Ford Fiesta Automatic/ losing will to live asking Ford a question!

Inforapennyinforapound

I emailed Ford Customer Service(haha) with the following probable simplistic questions. Couldn’t answer and told me to email local Ford dealers… which I did…3 of them! And none have had the courtesy to reply(2 weeks ago).
Wife owns auto Ford Fiesta (our 1st auto 2012 model). It succumbed to a dead battery due to alternator fault which has been replaced and all fine now.
My question concerns starting an Auto car to which I have read different answers:
1. I understand it can’t be ‘push started’. 

2. Can it be ‘jump started’ using cables from another car( like I’ve done many times in my manual one)?
3. My local garage reckons Ford auto cars cannot be ‘jump started’ due to a ‘smart system’ that Ford use( this is why I wrote to Ford)
4. Am I right that Auto cars cannot be towed so always need to be recovered on a flat bed lorry?

Lastly.. how do I remove BOLD from my message????… I wanted bold for 1 word but can’t remove it😏

Thanks in anticipation and Ford can stick my emails where Sun don’t shine as I reckon people on here know better anyway!😀

Bigwheels1111

I would get breakdown cover and call them.
They would know what to do.

MikeJXE

Inforapennyinforapound said:

I emailed Ford Customer Service(haha) with the following probable simplistic questions. Couldn’t answer and told me to email local Ford dealers… which I did…3 of them! And none have had the courtesy to reply(2 weeks ago).
Wife owns auto Ford Fiesta (our 1st auto 2012 model). It succumbed to a dead battery due to alternator fault which has been replaced and all fine now.
My question concerns starting an Auto car to which I have read different answers:
1. I understand it can’t be ‘push started’. 

2. Can it be ‘jump started’ using cables from another car( like I’ve done many times in my manual one)?
3. My local garage reckons Ford auto cars cannot be ‘jump started’ due to a ‘smart system’ that Ford use( this is why I wrote to Ford)
4. Am I right that Auto cars cannot be towed so always need to be recovered on a flat bed lorry?

Lastly.. how do I remove BOLD from my message????… I wanted bold for 1 word but can’t remove it😏

Thanks in anticipation and Ford can stick my emails where Sun don’t shine as I reckon people on here know better anyway!😀

Highlight the word you want to edit, choose format from the dropdown menu and click or unclick bold

facade

The 2012 fiesta will be the powershift DCT

1) no you can't push start it as without the engine running the clutches won't engage.

2 & 3) yes you could jump start it, but the flaky smart charge system* can't cope for some reason with removing the slave battery and can produce voltage spikes that damage the most expensive components first.

Lots of people jump start them with no problems, for some there have been tears, depends on how lucky you feel.

What you can do is use one of those charger packs to push enough into the battery in 10 minutes or so for it to start itself.

4) they can't be towed with the driving wheels on the floor, (like virtually all modern gearboxes irrespective of type), as with the engine stationary there is nothing to stir the oil up in the gearbox or run any oil pumps and the designed to be "just good enough" bearings will fail prematurely.  The Nice Man from the AA will raise the front wheels with one of those spectacle frame attachments.

to use bold/italics etc. do your typing, then highlight just the words that have to be bold and click bold.

If you highlight the word you are typing right upto the cursor, the bold will carry on, to sort that type some more, and highlight the now bold you don't want right upto the cursor including any space and click bold again

* I've never liked this, it strikes me as an emission dodge.  Basically, the alternator runs full chat (= normally) when the engine is cold (as emissions aren't measured during warm-up) and then chops right back when at normal temperatures. Thereafter it only pops a little charge into the battery to stop it going completely flat.

The smart-charge used to be controlled from the dashboard (I kid you not) and it was easy to disconnect an auxiliary wire from the alternator which made it work properly all the time, I don't know if this is the case with yours.

Inforapennyinforapound

Facade brilliant reply!
The nice man from Start Rescue was lucky enough to start it before the battery completely died and I drove it 20 yards to home as it was weekend and no repairers open.
The reason I raised questions was because I told my local garage they could maybe tow it to their place and it was then that they told me all these things about Autos and so I had to pay for a recovery truck!
So basically the answer to all my questions is ‘No’… Autos are a breed on their own🤨 
Wish she could drive a manual.! …

…and I’ve learnt how to bold and unbold… what it was I didn’t realise I was trying to use the IPad function instead of the letter B above this message which you just touch( the iPad embolden function is on the keyboard for anyone interested)

Once again facade thanks. Cheques in the post

Inforapennyinforapound

Oh and thanks must be given to FORD…thanks for NOTHING…glad I’ve got Honda!

Grey_Critic

Ford would refer you to a Dealer - giving advice over the telephone (or by email) could be a problem if the person enquiring did not fully understand the instructions and there was resulting damage so they did the correct thing.

Not up to date on modern automatic vehicles but years ago you  could tow upto 30 miles - forget the full details as automatics were not as common as these days and I worked more on the commercial side.

ididgetwhereiamtoday

Ford used to be decent but their modern engineering seems chaotic.

Goudy

If those are the only problems with your Fiesta Powershift, thank your lucky stars.

The gearbox is a Getrag 6DCT250 dry clutch system and it's notorious for problems. Ford called it the DSP6 and allegedly knew about the problems before they fitted them.

Getrag dropped it for the 7DCT300 which is a wet clutch system that copes with more torque.
Signs are this is far more reliable.

lemondrops69

Grey_Critic said:

Ford would refer you to a Dealer - giving advice over the telephone (or by email) could be a problem if the person enquiring did not fully understand the instructions and there was resulting damage so they did the correct thing.

Not up to date on modern automatic vehicles but years ago you  could tow upto 30 miles - forget the full details as automatics were not as common as these days and I worked more on the commercial side.

You cant tow CV's now, seen many destroyed by being towed. 

knightstyle

We have a 2013 Cmax with the same gearbox and previous answers are correct.
No push or bump start.  Yes to jump start, I have done this.
Just make sure you do not leave it without a battery connected for more than a few minutes as things like radio tend to shut down. Even a fairly flat battery will do to keep things OK but will not have enough juice to start it.  
Plus have you had the gearbox oil changed?  An expensive but essential job, read the horror stories.