Just curious to see if anyone else has encountered this issue. I have a 2015 two wheel drive Expedition. I'm a relaxed driver so I accelerate slowly as opposed to racing from light to light. I've come to notice that when accelerating lightly (especially on hills or rolling onto the gas pedal) in higher gears, there's a distinct groan accompanied by a rattling/vibration.
Most notably, it can be heard just after the transmission shifts from third to fourth with rpm below 2000 if I'm casually accelerating. In this state, the gearing is tall, rpm is low and thus the transmission is subjected to greater torsional stress. If I'm accelerating quickly it doesn't occur due to the higher rpm before shifts which lowers the torsional stress through the transmission).
This sounds exactly like the TSB 14-0134 pertinent to 2013-2014 F150s where the valve body separator plate actually had passages too small that under certain conditions would cause the transmission fluid to cavitate resulting in the groan and vibration.
I have the 3.15 rear end, so in a low rpm and higher gear, there's even more stress on the transmission as opposed to the expeditions with the 3.73 rear end. So perhaps due to this, the groan and vibration isn't seen in expeditions with the the 3.73s because the operating condition that results in the vibration and groan (even if the valve body separator plates were the same) is never reached. However that is just speculation on my part.
I brought it to the dealer today and was given the run around even after directly replicating the noise to the tech. He indicated that with the taller rear end gears (3.15s) in a low rpm state, "I'm essentially tricking the transmission" which sounds asinine for an explanation. If the loading condition were such that the stress on the transmission/what the engine can handle was too great, it should subsequently shift down to a lower gear. However, it does not. The groaning and vibration occur throughout the acceleration until the rpm rises enough to exit whatever operating condition is inducing it to begin with. To me, this indicates that at this rpm and loading condition, the engineers at Ford determined the transmission can handle it just fine and the ecoboost engine makes enough power to operate in this range. This supports the idea that it is very likely that this is a design issue with orifice sizing in the separator plate.
Bottom line, just seeing if anyone else has run into this issue since the TSB 14-0134 sounds exactly like what I'm experiencing. It's just that Ford released the TSB for 2013 and 2014 F150s, Expeditions and Navigators and mine is a 2015. Going to another dealer to show them the issue for a second opinion.
Most notably, it can be heard just after the transmission shifts from third to fourth with rpm below 2000 if I'm casually accelerating. In this state, the gearing is tall, rpm is low and thus the transmission is subjected to greater torsional stress. If I'm accelerating quickly it doesn't occur due to the higher rpm before shifts which lowers the torsional stress through the transmission).
This sounds exactly like the TSB 14-0134 pertinent to 2013-2014 F150s where the valve body separator plate actually had passages too small that under certain conditions would cause the transmission fluid to cavitate resulting in the groan and vibration.
I have the 3.15 rear end, so in a low rpm and higher gear, there's even more stress on the transmission as opposed to the expeditions with the 3.73 rear end. So perhaps due to this, the groan and vibration isn't seen in expeditions with the the 3.73s because the operating condition that results in the vibration and groan (even if the valve body separator plates were the same) is never reached. However that is just speculation on my part.
I brought it to the dealer today and was given the run around even after directly replicating the noise to the tech. He indicated that with the taller rear end gears (3.15s) in a low rpm state, "I'm essentially tricking the transmission" which sounds asinine for an explanation. If the loading condition were such that the stress on the transmission/what the engine can handle was too great, it should subsequently shift down to a lower gear. However, it does not. The groaning and vibration occur throughout the acceleration until the rpm rises enough to exit whatever operating condition is inducing it to begin with. To me, this indicates that at this rpm and loading condition, the engineers at Ford determined the transmission can handle it just fine and the ecoboost engine makes enough power to operate in this range. This supports the idea that it is very likely that this is a design issue with orifice sizing in the separator plate.
Bottom line, just seeing if anyone else has run into this issue since the TSB 14-0134 sounds exactly like what I'm experiencing. It's just that Ford released the TSB for 2013 and 2014 F150s, Expeditions and Navigators and mine is a 2015. Going to another dealer to show them the issue for a second opinion.
