2020 Transmission Issues.

[kierobi]

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck in fighting Ford on the costs of replacing a transmission? We have a 2020 Expedition XLT with close to 81k, bought it used at 61k and we've had transmission issues a couple of times now. Started off as lurching when selecting drive from park and releasing the brake pedal, then rough shift between 4th and 5th and then again 7th to 8th. Took it into a local Ford dealership and they ran diagnostics and determined that it needed a software update. Ran well for maybe a month and then started having issues again. Took it in this week and now they've called to say that the CDF drum has failed/is failing and it needs to be replaced. Have given us the option of overhauling the CDF drum or replacing the entire transmission. Overhauling CDF is $4200 and replacing the trans is $7200 plus taxes on both.
Feel as though it's ridiculous that when I look online there are a TON of people having the same issues with these transmissions and Ford refuses to acknowledge or recall. Talking to the tech today they acknowledged that it's a VERY common issue and that they have seen these transmission in time and again but there's nothing they can do about it.

 

[DieselMonk]

Maybe reset the transmission so it has to do a relearn. Maybe it goes away for another month.

 

[kierobi]

We've done this in the past and it did go away for a month or so and now it's back. Not as bad as it was before in some areas but worse in others.

So frustrating that we have to keep shelling out for repairs to these transmissions.

 

[Pmm150]

I totally hear your frustrations. Same here... Spent 18 months of dealership service calls RE: transmission resets\reprogramming to no good outcome. Sadly, we JUST replaced our 2020 Expedition Plat Max transmission two weeks ago with 100k miles on it. We barely were able to crawl the vehicle back to the dealership. Reverse gear did not work. Fighting same cost\offset battle. Paid about 7,400 + taxes for brand new replacement. The new unit has a three year unlimited mileage warranty.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

I just had the Transmission in my 2020 rebuilt under warranty. It banged on up and downshifts in the higher gears since new, sporadically. Sometimes there were thousands of miles between events, sometimes only minutes.

Looking at the parts list, the dealer replaced much of the transmission. New valve body, CDF drum, and all related clutch packs along with another 2 pages of parts. At 52K miles and 4.5 years, I took my chances with a dealer warranty rebuild. It runs fine so far, no harsh shifts. If it goes another 50K I'll be happy (sad statement on how I've learned to expect less....considering that my last F150 with a 4 speed auto went 215K with nothing more than fluid and filter changes).

My dealer has 4 technicians who do NOTHING but rebuild 10 speeds full time on the bench. They don't even remove and install them, they use other technicians for that.

It would seem that it would be a lot easier to simply design/develop them so that they work. But, I'm just a retired automotive engineer, what do I know.

 

[kierobi]

I just had the Transmission in my 2020 rebuilt under warranty. It banged on up and downshifts in the higher gears since new, sporadically. Sometimes there were thousands of miles between events, sometimes only minutes.

Looking at the parts list, the dealer replaced much of the transmission. New valve body, CDF drum, and all related clutch packs along with another 2 pages of parts. At 52K miles and 4.5 years, I took my chances with a dealer warranty rebuild. It runs fine so far, no harsh shifts. If it goes another 50K I'll be happy (sad statement on how I've learned to expect less....considering that my last F150 with a 4 speed auto went 215K with nothing more than fluid and filter changes).

My dealer has 4 technicians who do NOTHING but rebuild 10 speeds full time on the bench. They don't even remove and install them, they use other technicians for that.

It would seem that it would be a lot easier to simply design/develop them so that they work. But, I'm just a retired automotive engineer, what do I know.

It's wild isn't it and in speaking with the Service Tech at the dealership we've taken the Expedition to, he's all too aware of this and kept telling me their hands are tied. Just think that it's a crock that it's been "rectified" for the 24 and newer models but they won't do anything to sort out the older models that are now going through this.

Just think on this. How much money do you think has been made by Ford from these transmissions failing out of warranty and having to be replaced?

 

[bocabimmer]

It's a shame. I'm on my second rebuild and still having issues. My SA asked Ford last time for a crate transmission and corporate declined and said do a second rebuild. Now we're back here again. What's the definition of insanity?

I do wonder whether the revisions to the 24 models will be effective... I mean, we're not that far into 2025 yet. I think we'll have to wait a bit longer for the results to come back.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

It's wild isn't it and in speaking with the Service Tech at the dealership we've taken the Expedition to, he's all too aware of this and kept telling me their hands are tied. Just think that it's a crock that it's been "rectified" for the 24 and newer models but they won't do anything to sort out the older models that are now going through this.

Just think on this. How much money do you think has been made by Ford from these transmissions failing out of warranty and having to be replaced?

Less than you might think. The parts side of the business is only marginally profitable due to a variety of reasons; but, mostly due to very low inventory turns. The warranty is killing them, though. The difference in how GM is handling this compared to Ford would make for an interesting Harvard Business Review Case Study. If my vehicle was a Suburban, Yukon, or Escalade, the dealer would have told me to call when it leaves me on the side of the road, whether that was before or after the Powertrain Warranty expired.

Ford repeated the hard shift and rebuilt my transmission. If I was still at Ford, I would have recommended overbuilding Transmissions to send new replacements for the warranty work, return the cores for in-house reman (because of the enormous volume) to cycle out plant direct ship via dealer order, because different years and different applications make for a lot of complexity, to dealers for out of warranty replacement, then it could have been done at lower cost to customer and higher profit to the company.

Meanwhile, the powertrain engineers responsible would have been given about 24 hrs to find and fix the design issues, if they failed, I would have called Trump (before '20 when the problems were first discovered) and requested they be taken to Gitmo. This process would have been revisited with a new set of Powertrain engineers every 24 hrs until the problem was fixed, or Gitmo was filled, whichever came first. Apparently, it's a kinder, gentler time at Ford now.

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

Revisit after a couple of months of driving my '20 Expedition including one 2,000 mile trip post transmission rebuild:

Truck runs great. I haven't experienced a single hard shift or any other transmission related fault or drivability concern. The new transmission program is much more like the one in my '22 F150 PB. It seems to hit all of the gears on the way up during constant acceleration. In the past it would skip gears on the way up all of the time unless it was under load or WOT.

I still have 4 months and 6,000 miles left in the Powertrain Warranty....next up Phasers.

 

[HattyMcTrick]

I would love to know who's had success getting this covered under warranty BEFORE a complete transmission failure. I've been having issues with my 2020 Expedition Limited with the tow package....ever since I took it to the dealership for service.

Bought it used in '21 with 8k miles on it from said dealership with the intentions of using it for towing a 2022 Rockwood pop-up camper (2560/3840 lbs.) which should be a walk in the park for this truck. 10 trips over 3 years and 7,000 miles with ZERO issues. April 29, 2025 @ 53,000 miles, I took it in for an oil change and they recommended I do the 60k service (replace fluids: front/rear diff, tranny, oil, coolant, brake). May 16, we leave for our first camping trip and 90 minutes into our trip, the tranny slams into limp mode with no warning lights or CEL. I check the trans temp and its around 235 degrees. I pulled over to cool it and call the dealership. They said to bring it to them if it's safe to drive (my discretion?). I start back up the interstate and the tranny didn't go over 214 the entire way. They look at it and say there's no issues. Fast forward to June 13 and we head out for our next camping trip. Same thing, but only 30 minutes into our trip. Return to dealership. Same comments, same results: we can't find anything wrong.

I find it odd that after they changed out my fluid, I'm having all of these issues. I'm not a mechanic, but I try to understand how these things work so I don't abuse them. I went for this Expedition knowing that I would never get within 40-50% of its rated twoing capacity. Now I'm on edge that this thing is a lame duck with less than 55,000 miles on it just waiting to die on me. My next trip is over July 4th holiday 7 1/2 hours north; not where I want to have a catastrophic failure.

Fortunately, I have the extended PT warranty good until 10/1/2027 or 100K miles. I am not in a position to simply upgrade and buy a new vehicle for our camper. I've had Fords/Lincolns in the past and the PTs have been virtually bullet-proof and I had not heard anything about this CDF/trans issue until I started looking into the tranny. Is this just a matter of waiting for it to fail to get a warranty replacement? Is there any way to force Ford's hand by continuing to log complaints that aren't recorded by the on board computers? Do I need to record the drive with a cell phone so I can document that I'm doing everything right and that the issue is actually happening?

 

[Fizzy]

I would love to know who's had success getting this covered under warranty BEFORE a complete transmission failure.

Our 2020 started rough shifting between 3 and 5, sometimes up around 7, and would sometimes lurch out of P into R (and sometimes D). Called the service manager at the dealership. He said to bring it in. They had it there for the day whilst the tech looked at that, a coolant issue, and a recall for the PCM.

When I go back, they tell me they are going to rebuild the transmission, using the redesigned parts (CDF drum and something else). However, the parts are on backorder and they don't know when they'll come in.

If it helps, it's a 2020 Plat HD Tow with about 60k (km) on the clock, and we tow an (approx) 8000lb trailer (loaded) a few times a year. We're still under the factory powertrain, but have the extended Ford warranty to 100k (km) or 2028.

 

[HattyMcTrick]

Our 2020 started rough shifting between 3 and 5, sometimes up around 7, and would sometimes lurch out of P into R (and sometimes D). Called the service manager at the dealership. He said to bring it in. They had it there for the day whilst the tech looked at that, a coolant issue, and a recall for the PCM.

When I go back, they tell me they are going to rebuild the transmission, using the redesigned parts (CDF drum and something else). However, the parts are on backorder and they don't know when they'll come in.

If it helps, it's a 2020 Plat HD Tow with about 60k (km) on the clock, and we tow an (approx) 8000lb trailer (loaded) a few times a year. We're still under the factory powertrain, but have the extended Ford warranty to 100k (km) or 2028.

Oddly enough, part of the oil change/60k service was also to address the PCM recall. I wonder if the PCM reprogramming has anything to do with this (or if it's a possible patch for the bigger issue of the CDF).

Looks like I will have to document this on video so I have something to take to Ford. Also considering moving to another dealership, as I don't have a good gut feeling about the service writer or the service manager at the place I bought it (assuming that all Ford dealerships can see work done on by other Ford dealerships).

 

[Fizzy]

Oddly enough, part of the oil change/60k service was also to address the PCM recall. I wonder if the PCM reprogramming has anything to do with this (or if it's a possible patch for the bigger issue of the CDF).

Looks like I will have to document this on video so I have something to take to Ford. Also considering moving to another dealership, as I don't have a good gut feeling about the service writer or the service manager at the place I bought it (assuming that all Ford dealerships can see work done on by other Ford dealerships).

My dealership has always done well by me, I guess because it's where I bought it new. The thinking being if they keep me sweet I'll drop $100k on a new one soon from them.

One thing you could try is resetting the adaptive learning tables for the transmission. This seems to solve a lot of problems for people with transmission issues - although for some it's temporary and the problem comes back eventually. You'll need Forscan, and a Forscan OBDII adapter. I can't remember if the free (standard) license Forscan can reset that - but you can get a 2 month free Extended License on their site.

The down side to doing this is you'll push back further into your warranty window if the problem comes back. Getting it noted in the records with Ford sooner can only be in your benefit.

Edit: Oh, and are you getting rough shifting between 3<>5? Lurching/Jumping out of P?

 

[HattyMcTrick]

Getting it noted in the records with Ford sooner can only be in your benefit.

Edit: Oh, and are you getting rough shifting between 3<>5? Lurching/Jumping out of P?

Thanks for that. I have been getting emails/texts from the sales manager stating that they want to buy my vehicle, but I've always deleted them (I know the game). Being a transplant to the area, I don't have a long-term relationship with them outside of the "free" oil changes package that I paid for when I bought it.

It's a little hard going into revers on start up, but that could be the RPMs of a cold engine. It has been randomly holding 8th gear on the highway. I have to increase speed and gently hold/let off to get it to shift into 9/10. I will keep an eye on the 3 to 5 shifts when I drive it again.

 

[HattyMcTrick]

@Fizzy Following up on the 3rd to 5th shifting. Had the truck out a few times since the post. More often than not, 4th gear is getting skipped. I almost always use the normal or Eco drive modes (unless I'm toming the camper). The shift from 3 > 5 hesitates before shifting. It feels like I'm letting off the gas before hitting the gas again. It lunges back and forth, where every other gear shift is smooth as silk.

 

[Fizzy]

@Fizzy Following up on the 3rd to 5th shifting. Had the truck out a few times since the post. More often than not, 4th gear is getting skipped. I almost always use the normal or Eco drive modes (unless I'm toming the camper). The shift from 3 > 5 hesitates before shifting. It feels like I'm letting off the gas before hitting the gas again. It lunges back and forth, where every other gear shift is smooth as silk.

The skipping a gear is normal. It's more economical to do that. The hesitation, and lurching, is not. Sounds like CDF drum to me. No lurching out of P to R?

 

[HattyMcTrick]

Just a bit of a clunk going into R, even when it's warmed up. It doesn't feel or sound like a problem (there's always more torque in R), but I'm no mechanic.

 

[Bmac1955]

@Fizzy Following up on the 3rd to 5th shifting. Had the truck out a few times since the post. More often than not, 4th gear is getting skipped. I almost always use the normal or Eco drive modes (unless I'm toming the camper). The shift from 3 > 5 hesitates before shifting. It feels like I'm letting off the gas before hitting the gas again. It lunges back and forth, where every other gear shift is smooth as silk.

Time for a overhaul.......just had mine done. Same issue. Just got mine back that went in for same issues. 2020 xlt. 46k. Sorry for the bad news. Ford Protect warranty covered said repair.

 

[Rednecked]

Try turning it off with Forscan. Clear first then turn that junk off.

 

[Mr Big]

Try turning it off with Forscan. Clear first then turn that junk off.

It only helps temporarily. Then it comes right back. I finally took mine in after having issues for almost a year. TSB 25-2132 explains exactly the symptoms I have. They still have my Expedition, as I only took it in 3 days ago.