2018 XLT FX4 3.5 eco with 10 speed

Just finished taking the family from Portland to Yellowstone through SE Oregon, Steens Mountain, Dinosaur National Monument and a stop in Glenwood Springs CO.

Truck was a pleasure to drive, got 23.4 mpg the first 1100 miles, 25.3 the next 1300 miles and 24.5 the last 800 miles. I'm not a lead foot. Tend to get it up to the speed limit, set the cruise control and leave it. Most of the time was spent on two lane highways, a little interstate and more gravel roads than I cared for around Steens.

I do have the occasional rough shifts, but i figure no trans is perfectly smooth (even my wife's CVT Subaru has the rubber banding feel that CVTs are prone to and a surge as it disengages when it drops below 18mph). I also figure more gears means more shifting and therefore more likely to feel it sometimes. But, usually the shifts are very smooth. I am concerned about a horrible sound occasionally heard when shifting into 3rd. It sounds like gears mashing or perhaps something to do with the torque converter. It only does it when the engine and trans are cold. When it happens the power drops. If I let off the gas and let it coast, it usually stops and won't do it again for another week or so. I've wondered if 3rd gear is not fully engaging due to the torque converter not disengaging completely? I know nothing about transmissions, so perhaps this makes no sense at all. I will let service advisor know when I get the first oil change, but I know I'm going to get a "could not duplicate customer concern" response.

I owned a Focus the first year they had the DCT and it was a nightmare. Constant problems and was told "it's normal", "could not duplicate", "reprogrammed the trans" etc. They finally replaced the seals which were leaking tranny fluid on to the clutch and all was fine afterwards, but by then I had lost confidence. My son was born and the Focus was too small, so I got rid of it. That experience is always in the back of my mind with all the threads I read about the new 10 speed.

A totally unrelated question: I have a SnugTop canopy and was surprised how much dust got in the bed while driving on all those gravel roads. Has anyone tried this Bed Tailgate Dust Seal (https://accessories.ford.com/weatherstrip.html)?

Thanks for any feedback about the dust seal or any other thoughts about how to avoid covering all my gear in the bed with dirt.

Lol I know what you mean about the focus. I had a new on for a hair over 3mos. This was late 13 after a revision or 2 that was supposedly fixed (like every other revision) but still early enough that their poor reputation wasn’t wide spread common knowledge outside the forums. Luckily I bought when rebates were awesome, in fact pretty much the reason I bought. Within a few hundred miles that transmission was BAD! I already knew how that was going to go by the forums. Stopped by a car max one day to see what their quote would be for S&G (and of course reset the learning as it would operate relatively normal for 100mi or so following that, with short trips of around 10-15mi max at a time) They offered just under $2k less than I paid completely out the door which surprised me, so I let em have it on the spot! Was told I’m dumb to ditch car so soon, it’ll get fixed, etc. To this day it’s still the best money I ever lost! To this day it looks like those things still aren’t right.

Sorry, thought that information was displayed with username.

2018 XLT FX4 SCab 3.5 eco w/10 speed. Currently has 5500 miles.

For dust tailgate seal is a good start. Depending on amount of dust you might need to seal sides and front between bed and sides/front. The gap is designed to drain water but can be another source of dust and water. If you go with line-x bedliner they seal front and sides factory bed liner doesn’t seal these gaps. Best of luck

Thanks! I opted to go with a bed rug instead of Line-x. I thought about doing both, but it seemed unnecessary. I love the bed rug so far, but might need to add Line-x later.