pfbz

Add me as the most recent member of this unfortunate club...

Had an early oil change done at 3,000 miles and had the symptomatic leak from the bell housing. Definitely would not have noticed if I didn't have an early oil change done.


I'm also be curious to know if there is anone with a build in this date range that:

• Has visually inspected the bell housing/transmission.
• Does not have a transmission leak.

ajrothm

Good info.... I have a May built truck. I have been keeping an eye on mine as well... I have seen a drop or two of the bottom of the bell housing...then clean it and run it a few hundred miles and see another drop. I took it to the dealer and they said it was the oil pan drain plug leaking a bit. They said to run it until the first service and see if it continues to leak. I will be taking it in on Monday to get the service and see what they say.... If it IS leaking, it is very very slight....atleast for now. I have 2500 miles. Not looking forward to the tranny job....

kedens

My truck has been in the shop for 41 days for this issue! I am very disappointed in the way Ford has handled this. This was my first Ford purchase and unless they do something amazing for me, it will be the last. Ford should have contacted every dealer and stopped the sale of these specific trucks. I feel they took a chance! They risked the lives of me and my family stranded on the side of the road. Like the OP said, Please check your build date and your transmission!

All Hat No Cattle

Yikes! Does Tennessee have any Lemon Laws? This would qualify in a lot of states.

got_titan

Tn does have a lemon law, 3 times back to dealer for same problem or 30 consecuative days at the dealer for same problem...if your tired of it start the lemon law PROCESS and ford will step up or have to buy the truck back. good luck...

pfbz

Very simple to tell the difference between engine oil and transmission fluid... oil is brown, tranny fluid is red! Transmission fluid also has a distinct smell to it. If the dealer can't tell the difference, I'd definitely be talking to another dealer.

Take a piece of clean paper towel, touch it to the drip on the bell housing, look at the color. If it is red and you are in the specified build period, I personally would not wait until the first service. My dealer's transmission guy said he didn't think it was a good idea to even take the 150 mile round trip I had planned for this weekend.

pfbz

I agree... IMHO this is not a minor TSB type issue. Without a simple inspection, it potentially fails catastrophically without warning leaving you stranded. And it seems to be happening to a fair amount of people.

Obviously many trucks were sold before they identified the problem. IMHO Ford should contact those owners and schedule an inspection immediately. Just today, I saw quite a few new trucks on my dealers lot within that build period. How much you want to bet Ford has not requested that those trucks be held from sale unless inspected/repaired?

I understand Ford's dilema... Since they don't have enough parts to go around, notifying owners that they have a potential issue is going to heat things up for them even more, and pulling dealer inventory for fixes puts an even bigger strain on the parts supply issue.

But I'm very curious to see what the failure rate is on the transmissions built in that period. Anecdotally, it seems pretty darn high. That's why I'm very curious to see if *anybody* has a truck in that build period, has done an inspection, and has not seen evidence of even a minor transmission leak.

hillwood24

I'm on my phone so I can't see the tsb attachments, but why exactly is the tranny leaking? Will we have any warning before it fails?

pfbz

The questionable part seems to be the transmission pump itself, as that is the primary part replaced.

The leak will be from the bellhousing. Transmission fluid collecting/dripping off the bottom edge.

The early warning is the leak itself, presumably small before it lets go completely. But you will not see the leak unless you get up under the big absorbent transmission noise shield that will catch any minor drips.

enm1967

I went through this as well. I can't believe your truck has been in the shop for 41 days! Mine was only out of service for 12.

If you are unfortunate enough to go through this, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM REPLACE THE SKID PLATE (noise suppressor) that covers the pump. Ours was so soaked with transmission fluid that it weighed about 3 times more than it was supposed to. It was so heavy that the bottom part came disconnected and we had a huge puddle of tranny fluid in our garage. We thought the new pump had failed, so had to get it towed to the dealer and were without it for a couple of days while they figured out what the issue was. When I went to get it, they showed me the old plate. They had it up on one end and at least a half gallon of fluid had soaked out of it.

So, again, if this happens to you, tell them you want a new skid plate. They will tell you it isn't covered, but be persistent, the old one is ruined.

Other than that, I love my new truck.