How do you honestly feel about ford.

[snoranger]

I wanted one of these when they first came out... of course portal windows were pretty popular then too

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Tell the truth... you still want one.

 

[Uncle Gump]

OK... I still want one.

 

[snoranger]

OK... I still want one.

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.

 

[Ramcharger90]

I like my Italian pickup truck made in Mexico with an American name (14 Ram) I love most Dodges from 1920-1993 truck or car. But I daily drive my 1990 Ford Ranger with a mild 5.0, I got the wife another exploder with a 5.0, I have my 1992 Mustang with a 5.0. I love Fords with 5.0's I can tolerate other ford engines but I wouldn't want a Ford without a small block windsor, I stick with what I know and what I have been able to rely upon to get the job done. I will always be a old school mopar man challanger, cuda, power wagon, but I cannot deny Ford and their small block windsor has made me a huge believer in their products. I love the classic and 90's Fords. I am collecting the parts to build my next daily driver its gonna be either a 27, 32, 35 FORD truck with a small block windsor. It might get Cleveland heads but at the end of the day I can rely on Ford from a certain era to do what I want and need. (Unfortunately with GM brakes up front because they had bigger wheel bearings for those axles but I digress. They all got issues go with what you know can get the job done. Our 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer is honestly the best car we ever bought never had one issue that let it sit. Sure the a/c went dumb needed a blend door motor but thats after 197k on the clock.

 

[JohnnyO]

In my 11 tech crew I had one transmission tech who also did driveability and other diag because we didn't have enough transmission work for him. We also did drain and refill services every 30,000 to 60,000 miles as part of our maintenance. I don't think I ever saw a transmission failure on a vehicle we serviced. We had a Jiffy Lube nearby so my trans tech kept his experience fresh.

In the Sport Trac groups I belong to almost everyone's trans craps out around 100k and my daughter's Fiesta is covered by an an extended warranty thanks to a class action lawsuit because they were so bad. Which has saved her two expensive repairs.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

In the Sport Trac groups I belong to almost everyone's trans craps out around 100k and my daughter's Fiesta is covered by an an extended warranty thanks to a class action lawsuit because they were so bad. Which has saved her two expensive repairs.

The dual clutch things were a joke and shouldn't be counted as a normal transmission failure.

 

[snoranger]

The dual clutch things were a joke and shouldn't be counted as a normal transmission failure.

I pretty sure @Dirtman loves his and hasn’t had any issues with it.

 

[sgtsandman]

Toyota and Honda have always been crap, it's just been fashionable to praise anything foreign and bash American products. My neighbor took the engine in his beetle apart and couldn't put it back together so he gave it to me(I was 14) and bought a new 68 Toyota Corona(Camry today). In two years it was so rusty the rockers buckled and the doors wouldn't close. When I started at the Sunoco in 1972 we had a customer with a 66 Toyota Crown( 4 cylinder, 3 speed sedan), at 20,000 miles the right lower ball joint was so worn out it pulled out and the car skidded down the road on the lower control arm. We took a bunch of 2-3 year old Toyota trucks in trade on early Rangers with rust holes in the floors and shifters pulling out of the transmission. Everyone knows about the never-covered-by-the-media 1995-2009 Tacoma frame "problem".
We took a 2 year old Honda sedan( I forget the model) in trade with gaping rust holes in it and clouds of oil smoke from the exhaust.

The Japanese certainly did have. rust problem that put Ford and Dodge to shame at one time. They fixed that and the powertrains were pretty darn reliable. The Hondas we had were still pretty solid when we traded them in or got rid of them. Now the 1982 Toyota Celica I had was at the end of the cheap Japanese steel era and it certainly was too dangerous to drive when I got rid of it.

Now, they skimp on other struff and overall aren’t any better that their American counterparts.

Not to say they don’t make crap either. The transmission in the 1999 Honda Odyssey we had was a real piece of junk. But it went not long before my divorce and was covered under warranty. The second time it broke was after the divorce and not my problem. And if it was up to me, that Nissan P.O.S. my girlfriend has would have been traded in right after her CVT transmission broke and was replaced under the Nissan extended warranty.

I certainly don’t bow at the alter of the Japanese made product but not all their products are junk either. They generally are also not as great as companies like Consumer Reports touts them to be either.

 

[racsan]

I had a uncle in wisconsin who bought a 75 civic new, it was still running in the 80’s but the rust was outrageous. he also had a olds vista cruiser wagon, late 60s/early 70s that still looked good in the early 80’s.

 

[Dirtman]

The dual clutch things were a joke and shouldn't be counted as a normal transmission failure.

Well not that fiesta transmissions are any good but the dual clutch transmission itself is actually a really good concept. The new corvettes use an 8 speed dual clutch. When built right they work amazing and are faster than any manual or true automatic. The problem is they need a sophisticated computer to "guess" what gear you'll need next on the non driven shaft. If it selects a higher gear thinking you'll continue to accelerate and you actually need a lower gear because you're about to brake into a turn the transmission needs to basically stop the shift and reselect the gear which causes a goofy lag. The major problems with the fiesta dual clutch were terrible software, and dry clutch packs that caused a ton of heat and dust. The good dual clutch transmissions out there have wet clutches submerged in ATF and use a much better computer.

There's also a little learning curve with a dual clutch but no one explains this to buyers who treat it like a normal automatic. You should never do stuff like let off the brake and without hitting the gas let the car coast itself through heavy traffic or moving up slowly at a redlight like you would do normally with an automatic. In a dual clutch transmission there's no torque converter to accomplish that, the car is literally moving because the clutch selonoid is going nuts modulating the clutch trying to keep the car from stalling but also not fully engaging first year... It's basically riding the clutch and burning it to crap without you realizing it.

The dual clutch in my fiesta is passed the recall (mines a 2017) so it's technically "fixed" but I've still had to get the dealer to update the software on it twice to fix bugs but mechanically it hasn't had any issues yet. It's pretty fun to zip around in that little car with the transmission shifting like a rocket. I have zero faith that it will last long but it's a throw away car so I'm not too worried.

I'd have no issues getting another dual clutch car.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well not that fiesta transmissions are any good but the dual clutch transmission itself is actually a really good concept. The new corvettes use an 8 speed dual clutch. When built right they work amazing and are faster than any manual or true automatic. The problem is they need a sophisticated computer to "guess" what gear you'll need next on the non driven shaft. If it selects a higher gear thinking you'll continue to accelerate and you actually need a lower gear because you're about to brake into a turn the transmission needs to basically stop the shift and reselect the gear which causes a goofy lag. The major problems with the fiesta dual clutch were terrible software, and dry clutch packs that caused a ton of heat and dust. The good dual clutch transmissions out there have wet clutches submerged in ATF and use a much better computer.

The dual clutch in my fiesta is passed the recall (mines a 2017) so it's technically "fixed" but I've still had to get the dealer to update the software on it twice to fix bugs but mechanically it hasn't had any issues yet. It's pretty fun to zip around in that little car with the transmission shifting like a rocket. I have zero faith that it will last long but it's a throw away car so I'm not too worried.

I'd have no issues getting another dual clutch car.

Yeah, not dual clutch in general but Ford struggled with their version.

IMHO it is hard to beat a wet clutch though.

 

[19Walt93]

In the Sport Trac groups I belong to almost everyone's trans craps out around 100k and my daughter's Fiesta is covered by an an extended warranty thanks to a class action lawsuit because they were so bad. Which has saved her two expensive repairs.

How many of the Sport Tracs' transmissions had been serviced? I know Ford says it should be done at 150k, they also say 10k or a year on oil changes, and some guys say they'll still respect her in the morning. Ford extended the coverage on the dps6 transmission 2 years before the class action suit was initiated, it wasn't a good setup and would have worked a lot better with a wet clutch but the European engineers decided on a dry clutch.

 

[JohnnyO]

How many of the Sport Tracs' transmissions had been serviced? I know Ford says it should be done at 150k, they also say 10k or a year on oil changes, and some guys say they'll still respect her in the morning. Ford extended the coverage on the dps6 transmission 2 years before the class action suit was initiated, it wasn't a good setup and would have worked a lot better with a wet clutch but the European engineers decided on a dry clutch.

Mine said 150k but I had it serviced at 50k, 100k, and 130k and it crapped out at 132k. I lost reverse but the trans shop said the whole thing was toasted and on borrowed time. Pretty much everyone on the Sport Trac boards loses their tranny between 100k and 150k.

 

[19Walt93]

Mine said 150k but I had it serviced at 50k, 100k, and 130k and it crapped out at 132k. I lost reverse but the trans shop said the whole thing was toasted and on borrowed time. Pretty much everyone on the Sport Trac boards loses their tranny between 100k and 150k.

Was it serviced by a real technician using Motorcraft fluid and filters? The "universal" fluid some independents use is wishful thinking and Jiffy Lube's one-fits-all-with-an-additive fluid is even worse. Snake oil companies like BG push "cleaners" and "additives" that don't belong in a transmission.

 

[JohnnyO]

Was it serviced by a real technician using Motorcraft fluid and filters? The "universal" fluid some independents use is wishful thinking and Jiffy Lube's one-fits-all-with-an-additive fluid is even worse. Snake oil companies like BG push "cleaners" and "additives" that don't belong in a transmission.

No, local shop. But again, I see enough people (pretty much everyone) on the Sport Trac boards having them fail that it's not an accident. Basically it's gonna break sometime between 100k and 150k. If someone gets more than that, they're the exception. On mine the reverse band cracked which I doubt had anything to do with the fluid being changed or not but the shop said the whole thing was pretty toasted inside and they get several Explorer trannys a year, it's just a weak design. If Ford is going to tell you that you don't have to change the fluid until 150k then I'd like to see them warranty the trannys for 150k.