MKZ Harsh and Double Engagements

[microdave007]

I have a 2013 Lincoln MKZ with a 2.0L Ecoboost and 6F35 Transmission. I have owned my MKZ since March of 2014 and it only has about 7000 miles on it.

Right now the dealership wants to overhaul my transmission to replace the forward clutch piston seal as direct by engineer at Ford Motor Company in reference to SSM 44760. I have been told that this “fix” is for vehicles that have very harsh engagements in all forward gears and the shop foreman at my dealership told me that this “fix” will most likely do nothing about my engagement issue since my MKZ does this while shifting into forward and reverse.

Sept. 2014 @ 3600 miles, I started noticing random harsh engagements when selecting Drive and Reverse during a cold start. Now it’s gotten a little worse, I’ve even felt a double engagement feeling when selecting Reverse and it’s now during warm/cold starts. The engagement is so harsh that it can jerk my head and the whole car. Currently, I have only noticed the harshness when selecting Park to Drive, Drive to Reverse, Park to Reverse, Drive to Neutral. I feel the harsh engagement before I even touch the accelerator, so my foot is on the brake the whole time. I don’t notice it on the highway when the MKZ shifts from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, … But, I have noticed when I give the car a little gas while crawling in traffic, the car will jerk a little bit.

When I first purchased the 2013 MKZ it had 22 miles on it and ran beautifully. I recently took the car to the dealership to do a recall/oil change and asked them to look at this. I was able to duplicate the harsh engagements in front of the shop foreman, and he said to me that this is a definitely too harsh, and I’m going to load the latest calibrations for all the modules including PCM and TCM. He insured me this will fix the issue. When I went to picked up the car it felt the exactly the same, and I refused to pick up my MKZ. The dealership even found another 2013 MKZ to show me that other MKZ have the same “harsh engagements”, well that MKZ did not have any harsh engagements instead it felt just like my MKZ back when I got the keys.

What I would like to know, is there anyone that has had this “fix” for harsh engagements? If so, did this fix help and how did your harsh engagement issues start? Any suggestions?

Thanks,
David

[drolds1]

For the record, my post from the Ford Fusion Forum:

 

 

Posted Today, 03:12 AM

I don't see where you have any other choice other than to let them follow the Ford engineers' directions.  This is the authorized warranty repair for now and the protocol should be followed despite what the shop foreman thinks.  If he doesn't think this is going work, what is his alternative plan for repair?  IDK why the shop foreman thinks he knows more than the people who designed the transmission. If it doesn't work, then Ford engineering will have to come up with another fix, but at least they'll be on the hook to figure it out and the work will be authorized under warranty.  Doesn't your dealer have a certified Ford transmission tech?  If so, what does (s)he think is the issue? 

 

Under harsh forward and reverse engagements (among other engagement issues), the shop manual refers the tech to the forward clutch assembly and the direct clutch assembly.  While there are numerous possible sources for issues with these components, one of them is a leaking forward clutch piston and the fix is replacement of same.

 

I had an issue with my 2010 MKZ AWD which had a rumble in the driveline at 40 mph/1500rpm (common with Fusions and MKZs with that powertrain combination).  Ford engineering directed the dealer to replace the torque converter.  That didn't work, so they were directed to replace the driveshaft.  When that didn't work, they were directed to replace the rear differential.  In the end, nothing worked.  It's a characteristic of that particular driveline combination but the point is that the dealer followed all the directions of the Ford engineer.  And my dealer does have a certified trans tech.

 

At the end of the day, your car isn't going to get fixed unless your dealer follows the instructions from Dearborn.  Maybe when the trans is  torn down they'll find something else, but that has to be done first.

 

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

BTW, there is a dedicated MKZ forum that's a sister to this one. It's here.