2010 Escape cooks tranny at 25000 miles

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Shawn White

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My wife was complaining that her 2010 Escape V6 was shifting hard, this comes two weeks after the electric throttle body failed. Pulled the tranny dip stick out and it looks like the Fluid has 100,000 miles on it, smelled burnt also. Took it to the dealer and they are dropping the tranny. I'm pretty shocked that at 25,000 miles the trans is cooked. We brought it in at 5,000 miles to have the PCM flashed with an update to "fix" and issue with the a salionode. Guess the recall didn't fix the problem.



I hope they give me a new trans. The wife is taking over the trac, as it was hers before I met her, until the trans is to fixed and shifts well.

Anyone else have this problem with the 6F35 trans?
 
I had issues with my wife's milan with the FNR5 trans, I just hope your Ford dealer is not as incompetent as mine was. They can replace the trans, but will they fix the root cause? I wouldn't sign the work order until you're satisfied I'd even ask that they throw in an extended warranty.. let us know how it turned out
 
In 2008 ford changed the air trans cooler. Many of them leaked. Some bad enough to catch it. Some only seeped. Alot of owners didnt catch it until it was to late. The lack of enough trans fluid cooked the transmission.



My ex's '08 leaked bad enough. There was fluid spraying everywhere. Hers lost enough fluid imediatly, the trans wouldnt shift right. I toped it off with fluid. Then she went straight to the dealer. There is a tsb for the cooler. But no recalls as of yet. To my knowledge it is still happening.



I have read some stories that. The only ones getting the trans fixed with fords $$. Were the ones under 3yr/36k warrranty. Some were only 1000 miles past warranty. They had to pay out of pocket. Some dealerships and district managers are telling customers. That the cooler is not coverered under the 6yr/60k drive train. That is BS.



My ex was still under the 3yr/36k warranty.



One more thing that is failing. Is the electric power steering. There is a tsb. But no recall. Cost to repair is $1200. The have to replace the whole column. The elec motors are interegal. My ?? is why did they not design it, as to where the motors could be replaced. Like many others have...:fire:
 
My sister had that issue with her 08 escape, but in her case the leak was small.

IMO it's unacceptable to have a major power train failure at 25,000 miles. So far the dealer has been great working with me.



In our case the 3 yr/36 mile warrenty is still in place, but only by 2 weeks. I didn't know about the power steering thanks for the heads up on that one. Good thing we got the extended warrety.



The other day my wife asked if I wanted to replace the trac. With quality like this in a brand new vehicle I'm now planning on running the trac until I can't find parts for it. After 1/2 a century you think they would have automatic transmission figured out by now. :fire:
 
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The 3yr/36K bumper to bumper warranty is not the only one you get with a new Ford. There are two more: 5yr/60K Powertrain and also Emissions System. For the transmission problem at the stated mileage there should be no question from any Ford dealership. Check your warranty booklets that came with the car, or the Ford Owners website.
 
Link to Ford's vehicle owner website. Good for warranty information, maintenence schedules, and owner's manuals.
 
Got a call from the dealer, the clutch packs are burnt and warped. However the gear sets are still in good shape. So they are just going to replace the torque converter which houses the clutch set. They are also going to flush the trans and the cooler as well as replace the filter that can only be accessed when the case is split.



From reading online it sounds like the torque converter on the 6F35 is a constant slip design which constantly locks and un-locks. I'm not a trans expert, but I'd like to know why the converter failed. They have no idea what caused the issue as all the shift solenoids and valve body look intact. The valve body looks to be a pretty simple design.



They said Ford is releasing PCM updates to adjust trans shift points and lock and un-lock points for the converter all the time. So I'm wondering if the converter either isn't getting enough fluid and heats up, or the most likely case in my mind is the PCM is constantly commanding lock and un-lock causing to heat to build up which fries the clutch packs.



I'm also wondering how reliable this trans design is going to be over time. I'll have to keep a close eye on the fluid to see if it starts looking burnt again.
 
I have put more torque converters in Ford Escapes than any other vehicle on the road, I don't know why Ford has had so many problems with them.
 
I was going to ask the dealer how much this would have cost outside of warrenty....



What's the average cost of replacing the convertor?





I really wish Ford with figure this out, other than the trans the V6 Escape is a pretty good little SUV.
 
Is this the 6speed trans? I never heard of clutch paks in the tq convertor.

My ex's '08 V6 is the 4 or 5 speed. I dont remember.

Out of curiosity. I would like to see a diagram.
 
I found a few diagrams online searching for the 6 speed 6F35 transmission.

The 6F35 trans was added to the Escape for the 2010 model year. I've driven a 2008 and I thought the older version shifted nicer. Hard to compare the two as the 2010 has a bit more Hp and a different trans.



I never pulled a FWD drive trans apart, so I'm learning more about these as I go along. This transmission was developed as part of a joint venture with GM. The GM vehicles also are reporting issues with the torque converter as well.



Here is the best source I found so far:



 

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