Krohn

I'm annoyed.

First off, whenever I attempt to go into reverse, it either locks out or it attempts and just grinds. Then, I realized by rowing through 1-2-1-2 first, then it would go right in (90% of the time). Synchronizing gears?
Since I'm still under warranty I took it to a dealer to get looked at. I'm new to Houston, so I'm still looking for MY forever dealership.

Second thing, Wow! I call Mac Haik Ford in Houston, "Do you guys have time today to take a look a '12 manual Mustang transmission?"... All I got was.. "No." followed by a long pause. I thought maybe he had broke out of signal... I asked him to repeat what he said... "No." That's it. No explanation, no maybe tomorrow, no try monday... just "No."
I guess this will NOT be my dealer. It's like they don't even care about the customer. So, I called elsewhere.
At Tommy Vaughn Ford, a cheerful and eager to help lady told me to bring it on by and the shop foreman can give his quick opinion. Perfect!

I bring it by, the foreman comes out, asks me if I read the manual about how to shift into reverse... (I'm an engineer, this is not rocket science). I tell him no, I just put it in reverse like any manual car.
He asks me to show him and I entertain. I put my foot on the clutch, flip the ignition, and put it into rever-GRIND GRIND GRIND. I was so glad what I'd been experiencing actually happened at the service center! Yes!
Then he says, yeah that's incorrect. You have to put it into a forward gear before moving into reverse. What?!
On that note, I leave the car parked in 3rd and also, why would I have to do that on a modern car!?
It should go into reverse like my last '12 tranny would.

Then he did what infuriates me. "Well if we open into and see it's been all abused - I know it's a sporty car and is kinda for that but Ford pays their driver to drive these cars, not the customers."

I'm sorry... I know I'm 24 but what gives you the right in our current conversation to treat me like a 16 year old kid hot rodding dad's toy? I just want a problem fixed.
I don't want to bring my car back to Tommy Vaughn now either. Bad taste.

I don't even know where to try next. I have a warranty, I want to use it but I am not liking Ford's of Houston.
This is somewhat of a vent, somewhat of a request of good dealer experiences near/in Houston, and also somewhat of a... anyone know whats wrong with my transmission? Synchro?

Deep Blue

Oh I can't stand ****ty customer service. The ones that treat you like a moron before you even get to open your mouth really take the cake. I recently moved to Ohio eight months ago and I also needed to find a good dealer for my wife's Nissan and I just flat out called Nissan customer care and asked which dealers in the area were the best and they actually told me…..it was long shot but it worked. Try asking Deysha which ones in your area have a great customer rating.

southcarolina12

i hate fords customer service. ive had all gm vehicles until this car and i never had a problem with the gm dealerships. but fords on the other hand are horrible. but back to the transmission. there shouldnt be a synchronizer for the reverse gear but ive never heard of having to put it into a forward gear first... i sure dont have to do that to mine although i do have to use a little more effort to get it into reverse than into a forward gears. still no grind though.

mfc133

Copied directly from my owners manual PDF:

Reverse
Note: The gearshift lever can only be moved to R (Reverse) by pushing
the **** down before shifting to reverse. This is a lockout feature which
protects the transmission from accidentally engaging R (Reverse) when
intending to select 1 (First).
1. Make sure that your vehicle is at a complete stop before you shift into
R (Reverse). Failure to do so may damage the transmission.
2. Press the clutch pedal to the floor to disengage clutch.
3. Shift into R (Reverse) by pushing
the gearshift **** down, then
moving the lever fully to the left,
then forward.
Note: Do not press down on the shifter during any operation other than
shifting to R (Reverse), as you may be inhibited from selecting your
desired gear.
If R (Reverse) is not fully engaged, press the clutch pedal down and
return the gearshift to the neutral position. Release the clutch pedal for a
moment, then press it down and shift to R (Reverse) again.


Says nothing about a needing to engage a forward gear, he just made that up. Unfortunately honesty is hard to come by in the service industry these days.

Krohn

It says nothing? Wow. In case I'm missing something here... the Boss transmission is the same as the GT, besides a new clutch... right?

Mustang Freak

It only happened to me one time and I wasn't fully engaged in reverse. I just have to remember to push down before trying to shift.

Stage_3

I don't have a Boss, but a '13 Roush Stage 3, but the way I shift into reverse is, I push down on the shifter move all the way over to the left, then forward all the way. Both my clutch and my brake are on during the whole process. Maybe that will help?
I also bought a MGW short throw shifter for the car and will be installing that in the spring of next year, as it it is winter time and will not be driving the car so much. I hear excellent things about that shifter and did a lot of research before pulling out the credit card. It seems to remedy the grinding noises while making the shifting smoother and more precise compared to the Chinese garbage that Ford put in the Mustangs from what I gather. There are some threads about it here on the forum. If you do a search you will find them.
Good luck Tron!

**edit** And boo for those Ford dealerships for treating you like that. I wouldn't give them my business either.

Krohn

Yeah, that's the way I shifted in my last '12 GT for last year and a half and I couldn't imagine it being any different.

I'm pretty sure either he wasn't up to date with the Mustang transmission or he just thought I was some kid that had no idea how to even tie my shoes.

One of my bosses.. well, the VP of my company, owns many Race Mustangs and supercharged Raptors and yadda yadda... he came into my office and after talking a while (and the gear grind coming up) he was like 100% sure that the transmission isn't aligned correctly or something like that. He said a quick easy fix. Idk though...

Stage_3

I'm almost certain it's the shifter, I may be wrong though. But, do some research on here and on svtperformance.com. I know there is a thread on it over there somewhere as well.
Good luck man!

cdynaco

Are you guys kidding me??

R does not have a synchro. The tech was suggesting putting it in a forward gear (with the clutch still depressed after R failed) to move the gears a tad so then R will line up better.

Your alternative is to put it in N, let the clutch out (to spin the gears) then pause long enough for the gears to stop turning (so you don't grind R since it doesn't have a syncrho ring) and put it in R as usual.

This is not uncommon for ALL manny tranny's - esp when the trans fluid is cold.

Krohn

I wasn't.

My last transmission shifted just fine. So, why would this one be any different? Again, without
kidding.

I know very little about transmissions but I do know something isn't aligned correctly. Thus, my saying "synchronized" (I have no idea what a synchro ring is or that there even is one). I know going into 1-2 aligns it... but I have to every single time? Doesn't seem right.

FordService

Hello Krohn,

I recommend you get it looked at by a different Ford Dealer. Please PM me with your VIN, dealer, mileage, full name, and best daytime number so I can review this for you.

Thank you for the mention, Deep Blue! I don’t have such list though.

Deysha

Krohn

Thanks Deysha,

I'll try Autonation Gulf Freeway next. PM sent soon...

FordService

Thanks for the PM, Krohn. I’ll get back to you soon.

Deysha

Krohn

Appointment set for tomorrow, Nov. 26th at AutoNation Ford of Katy (Texas).
They seemed nice over the phone so I figure they're worth a try.
I'll be able to leave the car through till next Monday. Hopefully, everything will work out.

I now have a small list of issue...
Grinding Transmission
Oil Leak
Buzzing sound on Cold Starts.
Rear suspension creak

The original 3yr/36k mile applies to 2nd owners right?

FordService

Yes it does, Krohn. Also, I sent you a PM.

Deysha

F-22

What is the build date on your car? You can find it at the right end of the string of numbers at the bottom of your window sticker.
Many running changes were made to the MT82 in 2011 and 2012 model years including switching the MT82 to the lower viscosity dual-clutch fluid because many thousands of people were (and still are) complaining about grinding and difficult shifting especially when cold. It only helps a little, but it does help.

TSB 11-03-18 attached. It will take me a while to figure out where I saved the document that gives the date of the running change.


EDIT: Running production authorization to change to dual-clutch fluid was made 7/25/2011. MY 2012 production was probably underway at that point. The disposition of the old fluid was "consume" so it was probably some time after that that the new fluid began to be used as factory fill. See the attachment "ford-nhtsa-response App G.pdf".

F-22

The powertrain warranty on 2012 Mustangs is 5 years / 60,000 miles.

I'm surprised our Ford rep didn't catch that.

Krohn

Good Point...

So, I dropped it off Tuesday, 11/19/13, at the Ford Dealer.
They've told me that the whine on the rear axle is normal (CarFax says it had some work done to the rear axle before).
They found a small pin-hole size hole in the Oil filter which explains the leak, so new filter and oil change.
They're going to try and replicate the clatter/pump noise on a cold start tomorrow when the temps finally get to around 40-F. We'll see.

And last the gear issues...

Turns out, my used Boss has an aftermarket shifter. They think that's causing the issue but they are looking at the rest of the tranny. They said they could put a new Ford shifter back in for around $550 but I told them not to and I'd address it later (MGW).

He didn't say anything about that voiding a warranty, thank you Lord.
However, I am worrying about it. I sent my service adviser an email (I'm out of cellular range) asking if he's sure it isn't just the Boss shifter...
Either way, any one know of aftermarket shifters causing issues?

I'm out of the US for another week so hopefully they'll figure it all out and have it fixed when I get home...

Thanks for all y'all's help.

El Coyote GT/CS

I currently have an automatic but since I've had a lot of manual cars and haven't seen the clutch mentioned yet, I'll chime in.

The reverse gear doesn't have a syncro as mentioned above. So pressing the clutch and going for reverse can buzz the gear if the main shaft is still spinning a little. Holding the clutch down for a while before going to reverse should help. That's why the service guy said to grab a forward gear before going for reverse. It will stop the main shaft using a forward gear syncro so you can get to reverse quickly with no buzz.

But if you are still having a reverse buzz problem, the clutch may be incorrectly adjusted - grabbing too close to the floor. I know these clutches are hydraulically actuated but am not sure if you can adjust them. If so, simple fix. If not, could be a pressure plate problem.