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2016 Explorer Transmission troubles

I would, but I would have inspected mine better for the paint issue and single rattle that mine had at delivery.

Otherwise, the 2.3L EcoBoost has delivered equal parts adequate fuel economy and performance. It is sufficiently comfortable, looks fantastic, and should be a bear in the winter when my snows go on. I might take a harder look at the 3.5L NA again as I find the 2.3L I have a little annoying in the NVH department, but it also compensates by lightening up a very heavy SUV up by a considerable amount. Mine is almost nimble! :D
 



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Yep, @Greg9999 I'd definitely buy again. Wish it had the same seats at my 2014 F-150 Raptor had though.
 






Even though I am one of few who have had an issue, I would absolutely buy again. I love everything about the truck.

When I did have a problem it took a couple of weeks to fix, but it was fixed with zero hesitation from Ford and covered 100% by the warranty.
 






Hey Folks,

Just wondering if any of you saw warning signs of this failure happening? Any hard shifting, no shifting, holding gears at weird times? Mine is doing all three of those things, albeit very intermittently, and is worrying me. It's been MUCH better since the PCM reprogramming for the Throttle Body TSB, but today it absolutely went down hill. I turned left onto a 45 MPH stretch of road and began accelerating and the car wouldn't leave 2nd, and then slammed into 3rd when it finally did maybe 15 seconds later at ~40 MPH. This is after a week+ of it behaving completely fine.

The only other weird thing I've noticed that may or may not be related that I can't find ANYWHERE is this odd pulsating sensation and the feeling of the car "dragging" (I honestly can't think of a way to explain it other than that) when it hasn't warmed up yet and I'm coasting? It feels like the darn thing is going to break down but I just can't think of how to explain it, and it only happens first thing in the morning when the car is cold so I'd have to leave the car overnight at the dealer to get them to reproduce it. It's significant enough that my s/o said something to me on our way to breakfast the other day.

But, again, were there any warning signs such as what I've stated above or was it just sudden failure? I'm concerned that getting mine looked at is going to be a waste of time without actual failure as the SSM's mentioned in this thread aren't the exact issue so getting them to pull stuff apart and give me a loaner will be like pulling teeth without Novocaine.

Edit: I have 8,514 miles as of this post.
 






My 16 Ex Sport (15k miles) just got towed to the dealership. I'll update when they diagnose. I was backing into a parking spot and it felt like the brakes kicked in. I stopped, pulled forward then into reverse. I rolled back 4 feet or so and it felt like the brakes kicked in again but it was jerking. I stopped, put in park then back into reverse and got into the parking spot. I noticed a burning oil smell and found oil? Pouring out the the firewall side of the engine over the twin pipes. I ran my finger through the huge oil puddle and there was so much metal shavings that the oil was a shimmering silver. There was quite an oil trail into the parking spot. Not sure what failed yet. Updates later
 






Hey Folks,

Just wondering if any of you saw warning signs of this failure happening? Any hard shifting, no shifting, holding gears at weird times? Mine is doing all three of those things, albeit very intermittently, and is worrying me. It's been MUCH better since the PCM reprogramming for the Throttle Body TSB, but today it absolutely went down hill. I turned left onto a 45 MPH stretch of road and began accelerating and the car wouldn't leave 2nd, and then slammed into 3rd when it finally did maybe 15 seconds later at ~40 MPH. This is after a week+ of it behaving completely fine.

The only other weird thing I've noticed that may or may not be related that I can't find ANYWHERE is this odd pulsating sensation and the feeling of the car "dragging" (I honestly can't think of a way to explain it other than that) when it hasn't warmed up yet and I'm coasting? It feels like the darn thing is going to break down but I just can't think of how to explain it, and it only happens first thing in the morning when the car is cold so I'd have to leave the car overnight at the dealer to get them to reproduce it. It's significant enough that my s/o said something to me on our way to breakfast the other day.

But, again, were there any warning signs such as what I've stated above or was it just sudden failure? I'm concerned that getting mine looked at is going to be a waste of time without actual failure as the SSM's mentioned in this thread aren't the exact issue so getting them to pull stuff apart and give me a loaner will be like pulling teeth without Novocaine.

Edit: I have 8,514 miles as of this post.

Hi @Macnerd your description of the slamming from 2nd to 3rd is very consistent with what I felt prior to my failure. My situation came all of a sudden without any warning, and it never returned to normal operation.
 






Hey Folks,

Just wondering if any of you saw warning signs of this failure happening? Any hard shifting, no shifting, holding gears at weird times? Mine is doing all three of those things, albeit very intermittently, and is worrying me. It's been MUCH better since the PCM reprogramming for the Throttle Body TSB, but today it absolutely went down hill. I turned left onto a 45 MPH stretch of road and began accelerating and the car wouldn't leave 2nd, and then slammed into 3rd when it finally did maybe 15 seconds later at ~40 MPH. This is after a week+ of it behaving completely fine.

The only other weird thing I've noticed that may or may not be related that I can't find ANYWHERE is this odd pulsating sensation and the feeling of the car "dragging" (I honestly can't think of a way to explain it other than that) when it hasn't warmed up yet and I'm coasting? It feels like the darn thing is going to break down but I just can't think of how to explain it, and it only happens first thing in the morning when the car is cold so I'd have to leave the car overnight at the dealer to get them to reproduce it. It's significant enough that my s/o said something to me on our way to breakfast the other day.

But, again, were there any warning signs such as what I've stated above or was it just sudden failure? I'm concerned that getting mine looked at is going to be a waste of time without actual failure as the SSM's mentioned in this thread aren't the exact issue so getting them to pull stuff apart and give me a loaner will be like pulling teeth without Novocaine.

Edit: I have 8,514 miles as of this post.

As chart said, the 2-3 shift is where mine did it. I had no symptoms up to the point of failure. After it failed it was kicking in and out of neutral and 2/3/5 and Reverse were all gone
 






My failure happened merging onto the highway. Probably 40mph stepped on the gas and it started accelerating without downshifting. Then all of the sudden it went to shift and bang, Failure and wrench symbol on gauge cluster.
 






My failure happened merging onto the highway. Probably 40mph stepped on the gas and it started accelerating without downshifting. Then all of the sudden it went to shift and bang, Failure and wrench symbol on gauge cluster.

Out of curiosity, has anybody experiencing similar issues tried shifting it into neutral, and pulling off to the side of the road, when this has happened? Would that even help with the initial failure? The conscientious driver in me says "If it were me...", but the realistic driver in me would probably be screaming profanities.
 






We were leaving our house. Small country residential road going about 35 miles an hour. Slowed to go around a very sharp corner when we went to accelerate after corner and it would not go out of 1st gear, wrench light etc. No sound, no grinding nothing except for engine rev until you realize that it's not shifting. Just would not go out of 1st gear. Tried shutting it off etc but of course nothing made it better. Slowly went home where we found out there was no reverse either. The good news is that upon getting it back it shifted and acted just like new and no problems since.
 






I'm here because I'm thinking about getting an Explorer to replace my 2016 MDX that I'm negotiating with Acura about because it spent 2 months in its first year and is on its third transmission. I was hoping never to hear the words "transmission replacement" again.

Would you guys buy again if you had to do it all over again?

Thanks,
Greg

I would buy another and am sure I will buy another. This is my second Explorer and I love it. I figure you can't produce so many vehicle of any brand without having a few with problems. My last Explorer never had a problem. The service department person that I dealt with could have done better but I'm more experienced with how to deal with them now. The Tech who worked on my vehicle did a great job.
 






Out of curiosity, has anybody experiencing similar issues tried shifting it into neutral, and pulling off to the side of the road, when this has happened? Would that even help with the initial failure? The conscientious driver in me says "If it were me...", but the realistic driver in me would probably be screaming profanities.

I don't think that would have helped. When mine happened it was in neutral after the failure. Accelerating, bang (failure), free revving in neutral as I coasted to the side of the road. I think it was more of a 2/3rd gone than neutral, but it behaved like it was in neutral.
 






2016 Ford Explorer Sport - 13,150 Miles. Car wont shift beyond 1st gear in drive, and no reverse. Towed to dealer. Guessing similar problem to this thread. They have 1 other Exp on the lift now with the same problem. They won't even diagnose mine until the other truck is off the lift. They say transmission parts are back-ordered. Day 5 for me now.
 






2016 Ford Explorer Sport - 13,150 Miles. Car wont shift beyond 1st gear in drive, and no reverse. Towed to dealer. Guessing similar problem to this thread. They have 1 other Exp on the lift now with the same problem. They won't even diagnose mine until the other truck is off the lift. They say transmission parts are back-ordered. Day 5 for me now.

Rob, curious to hear about your diagnosis. Definitely sounds familiar, and seems to be primarily Explorer Sports that it's happening to. Do you know your build date? Mine was November 2015, I believe. In my experience it was the best move for all to just replace the whole transmission unit rather than try to find the broken part(s) and repair. Might be quicker delivery for the unit too. Mine came in one day to Memphis TN.
 






Rob, curious to hear about your diagnosis. Definitely sounds familiar, and seems to be primarily Explorer Sports that it's happening to. Do you know your build date? Mine was November 2015, I believe. In my experience it was the best move for all to just replace the whole transmission unit rather than try to find the broken part(s) and repair. Might be quicker delivery for the unit too. Mine came in one day to Memphis TN.

I received a call from the dealer today that the must order and replace the full transmission. I did not get any details on what was wrong - but I am happier with a full replacement over a dealer repair. I have been without my car for 20 days now. With luck, the transmission will be available and not back-ordered. I am not thrilled and would prefer to terminate my lease and enter a new one, but so far - no luck.
 






I received a call from the dealer today that the must order and replace the full transmission. I did not get any details on what was wrong - but I am happier with a full replacement over a dealer repair. I have been without my car for 20 days now. With luck, the transmission will be available and not back-ordered. I am not thrilled and would prefer to terminate my lease and enter a new one, but so far - no luck.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Rob. Mine was a rebuild and it took them forever to get it right. It actually did a weird shift the other day and I thought it was going to blow the trans again. Really not happy with the transmission in the truck. Shifts all over the place and clunks around when in traffic. You did the right thing getting a full replacement.

Mine will be going back in tomorrow for airbag indicator light! Getting sick of the issues.
 






While I was at the dealer this morning I had them print the history from my transmission rebuild. Here is the description on the receipt:
Diag. Harsh shift no reverse received codes P0717 P0756 P2701 Perform SSM 46069 Remove trans overhaul flush torque converter cooler and lines re build valve body replace direct drum input shaft reinstall trans. Still has harsh shift perform PPTN Valve body Valve body sticking remove side cover and replace valve body refill with fluid test. Drive PTU has cooling

There is also a long list of parts and work performed listed with numbers after Ex: (Corrected by 7000APC) I can type those all out or scan a picture of the receipts in if anyone is interested.
 






I received a call from the dealer today that the must order and replace the full transmission. I did not get any details on what was wrong - but I am happier with a full replacement over a dealer repair. I have been without my car for 20 days now. With luck, the transmission will be available and not back-ordered. I am not thrilled and would prefer to terminate my lease and enter a new one, but so far - no luck.

Glad to see you are getting a completely new unit, Rob. FYI, I noticed an odd smell in the interior for 3-4 days after picking up. Assume it's just fluid burning off and the smell did go away.
 






I just had the same issue happen on my 2016 Ford Explorer Sport, 12,100 miles. Started shifting hard and making a large noise. I was only 3 miles from my dealer, did not make it. At a stop light, the Wrench light came on and reported a problem with the Terrain Management system. Stop Light turned green, car would barely move. Had to be towed. First update is that some rings had broken in the transmission and parts had to be ordered. I will update again once I get a better update.

Update: Just got my Explorer back from the dealer. The service rep would not acknowledge either the SSM 45713 or 46069 were my issue, but did say the snap ring had broken. The list of parts replaced were Tone wheel, clutch hub, direct return spring, clutch snap ring, TSS sensor, and seal kit. I also checked my Production date and it was 11/9/15, within the range of dates listed on SSM 45713.

I asked him , but did not really expect an answer, as to why Ford would put out an SSM and know production date ranges affected, but fail to notify the owners of those vehicles and let them drive around with a time bomb in their transmission.
 



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Hmm, just found this thread via the google search. How do I determine which transmission I have? My truck is a limited w/ AWD and tow package. built 6/2016

This is my thread: Transmission Slipping
 






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