Ford PowerShift (automatic)

Kevin2022

Hi,

I currently have 2014 Ford Fiesta 1.0 Eco Boost Automatic, the car has done over 74k miles and I think it's time to get the gearbox serviced as sometimes the car gets a bit jerky especially when on little hill (quite hard to explain) Anyway Contacted my local garage who usually service my car however they wont do the gearbox as they said it's too risky that something may go wrong with the car after. 

My question is do I try find approved ford dealer to get this gearbox service or should I not service it at all as I read online somewhere that some automatics are non maintenance gearboxes? which I don't think it's true as any oil will eventually expire. 

Has any of you ever come across this issue can advise what's the best thing to do please 

Thank You 

//Kevin

Martin_the_Unjust

What’s your service handbook say about the gearbox?

Goudy

I can understand you local garage not wanting to touch this gearbox and they probably know already changing the gear oil in it will not stop it jerking.

Also, unlike the wet clutch version (Getrag 6DCT450) which has a filter and an oil service interval, I believe this dry clutch version in your car (Getrag 6DCT250) has no service interval but it is noted for the input shaft seal to leak causing oil to find it's way to the clutch pack, this often ends up with it jerking and slipping due to accelerated degradation of the clutch pack.

Your mileage is about right for this fault to develop (it's usually between 70k and 120k) and as it's not thrown any fault codes it seems a reasonable guess you might be suffering this fault. 

The fix is to strip the box down and replace the seal but you need to confirm if it is actually leaking.
If it's bad you should notice oil/wetness around the joint between the gearbox and engine under the car.

Kevin2022

Goudy said:

I can understand you local garage not wanting to touch this gearbox and they probably know already changing the gear oil in it will not stop it jerking.

Also, unlike the wet clutch version (Getrag 6DCT450) which has a filter and an oil service interval, I believe this dry clutch version in your car (Getrag 6DCT250) has no service interval but it is noted for the input shaft seal to leak causing oil to find it's way to the clutch pack, this often ends up with it jerking and slipping due to accelerated degradation of the clutch pack.

Your mileage is about right for this fault to develop (it's usually between 70k and 120k) and as it's not thrown any fault codes it seems a reasonable guess you might be suffering this fault. 

The fix is to strip the box down and replace the seal but you need to confirm if it is actually leaking.
If it's bad you should notice oil/wetness around the joint between the gearbox and engine under the car.

Thank you for your reply, I will put some cardboard down tonight and see if it leaks overnight, and if it is do you think I should find Ford approved garage to carry out the repair? 

Martin_the_Unjust said:

What’s your service handbook say about the gearbox?

I'll have a look later tonight, thanks 

lemondrops69

Martin_the_Unjust said:

What’s your service handbook say about the gearbox?

Not always accurate. For instance, despite BMW claiming that the gearbox on their vehicles are 'sealed for life', ZF (who actually make the gearbox for BMW) recommends an oil and filter service every 62,000 miles or 8 years, whichever the vehicle reaches the soonest. If the car has covered many miles then an oil and filter change on a gearbox will usually improve gear changes 

daveyjp

"Sealed for life" generally means an expected service life of 10 years/100,000 miles.

lemondrops69

daveyjp said:

"Sealed for life" generally means an expected service life of 10 years/100,000 miles.

Some people run cars longer than 10 years/100,000 miles, would be good if BMW mentioned about a gearbox oil change but of course they dont want 10 year old car on the road they want to sell new ones, which is the business they are in. The ZF recommendation for an oil change is less than than BMW's service life, but if you are running an older car its well worth doing, ZF does a kit. I worked in Germany for awhile, and we'd see a lot of BMW's in for a gearbox oil change, but this rarely happens in the UK
Anyway the OP's box isnt a ZF, but interesting post by Goudy on the Getrag box. 

Ibrahim5

You are better finding a gearbox specialist in your area. Some people say "find a group of taxi drivers and ask them where they would take it". Never tried it but sounds a reasonable idea.

Goudy

You might not see any drips if the car has an under shield or tray fitted under the engine compartment, then again you might not see it until the 'box it split from the engine.

This gearbox is known to suffer quite a few problems so I could be wrong about the leak, it's just other faults that cause slip and jerks tend to throw trouble codes and warning lights with this 'box.

This gearbox was used by a few manufacturers, mainly Ford, Renault and Smart but they soon dropped it.
Renault went with the newer wet clutch 7DCT300 (I have that one and it's excellent, far better than VW's DSG) and I believe the newer Ford Fiesta went back to an old school torque converter, which after driving I thought kind of blunted the sharp feel of the Fiesta.

It could just be the clutch pack is naturally worn, at 74k that wouldn't a surprise either.

Obviously if it is leaking, that needs sorting pretty quickly.
If it isn't leaking and the slip/jerk isn't too bad you could probably nurse it a while longer but you will need to face the fact there's a problem that needs sorting eventually and the first point of call at this age/mileage would be to inspect the clutch pack, so it's gearbox out.

I agree that it's better to find a gearbox specialist, a Ford dealer wouldn't want to repair anything like an input shaft oil seal, they'd just swap it out for new 'box.
But as you found with your local garage, a lot don't like touching these so you might have to search around for someone that's familiar with them. As they are pretty problematic, that shouldn't be too hard though.

Goudy

Ibrahim5 said:

You are better finding a gearbox specialist in your area. Some people say "find a group of taxi drivers and ask them where they would take it". Never tried it but sounds a reasonable idea.

That used to be good advise if you owned a diesel.
These days they all drive Hybrids so I guess if you want to know where to get your Hybrid fixed!