TSB 14-0214 HF35 TRANSMISSION - THUMPING/RUBBING OR GRINDING NOISE

[obob]

My tires have done the same thing (also did it on our Fit).  Tire dealer says they should be rotated every 5k miles.  The "undriven" tires tend to develope the flat spots.  In the "old days" it was the fronts, now its usually the rears.  Rotating back to front and driving several thousand miles can smooth things out somewhat but I'm still paying for not rotating often enough.  Had a couple of friends in the car the other day and one asked if I was running snow tires!  Not a good way to advertise the C-Max!  Also have some edge wear for not getting an alignment soon enough.  But at 64k+ miles on original tires I can't complain!

 

This speaks to what is going on with me.  I had my first rotation at 14500 miles. Afterwards the front tires tires sounded loud, like a bad bearing.  I had the dealer rotate them back.  The sound is less.  It may just be with one of the tires.  Why do tires "break" just being on the back ?  Does Michelin warranty against this ?  Are the LRR tires somehow weaker ?   In the past I would never rotate and change the back tires every other tire purchase. I wonder if the tire problem is putting undo pressure on something.  Perhaps keeping the pressure high has negative effects.

Edited May 12, 2015 by obob

[FordService]

Thank you for giving this your attention. Kendall Ford did a great job diagnosing and solving the problem. The issue turns out to be tires that had developed flat spots. Purchased four new tires and an alignment. The thump thump thump is now gone.

Transmission is fine!! Thank you Meagan. Could not have asked for any better service! I doubt any other car company would reach out as quickly as you have!!

 Hey rajames2,

 

My name is Tricia, and I’m the other U.S. Ford Customer Service Representative on this forum. Thanks for the update, and I’m glad to learn that all is well your way. I’ll be sure to let Meagan know how impressed you are with her service.

 

In the meantime, enjoy your ride, and we will be here if you need anything!  ;)

 

My tires have done the same thing (also did it on our Fit).  Tire dealer says they should be rotated every 5k miles.  The "undriven" tires tend to develope the flat spots.  In the "old days" it was the fronts, now its usually the rears....

This speaks to what is going on with me.  I had my first rotation at 14500 miles. Afterwards the front tires tires sounded loud, like a bad bearing.  I had the dealer rotate them back.  The sound is less.  It may just be with one of the tires...

Hey Ford Fam!

 

Since we are talking about tires, take advantage of these service coupons when you go into the dealer for your scheduled maintenance. Click here and save cash.

 

If you need anything, just give us a shout!  :) 

 

Tricia

[ptjones]

This speaks to what is going on with me.  I had my first rotation at 14500 miles. Afterwards the front tires tires sounded loud, like a bad bearing.  I had the dealer rotate them back.  The sound is less.  It may just be with one of the tires.  Why do tires "break" just being on the back ?  Does Michelin warranty against this ?  Are the LRR tires somehow weaker ?   In the past I would never rotate and change the back tires every other tire purchase. I wonder if the tire problem is putting undo pressure on something.  Perhaps keeping the pressure high has negative effects.

We covered this in the tire threads but I had a problem the alignment in the back which caused tires to feather on the edges. I reversed the rotation of the tires after they fix the alignment problem. This helped to even out the wear and cut down on the tire niose after a while. I run my tires at 50psi and they wear great! :)

 

Paul

[Kelleytoons]

Paul, how often do you rotate your tires?

 

I hate to say it, but I never even consider rotating my tires (never lived where there was snow on the ground either, so most tires just went for 50-60K without issues).  I have 7500 right now and if I should rotate them I ought to do so soon.

[SillyBear]

Quick question about the transmission issue, does it occur any time or does the ICE have to be on?

 

I pulled into work yesterday and battery was very low so the ICE turned on as I finished backing in. I put the car in neutral and heard some unusual noises coming from underneath me, possibly transmission related. Shifting in drive or park made the noise go away.

 

Could this be related? 2013 cmax

[ptjones]

Paul, how often do you rotate your tires?

 

I hate to say it, but I never even consider rotating my tires (never lived where there was snow on the ground either, so most tires just went for 50-60K without issues).  I have 7500 right now and if I should rotate them I ought to do so soon.

I rotate my tires every oil change, 10Kmi. and now I suggest reversing  rotation at 30Kmi. to decrease feathering and noise.from tire tread.  I guess you could reverse rotation and move fronts to rear everytime to get the best mileage from tires and the least noise. :)

 

 

Quick question about the transmission issue, does it occur any time or does the ICE have to be on?

 

I pulled into work yesterday and battery was very low so the ICE turned on as I finished backing in. I put the car in neutral and heard some unusual noises coming from underneath me, possibly transmission related. Shifting in drive or park made the noise go away.

 

Could this be related? 2013 cmax

In my case the noise started when ICE was on after I had stopped for gas on a trip.  The sure fire way to tell if the Trans is going to fail is to monitor Trans Fluid Temp at HWY speeds for over an hour. If you get above 160-170*Fis a bad indication, it took 7Kmi. to when the Trans failed after first monitoring TFT. ;)

 

Paul

Edited May 13, 2015 by ptjones

[stevedebi]

Quick question about the transmission issue, does it occur any time or does the ICE have to be on?

 

I pulled into work yesterday and battery was very low so the ICE turned on as I finished backing in. I put the car in neutral and heard some unusual noises coming from underneath me, possibly transmission related. Shifting in drive or park made the noise go away.

 

Could this be related? 2013 cmax

The transmission issue is any time, not just ICE use.

Edited May 13, 2015 by stevedebi

[Bill-N]

To reiterate:  "The noise may be present in all gear ranges including neutral when the vehicle is moving, but will not be present when the vehicle is stationary or in Park."

[SillyBear]

To reiterate: "The noise may be present in all gear ranges including neutral when the vehicle is moving, but will not be present when the vehicle is stationary or in Park."

I'm only noticing unusual noises when the ICE is on. The car is dead quiet in electric at slow or stationary speeds in neutral. I guess it's alright, I'll test it from time to time. I'm glad it's covered under the hybrid parts warranty.

[FordService]

I'm only noticing unusual noises when the ICE is on. The car is dead quiet in electric at slow or stationary speeds in neutral. I guess it's alright, I'll test it from time to time. I'm glad it's covered under the hybrid parts warranty.

 

Hello SillyBear,

 

I see that you are in Canada. My FordServiceCA colleagues will be happy to assist. You can reach them here: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/user/1861-fordserviceca/. They’ll need your odometer reading to look into available options to assist.  :)

 

Tricia

Edited May 14, 2015 by FordService

[ptjones]

I'm only noticing unusual noises when the ICE is on. The car is dead quiet in electric at slow or stationary speeds in neutral. I guess it's alright, I'll test it from time to time. I'm glad it's covered under the hybrid parts warranty.

My noise started only when ICE was on, but after 400mi. I could hear a little noise in EV.  At 1100mi the noise was sounding pretty bad, I had no idea how much farther I could go and didn't want to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere. So I stopped at a Rich FORD in Albuquerque,NM.  They where located right off I-40.  I still had 1400mi. to get home so they rented for me a new Explorer to drive home and back. I will be driving back to pick it up this Wednesday. :)

 

Paul

[JohnnOhio]

Don't know if this is related. After having one of the CPU reprograms my trans would clunk when switching from ICE to electric drive. The dealership thought it was the trans problem that you are speaking about. They were having me drive it until it went out because it was covered by warrenty. Got a safety recall to reprogam for a check engine light or something. After which the noise has stopped and milage increased. Been running good for over 2 months now.

 

I think something in the first reprogram didn't take causing the problem which the second programming fixed.

 

Hope this helps someone.

[BIG ROCCO]

To reiterate:  "The noise may be present in all gear ranges including neutral when the vehicle is moving, but will not be present when the vehicle is stationary or in Park."

 

What if the vehicle is not stationary and in Park?  I bet you would hear some sounds then...

 

Or would you?  I can tell you from experience that you can shift from Drive to Neutral to Reverse while the car is in forward motion with no ill effects - the car just keeps going ahead, but the the backup camera does turn on.

[HotPotato]

This speaks to what is going on with me.  I had my first rotation at 14500 miles. Afterwards the front tires tires sounded loud, like a bad bearing.  I had the dealer rotate them back.  The sound is less.  It may just be with one of the tires.  Why do tires "break" just being on the back ?  Does Michelin warranty against this ?  Are the LRR tires somehow weaker ?   In the past I would never rotate and change the back tires every other tire purchase. I wonder if the tire problem is putting undo pressure on something.  Perhaps keeping the pressure high has negative effects.

 

Funny you should say that. I hear a grindy whomp-whomp at low speeds, and a sound at the frequency of a low whistle at high speeds, both of which I associate with a bearing going out. But... The whomp could just be some sort of flat-spotting/wear on the tires, and the low-whistle could just be a little more drivetrain noise due to normal wear. But... The tires still look new and I run them at Ford's recommended pressures, and 36k mi isn't much wear on a car. But... The noises are quite subtle and they do not seem to be getting perceptibly worse. SO...maybe I'm worried over nothing.

[obob]

Funny you should say that. I hear a grindy whomp-whomp at low speeds, and a sound at the frequency of a low whistle at high speeds, both of which I associate with a bearing going out. But... The whomp could just be some sort of flat-spotting/wear on the tires, and the low-whistle could just be a little more drivetrain noise due to normal wear. But... The tires still look new and I run them at Ford's recommended pressures, and 36k mi isn't much wear on a car. But... The noises are quite subtle and they do not seem to be getting perceptibly worse. SO...maybe I'm worried over nothing.

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/4109-tire-noise/?p=57070

[Lemonford]

Ugh. My wife's 2014 Ford CMAX just started making this noise and it is getting louder. A call to the dealer told us the power train was out of warranty at 5/60k. And becasue we bought the car used at Carmax it wasn;t covered to 100k like some. So now we are facing a $4000+ repair of the transmission of a car that doesn't even have 100k on the clock. I'm taking it into the local dealer here in Durham to see if I can shame them into calling ford to try to do something for us. So far the climate control has broken too about 3 years ago so the car has no heat in the winter when my wife drives it in electric mode. (she lives very close to work and she plugs it in every night). WE took it to the dealer for that and that was going to cost about $2000 and they would have to replace the whol climate control module. It was out of warranty then. So far this car has been a huge lemon!

[Bill-N]

Hybrid unique components are covered by 8yr/100k warranty.

 

 

Cheers.

[Lemonford]

12 hours ago, Bill-N said:

Hybrid unique components are covered by 8yr/100k warranty.

 

 

Cheers.

THanks! I have heard some folks say that only covers the battery? I have an appointment with the ford dealer next week. Hope I get good news.

[jestevens]

I guess maybe a dealer could try to argue differently but the fact that there are electric motor windings in the HF35 transmission makes it pretty unique in my opinion..  I think their argument goes something like -- "Well this is bearing/input shaft problem, not a problem with the internal parts of transmission."  Maybe one of the folks who had transmission replaced could comment.

[pureenergi]

On 8/27/2020 at 3:42 AM, jestevens said:

I guess maybe a dealer could try to argue differently but the fact that there are electric motor windings in the HF35 transmission makes it pretty unique in my opinion..  I think their argument goes something like -- "Well this is bearing/input shaft problem, not a problem with the internal parts of transmission."  Maybe one of the folks who had transmission replaced could comment.

 

In about a week, I will be one of those people. Owner of a 2013 Energi for 80k miles, 7 years and it will be replaced in a week after a leak was detected during an 80k mile service.  If you have an Energi and have less than 100k miles, listen closely for noises and do your scheduled maintenance as you get close to 100k miles - if there's an issue, it seems like you'll be covered.