2013 Ford Fusion Transmission Trashed at 109,000 Miles

[Captain Crawfish]

I wouldn’t even change the fluid on an old transmission. Usually just messes it up. It’s a ford it doesn’t take much

[HarrisonTX]

235k miles on OG trans fluid checking in

[93LXHORSE]

Is it the 6F35? They have A LOT of valve body problems but so does pretty much every other transmission with a mechatronic unit. You'll have a really difficult time proving the cause of failure. You'd need to have someone completely disassemble the transmission which will need to be reassembled for the core value and then all you'll see is a bunch of burned up clutches. No telling which one went first but once that debris got into the solenoid body it was game over.

Yep, it was taken apart and that's exactly what they found. I'm out of town while this is being done but the trans shop sent me pics of the complete disassembly with the parts all laid out. Clutches with hot spots, code history of stuck solenoids, etc....

[93LXHORSE]

I was just thinking about taking my fusion in to have the transmission flushed.

HMMMM.

I would leave it alone based on my experience.

[93LXHORSE]

http://www.fordtransmissionproblems....ssion-problems

Interesting. I will look into this and see if it's worth pursuing.

[93LXHORSE]

I'm assuming the '12 ford fusion has the same tranny, mine had a recall and I took it in before the warranty expired at 50k miles. They had to R&R it, something about the solonoids in the valve body, they also tore up a axle boot sligning gear oil on the ride home, I took it back and got one new left axle. The car ran good up until 115k miles and it started slipping, but only when cold, once it warmed up it ran fine. I sold that monster and moved on. I had just payed it off too and wanted to keep it, but I knew the end was near and took $7.5k cash and bought a new Mustang...

Yep I was ready to move on from this one... if I was in Fort Worth still, my first move would have been to tow it in to the dealer I bought it from and hand it over. It's been paid for for years and unloading it and getting it into a new vehicle seems smarter to me than throwing good money after bad..

[93LXHORSE]

I'm gonna flip the script and buy that extended warranty the next time my home boy calls.

He's always lookin' out.

Yep, now I am getting calls from the extended warranty people saying.... "We told you so...."

[93LXHORSE]

Ford taking any responsibility will be entirely to them and I'd consider it extremely amazing customer service if they do. As stated above, if you don't regularly maintenance an automatic transmission then it's best to let it be. I'd recommend a fluid \ filter change every 30-50k depending on how you drive If it's used to tow heavy loads with or a 1\2ton and tows frequently then change it more ofter. Unless the guy pulling it down can find a definite cause from Ford's service work prior then the repair is likely on you. If your guy at auto nation pulls a rabbit out of his hat and is able to get any of it covered then I'd consider it a blessing.

There's a lot going on inside a transmission, if you had a clutch failure of something that resulted in excessive heat build up then it will cook the fluid in a rapid hurry. There are charts that show how ATF fluid heat equates to mileage.

Well as it turns out... my service advisor Steve @ Autonation Fort Worth is awesome. He's blended warranty service and recall stuff with allowances for additional repairs since day one.

In this case he is listening to my story. He spoke to the fluid vendor and they stand by their fluid and provide reimbursement for repairs should something go wrong with a trans after Ford fills it with their product.

He's directed me to a link which I've provided to the trans shop. They will complete and submit along with pics and findings, plus my Ford invoice for the original service.

They will reimburse up to 2000.00 for the cost of a trans rebuild in the right situation. Hell I can't think of a more perfect scenario than mine, but we will see. I will have to trust the process.

The above lessens bit of dissatisfaction I have right now with the Ford product.. up til now this car has been awesome, and my wife's 2009 model has been as well.

We will see how it pans out. I am to have more discussions and pick the repair car up in a couple days.

[93LXHORSE]

BG Fluids paid 2000 bucks towards my trans rebuild. Made payment to the shop before I made my payment. Pretty sweet deal. And very painless except for the 1200 I did have to pay.. But as good an ending as I could hope for.

[shumpertdavid]

That sounds pretty exceptional. I'm glad they took care of you. It speaks bounds for their customer service.

[Big A]

So what's the life expectancy of a transmission these days? I know some cars will go forever, but is a rebuild at 100k+ really such sour grapes?

Glad it worked out for you, it definitely doesn't ever hurt to ask.

[Shaggin Wagon]

I’ve heard of transmissions crapping out all the time after a full fluid change. It knocks the junk loose inside the transmission that was happily caked to the gears or whatever and with fresh fluid they break loose and transmission bye bye.

I’ve never flushed the fluid in auto transmission cars. YMMV.

Same here

[68RR]

We picked up a bone stock 04' F-250 6.0 with 270K miles. To start a baseline for maintenance, we did a total fluid and filters ( tranny, oil, gas, rear end) change. Now at 320K and changed the tranny fluid and filter. Knock on wood, no problems so far.

[93LXHORSE]

So what's the life expectancy of a transmission these days? I know some cars will go forever, but is a rebuild at 100k+ really such sour grapes?

Glad it worked out for you, it definitely doesn't ever hurt to ask.

Not at all. Pursue an issue all the way til the end, I say. In this case there were good people involved all the way around... if it hadn't have worked out this way, I was definitely going to keep after it with Ford directly...

I Ubered in a 6 cylinder Charger the other day with 219K and they guy told me he hadn't had a single issue the whole time... but he did mention several Uber comrades with Fusions that had trans problems as well....