What's the opinion of the forum?

I've had a frustrating month with my 2019. Mind you, it's a work (fleet) truck so I have no skin in this game other than my time.

Truck has 70k on it and it is virtually all highway driving. The perhaps 20k that isn't interstate was to work sites and back, no puttering around town stuff.

Coming back from Florida to PA 5 or 6 weeks ago the trans started acting up. Not shifting well gears 4-6, with 5-6 being really bad. Limp home and get it to the dealer. The dealer does their stuff and pronounces it needs a new trans. Fleet manager approves, total cost $7200.

A side note - I get the truck back and on its first run I smell stuff and stop, smoke billowing out from under. Get it back to the dealer and they overfilled the trans. I don't know how but they did. But that isn't on Ford proper.

New transin, seems just fine, another Florida run last week, mid trip the rear starts making noise. A rotational thump noise that over time progressed to just a constant scraping noise. Limp home again, take to dealer, they pronounce the rear is totaled and need it rebuilt (Ford doesn't have full rears ready to go).

I haven't seen a $$ for this one, but with them at $130/hr and parts, I see this as perhaps $2k.

I am really frustrated with this godawful dirvetrain performance. The truck has been maintained meticulously and has lived a relatively easy life. Whats the word w/in the community about the F150 drivetrains? Any known issues?

I vented to the service manager handling this, he proceeded to chide me for "using the vehicle in a manner for which it is not intended". He tried to pin the blame on me!

Again, I have no $ invested in this.

I do though in a 2015, my last work truck. It ran so well, was well maintained, I bought it at 100k 2 years ago for $10k. Guess what happened to that? Total transfer case replacement. It had been used in earnest perhaps 20 times in its life, I flip to 4LO this winter, BANG, synchronizers messed up. that did hurt personally, $1700.

I'm a bit negative on Ford right now.

 

I don't know, I only have 5k mi on my f150 after coming here from a GMC Sierra 5.3L 6spd that blew the transmission in 93k miles. Hoping I have better luck.

 

Hard shifting is the most often reported concern with the 10r80, few have had absolute failures.

As for the transfer case, do you engage it a few times a month? If not, you will indeed eventually have issues. Carbon builds up on surfaces where hot oil exists, and over time, that carbon can interfere with things that must slide. You must make slidey things slide on a regular basis to keep the buildup from causing issues.

 

What kind of maintenance has been done that makes you say it has been meticulously maintained? Just asking because everyone will have a different idea of what this means. How is the truck used? You said it has had a relatively easy life, but also that the service manager thinks you're pushing it too hard. Lots of weight in the bed, constant towing?

 

Sorry I'm not mechanically inclined but when you say engage the transfer case, do you mean switch it from 2h to 4h and 4l?

 

It's a fleet vehicle..... maybe a money maker for servicing folks?
I had a 450 car Ford fleet for 5 years... funny how many transmissions claims there were on our Fords ... hmmm.
We move to GM as operating costs made it economically a challenge with current vendor .... no issues yet in new contract, in year 5 and still no Trany issues, or other things for that fact.

 

My point... is it really a failure, or a repair charge?

 

Service has been very nearly as closely as recommended, all things done. The garage loves the fleet vehicles 'cause they have mostly a free hand to do stuff. Oil, lube, filters, you name it on the routine side, it's been done and done on schedule.

There has been no towing, load in the truck is at most several hundred pounds in the bed, maybe 50 or 75 in the cab, not counting pax.

75% of the time it gets on the interstate and I point it somewhere, mostly constant speed. I log about 35k or so/year at the moment.

The manager got on me b/c I pressed him on how poor this truck had been doing reliability-wise, he shot from the hip and all he could come up with was that my highway driving was somehow the culprit. I guess it would have been OK if I was off-roading, pulling campers, etc. Who would have thought hours of near constant speed was detrimental to a drivetrain?

 

Solid failure. The trans would jerk through gear 4-6, up and down, and the 5-6 upshift transition would go slow and then BAM the gears would engage and the truck lurch.

Their diagnostics were basically all input to trans are good, replace trans. Honestly, what is there to do other than spend some time and split it open? They did make an offer to do an exploratory and maybe rebuild but the fleet manager went with the replace option.

The rear, it started by making a slight bang bang bang rotation noise. At 30 MPH my 17" tires rotate 10 times/sec. The bang bang bang was about 3-4 second, which indicates the input side of the differential. The noise then changed to just a constant scraping noise. They told me they pulled fluid from it and it was full of metal shavings. This will have to be a rebuild as they tell me they can't get any rears from Ford.

 

I don't exercise the x-fer case that often, more like every other month, and just for a couple minutes, usually when going straight. The problem with the transfer case was low range, that hardly ever gets used. It was so bad that I put it in park and got out and the truck started rolling away. 4HI is OK though.