Originally Posted by Riccochet

Update: Just got off the phone with the dealer. The trans tech was able to duplicate the issues I'm having. Unfortunately they said there are currently no fixes or TSB's to correct the issues.

SO, looks like I'm calling Ford then calling my lawyer to lemon this p.o.s. out. I simply refuse to continue to drive and pay for a vehicle that's been deemed faulty with no corrective action being taken.

All said and done I'll probably buy a cheap, used S10 pickup to tow my boat and go back to driving a Benz or Audi.

Originally Posted by justjimmy

When I originally reported my shudder to my dealer back in February, 2011, I took him for a drive and duplicated the shudder. He felt it and agreed it was a problem.

Remember, MY shudder is the one when towing at the top of 1st and 2nd gears.

I was bringing my camper in for service and took it to the dealer before I took it to the RV place. I had the 6,000 pound RV connected to the truck so the shudder was real obvious.

Anyway, made an appointment and they changed the Valve body and re-flashed.

Problem is exactly the same.

Have been complaining but haven't taken it back since cause they have no clue what the problem is. Heck, I have a 60K warranty on the thing - hopefully they'll (Ford) figure it out before that expires.

Originally Posted by maritimer

There's 2 different shudder's being discussed in this thread, one during take off and one in 6th on the highway (uphill with light throttle). I've had the shudder / miss / vibe on the highway in 6th with light throttle input since day 1 of ownership and has been trying to get it fixed since (now 8 months, 35,000km and a camvap/lemon law process initiated later). I've had the truck in for service because of this over a half dozen times and was always given the "unable to recreate" story or the dealer did something stupid like rotate my tires or flash the pcm and told me that fixed the problem.

I finally have the dealer admitting there's an issue that is reproducible after taking the shop foreman for yet another test drive, this time, i put the shifter into manual once on the highway cruising at 90 km/h, from there you can easily play with the throttle to recreate the vibe / shudder with less chance of the torque converter unlocking (vibe goes away when it does so keep your speed above 90km/h) and no chance of a downshift. Also, once you have the truck giving the shudder, you can force a downshift to 5th in mid shudder and magically the "bumps in the road" smooth out. Also, you may want to make it clear that this scenario is not the only time you feel the vibe but it's the best way you have figured out to re-create the issue for them. For me, i can guarantee the vibe to show it's ugly face any time I head north to my home town and have to go over a small mountain pass with the cruise set at the speed limit, it's a full half hour of shakes / vibe / shudder.

It took me dealing with the shop foreman with "kid gloves". Below is how the conversation went, I suggest following the same steps because unless they lie to you to your face about feeling the vibration, they can't deny there's a vibration / shudder / misfire / loss of power / whatever you want to call it that is reproducible and only present in 6th gear when the torque converter is locked up.

hit the highway with shop foreman in passenger seat
get the truck up to 90km/h before coming up to a hill, the steeper and longer the better
shift to manual mode and get the truck into 6th
once you start up the hill, slowly accelerate from 90km/h to 110km/h with just enough throttle to make the vibration / shudder as apparent as you can make it.
ME: "ok, do you feel that vibration"
SF: "Yes"
ME: "great, now watch while I shift to 5th"
SF: "Ok"
ME: "did you feel the vibrations stop when I shifted"
SF: "Yes"
ME: "Great, let's rinse and repeat"
I keep repeating the above and do everything I can to make it clear that there is something not right with the truck.
ME: "Do you feel confident you can do the same thing to recreate the issue?"
SF: "Yes"
SF get's behind the wheel, is able to recreate the vibe using the same steps
SH: "I understand what you're problem is, it's going to take some very in depth troubleshooting to find what's causing this"
ME: "do i need you to put that on paper or will your story still be the same when we get back to the shop and you schedule the appointment to finally fix my fu**ing truck!"

I drop the truck off in 2 days to have the steering rack replaced to fix the trucks multiple personality disorder when it comes to making left turns and after that they're going to troubleshoot my vibe / shudder problem. I have very little confidence that they'll actually fix it.

I'm expecting them to try and shove the "it's a characteristic of the truck" down my throat but I'm already a step ahead of them on that front. I've taken other 2011 ecoboost scab trucks out for test drives and none of them had the same vibration / shudder, after returning from those test drives, I took the same salesman for a drive in my truck to show the ride quality i have, so sales is on my side, it's not a normal characteristic of the truck. Since I have them admitting there really is a vibe that they are able to recreate I don't know what they'll have left to hide behind but this is the last stop before the arbitration meetings start for the lemon law process.

Originally Posted by Bob_Mac

Well if Ford is actually monitoring these forums I hope they are in fact looking into this issue. This sems to be a very common problem with these trucks and they cannot ignore it. If my issue isn't fixed it may be time to get the media involved and get the investigative reporter to take a ride with me....

Wouldn't fair well for Ford regarding sales....