avarusbrightfyre Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Hello! I have a 2013 Ford Fusion SE 2.5L and I've been experiencing rough and delayed shifting in gears 1-3. Usually it's just a harsher shift than I would expect in an automatic, which I understand is common to the Fusion. However, sometimes the RPM will rise upwards of 3500 and then sit there for a second or so before slamming into the next gear. Occasionally, when I'm in stop and go traffic and the transmission is having to shift back and forth between gears frequently, I'll get an extremely hard downshift into a gear that will literally shake the car, which I can't imagine is normal. I will note that these symptoms happen most often at moderate throttle. When I'm using only 10% or so throttle, the effects seem to be reduced (though still somewhat present), and when I'm at half or more throttle, I tend to get better shifts, though obviously more rough than regular acceleration. I have reset the adaptive transmission several times (turn car off, set key to on, hold accelerator down for 30 seconds, turn key to off, release accelerator pedal and wait five minutes with the key in the ignition). I also just had the transmission flushed at 60K miles hoping maybe it was dirty transmission fluid, but no change. I could speculate about shift programming and such, but I'll let someone with more knowledge than me propose possible problems or solutions. I'm hoping it's not a physical problem.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eGuru Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Just curious, where is that PCM reset process documented? Only process of which I was aware involved disconnecting the battery. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avarusbrightfyre Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 It's not a computer reset. It just returns the "adaptive transmission" to it's factory setting. It seems to work sometimes for a bit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 9 hours ago, avarusbrightfyre said: It's not a computer reset. It just returns the "adaptive transmission" to it's factory setting. It seems to work sometimes for a bit. Hi avarusbrightfyre. What eGuru was asking about (and I am curious too), is if you would provide a link to wherever you found this "reset" process documented. I believe it is news to most of us, so a link would be helpful. All previous information states that disconnecting the battery for a short period of time will accomplish what you are describing. So before we begin recommending this procedure to others, some sort of documentation would be helpful. Get back to us and good luck. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyross Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 I'm surprised it wasn't fixed by 2013. I have a 2011, and had that issue. A firmware update from the dealer fixed it. Instead of racing and slamming into gear, it will seem to just hold power, and then generally just shift firmly. And even that is rather rare now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avarusbrightfyre Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 On 10/2/2018 at 9:05 AM, andyross said: I'm surprised it wasn't fixed by 2013. I have a 2011, and had that issue. A firmware update from the dealer fixed it. Instead of racing and slamming into gear, it will seem to just hold power, and then generally just shift firmly. And even that is rather rare now. That's a little surprising. When I first started having issues, I brought it to a local Ford dealer (back when it was still under the 50K milewarranty), and they simply reset the trans adaptive because they "couldn't reproduce the symptom". That seemed to fix the problem for a while until the adaptive transmission started changing the shifting again back to being more harsh. At this point, I'll probably have to pay for a visit since I'm over the warranty mileage, so is there a way to get the latest firmware update without having to visit the dealer? I know that's a long shot, but I thought I'd ask anyway. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eGuru Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 I am still curious about where you obtained the "transmission reset" process that you described in your first post. I have never seen that process documented for any Fusions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eGuru Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 On 10/1/2018 at 11:48 AM, avarusbrightfyre said: I have reset the adaptive transmission several times (turn car off, set key to on, hold accelerator down for 30 seconds, turn key to off, release accelerator pedal and wait five minutes with the key in the ignition). The above described process is undocumented and ineffective at performing any transmission shift point recalibrations. The documented process of disconnecting the battery for a few minutes and allowing the PCM to re-learn the shift points while you drive the vehicle is the only method available to the average owner. If this doesn't address the rough shifting, a visit to a qualified dealer should be the next step. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyross Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 On 10/3/2018 at 12:16 PM, avarusbrightfyre said: That's a little surprising. When I first started having issues, I brought it to a local Ford dealer (back when it was still under the 50K milewarranty), and they simply reset the trans adaptive because they "couldn't reproduce the symptom". That seemed to fix the problem for a while until the adaptive transmission started changing the shifting again back to being more harsh. At this point, I'll probably have to pay for a visit since I'm over the warranty mileage, so is there a way to get the latest firmware update without having to visit the dealer? I know that's a long shot, but I thought I'd ask anyway. On the invoice from when I had it fixed, it is listed as "Trans flaring up between 2-3 shift" and fixed under TSB 11-9-9. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyboy101 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 I’d like to share my insight here: 2013 ford fusion titanium owner here: Ever since 92000 miles or so I have noticed harsh shifting. I took it too a local ford dealer at 100,000 and we diagnosed cv axel leak low 2 quarts of fluid. Fixed this issue, did drain and refill, still an issue with the hard shifting. 104,000 decided to put new sparks and coils in after a dedicated trans shop told me he diagnoses as “engine miss at heavy throttle.” This was a pointless repair for the transmission issue but at least those plugs and packs shouldn't go bad for the rest of the life of the car. Decided at 107000 to take it to another dealer (where I bought my car). They suggested a $240 trans flush with their machine. I agreed as the shifting was getting more and more harsh. Got it back and the shifting got a WHOLE lot worse. It seemed to be skipping gears and delaying as if it was entering a “neutral” for a bit longer before shifting to the next gear. I got pretty upset thinking I just spent $240 to ruin this transmission. I took it back up there 5 days later and we determined the machine failed to put in .5 to .75 of a quart of fluid. They told me this caused the issue but I didn't really know how that would've when the other dealer said it was low 2 quarts prior and it wasn't as bad as its current state. Anyway, I was driving at night and noticed my ambient light settings were turned off, as well as my nighttime dash lights were up to the max. My theory is they did a reset by battery (or some computer tools they have) and that was the true fix to this transmission. They never told me any of this though, they just said they added fluid. Problem is 100% solved at this point in time. It shifts much better than it did since 92,000 and I no longer have any issues :D. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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