I’ve got a 2017 Titanium with 128K kms. Had the clutch and TCM replaced 3 times under warranty—the last one almost 2 years ago. I’ve still got a bit of warranty left, but I noticed a shudder a few days ago and scheduled an appointment with the dealer for January.
Here’s the deal: If the diagnostic shows readings outside Ford’s acceptable range, the transmission gets repaired under warranty and they cover the diagnostics. If the readings are within range, no repair happens, and I’m on the hook for ~$250 for the diagnostic.
The kicker is the transmission is likely to get worse and will need fixing later—probably outside warranty. So now I’m stuck between hoping it gets worse before January or canceling the appointment and just waiting it out.
Q1: What happens if I just live with the shudder? I’m retired and mostly drive locally—groceries and errands.
Q2: Any idea what a full replacement costs?
Q3: Are there aftermarket fixes (in Canada) that permanently solve this issue?
Zeek said:
I’ve been driving with shudders since 44k miles when I bought mine. Rolled over 241k miles today—still all original. Knocks on wood everywhere
Same here. Got mine at 16k miles, now at 116k. It still shudders but no real issues so far.
Zeek said:
I’ve been driving with shudders since 44k miles when I bought mine. Rolled over 241k miles today—still all original. Knocks on wood everywhere
Do you accelerate faster going from 1st to 2nd gear?
Driving it aggressively off the start can help. Shudder tends to go away after that. These clutches are usually 100k mile replacements—depends on your driving style.
Sky said:
Driving it aggressively off the start can help. Shudder tends to go away after that. These clutches are usually 100k mile replacements—depends on your driving style.
Yep, this works. Floor it when you hit the freeway. The shudder is often caused by clutch glazing from normal driving. Driving harder heats up the clutch, which can help. I used to work at a Ford service department, and this was literally our fix for minor shudder complaints.
Try resetting your TCM—just unplug the battery overnight. After that, accelerate moderately from a stop and try to get to top gear quickly. Avoid babying it; that wears the clutches faster. When I had a 2012 Fiesta, driving it harder actually helped extend its life.
In my experience, don’t change throttle input mid-shift—it confuses the system. Either stop completely or let it idle in first. Treat it like a manual car: consistent inputs until it finishes shifting.