Need a new transmission at 96k miles.

[Iconoclast_13]

Bought my 21 BB new to use it as a daily driver mainly highway driving. About a week ago it started to shift with a little jerk, then when downahifting it would drastically reduce speed and take a few seconds before it was in gear. At times when trying to come to a complete stop, it would shake violently. I also started getting the shift system error where it wouldn't go into park. I immediately took it into Ford to have it checked and do my 100k maintenance a bit early.

Today the dealership said they recommend a transmission overhaul and are reaching out to Ford for assistance. They quoted me 9 to 10k if Ford doesn't help.

I'm curious if anyone else has encountered a similar situation to this and thoughts on having a second opinion.

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[Dude]

Duplicate post but you aren’t the first in that transmission situation … a few other owners posted similar issue

Have you had the transmission fluid drained and refilled at least a couple times before you hit your nearly 100k mileage?

usual advise is to get a quote from a trusted independent transmission shop

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/need-a-new-transmission-at-96k-miles.17869/

 

[Iconoclast_13]

Duplicate post but you aren’t the first in that transmission situation … a few other owners posted similar issue

Have you had the transmission fluid drained and refilled at least a couple times before you hit your nearly 100k mileage?

usual advise is to get a quote from a trusted independent transmission shop

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/need-a-new-transmission-at-96k-miles.17869/

I unfortunately did not. When inquiring about that in the past, the technician said Ford doesn't record that until 150k miles and doing so earlier could harm the transmission.

 

[rugedraw]

When inquiring about that in the past, the technician said Ford doesn't record that until 150k miles and doing so earlier could harm the transmission.

That is absurd. When we bought ours a few months ago, I spoke to a few techs at the Ford dealer I used to work at and they told me these are overall great vehicles, but the transmission is their weakest link in the long term. We bought ours with 8,800 miles and I plan on flushing the tranny out every 20k miles.

 

[Dude]

That is absurd. When we bought ours a few months ago, I spoke to a few techs at the Ford dealer I used to work at and they told me these are overall great vehicles, but the transmission is their weakest link in the long term. We bought ours with 8,800 miles and I plan on flushing the tranny out every 20k miles.

Is your advice to flush or just drain and fill?

 

[rugedraw]

Is your advice to flush or just drain and fill?

Good question. I will find out and report back.

Edit: Brace yourself........long response incoming:

I reached out to a member of the full-size Bronco forum who is a long time tenured Ford tech; one of the ones I spoke to before I bought mine. I mentioned I had tuned mine. His response is below:

"Hey man,
Personally I think changing the fluid far more often is a great idea. If I owned one I certainly would.

Unfortunately some of the issues they have might just be unavoidable, even doing that. But keeping fresh fluid in there won’t hurt at all. They do seem to get pretty dirty quickly. A lot of the times it’s due to converter failure. Once that starts happening and clutch material starts building up in the fluid, it can cause a lot of other problems.

To be honest, the livernois tune may actually help with that. I’ve always thought that a large part of all the converter failures is because Ford’s programming. They’re so worried about gas mileage that they lock the converter as fast as they possibly can, which just isn’t great for a transmission like that. I’m not sure if your tune included transmission tuning at all, but if it did, hopefully that will help with some of the issues.

You’re likely not going to be able to do an actual flush, at least it’s not something I’ve ever tried on an 8 speed. The lines coming out of the transmission are not accessible to hook up a machine. You could hook them up where the cooler bypass valve is, but those hoses are an absolute pain in the ass to get off without destroying the hoses, and I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to flush through the bypass valve.

Drain and fill every 20k miles is the way I would go."

So, I called Livernois and spoke to Paul who is one of their programmers. He said that in the case of the BS, when they wrote the tune, they did not do it with increasing the longevity of the transmission in mind. However, he said there is validity to what he said because do change the the way the torque converter behaves so it "disengages more naturally" and as a byproduct, could possibly be good for it long term.

I am not saying that tuning it will make it last longer. I am just saying I am happy I tuned mine. If there is a lesson than can be learned here is that draining the tranny fluid every 20k miles

 

[Stircrazy]

I unfortunately did not. When inquiring about that in the past, the technician said Ford doesn't record that until 150k miles and doing so earlier could harm the transmission.

ya its funny in the schedule it says that, but I got the ford service plan with the purchase of my bronco and the drain and refill every 25000 miles.

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