2012 6F35 Transmission Problems (New Video)

[IcyFusion]

Mine does the exact same thing. but mine also flares to 3rd, 4th, and rarely to 5th gear..Dealer says an update is coming out in July so we'll see. I have my doubts this will fix the issue, then i'll be forced to trade it in...I remember the good old days when American cars were built and assembled in the USA. Now it's Mexico, Canada, Japan, foreign parts--who knows what else!!

 

Hmmm, I suppose we'll just wait until July or before that if they decide to release it a little earlier. I'm starting to get rough shifts into 1st gear now down from the higher gears when coming to a stop sign; hell, it seems to jump a bit when slowing down for a stop but then deciding to continue through it. My only concern is that it is doing damage to the transmission itself. My '98 Grand Am GT had rough shifts and it absolutely destroyed various components of the transmission (you could actually hear chunks of metal bouncing off the gears). I'm at just over 5400 miles on mine (since Oct 2011) and thinking about having a reprogram done just to see if that might work even though I know others aren't having luck.

 

new today.. i think mine has started to slip. twice i was moving hit the gas nothing happened gave it more nothing.... literally pedal to the floor it revved up to 5k but no shifting action or acceleration

i made this tonight. this happens every time i merge onto the highway if you play it loud enough you can actually hear it slam into gear

 

Wow, really just kind of sat at a constant RPM there for a bit before actually doing anything. Just curious, did you keep your foot down on the pedal or did you jam it a couple of times to the floor? The reason I ask is that the computer does a horrible job of matching a quick jab of the acceleration pedal as opposed to a constant pressure/gradual pressure of it. Although it is obvious in this case that something is wrong because that needle bounced everywhere.

 

I have a 2012 SE with 1300 miles and it flares consistently about 2-3rd gear cold or hot. Under hard acceleration it seems to shift ok.. I've also heard the gurgling sound from dash just 1 time which is kinda weird. I took car to dealer in early Feb and they said an update is due in July 2012?? This transmission has been in the fusions since 2010 and they have not found a fix yet? I've heard of a software update released in '11 which fixed the flare issue--cant remember what it was. Anybody out there know of a fairly current update that may fix the flare issue, then i'll take car back to dealer and shove it down their throat.. Seems like there are lots of updates out there, it just amazes me the dealer didnt try one of these just to see if it worked. Now i have to wait till july while the transmission continues to prematurely wear. Go figure...

 

Mine is the same with 2nd-3rd and goes through 4th real quick onto its way to 5th. I have tried to compensate for the flare a bit by adding additional pressure onto the pedal and it just results in a higher RPM before shift rather than actually correcting the problem. I think the reason it may shift better under hard acceleration is the fact that it doesn't really have "time" to think about timing of the gears but instead get you to 6th as quickly as possible. :P

 

I too heard about the 2011 update but think that only worked for a few people if I remember right, however probably wouldn't hurt to try it if you can get the dealer to do so. They'll probably tell you you have the wrong year because they don't want to spend time try to fix the issue. I think the key to getting anything "tried" on the transmission with regards to a computer fix/flash is to be persistent with the dealers. But I guess it just depends on how aggressive one is too...

[redfire06]

the ramp is a bit short so i have to go coast then go when its clear it trips up every time and does that. also if i am coasting 65 or so and try to maintain speed ot add just a bit it lags then bounces all over the place

they are now putting a data recorder in it because they STILL "can't duplicate it" blasphomey. i drove it with them and it dit it with the tech in the car!

i do have a case open with ford so we'll see where this mess goes

[ehidle]

Well, the weather is getting warmer, and our flare is back, and boy oh boy is it worse than it was in the fall. It didn't do anything all winter, even sitting around.

 

This supports my theory of fluid seepage in the transmission, since colder fluid is less viscous and has a much harder time seeping through small spaces. So, it's back to the dealer to let the car sit for a couple of days, and another demonstration, and of course, another week without our car.

 

Wonderful.

[ehidle]

I have filed a complaint with the National Highway Transportation Safety Board over two issues with this transmission. Here is text of the complaint:

 

COMPLAINT 1) WHEN ACCELERATING, THE TRANSMISSION FLARES DURING THE SHIFT FROM SECOND TO THIRD GEAR, AND THE VEHICLE LOSES ACCELERATION DURING THE SHIFT. THE PROBLEM IS MORE SEVERE WHEN THE CAR HAS BEEN SITTING IN WARM WEATHER FOR MORE THAN 24-48 HOURS. THE MISBEHAVED SHIFT CAUSES DISTRACTION TO THE DRIVER AND THE LOSS OF CONTROL OVER ACCELERATION FOR A BRIEF PERIOD OF TIME. THIS DISTRACTION COULD CAUSE THE DRIVER TO LOSE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, LEADING TO A CRASH.

 

COMPLAINT 2) THE TRANSMISSION TAKES AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME TO SHIFT FROM REVERSE TO FORWARD, AND FROM FORWARD TO REVERSE. THE TIME IS SOMETIMES IN EXCESS OF 2 SECONDS. THE INABILITY TO CONTROL THE VEHICLE DURING THIS TIME COULD LEAD TO A CRASH.

 

The ODI# for this complaint is 10451740

 

Hoping some eyeballs will see this and help move this process along. I would encourage anyone who experiences flares and/or delayed shifting to file a similar complaint with NHTSA. Ford has essentially ignored this problem for 3 years and it's time to get some more teeth involved.... (just let me sell my ford stock first haha)

 

You can view or file complaints at:

 

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/

Edited March 15, 2012 by ehidle

[IcyFusion]

the ramp is a bit short so i have to go coast then go when its clear it trips up every time and does that. also if i am coasting 65 or so and try to maintain speed ot add just a bit it lags then bounces all over the place

they are now putting a data recorder in it because they STILL "can't duplicate it" blasphomey. i drove it with them and it dit it with the tech in the car!

i do have a case open with ford so we'll see where this mess goes

 

I accelerate down a similar length ramp but doesn't trip as much as that; however, the "adding speed" is what gets me. Looks like it definitely is slipping there and shame that even in the drive the tech "didn't notice it" or pretended that it didn't exist. Let me know what the data recorder finds, because if these hard shifts don't stop I'll have mine in for a check yet again soon (last time I was in was at 750 miles and I'm at 5500 miles now).

 

Well, the weather is getting warmer, and our flare is back, and boy oh boy is it worse than it was in the fall. It didn't do anything all winter, even sitting around.

 

This supports my theory of fluid seepage in the transmission, since colder fluid is less viscous and has a much harder time seeping through small spaces. So, it's back to the dealer to let the car sit for a couple of days, and another demonstration, and of course, another week without our car.

 

Wonderful.

 

Hmmm, so you are thinking that it is leaking transmission fluid somewhere? Or it isn't maintaining proper levels in the right spots of the transmission?

 

I have filed a complaint with the National Highway Transportation Safety Board over two issues with this transmission. Here is text of the complaint:

 

 

 

The ODI# for this complaint is 10451740

 

Hoping some eyeballs will see this and help move this process along. I would encourage anyone who experiences flares and/or delayed shifting to file a similar complaint with NHTSA. Ford has essentially ignored this problem for 3 years and it's time to get some more teeth involved.... (just let me sell my ford stock first haha)

 

You can view or file complaints at:

 

http://www-odi.nhtsa...gov/complaints/

 

Thanks for taking the time to post a complaint, if I don't find any information from the dealer here in the preceding months I too am going to end up filing a complaint before our transmissions crap out (hopefully within the warranty).

[Bert]

It's the same transmission that GM and Ford designed together. I never checked to see if they're having the same type of problems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_6F_transmission. Mine is new with only 280 miles and shifts properly. It was built in Jan this year.

[motorcyclist]

It's the same transmission that GM and Ford designed together. I never checked to see if they're having the same type of problems. http://en.wikipedia....6F_transmission. Mine is new with only 280 miles and shifts properly. It was built in Jan this year.

 

 

 

Have 12K miles on my 2011, it shifts just a bit slow when cold, but after running a few min. shifts perfectly.

[ehidle]

Hmmm, so you are thinking that it is leaking transmission fluid somewhere? Or it isn't maintaining proper levels in the right spots of the transmission?

 

My theory is that there is excessive regulator valve bore wear caused by the engineers being either incompetent and leaving out the required wear sleeve in such a valve design, or flat out reckless and removing the wear sleeve from the design to save money.

 

I would take a class action lawsuit against Ford to compel the kind of discovery that would answer the question as to whether Ford engineers knew or should have known that their design was doomed to fail from the start, putting the public at risk.

[JibberJab]

It's the same transmission that GM and Ford designed together. I never checked to see if they're having the same type of problems. http://en.wikipedia....6F_transmission. Mine is new with only 280 miles and shifts properly. It was built in Jan this year.

 

There is a Chevy Malibu forum that I visited and many posters describe the same kind of issues people are experiencing with the 6F35 (except for the half-shaft seal leak).

 

My wife's Volvo S40 was recently rear-ended very badly and we were so certain it was going to be totalled we went to a Chevy dealer and test drove a new 2012 Malibu. During the test drive we experienced a flared 2nd to 3rd shift - once as we drove out of the dealer parking lot and twice during acceleration from two stop lights.

 

I mentioned this to the salesman and he stated that the reason the transmission wasn't shifting properly was because the car wasn't warmed up yet and he was unaware of any transmission issues whatsoever. After the test drive the car was put right back into inventory.

[IcyFusion]

My theory is that there is excessive regulator valve bore wear caused by the engineers being either incompetent and leaving out the required wear sleeve in such a valve design, or flat out reckless and removing the wear sleeve from the design to save money.

 

I would take a class action lawsuit against Ford to compel the kind of discovery that would answer the question as to whether Ford engineers knew or should have known that their design was doomed to fail from the start, putting the public at risk.

 

Interesting, if I remember correctly didn't you actually get into the transmission and check it out? I use to understand my transmission from my '98 Grand Am GT to a very limited knowledge but I know nothing of this transmission really. I know that it probably operates the same but they are really confusing to understand to me... :wacko:

 

This part is of course probably deep within the transmission itself I'd imagine?

[ehidle]

Interesting, if I remember correctly didn't you actually get into the transmission and check it out? I use to understand my transmission from my '98 Grand Am GT to a very limited knowledge but I know nothing of this transmission really. I know that it probably operates the same but they are really confusing to understand to me... :wacko:

 

This part is of course probably deep within the transmission itself I'd imagine?

 

I didn't tear into it, but this guy did:

 

http://www.gearsmagazine.com/a/2010/05/01/introducing-the-6-speed-6f35-transmission

 

And he specifically mentions the valve bore/regulator being a potential area of issue. What I was doing was looking into machining myself a new valve body and regulator valve out of solid brass rather than aluminum, but my buddy's machine shop didn't have the capability.

[Hubie99]

I have 1400 miles on my new 2012 SE 4 cyl. I parked the car Friday afternoon and didn't drive it again until today. I noticed the jump in rpm's. It was the first time I experienced this. I did take out the phone and video it after about the second time it happened. Luckily it did the same thing but after that time it didn't do it again. So, I do have evidence that it did this. What should I do? Should I go to dealership and see if I will get the same treatment as everybody else? Are they going to want to do the reset on the "keep alive memory"? I am open for suggestions and will keep an eye on the Fusion Forum to keep up to speed.

[IcyFusion]

I didn't tear into it, but this guy did:

 

http://www.gearsmaga...35-transmission

 

And he specifically mentions the valve bore/regulator being a potential area of issue. What I was doing was looking into machining myself a new valve body and regulator valve out of solid brass rather than aluminum, but my buddy's machine shop didn't have the capability.

 

Highly interesting read, thank you for posting that. I'm more noticed in the low sprag for 2nd to 1st gear operation now because mine really does feel like it is starting to drop into 1st hard now when slowing down quickly; almost as if it is holding out too long (not a clutch-to-clutch shift). But why in the hell they would not put a wear sleeve on a valve is beyond me, especially with an aluminum body. If this is the case I am with you, and it is unacceptable.

 

I have 1400 miles on my new 2012 SE 4 cyl. I parked the car Friday afternoon and didn't drive it again until today. I noticed the jump in rpm's. It was the first time I experienced this. I did take out the phone and video it after about the second time it happened. Luckily it did the same thing but after that time it didn't do it again. So, I do have evidence that it did this. What should I do? Should I go to dealership and see if I will get the same treatment as everybody else? Are they going to want to do the reset on the "keep alive memory"? I am open for suggestions and will keep an eye on the Fusion Forum to keep up to speed.

 

Well, since this is the first that you have noticed this problem the dealer is probably going to tell you either you are crazy (don't believe it; but you may have a nicer dealer) or that they'll reset the "keep alive memory" as a peace-of-mind sort of thing. I would just monitor it some more before taking it in unless it is getting worse or happening every time you drive. More or less, from what I've gathered here it really depends on the dealer you are taking it to and how persistent you are with them, in regards to what actually gets done there.

 

Sine you have lower miles they'll probably do the reset.

[vsavaglio]

Good morning everyone, I originally posted this in the 2.3/2.5 forum, but was told that it seems to be a classic 6F35 problem, so I wanted to post what mine's doing here (sorry for the duplicate post), as it seems to be a little different than what I've read, but could be wrong.

 

It's a 2012 SE with the 2.5 and automatic transmission and now has about 250 miles on it. So when mildly accelerating, when it is in 3rd gear, I've noticed that it pauses at times. So instead of it accelerating smoothly, it will accelerate, but then it will just pause for a split second before continuing, and then 400 or 500 rpms later, it will do the same thing. It's not jerky or anything like that, but you can feel it stop accelerating and you can see the tach pause for a moment before moving on.

 

Also, I've noticed that when I'm cruising and give it some gas to pass someone, when the car downshifts, the rpms will jump up, but then after a second it will come down about 200 rpms before it starts to go up as the speed increases. It's almost feels like in a manual transmission when someone is letting out the clutch. For example, it will downshift, the rpms go to 3500 for a second, then go down to 3300, and then start to go back up as the car accelerates.

 

It does these things both when the car is cold and warm. The car is currently at the dealer for this and the car shakes a bit when cold, almost like a minor misfire. Any words of wisdom or things to say to the dealer when they call me later today? Thank you!

Edited March 20, 2012 by vsavaglio

[mikeconns]

I have a 2010 Fusion SE (4 cyl). Twice, while passing, the transmission has shifted out of gear entirely. Imagine losing your transmission while passing someone at high speed. This was orginally diagnosed as "shift flare" by the dealer. They reprogrammed, and frankly, the car shifted better. I didn't realize how bad it was until it was reprogrammed. However, just the other day, again, passing in the left lane of one of our local expressways, rather than shifting into a higher gear, the tach topped out, lost all power to the wheels. As before, had to coast to a near stop at which point, the transmission re-engaged with a resounding clunk. No warning, no lights, nothing. It's at dealer now and they're telling me they can't replicate it. Clearly a serious and dangerous problem.

[IcyFusion]

Good morning everyone, I originally posted this in the 2.3/2.5 forum, but was told that it seems to be a classic 6F35 problem, so I wanted to post what mine's doing here (sorry for the duplicate post), as it seems to be a little different than what I've read, but could be wrong.

 

It's a 2012 SE with the 2.5 and automatic transmission and now has about 250 miles on it. So when mildly accelerating, when it is in 3rd gear, I've noticed that it pauses at times. So instead of it accelerating smoothly, it will accelerate, but then it will just pause for a split second before continuing, and then 400 or 500 rpms later, it will do the same thing. It's not jerky or anything like that, but you can feel it stop accelerating and you can see the tach pause for a moment before moving on.

 

Also, I've noticed that when I'm cruising and give it some gas to pass someone, when the car downshifts, the rpms will jump up, but then after a second it will come down about 200 rpms before it starts to go up as the speed increases. It's almost feels like in a manual transmission when someone is letting out the clutch. For example, it will downshift, the rpms go to 3500 for a second, then go down to 3300, and then start to go back up as the car accelerates.

 

It does these things both when the car is cold and warm. The car is currently at the dealer for this and the car shakes a bit when cold, almost like a minor misfire. Any words of wisdom or things to say to the dealer when they call me later today? Thank you!

 

That is what mine has been doing as well, with regards to the RPM pause. I'm sure you are aware that the car is supposed to downshift when giving gas to pass someone (no insult there), but what is puzzling me is that the RPMs jump up so quickly at first. It makes me think that there is an engagement problem with the clutches. After it is downshifting is it quickly going back to the gear it was originally at before, or still doing all of this in that downshifted gear?

 

I have a 2010 Fusion SE (4 cyl). Twice, while passing, the transmission has shifted out of gear entirely. Imagine losing your transmission while passing someone at high speed. This was orginally diagnosed as "shift flare" by the dealer. They reprogrammed, and frankly, the car shifted better. I didn't realize how bad it was until it was reprogrammed. However, just the other day, again, passing in the left lane of one of our local expressways, rather than shifting into a higher gear, the tach topped out, lost all power to the wheels. As before, had to coast to a near stop at which point, the transmission re-engaged with a resounding clunk. No warning, no lights, nothing. It's at dealer now and they're telling me they can't replicate it. Clearly a serious and dangerous problem.

 

Have they checked the TC/TCC? My TCC locked up on my old Grand Am GT one time (would not disengage) and I lost a ton of power to the wheel and the engine almost died when coming to a stop before it decided to kick off and return power.

[vsavaglio]

That is what mine has been doing as well, with regards to the RPM pause. I'm sure you are aware that the car is supposed to downshift when giving gas to pass someone (no insult there), but what is puzzling me is that the RPMs jump up so quickly at first. It makes me think that there is an engagement problem with the clutches. After it is downshifting is it quickly going back to the gear it was originally at before, or still doing all of this in that downshifted gear?

 

I definitely understand the car is supposed to downshift when giving some gas to pass someone (no insult taken, sometimes you need to rule out that the problem isn't between the pedal and steering wheel...). What I don't expect is after it downshifts and the rpms jump up, the rpms will then go down a little. As far as I can tell it stays in the same gear and isn't upshifting, but that's kind of what it's like. It's a very smooth decrease in RPMs, and only 200 RPMs or so, so that's why I'm thinking it's not shifting gears a second time. It's hard to explain and I don't even think the dealer understood fully what I was trying to explain. So when you're cruising and you go pass someone and it downshifts, the tach will go up to 3500 (for example), which I would expect. After a moment (a second or so), the tach will go down to 3300, which I wouldn't expect. Every other car I've driven, once it downshifts, the rpms only go up from there to accelerate. This is almost like it's slipping when it first downshifts, and then it fully engages (the slight drop in rpms). Of course, it could just be the programming, it's almost like it's making the downshift soft for comfort. Is it possible it's the torque converter locking up?

 

I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one with the RPM pause during acceleration. Have you had yours looked at for this? This has got to be computer or sensor related, right?

 

Oh, and I picked up the car from the dealer yesterday afternoon, my service adviser told me she had her lead tech, shop foreman, and another service adviser all drive the car and another 2012 SE and they both act the same way and didn't notice anything abnormal with the acceleration and shifting. They put 20 miles on the car, so it appears they at least tried. She told me to put some miles on the car and to trust the warranty...

[FusionDiffusion]

The 200 rpm drop is the clutches slipping and then finally fully engaging. It's caused by low line pressure (due to a leaking valve). This is putting a severe amount of wear on the clutches and the problem will only get worse as the clutches completely wear out. Then it's new transmission time.

[vsavaglio]

The 200 rpm drop is the clutches slipping and then finally fully engaging. It's caused by low line pressure (due to a leaking valve). This is putting a severe amount of wear on the clutches and the problem will only get worse as the clutches completely wear out. Then it's new transmission time.

 

Well, that sucks. On the other hand, I'm on record for taking the car in for this problem, so they can't say I ignored a problem when I take it back to them for some serious warranty work.

[FusionDiffusion]

Yup, definitely keep all your paperwork and receipts related to it.

[vsavaglio]

Yup, definitely keep all your paperwork and receipts related to it.

 

Thank you very much for your help.

 

Any idea what would be causing the "pause" in the acceleration in 3rd gear? It'll accelerate smoothly, but then it'll just pause for a moment before accelerating again.

[FusionDiffusion]

Any idea what would be causing the "pause" in the acceleration in 3rd gear? It'll accelerate smoothly, but then it'll just pause for a moment before accelerating again.

 

Could either be a valve getting stuck momentarily or a lack of pressure that prevents the clutch from engaging until the pressure builds. The reprograming is supposted to raise the line pressures to prevent this, but if the valve body is leaking it won't help.

[Jo7hs2]

"The 200 rpm drop is the clutches slipping and then finally fully engaging. It's caused by low line pressure (due to a leaking valve). This is putting a severe amount of wear on the clutches and the problem will only get worse as the clutches completely wear out. Then it's new transmission"

 

Wait...if the clutch was slipping, wouldn't there be an RPM increase, provided throttle input remained static? Or am I confusing myself?

Edited March 23, 2012 by Jo7hs2

[FusionDiffusion]

The clutch is slipping, just not very much (remember it's right after the transmission downshifted and the rpms went up). The 200 rpm drop might be the clutch going from 90% engagement to 100% engagement. That or else it's the torque convertor locking up (I'm not sure exactly when or if that would happen if you're passing someone and the engine is under load).

[JFrancis]

I just joined the forum today to share my own experience. I bought a 2012 Fusion automatic 6-cylinder in January. I originally bought a 4-cylinder in December and thought it was underpowered when I tried to pass anyone. Traded it 2 weeks later for a 6-cyl and the transmission went crazy (randomly went from 3rd to 1st to 4th, etc.). Talk about a hurky jerky test drive. Memory reset fixed the problem for a week, and they immediately exchanged it for another that ran fairly smoothly. So now on the 3rd Fusion from the same dealer, whenever I drive (warm or cold) the transmission does very much what VSAVAGLIO describes above. It winds out for about a second before shifting.

 

Also, when I pass somone the RPMs hit the ceiling as though it's downshifting all the way to 1st or 2nd (not good at 50 mph). In retrospect, this is exactly what frightened me away from the 4-cyl. To me, it seems that the Fusions have an intermittent transmission issue that showed up in 3 of 3 that I drove. When I drive mine I feel as though it's having trouble determining the gear it should be in for the power that is being asked for. As a point of onterest, on my 2nd Fusion (with the crazy trans) they reset the memory and it ran fine for a week until it got stuck in 3rd gear. Not fun to drive half way home in rush hour stuck in one gear. Resetting memory to temporarily fix a transmission problem that returns seems to point to a sensor or software issue, although I coud very well be wrong.

 

I honestly don't feel safe driving this car, and unless Ford figures out the issue I'll probably trade it for something else by summer. I am afraid of being hit driving this car because I have to worry that the power is going to fail me when I need it.