving it until whatever happened is completely done happening... and that "thing" is dead... then there's never a question about "is the X ok to give back to the customer".

Which - I know for every single one of us is unthinkable - if something goes wrong - STOP - assess - repair... but - his words, not mine - "they will almost always err on the side of the least expensive option - so if you remove that option by running it into the ground - you get the right fix".

All that said - I feel for the OP and honestly if it was me - don't know that I could have done exactly what the master tech told me to do...

Best of luck - I hope you get the right fix!

 

[protraxduner]

Not that this helps or matters - but a head service tech once told me - if you are driving a car under the factory warranty and something "happens" - keep driving it until whatever happened is completely done happening... and that "thing" is dead... then there's never a question about "is the X ok to give back to the customer".

Which - I know for every single one of us is unthinkable - if something goes wrong - STOP - assess - repair... but - his words, not mine - "they will almost always err on the side of the least expensive option - so if you remove that option by running it into the ground - you get the right fix".

All that said - I feel for the OP and honestly if it was me - don't know that I could have done exactly what the master tech told me to do...

Best of luck - I hope you get the right fix!

Damn John.....You should have floored it!...what were you thinking......

In all seriousness I am torn on this one. If i could be reasonably assured no damage was done, verifiable, and documented. I would much rather have 11 quarts of oil put in, threads fixed and be on the road in a few days.....VS having likely unqualified people putting a transmission in they have never seen and definately never had there hands one. The thought of a dealership pulling a tranny (dct or otherwise) and not screwing something else up terrifies me. This all revolves around whether or not the tranny with no or minimal fluid driven a very short distance can damage the DCT.

I wish you well, I am pretty local to you, if you are ever in the neighborhood, give me a buzz.

 

[Big John]

Damn John.....You should have floored it!...what were you thinking......

In all seriousness I am torn on this one. If i could be reasonably assured no damage was done, verifiable, and documented. I would much rather have 11 quarts of oil put in, threads fixed and be on the road in a few days.....VS having likely unqualified people putting a transmission in they have never seen and definately never had there hands one. The thought of a dealership pulling a tranny (dct or otherwise) and not screwing something else up terrifies me. This all revolves around whether or not the tranny with no or minimal fluid driven a very short distance can damage the DCT.

I wish you well, I am pretty local to you, if you are ever in the neighborhood, give me a buzz.

Honestly, I’m still very torn on this issue. The car isn’t going in till Friday. I’m going to take it to one of two dealerships.

I have a small connection to a minatory owner of a Ford dealer just outside of Tulsa. Both owners race cars and I have a huge collection of various Ford Performance vehicles. They have a senior master mechanic that I have not yet met, who has been there for 29 years. He is also supposedly an expert in transmissions. I’m gonna meet him in person on Friday. If he inspires confidence, I will leave the car with him.

My alternative is to take the car back to the dealer I purchased it from (Little Rock). Their senior master mechanic is an enthusiast. And due to my crazy PDI, I have a relationship with him. But that means the car will be 4+ hours away and out of my control.

I tracked down the trailer yesterday and purchased it. I will be picking it up tomorrow. That gives me a lot of flexibility to move the car wherever is best.

Where in Oklahoma are you? I would be happy to meet up sometime.

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