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Ford Escape Transmission Problems

146 messages,  Last post on Mar 20, 2013 at 8:54 AM

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#74 of 146 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! by radflyr

Aug 29, 2011 (9:10 pm)

Purchased May 2011; the transmission has a turbo lag witch is strange that Ford has produced a bad symptom of Turbos historical past witch is no longer an issue for cars that actually HAVE Turbos! The faulty programming of the ford 6 speed seems to be the culprit. It is inconsistent sometimes much worse than other times. Can't be counted on to safely merge into heavy fast moving traffic Say, "like a FREEWAY!" Or other such unusual driving situations. Have almost been T-boned twice in three months. I haven't had an accident or moving violation for over 25 years and drive very safely, but I'm not a snail either. The engine has plenty of power lots of tork but I can feel the transmission holding the power back with its constant searching for just the perfect gear to use but it never finds it in time. If I have a short stop right after accelerating, the car continues to apply power to the axil long after I have taken my foot off the gas and applied the brakes; almost causing rear end collisions at false starts in traffic. And then the tranny makes a hard and loud clunk that feels like the tranny is falling out, it does this with great regularity while accelerating from a stop as well. It reminds me of a 65 Chevy Impala i had for a few weeks in the 70s witch went to the bone yard because the transmission needed a rebuild and the car only cost me $175. So I guess Ford still can’t build a car better than my old $175 Impala with an additional 43 years of technology advancement and an extra $25,000.00. They still handle their mistakes no better than they did in 1975. I was there with Ford then as well; I thought I’d give them a second chance but they just can’t handle Technology. And they should stay away from it. As I said I am not a lead foot but the best Mileage I have gotten is 22MPG. I got consistent 26 to 30 MPG out of my 2006 Mustang witch I traded for the Escape only because I have become disabled and could no longer pull myself up and out of the low Mustang. The Service Manager at the dealer in Cary, NC said they have had a lot of complaints but that the problems and they used to resolve each as it arose with reprogramming and had replaced a few transmissions but Ford told them not to do anything about it anymore. I am paraphrasing but I was basically told Ford has reverted to their historical M.O. "They are blaming the driver now (Just like they did with the dangerous Explorer tires and wheel alignments that cause accidents and death and injury in the early 2000s,so they don't have to admit the transmission is a lemon and therefore avoid a recall. Stating: "that the transmission is adaptive and if you aren't consistent about the way that you drive.” You may notice some unpleasant variances with shifting". I am 56 years old, been driving since I was 10. Grew up on a farm. Know engines transmissions and gears. Have owned more than 30 cars of various brands from domestic to foreign cheap to expensive. I know that this problem is a Defective Programming witch is causing shifting problems (Hard and searching shifts out of sequence (which will in time Cause Mechanical breakdown of the internal components in the transmission, engine, CV joints and breaks. Poor gas mileage and shortened life from the product. I've been there before. Ford's claims of quality and standing behind their products Eh! Go buy a Honda, GM, Toyota, or if you can afford it Acura or Audi. "Ford is still doing business; “just like its 1999!" It’s been three weeks since a Ford rep promising would get back to me within 3 or 4 days. Haven’t heard a word since, nothing from the dealer eighther.

#75 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [radflyr] by wwest

Aug 30, 2011 (10:23 am)

Replying to: radflyr (Aug 29, 2011 9:10 pm)
SOP for newer automatic transmissions, began with Lexus RX300 design change back in ~'98.
 
Google:
 
abolition hesitation downshift

#76 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [wwest] by radflyr

Aug 30, 2011 (10:52 am)

Replying to: wwest (Aug 30, 2011 10:23 am)
Hey! wwest, Maybe you could be more specific about what you have replied. I don't understand what it is that you are trying to convey,. I Goggled the phrase and found nothing but found nothing dealing with Ford Escape 6 speed transmission programming wondering clutching problems. Or anything that would address what my transmission is doing. I have wondering shifting up and down all throughout what should be a certain upshift at the proper RPM, I have searching and holding back and then finally shifting to the next when engine speed and forward momentum has been lost and then we are now in the wrong gear again. Clunking and banging of gears dropping at the end and beginning of the shifting sequence. Transmission gears slipping and then clunking and dropping into gear upon both hot and cold start-ups. Severe TURBO LAG when acceleration is needed for lane changing and merging in traffic. As a result as a fact of engineering to be sure that the tranny and engine are running hotter than they need to be running fuel economy is sacrificed and accelerated wear and decreased life on the entire drive train is the result.

#77 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [radflyr] by wwest

Aug 31, 2011 (8:21 pm)

Replying to: radflyr (Aug 30, 2011 10:52 am)
ALL modern day automatic transmissions pretty much all have the same firmware version, close enough anyway. Your 6-speed probably has 10 effective gear ratios, 6 "hard" with the top 4 able to use the lockup clutch for more fuel efficiency.
 
So the firmware is designed to most closely match the FE of a CVT, and that means lots of shiftiness. Slightest perturbation in the roadbed, or slight additional, or lift, on the accelerator pedal and it will switch gears. The only way I have found to reduce this effect, SLIGHTLY reduce, is to drive with CC on as much as possible.
 
The re-acceleration downshift delay, 1-2 second delay/hesitation is the result of the "abolition" of the old ATF line pressure sustaining system beginning back late in the last century. You are trying to merge into a line of traffic, release the gas pedal slightly, the transmission upshifts accordingly, now you wish to accelerate to merge and there is no reserve ATF line pressure available for the needed downshift so DBW is used to prevent engine rising torque until the downshift can be completed.
 
The third new effect you are probably encountering is the new coastdown FULL fuel cut to conserve fuel. Lift the accelerator pedal completely at any speed and the ECU will shutoff fuel flow COMPLETELY and then sequentially downshift as roadspeed continues to decline to prevent the engine from stalling. Just before you come to a full stop fuel flow will be restored and a final upshift will occur. Unless you step on the gas the transmission will now not downshift into first until the vehicle comes to a full and complete stop.

#78 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [wwest] by radflyr

Sep 01, 2011 (9:24 am)

Replying to: wwest (Aug 31, 2011 8:21 pm)
Hello Wwest, "Give me and others a break!" If you don’t work for FORD already; “which I suspect that you do in some form or have at one point.” “You really need to get a job at Ford explaining to other engineers with their heads planted firmly in worthless technical jargon that work with engineering theory in their little cubicles as to,”what will the machine do if we design it this way or just let it do that because it would work for you”. And you must have read but didn’t comprehend is that; I stated in my posting and reiterated it again in my response to your original response. The “Programming” OR as you call it: (FIRMWARE) was to blame. "I don't need you to tell me that." I still don’t know why you are responding to this posting because you clearly have nothing of real world value to aid in resolving this REAL defect. “I am sorry wwest, but you just aren’t helpful!”
 
I don't need diatribe about how the parts function together. The result of this POOR design is that the car is defective and dangerous in REAL WORLD daily use. This is 2011 and the fact that Ford has place a car on the market and continue to market it as such a marvel of technology and economy and reliable when the technology is poorly executed and then deny that there is a problem for them to address and give the value that the customers have been doubted into paying for. The fact remains, the car is defective, dangerous, and is destined for short road life because of extra heating of the internal parts that is cause directly by the unnecessary wondering shifting and holding back of engine torque that the driver has already paid for the gas to produce but it is now lost because the gear wasn't there when it should have been. Your Cruise Control suggestion is one that pisses me off; who uses CC while driving down the streets? This is not recommended for safety reasons and is not a solution for daily city driving. And just plain common sense while on the open road for fuel economy reasons alone. If I wanted a car held together with bailing twine and backyard snake oil suggestions like; “just use you cruise control and hope that you don't have to apply the brakes or anything like that!" "Then I would have spent thousands less and bought an old car!" (I bought a new car!) And it should shift without dropping gears with big boom sounds and leaving me stranded without power to get out of the way of quickly approaching traffic. And have been SCREWED BY FORD!! If you don't have any GOOD suggestions or can offer solidarity in forcing FORD to give what they promised in exchange for $25,000 for me and others; then I wish to hear it. "Do you?" I sound to me like you are a paid Ford apologist to monitor these forums to quail complaints by making them seem like its driver error. I have been driving over 44 years and have owned over 30 cars; "I know when I have a LEMMON and a DANGEROUS one at that!" I have been to this Rodeo before with FORD in the 70s. So I know when they are trying to sweep aside what should be a recall, unfortunately they haven't they haven't changed their methods since the disastrous head in sand burying of the Ford Explorer fiasco which resulted in the deaths of many of their loyal customers in the glaring national news media; before they finally called a recall of the cars. It’s a matter of what it cost for deaths as opposed to what it would cost to recall and repair” DEFECTIVELY DESIGNED and ENGINEERED PRODUCTS "Remember that?"
 It is my intention to "WARN others" about this POSSIBLY VERY DANGEROUS DEFECT before they go auto shopping because the dealers will only let you know about it after you have bought one. And Ford spends more money in advertising than dose any other car manufacturer in the country and therefore no media these days will bight the hand that feeds them.

#79 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [radflyr] by wwest

Sep 01, 2011 (4:34 pm)

Replying to: radflyr (Sep 01, 2011 9:24 am)
I am NOT in the employ of Ford, Lexus, or any automotive manuacturer.
 
Just stating the facts as I see them.
 
To my knowledge the 1-2 second downshift/delay hesitation first occurred in several Toyota/Lexus vehicles of the '01-'02 era, timeframe. The shiftiness I first observed in a Chrysler Sebring. The coastdown fuel cut technique I descovered browsing the 'net.
 
The 1-2 second downshift delay/hesitation is pure the result of a design flaw. A design choice that was made in the interest of FE.
 
These problems, poor design choices, are by no means limited to Ford products.

#80 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [wwest] by radflyr

Sep 01, 2011 (5:53 pm)

Replying to: wwest (Sep 01, 2011 4:34 pm)
wwest, Again, you are not helpful with regard to THIS issue with THIS FORD Escorts equipted with this transmission. Perhaps you could try to find a more pertanant automotive issue to fit what ever point you are trying to make.

#81 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [radflyr] by bdyment

Sep 02, 2011 (4:47 am)

Replying to: radflyr (Sep 01, 2011 5:53 pm)
What wwest is telling you, is that various other makes of vehicles have similiar problems with their auto transmissions as your vehicle does. What Ford are you driving? Today you are talking about an Escort that Ford hasn't made for years. Your postings are rather confusing.

#83 of 146 Re: 2011 Escape, defective 6sp trans. DANGEROUS! [ [radflyr] by bdyment

Sep 02, 2011 (11:37 am)

I replied to your posting, NOT wwest. Check youy posting of 1 Sept. You do mention a Ford Escort.

Messages Page 9 of 16

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