Urgent advice needed (is it my transmission?)

[myexpysucks]

Hi Everyone,
I am looking for advice on whether my dealer is playing me. I have a 2018 Expedition Platinum with 37K Kms only. Bought the car in August 2020 with 0kms so it is technically not even 5 years old and still under the powertrain warranty.

Have replaced the water pump and all those hoses due to coolant leak. Now experiencing crazy bad fuel economy, clunk on putting into reverse and hesitating to shift between 3rd and 4th gear. They said I need

-programing for the PCM $410
-programming for TCM $410
-fuel injectors and throttle body and intake system cleaning $205
-Replace air filter $41
-replace spark plugs replace $260
-new starter (under warranty)

I feel they are pushing the costs to me to delay admitting it is a transmission issue while waiting for the warranty to run out this August. This car is driven literally less than 20 kms a day, like a grandma, and I find it absurd to be falling apart like this so soon. Are they screwing me? I fought back that the things are emissions related and therefore covered under the emissions warranty.

Please help!

 

[S20Workstation4]

I don't see a need for a new starter, the car starts perfectly fine, right?

The dealer is most likely trying to tell you that a re-program will fix the trans issue. I would just disconnect the battery overnight and let the car reset, then reconnect it in the morning and perform a drive cycle test. This was let the engine and transmission relearn your driving habits again.

Don't get the system cleaning, you can run a bottle of Techron through your system for $10, and get the same results, and that's if you even need a fuel system cleaning, and 22k Miles is it extremely low for needing a cleaning.

You can get an air filter from the parts store for $15, and change it yourself in 10 mins.

Their up-charging you, don't buy it. I would just try resetting the battery and re-learning the adaptive tables, and go from there.


Joe

 

[Hellwig]

Hi Everyone,
I am looking for advice on whether my dealer is playing me. I have a 2018 Expedition Platinum with 37K Kms only. Bought the car in August 2020 with 0kms so it is technically not even 5 years old and still under the powertrain warranty.

Have replaced the water pump and all those hoses due to coolant leak. Now experiencing crazy bad fuel economy, clunk on putting into reverse and hesitating to shift between 3rd and 4th gear. They said I need

-programing for the PCM $410
-programming for TCM $410
-fuel injectors and throttle body and intake system cleaning $205
-Replace air filter $41
-replace spark plugs replace $260
-new starter (under warranty)

I feel they are pushing the costs to me to delay admitting it is a transmission issue while waiting for the warranty to run out this August. This car is driven literally less than 20 kms a day, like a grandma, and I find it absurd to be falling apart like this so soon. Are they screwing me? I fought back that the things are emissions related and therefore covered under the emissions warranty.

Please help!

Most likely it is the infamous CDF drum failure. 37K only and it needs new spark plugs? What a complete b**s**.

 

[Mr Big]

If you have FORScan you can reset your pcm and tcm. I was having random issues with my tranny clunking if I hard accelerated at 50mph or so. I disabled tcm learning and, so far, it has not had the issue and performs way better. I tend to drive easy around town, and the learn mode, after learning, tends to make it feel like it's in economy mode and the shifting is very loose. Now it stays tight with a faster response, as well as it holds the gears a little longer. I lost about .1 mpg, leaving it this way.
Edit: 2 days ago Ford performed a TCM program update which is supposed to fix some tranny issues. It's too early to tell if it makes a difference. But my shifting is smoother and I still have my tcm learning shut off.

 

[DieselMonk]

Check your battery, it’s probably on its way out. A bad battery combined with never cleaned battery posts and terminals will get poor fuel economy too. It made quite a noticeable change in my fuel economy, because my truck was always charging the battery hard. I could drive the truck for 5 hours and the battery would be charging full tilt. Also the start stop system hardly ever worked after 6 years original battery. So before you go for a starter, put in a quality AGM battery, clean the posts and terminals (do not skip this step). Does your start stop still work?
As soon as I installed the new battery, had the posts and terminals clean, reset the BMS and went for a 30 min ride for the BMS to figure the battery out.

The shift problem sounds like CDF drum failure to me.

 

[myexpysucks]

Thank you everyone for your replies. They waived the cost for the PCM relearn and told me they had already cleaned the spark plugs when I asked for a photo of them. The starter replacement (no idea why since I didn't report it as an issue, but it's under warranty so why not) is waiting for the part to arrive. They also replaced my cabin air filter....despite it being done just six months (3k kms) ago. I think there are a lot of signs they are just trying to throw random maintenance items on me! Rage at the crappy service team aside, I am tempted to buy an extended warranty now - $3358 to extend by 3 years - given my feeling the transmission might go soon (if it is the cdf issue). This car has been so good other than this recent transmission issue and I really want to keep it!

 

[myexpysucks]

Check your battery, it’s probably on its way out. A bad battery combined with never cleaned battery posts and terminals will get poor fuel economy too. It made quite a noticeable change in my fuel economy, because my truck was always charging the battery hard. I could drive the truck for 5 hours and the battery would be charging full tilt. Also the start stop system hardly ever worked after 6 years original battery. So before you go for a starter, put in a quality AGM battery, clean the posts and terminals (do not skip this step). Does your start stop still work?
As soon as I installed the new battery, had the posts and terminals clean, reset the BMS and went for a 30 min ride for the BMS to figure the battery out.

The shift problem sounds like CDF drum failure to me.

Thanks for your reply. I got a new motorcraft agm battery in October 2023 so it should be okay. I am in the middle east so batteries usually only last 1 year here, but this one apparently has a 3 year life (and is warrantied for 3 years too).

I thought the start stop works but now that i think about it, its pretty intermittent and I always thought it related to how hard I was pressing on the brake or not?

 

[gural]

Though You got the 2023 October You should connect it to a rectifier overnight, it may be sulphated and will give a small current

i had a similar issue in fathers sorento - problem was with poor battery due to small milega (short distances)

 

[LG_123]

The extended service plan sounds like a bargain at that price.

I also did my first ever spark plug change on my expedition and it took me 15 minutes. Very easy to DIY