Ford 10R80 - TSB - Help

T

Toro50cutter

Joined
Aug 21, 2018
Messages
113
Location
East Coast
Hey folks. I assume most anyone who pays attention to Ford or owns one is aware of the variety of issues that the 10R80 transmission has. Over this past summer, Ford released TSB22-2428. It provides guidance in diagnosing and ultimately fixing the issues associated with this transmission. Some of the many complaints seem to revolve around jerking while downshifting, loud “clunking” while downshifting/upshifting, and issues while either accelerating quickly or braking quickly. These issues tend to sound similar to the others stated, specifically to jerking and clunking noises.

Has anyone had success in getting Ford to begin fixing or diagnosing their 10R80?

I’ve always noticed my transmission is usually smooth with the occasional hiccup, but in the past 2 months I’ve experienced new “clunking” noises while my transmission is in 2-4th gear (particularly in a parking lot) as well as jerking and holding onto a gear while braking. I’m sitting at about 38,000 miles and am beginning to think my trans is starting to have some problems.

The rest of this truck has been excellent. I can’t complain at all. But with the current CA lawsuit, I figure it may be worth having this documented. However, we are all aware of how dealerships will simply say, “It’s common.. it’s not out of the ordinary… etc”.
 
They will want to reprogram the transmission first-then look at the solenoids. Ford is on their third part revision on the CDF drum which is at the heart of the problems. The first thing some Ford dealers want to do is to have you pay from a transmission fluid exchange (sometimes called incorrectly a "flush"). This will not help or solve the problem. The best thing you can do is note your concern at your next oil change, and have them test drive it. It may not be bad enough for them to address it.

The important thing is to make sure it's noted on your copy of the service receipt. I think we will see the class actions lawsuits possibly extended the warranty coverage to 100,000 miles-but it's only a guess.

Last time I checked at my local dealer-they had 30 guys requesting transmission diagnostics.
 
Last edited:
Some here have reported noticeable improvements with various fluids. Try Amsoil and/or Lubeguard?

2018 f150, amsoil into 10r80 trans and rear differential, 29000 miles

good suggestions. admittedly, the dealer did that 3 years ago and it didn’t improve the botched shifts. In fact, they may have reflashed it because it started holding higher rpm’s like it was staying in warmup mode, longer. I don’t mind giving it an another go with forscan though. Have the...
bobistheoilguy.com
 
I started that thread.

”No” to amsoil until they release a ULV fluid. Did that and had to dump that and go to valvoline ULV.
A partial dose of lubegaurd red (twice now) made the world of a difference in mine.

mine was sometimes failing so badly shifting up from 3rd that it would miss, clunk, and end up in no gear until I pulled off the road and re-started. Fortunately this never happened when say, pulling across traffic. I took it to the dealer … probably in 2020 IIRC, and they said “this is normal, its not broken” Their solution was to reflash it, which held higher revs and imo didn’t drive quite as well, without helping the problem.

as shown later in that thread, I had to do it again 30k later, with another splash of lubegaurd and a reset of the adaptives. It’s currently driving quite well, and I’d be nervous about letting a dealer touch it.

why is GM not having trouble with this transmission - it’s the same unit isn’t it?

m
 
meep said:
I started that thread.

”No” to amsoil until they release a ULV fluid. Did that and had to dump that and go to valvoline ULV.
A partial dose of lubegaurd red (twice now) made the world of a difference in mine.

mine was sometimes failing so badly shifting up from 3rd that it would miss, clunk, and end up in no gear until I pulled off the road and re-started. Fortunately this never happened when say, pulling across traffic. I took it to the dealer … probably in 2020 IIRC, and they said “this is normal, its not broken” Their solution was to reflash it, which held higher revs and imo didn’t drive quite as well, without helping the problem.

as shown later in that thread, I had to do it again 30k later, with another splash of lubegaurd and a reset of the adaptives. It’s currently driving quite well, and I’d be nervous about letting a dealer touch it.

why is GM not having trouble with this transmission - it’s the same unit isn’t it?

m
Click to expand...
That's a good question. Each took the transmission and made their own "tweaks" to it. I know GMs TCM software is totally different. Is the CDF drum different? I don't know.
I do know that GM is having anywhere near the issues that Ford is-and that's a fact.
 
CKN said:
That's a good question. Each took the transmission and made their own "tweaks" to it. I know GMs TCM software is totally different. Is the CDF drum different? I don't know.
I do know that GM is having anywhere near the issues that Ford is-and that's a fact.
Click to expand...
right? So here’s the thing ... My “theory” was related to sticky solenoid issues. Which made me wonder if different fluid types were being used between the two companies. That would play.

ANOTHER THEORY. I should have posted this in October but I didnt. I got real excited when I read that newer versions of forscan had an easy way to defeat auto stop/start, so I updated my software, grabbed another trial license and disabled as/s. To my disappointment, it really just disabled the battery management strategy, which we already knew about. So now, the truck is generally between 14.0-14.6 volts at all times, rock solid - far above the 12.4-12.6 it used to be. Now, it may totally be just my imagination, but the drivetrain simply feels like it is runs better at this voltage, notably the engine-to-transmission dance. I have no “data” to support this at all, it’s all butt-dyno; but it has me convinced enough to not undo the setting. The shifts seem just barely quicker, smoother, synchronized. If this is real, the trans may simply not have enough voltage to give the solenoids what they actually need in the vehicle.

here is data I do have: BMS was worth 0.6 mpg, not a small amount, with some auto s/s use (not all the time, I probably disabled it half the time).
 
meep said:
right? So here’s the thing ... My “theory” was related to sticky solenoid issues. Which made me wonder if different fluid types were being used between the two companies. That would play.

ANOTHER THEORY. I should have posted this in October but I didnt. I got real excited when I read that newer versions of forscan had an easy way to defeat auto stop/start, so I updated my software, grabbed another trial license and disabled as/s. To my disappointment, it really just disabled the battery management strategy, which we already knew about. So now, the truck is generally between 14.0-14.6 volts at all times, rock solid - far above the 12.4-12.6 it used to be. Now, it may totally be just my imagination, but the drivetrain simply feels like it is runs better at this voltage, notably the engine-to-transmission dance. I have no “data” to support this at all, it’s all butt-dyno; but it has me convinced enough to not undo the setting. The shifts seem just barely quicker, smoother, synchronized. If this is real, the trans may simply not have enough voltage to give the solenoids what they actually need in the vehicle.

here is data I do have: BMS was worth 0.6 mpg, not a small amount, with some auto s/s use (not all the time, I probably disabled it half the time).
Click to expand...
One can disable the BMS by unplugging it near the battery terminal....right?
 
Sticky/slow valves is also the reason I do (Based on a similar theory to @meep ):

1. Very regular fluid changes - D&F every 10K
2. Supplement with Lubegard Platinum

I know there is a general dislike of the platinum because of the extra FM's and all, but I'm nearing 50K on my 10R80 with almost 5K of that lugging around a 6000# trailer and to date, the 10R80 is just as smooth as it always was. Yes, there is occasionally some clunky programming in the way that it goes through the gears, but that isn't mechanical, it is the way Ford programmed the thing to skip gears on up and downshifts.

I also base it on looking at the Sonax parts catalog for the 10R80 that shows them developing some different valves to correct some of the pressure issues with the valve body.

Anything I can do to keep particulates out of the valve body and keep the valves sliding properly.

I also have AS/S disabled and have since shortly after I got the truck. And I backstopped it all with a 150k extended warranty.

1703808797808.png
 
My 2019 F150 shifts wonky when it’s cold. But I’m tuned and have the skip shifting tuned off. One thing I’ve noticed if I back in the driveway it sometimes will have a very flared 1-2 shift like I knocked the shifter into neutral.

However, if I pull into the driveway and have to back out, it hardly does it. Even then it’s totally random with no pattern at all. Also if the truck has sat for more than 24 hrs and I hop in with no warm up time and just put it in drive and go, it acts like it slips real bad for 2 or 3 seconds. But once again, totally random when it acts up.

I flashed back to the stock tuning and ran it for a couple of months like that to see if there was any change. If anything it happened more often.

I’m at 80k and changed the fluid once at 30k and again at 60k, along with a whole bottle of lubegard red. Seemed to smooth the trans some. At 90k I’ll change the fluid again and add 1oz per qt
 
ctechbob said:
Sticky/slow valves is also the reason I do (Based on a similar theory to @meep ):

1. Very regular fluid changes - D&F every 10K
2. Supplement with Lubegard Platinum

I know there is a general dislike of the platinum because of the extra FM's and all, but I'm nearing 50K on my 10R80 with almost 5K of that lugging around a 6000# trailer and to date, the 10R80 is just as smooth as it always was. Yes, there is occasionally some clunky programming in the way that it goes through the gears, but that isn't mechanical, it is the way Ford programmed the thing to skip gears on up and downshifts.

I also base it on looking at the Sonax parts catalog for the 10R80 that shows them developing some different valves to correct some of the pressure issues with the valve body.

Anything I can do to keep particulates out of the valve body and keep the valves sliding properly.

I also have AS/S disabled and have since shortly after I got the truck. And I backstopped it all with a 150k extended warranty.

View attachment 195295
Click to expand...
While I'm not saying what your doing isn't helping-it doesn't address the third part revision on the CDF drum.
 
CKN said:
I do know that GM is having anywhere near the issues that Ford is-and that's a fact.
Click to expand...

I do wonder if part of that isn't because GM doesn't use the 10 speed near as much as Ford does.

Ford pretty much put it in everything RWD from 2017 on, where GM kept on with their 8 speed in a pile of things, only using the 10L sparingly.

No data to back that up though, but I'd like to see it if it exists. I know the GM programming is widely said to be a lot better than Ford.
 
I had it done (actually the the tsb that replaced it) and it worked great. Check f150forum.com in the 2015-2020 section for all you need to know.
 
Is this the same transmission in the 23 Explorer? I test drove a new one of those and hated the way it shifted. It was not smooth at all. Super clunky.
 
snowshew said:
I had it done (actually the the tsb that replaced it) and it worked great. Check f150forum.com in the 2015-2020 section for all you need to know.
Click to expand...
Did you have the entire TSB done-or just the solenoids?
 
D60 said:
Some here have reported noticeable improvements with various fluids. Try Amsoil and/or Lubeguard?

2018 f150, amsoil into 10r80 trans and rear differential, 29000 miles

good suggestions. admittedly, the dealer did that 3 years ago and it didn’t improve the botched shifts. In fact, they may have reflashed it because it started holding higher rpm’s like it was staying in warmup mode, longer. I don’t mind giving it an another go with forscan though. Have the...
bobistheoilguy.com
Click to expand...
Fluids will help to a degree. Based on EVERYTHING WE KNOW it's got at least two design defects.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

michael007
HR-V in limp mode after car wash - followed by weird noises underneath gear shifter
Replies
4
Views
314
michael007
P
4L80E TCC Not Locking
Replies
8
Views
409
Peteco
JTK
My 2019 Nissan with timing chain issues
2
Replies
35
Views
3K
MalibuRam65
J
Ford ranger transmission shifts too soon
Replies
12
Views
1K
dogememe
N
Need help diagnosing notable driveline clunk in 2002 Suburban
Replies
16
Views
2K
jetman
Back
Top