Official Tremec 3650 Issues Thread

#441
1/2 Grind-clunk

I Joined Here Just For This Thread My 03 Mach 1 Grinds Pretty Bad 1-2 About The First 6 Times Or So I Go To Second And After That It Clunks Every Time Even After Its Warmed Up Noticed This After About 100 Miles And Its Getting Worse But That Is Probably Due To The Colder Weather It Now Has 2700 Miles And Also Bumps From Time To Time When Going To Third. I Hope Ford Will Do Something About This But I Doubt It. I Had A Oo Gt And Had A Lot Of Problems With It. (had To Have The Motor Rebuilt After Fussing With Dealer For About 6months Because Of It Using More Oil Than Gas, They Found That There Were Two Or Three Cylinders That The Top And Bottom Ring Gap On The Piston Was Perfectly Lined Up And Oil Was Shutting Straight Through. That Was A Nightmare To Say The Least.
 
#442
03 GT 14K

I've got the now infamous 1-2 cold weather grind as well.

I have found that if I shift out of first, push the shifter all the way over to the right side of neutral once or twice, and then go into second that it doesn't grind. I'm not afraid to say that if this continues any longer with no resolve that ford has lost yet another valuable customer due to the appearent inability to correct underlying problems and poor customer relations. How hard is it to realise there is a problem that needs to be PROMPTLY addressed. So it may cost you a little money, you dropped the ball, suck it up.
 
#445
False alarm. I called my dealer last week about the TSB for the three parts. She said she would schudle me in for monday and order the parts. We got an S load of snow Sat and Sun so I couldn't get the stang out anyway to drop it off Monday. I called yesterday asking if they were able to find the TSB and if I could reschudle. She told me that did not find the TSB but we can schudle for next monday and they will "Look" at it. She seemed angry that I didn't want to keep bring in the car to have it looked at and that I wanted to wait for the TSB to come out so I can just have it fixed right the first time. I suppose I could get to the point that it could be lemoned. But what will that get me, an 03 or 04 with the same issues. Just going to have to wait more. Now that winter is here, well the snow atleast, I won't be drving her unless the roads are clear. Making it not such an issue that tranny is messed up.
 
#446
I took my car in to teh dealer today. I showed them many print outs of the messages here and the 15669 speacial message. They looked in their database and didn't find anything about lowering the fuild to 3.2L. I am still having teh grind in second and it's alot worse when the weather is colder. The mechanis took it for a test drive and I went with him. I heard teh grind and he felt it, but the moron is still telling me it's normal. This guy is such a dip ****, how can that be normal!! I'm going to talk to the shop forman on Monday, but I doubt that's gonna help. I think they are going to insist that it is normal.

Any suggestions on what to do next?

I have a 2003 GT. 9,500 miles
 
#449
I have 22K miles on my Pony and have had the 1st to 2nd "scratch" since day one. I thought I was the only one with this problem. Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in the "slease" Ford dealer I have to use (not where I purchased Pony). I know if I take it in, they will want to charge for anything replaced unless there is a legitimate recall or TSB...
 
#450
Yes I have one fo the bad ones.

I have a late model year 2001 GT with 46k on it. Early 01 did not have this tranny. The 1st to 2nd shift has always been bad. Cold makes it worst until the tranny warms up even here is So Cal.

I've tried synthetic transmission fluid (As recommended by the Ford in in
The owners manual). It got unbearable so it tried a mixture that works in well in late model Covettes (Tans also made by Treme) which makes their transmission shift very smooth. A 50% synthetic Mobil auto transmission fluid and 50% 75W-90 Synthetic gear lube misture. Well it did make the transmission shift a little smoother but made the 1 to 2 nd shift almost impossible when cold. I had to get it out almost immediately.

I then went to plain old generic brand Dexron III. And of the three combinations I’ve tried is the best. Not perfect but better. I’ll try the Texaco and 3.2l fill recommended in this thread next.

Has anyone been able to identify what is causing this issue? I’d like to fix the cause. This btw is overall a poor shifting transmission. But the 1 to 2nd shift is terrible. 3 to 4th is not impressive either.
 
#451
the cause is this: (I got it from a link from this thread).

Manual transmissions in modern cars use synchronizers to eliminate the need for double-clutching. A synchro's purpose is to allow the collar and the gear to make frictional contact before the dog teeth make contact so that the collar and the gear can synchronize their speeds before the teeth need to engage. The dog teeth trying to engage the collar is what you hear grinding, not actually the gears.

Most gear oils are very viscous at lower temperatures. This higher viscosity requires increased shift effort to move the synchronizer gears with the shift fork and to squeeze the oil from between the synchronizer cone and the mating surface attached to the gear.

Without contact of these two surfaces, the gear speeds will not be synchronized and locking of the synchromesh gears will not occur. Excessive viscosity results in a longer time required to synchronize before locking occurs.

What to do..............
When the fluid is cold you need to shift slower, apply steady pressure against the shifter and allow time for the synchros to squeeze the fluid out then the synchros can make contact and synchronize speed between the dog teeth and the collar and the shifter will fall into gear.

Using a fluid that flows better cold will help to eliminate this or will reduce it. Two fluids that people have been using is GM Synchromesh or Red Line's D4 ATF.

We are not the only people with this problem. I found lots of other modern cars that are experiencing the same problem. From Kias to Miatas. We are not alone. Too bad Ford could not have come out and explained this to us last year.

Some people have been getting their transmission replaced and they are fine for now. I would look at getting an improved ATF in it as soon as possible though.
 
#453
Has anyone else recevied this letter from Ford?

Hey All---

In this weeks mail I received a letter from Ford Customer Viewpoint regarding my well worded letter concerning quality and reliability issues with the TR-3650 tranny. Has anyone else done this or received a response from their department. The response received is very vague but does indicate they are looking into the issue. This makes me wonder if the 3 parts mentioned elsewhere in this thread (Three 2003 Tranny Repl. Parts) are indeed the fix since Ford claims they are still looking into it.

JP
 
#455
lizard-jd said:
I was thinking of changing my tranny oil to the synthetic Amsoil ATF. I have 22K miles on my Pony. Has anyone been able to improve and/or eliminate their 1st to 2nd "scratch" by doing something like this?
Click to expand...

I reduced my fluid and put in the Royal Purple fluid immediately after they fixed it for the third time. I must say it was better than when it was new. It was great and I loved but unfortunately it started popping out of second and is getting worse. Trying to make it live until the TSB comes out.
 
#456
psnous said:
I reduced my fluid and put in the Royal Purple fluid immediately after they fixed it for the third time. I must say it was better than when it was new. It was great and I loved but unfortunately it started popping out of second and is getting worse. Trying to make it live until the TSB comes out.
Click to expand...

I have read about reducing the amount of ATF to 3.2 and that could help. Of course, I also read that when changing the ATF fill it until it runs out. Do you know the scoop on this?
 
#458
The normal proceedure is to fill until it comes out. However, there is a problem with this transmision and reducing the level seems to help.

This was published in this thread before, but here it is again:

Special Service Message 15669:
Mustang-TR3650 Cold Gear Clash - Change Fluid
Some 2001-2002 V-8 Mustang with a TR3650Manual Transmission built prior to March 15, 2002 may exhibit a clash/grinding sound during the first few miles of driving. To reduce this condition, completely drain the transmission fluid and fill full with 128 oz. (4 qts.) of Motorcraft Mercon ATF, using Ford part # XT-2-QDX. Note: At full fill, the fluid may not reach the bottom of the fill hole. Do not overfill. Note: The full benefit of the fluid may not be realized (for the concern of clash/grind) until the new oil has been driven for several hundred miles.
 
#459
Don't fill it with 4qts. fill it with 3.5qts which is also 3.2L It has helped mine alot but it's still there once in a while. Also, tremec themselves have said that if you are going to use a synthetic ATF it should only be MOBIL1.

I tried lowering the fluid level with synthetic ATF and the grind was still there. I had it drianed and filled with 3.5 qts. of regular DextronIII/Mercon and definately made a difference for the better. It's still grinds some but it's not near as bad as it was before.
 
#460
I tok my '02 GT w/ 16,000km in today. I had them do an oil change, look at the tranny, and some suspension noise.

Didn't take them long to do everything. They also said they couln't get the tranny to do the "crunch". They did say that ford has a bulletin to lower the fluid to 3.2L, which they did. I guess I'll see if it helps at all.

I think Im going to go for a ride with the tech when I go to pick it up. I'll see if I can show them what the tranny does.

Riley
 
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