Hi Scotty,
My son has a 2019 Ford Fiesta SE, 1.6L, powershift transmission, 24K miles. His owners manual states the transmission fluid should be changed every 30K. Several online sources say it should only be changed every 150K. I understand it's basically a sealed automatically controlled manual transmission. What's your suggestion?
Thanks,
Dan
PS: If you want a laugh, someone on this forum claims metal shavings in the oil act as an additional lubricant and frequent maintenance will do more damage than good!
on THIS forum? Where?
The link didn't attach. On the FiestaFaction forum. Comments by mrbirdman330. "Breaking it down this way is that when a transmission is first broken in it shaves off some of the metal in the gears, these shaving actually turn into an addtional lubricant for the gears helping to extend their lifespan. Flushing the fluid and removing these shavings causes the exact same cycle to begin. So if you're flushing your transmission at 30K intervals you're really really killing your transmission and cutting the gears down to the point they'll slip eventually."
The person has a very active imagination. It is completely disconnected from reality though.
I would go by the manual. Ford transmissions are weak to begin with.
The Ford Powershift transmission is a 6-speed dual clutch transmission. There was a class action lawsuit for vehicles that use that (including the Focus and Fiesta). Since his vehicle is under Powertrain warranty, I would recommend to follow the manual to the letter, and have him get rid of that vehicle before the warranty expires. Ford’s updates never really solved the issue.
Here’s a link for reference: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.caranddriver.com/news/amp27438193/ford-powershift-transmission-problems/
I’ve heard nothing but bad about those transmissions. I’ve heard that Ford is even having to buy back those focuses and fiestas because they are that bad. I’d look and see if your sons car is in that buy back program and get out of that thing immediately.
Those transmissions are infamous for being horrendous so do it every 30k like the manual says.
The problematic issues on the powershift transmissions seem to have ended with the 2016 model year. My son's car is a 2019. I'll stick to the 30k service interval and keep records /receipts . If anything happens while under warranty we'll take it up with Ford.