Powershift missed oil change

[seagoon]

Our 2013 MC wagon which we've owned for 130 of it's 190 thousand km life has the dreaded solenoid 5 and 6 error DTCs. I thinks it's time to say bye bye, sorry to see you go so early.

We've enjoyed the Mondeo most of all the cars we've owned and would be keen to replace it with an MD. We've found one in pretty good condition with about 75 thousand km but from chasing up about if the transmission oil was replaced at 60 thousand I'm quite certain it wasn't.

I know that is pretty bad, but does it make it "don't touch it with a barge pole" bad, or just that it should be really cheap? 😅

[russellw]

The recommended service interval for the Powershift ranges from 60-120k km based on use and conditions so I wouldn't be too fussed on a low km vehicle.

[seagoon]

Thanks Russellw.
Is there technical info I can reference to explain stretching the service interval from the 'B schedule' book value of 60 thousand?

[Interceptor]

If a transmission is that fragile that its at risk of dramas because its gone 15,000km over its service interval, personally, I'd avoid it like the plague

[AlanM]

The reality is most cars "serviced" by Ford dealers will never have had the transmission oil changed.

At all. Ever.

I've bought a few with full "service" histories, and the transmission oil has ALWAYS been absolutely filthy. (Except once when the oil was new, there just wasn't enough of it. But that was Mycar. At least they tried) The transmissions weren't working properly, which meant the cars were cheap, and an oil change almost always gets them working perfectly. Sometimes the valve body needs to come out for cleaning.

Ford (and most other brands) dealers are very good at invoicing. Unfortunately the other bit of servicing a car, the bit where you use spanners and stuff, they're not very good at, at all.

So I certainly wouldn't avoid this car. Buy it, and change the gearbox oil (and the external filter) yourself. There's plenty of youtube videos on how to do it, it's not difficult at all. (Although apparently too difficult for Fotd dealers)

If you don't want to do it yourself, I'm not sure what to suggest, it doesn't seem like there's many "professionals" capable of doing this simple job.

Also, the MD Mondeo has the DCT451 transmission which doesn't have the plastic clutch damper spring retainers inside the transmission. It uses a dual mass flywheel instead. So, even if seriously neglected to the point of shifting poorly, it won't break up the spring retainers which necessitate a complete strip down and rebuild.

This inability or unwillingness to lay tools on a car isn't restricted to Ford dealers. We recently bought a Mazda CX5 with 160,000 km and a full "service " history. I checked the air filter and I think I would be the first person to set eyes on it since the car rolled out the factory door in Hiroshima.

Despite having been "inspect and clean"ed SIXTEEN TIMES.

[AlanM]

Just FYI about the MD. Their transmissions are pretty good. Better than the MC for sure.

But it's not all good news. From about 150,000 km on, you could have;

The plastic impeller come loose on the water pump, causing overheating. Fortunately the limp home mode is very effective and the engine is generally unharmed. The water pump ought to last until the timing belt is due, but often doesn't. Replace with an aftermarket pump, they're cheaper and better.

The EGR cooler can split. This isn't too dramatic you'll just start losing coolant at a gradually increasing rate. Again aftermarket is cheaper and better.

The thermostat housing blows apart. That's another tow truck job. Again, the engine should be fine.

The good news is that once you've replaced these bits with aftermarket parts, you should be fine for another 200,000km easy.

[goz007]

Just go & take it for a good run 45min+ over all different driving conditions, then U will have a good idea how the car is, if u are happy the buy it & give it a full service(regardless of what it's service books say)-full service includes all filters & fluids.

[AlCan]

If you're mechanically inclined, you could fix the MC.

Sounds like it's just suffered the dreaded Primary Trans Fluid Filter failure, which I've just posted about. A valve body clean and a new Primary & Secondary filters would probably revive it for another 100,000km. If the trans was running fine before it suddenly developed this problem, there's probably not much wrong with it.

[seagoon]

Originally Posted by AlCan

If you're mechanically inclined, you could fix the MC.

Sounds like it's just suffered the dreaded Primary Trans Fluid Filter failure, which I've just posted about. A valve body clean and a new Primary & Secondary filters would probably revive it for another 100,000km. If the trans was running fine before it suddenly developed this problem, there's probably not much wrong with it.

Thanks AlCan. I reckon you are probably right. It first faulted about six months prior, and a fluid change and filter fixed it. Probably some more spring spacer failures since. Skill-wise I'm up to the rebuild, but time not in my side.
Now driving an 2017 MD wagon and liking it a lot!
Cheers.