Stranded on side of road - ugh

[grey2112]

2015 Expedition, 3.5L Eco. 73,000 miles. Recently had the transmission fluid replaced, new filter, inspection, etc. All seemed to be running fine. I still haven't gotten around to replacing the Cold side (Air outlet duct) where a few years ago I had broken off the nub but the JB weld seemed to be holding and I had checked it before our trip.

Was towing about 5000 pounds, mostly at 55-65 mph, about 1800-2000 rpms on the highway, most of the time in 5th but occasionally it get into 6th on nice flat areas. Not a lot of hills or rise in Florida, but near Tallahassee it sometimes gets a little hilly. Trip there was fine, no issues. Trip back things were OK for quite a while, transmission temp and oil temp perfect.

All of a sudden the engine sounded like (and confirmed when I looked at the tachometer) it was revving slightly, like maybe 400-500 pms. No reason for it since I was on a very flat section after going up a relatively steep rise of a bridge. It would do this a few times and the engine sounded a little rough. I was wondering if that Cold Side air outlet nub had come loose again.

After a few miles the engine revved like 1000-1500 rpms and I lost all power to the transmission - the engine was on but putting my foot on the accelerator just revved it as if I was in neutral but nothing was transferring to the transmission. Got damn lucky to have had enough momentum to coast into a gas station.

I tried Reverse, Low, Drive, every gear. Nothing.

I checked the nub and yes, it had cracked loose of the JB weld fix, but after taping it back tight again nothing changed. I sort of figured this had little to nothing to do with the main issue.

Thoughts? Anyone have anything similar happen to them?

Getting to where I'm not trusting this vehicle anymore and might start looking for a Tundra.


BTW my code reader pulled no codes when plugged in, but is a basic one.

 

[mr_dave]

You will need to get a more advanced scanner that can read the TCU codes. It definitely sounds like a transmission issue. Did you lose any transmission fluid?

 

[grey2112]

No fluid that I saw, no burning smell. I suppose it could have dumped just before the gas station, but I think I would have smelled something or seen a drip underneath.

Of course, it is very difficult to check fluid levels on these - have to get underneath with a wrench - what a stupid idea.

 

[JamaicaJoe]

Maybe your gear selector is not actually coming out of neutral? If you put it in park is the parking pawl actually engaging? I had my 2001's PRNDL indicator cable disconnect at the column shifter and thought I had blown the transmission.

 

[grey2112]

Well, its about as bad a diagnosis as I was not hoping for.

"The technician says it looks like there is internal damage to the one way clutch. He found metal chunks in the valve body, some of the valves would bind up and the filter tip looked damaged as well. The tech does suspect there could be more internal damage than what we noticed on the valve body. He is recommending replacing the transmission rather than rebuilding it due to how labor intensive it is to rebuild and it would be less expensive."

 

[Fastcar]

Are you at a ford dealer? You mentioned getting a tundra if so go for a rebuilt unit. It will lesson the pain.

 

[grey2112]

Yes - it isn't going to be too painful thanks to a military discount, and it comes with a 2 year unlimited mile warranty.

 

[grey2112]

The tech said he wondered if the fluid was overfilled but could that have caused this? I can't imagine someone at my shop saying, "Hey, let's putt LOTS of fluid in here even though it keeps coming out the input area before we can screw the cap back on" but again, I'm no expert on these things.






The tech said "it looks like there is internal damage to the one way clutch. He found metal chunks in the valve body, some of the valves would bind up and the filter tip looked damaged as well. The tech does suspect there could be more internal damage than what we noticed on the valve body."

So, perhaps the clutch failed or was loose or something internal just started throwing metal bits?

 

[mr_dave]

It would be very difficult to overfill, due to the location of the fill / dipstick hole. The only thing I could think of was either it was under-filled or improper transmission fluid was used. It's also possible that the replacement filter was somehow improperly installed (pickup tube clearance, seal damaged, etc).

If none of those are the case then it's just very bad luck. Normally these transmissions are very durable. Glad your discount helps out!

 

[mr_dave]

Also - it seems there are even different filters for the 6R80! The video below is from a 2.7L, but the fact that there are different filters available for the same transmission makes me wonder if the wrong filter was installed.

â â â DON'T USE THE WRONG TRANSMISSION FILTER!! â â â FORD 6R80 TRANSMISSION FOR THE 2.7 F-150 ECOBOOST

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