It really blows my mind the way the dealership and Ford have really handled all of these issues. Sorry we bought $40-60k trucks and aren’t happy when something is wrong lol.

im just worried about that transmission bill that I’m sure will hit at about $100k miles when this squawk issue comes to a head.

Agreed. I have learned my lesson and don't plan to buy another new vehicle for a while/ever. No need to pay a premium for a new vehicle with problems and a fairly useless warranty. I'd rather just save money buying a used vehicle and then plan to spend some time and money to maintain/replace things myself as needed.

Anyway, good luck with your transmission. I have been debating switching to some full synthetic ATF to see if it makes a difference, since it wouldn't hurt to change the fluid at 60k anyway.

I wanted to follow-up on my suggestion above. I decided to roll the dice and buy the Signature Series ATF that Amsoil suggests for the 6R80 and drain and refill my transmission with that last December, with around 70k miles on the truck and the original ATF still in it. I'm always a bit weary of using universal type ATF in an automatic tranmission, as I know they can be finicky and the transmission OEM should know best. I decided to give it a try anyway in this case, since apparently Ford didn't do such a great job with the fluid spec for this application themselves and still don't have it completely figured out. Furthermore, I have had Amsoil drivetrain fluids in many of my vehicles over the years and never had any issues with them, despite plenty of abuse on road course track days in my C5 Z06, etc.

One thing I noticed when I went to change the fluid is that the dipstick was bone dry when I checked it before draining the old fluid out. This was with the truck warmed up and idling on level ground, as per the instructions. A lot of ATF still came out when I dropped the pan, so I'm guessing it was only 0.5-1 quart low - the dipstick is VERY sensitive and a few ounces of ATF can change the reading quite a bit once you're reading on the stick. I didn't try topping off the old fluid and then driving the truck, so I don't know if that would have made any difference in the squawk, but I doubt it. After scratching my head about why the fluid was low despite never seeing any ATF leaks, I dropped the transmission pan and I replaced the filter with another Motorcraft filter and got about 7 quarts of the Amsoil ATF in when I refilled the transmission.

Anyway, in the limited amount of driving I have done since refilling with Amsoil, I haven't heard the transmission squawk once! I have even intentionally made the truck do the 6-3 and 5-3 downshift many times since then, and nothing. Not sure if it will stay this way, as I think it took me a year or so of owning the truck to hear it squawk the first time. Not sure if that was because I just didn't make it do that particular downshift for the first year I drove it, or due to fluid degradation, etc. At any rate, I will report back if the transmission starts squawking or has any other issues, although the truck has been mostly parked for the past 6 months ha.

I hope this helps somebody else, but I don't suggest switching your trans. fluid if you're not willing to risk the longevity of your transmission over it. Obviously I (and Ford) don't assume any liability if you decide to change fluids and have issues.

Good luck!

Did you get the transmission temp above 200 before you tried it? that seems to be one of the factors that really sets off the squawk.

Yes, I did. I agree that high fluid temperatures thinning out the fluid are a driving factor, which is why the trucks with the same transmission but different engines don't do it - only the 5.0L has the transmission oil warmer.

But like I said, I don't have many miles on the fluid yet. I will report back if anything changes.

Sorry to disappoint, but I accidentally made the transmission squawk while downshifting to pass someone yesterday. :censored:

Oh well, I had wanted to change the trans fluid anyway and the new fluid was worth a shot.

Legal response
 

Hello,
was thier any formal result with your legal pursuit of this ongoing issue.

thanks

Has anyone actually had their transmission fail from the squawk? The dealer is telling me they want to replace my entire transmission for $6,400 to address this? Is that crazy?

I don't think it would cause the trans. to completely fail, but I don't know for certain it hasn't happened to somebody. Maybe just change the fluid and filter more often in case the clutch disc slippage is putting a lot of wear metals in the fluid? Contaminated fluid or the clutch discs completely wearing out would be the only things I can see that would lead to a failure.

But yes, paying $6400 to replace the defective bundle of parts with a new defective bundle parts over a noise is crazy to me. At this point, the issue is just a noise and you're basically paying $6400 to roll the dice and hope it won't happen with the new transmission, unless Ford has made some design changes that actually address the problem. However, clearly not everyone with the 5.0L and 6R80 has this problem, so I would say you have a good chance that your new 6R80 would be a member of the majority that doesn't squawk. It's still a gamble, though.

I have a 2016 XLT 5.0 with the dreaded 5th to 3rd squawk, this has been a issue since 2013. I can’t believe it’s over 8 years and still no fix, these trucks are truly piles of junk. I believed all the best selling truck hype, this is my first and my last ford