Yeah, I was doing the slow roll at the campground and it felt like I was stuck at the apex between 1&2 gear for about 5 seconds making the noise. People be staring at me.

 

If it is normal, the dealer should be able to explain what is making the whine noise when shifting... Right?

 

I'll see if they offer any information when I pick up the truck. So far no word if I'm going to get it back today. The Exploder saga continues!

I'm also probably just going to accept the noise as normal and get on with enjoying the truck if we cant dont get any sweet video of someone's truck NOT whining. No point in obsessing over it I guess, time to put my Apple Music sub to good use! Cover-up! lol

 

I drive through an enclosed entrance at work every day with the driver window down to show my badge. I hear the shift scream EVERY SINGLE DAY and it makes me insane. All I can think about for the first half of the day is how can I dump this piece of crap. I look at Tundras and Rams, then I come back down to earth after figuring up how much it would cost. I'll continue holding on mentally until I can afford to ditch the truck or until Ford fixes the problem. That second option is most likely never going to happen unfortunately.

 

My whine is non existent first thing in the morning when it's cold out, but warms up quickly then back to whining. What's a thicker fluid we might could try out?

 

Haven't browsed the forum in a while but next Tuesday will be my 1yr ownership. Besides the transmission TSB-2272 update my 2018 SE XLT SCab has been pretty impressive. No issues with my 5.0 or other transmission related issues I've been reading here the last couple of days. Build date 10/17 Dearborn. I do however have a appointment next week to have driver side door adjusted as a few months ago I noticed a rattle next to my ear and sure enough if I put pressure outwards it disappears. I'm hoping the 3rd different dealer is a charm on this issue.

 

 

Yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at right now... but probably we need to keep complaining about it. The gear change whine is not a normal noise. If Ford actually considered it normal, that would be more offensive to me than it being flawed/broken. Let us know if you find anything else out. Either way, GL to you sir!

 

Me too! After I show my badge I have to do the good ol zig-zag around the barriers and I hear it every day....Super annoying. And yes, I've almost pulled the trigger on two different trucks lately at a HUGE loss just to be over this. But that damn 0% rate I have makes me think twice.

So some perspective for us all. I just spent a long while talking with my nice new neighbor (Dealer never called, so one more night without the truck), he's a Cat Heavy Machinery mechanic. He listened to my video and was immediately like WTF?! He also agreed that it doesn't seem right, but he offered some interesting insights I figured I'd share.

He noted that Cat actually moved away from variable displacement vane pumps because 1. They're unreliable and 2. You guessed it, they're LOUD by nature. But what he thinks is happening, based upon what he hears in my video, is when the fluid is cold and thick, the pump doesn't have any issue sucking up what it needs to prep the clutch packs for a shift. Once it warms up, he suspects either the pump is severely aerating the transmission fluid or exhibiting some mild cavitation, hence the noise we're hearing and why it pops up when warm. He thinks the inside "splines" or vanes of the pump are mostly likely cut too small to allow proper fluid flow once the fluid thins out. He bets that if we were able to pull out some warm fluid, it would be full of air bubbles. Basically, poor design.

Here's my personal opinion on what we're all experiencing: I think we just hear it so much at low, gentle acceleration because the "variable displacement" functionality of the pump has to compensate for low main spline RPM by significantly increasing the amount of fluid it's picking up. Which would also explain why under more throttle, it doesn't make the noise, or it's significantly less; increased spline RPM means the "variable" portion of the pump has to do less of the work because it's naturally spinning faster and able to pickup more fluid.

He said he wouldn't be surprised if Ford eventually issues a recall for the pump, or a TSB to swap the transmission fluid.

Not a whole lot of confidence that this pump design is as robust as it needs to be, but that's why we have a warranty right? I think I'm just going to finally accept that the noise is not normal per say, but its "normal" for these trucks until proven otherwise (waiting for that video of a silent 10 speed). It'll be a lot less stress and worrying!

I'm no engineer and these are just my rant/opinions, but alas, I'm gonna keep rockin the Exploder till i can go pick up Felix.

 

Cavitation, aeration...due to the pump. My thought was that it was cavitation or aeration due to the fluid or the level, but the variable vane pump theory makes sense too. The other thing that crossed my mind was that the auxiliary pump and the primary are not working together the way they should. Either way...how do you prove it? I don't know if you can...at least not very easily. Maybe a drain and refill with new fluid to rule out the fluid as the problem?