Official Tremec 3650 Issues Thread

Originally posted by CatmanJJ
My tranny seems fine and with the tri-ax it is so fun to drive. About the 1-2 cold grind, I find that if you are just careful and don't cram it into gear there is minimal if any grind at all

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the 1-2 Cold thing happened in my T-45 How I resolved it I just shifted very very slow...yeah it sucks...

So far with the 3650 no problems...and I hope not to have any!

2003 Mustang GT 9500 miles. Had 1-2 clunk/grind problem when cold as far back as i can remember.

Ford sais - couldnt duplicate the problem.

2001 GT, 34000 miles, have the 1/2 grind took it to the dealer a couple of times they tried to fix it, it is a little better but not much. In cold weather this car's tranny sucks.. Actually in any weather this cars tranny sucks.. It is one of the few complaints I have about my car.. I have NEVER driven a car with such a sloppy feeling and sounding driveline!! ....Here a clunk, there a clunk, everywhere a CLUNK CLUNK!!!

2002 GT
Had the grinding start at about 900miles...2 dealers told me the problem couldnt be replicated.


3rd dealer replaced the tranny @5200mi and the problem is back (9800mi now) PLUS a noisy T/O bearing.

ADD ME

2002 GT

1st to 2nd shift gring when cold
dealership took vehicle for over 3 weeks and re-did synchros
next day back it did it again

they said they didn't nitice it - it was obvious to anyone - so the lies continue

ADD ME

2002 GT

1st to 2nd shift gring when cold
dealership took vehicle for over 3 weeks and re-did synchros
next day back it did it again

they said they didn't notice it - it was obvious to anyone - so the lies continue

I have a 02 GT. At 1400mi I complained about the shift feel between 1-2 and the 2-3. They wanted to rebuilt the trans. I told them noway, if anything you will be replacing it. I called Ford and had a slight battle on my hands. They went ahead and replaced it. As soon as I got it back I installed my Pro 5.0 shifter. The new one is no better. I now have about 22k on the car. In the colder times I would warm up the car for about 15mins. I would get in the car and still have clucking and grinding. I called up a differant dealership and tried to work out a game plan with the service manager. I gave him the SSM and the TSB numbers floating around here. He told me to go back to the dealer that installed the new tranny. I called up Ford and they said to take it back to the other dealer as well. I will never take it back to them again (long story, they break stuff they touch). I have the extended warranty (rolling eyes), so i figure I will wait until 2nd gear is gone and make Ford fix it then. Sorry so long.

Matt




P.S.

I have had a couple noisy T.B. replaced as well.

Same problem here. 4200 miles and the transmission has always grinded on the 1-2 and sometimes grinds on the 3-4. Weather doesn't seem to be a factor because the transmission will grind just as bad on a nice May day as it will on a cold Jan. day. The 3650 just sucks. My dad's Mach1 is marginally better. It doesn't really grind on the 1-2 but it is very notchy. I saw that joke of a technical bulliten from Tremec stating that aftermarket shifter stops were to blame for bent shift forks causing inproper operation. Sounds like CYA for a lame design. Funny, I haven't put in an aftermarket shifter and I would consider my transmission to be operating improperly because of the constant 1-2 grind. My Focus shifts better than my Mustang.

Maybe i should've bought a focus???

Re: DeWayne

Originally posted by Twisted
Right now I am driving the car for 2 weeks as advised by the dealer "to let the fluid work itself in."
With the new fluid the problem has gone from repeatable everytime I start driving to random and no longer temperature dependent. With this problem now random, the dealer will never admit there is an issue.

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Look I'm definitely on your side and hope things work out for you but I'm skeptical of your assessment. Keep in mind that it is much warmer now than it was over the winter. It would be ideal if the dealership could simulate having your car sit outside for 10 hours in 30 degF temperature and then assess whether there is any improvement (there will be none!).
Otherwise, I'm afraid that you're going to forget about it over the summer and the dealership will act like everything is fixed. Then you're going to be really pissed off again when November rolls around and they're going to say well we fixed it last May and now you broke something.

FORD REPLACED MINE AFTER 4TH GRINDED AND FINELLY BLOW OUT , SINCE THEN IT STILL STICKS IN 2ND SOMTIMES.



DEWAYNE

I've been having problems going into third when drving it a little harder than normal. it seems the synchros aren't all that good, but my tri-ax seemed to help this problem

Originally posted by Dewayne
Only post your problems !!!

PLEASE !!!!!

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Uhhh, I feel your pain Dewayne, but I am still going to post.

I have powershifted my 3650 down the quarter mile over 90 times, with no problems. Yes, it has grinded on the 1-2 shift a few times on the street. Any synchro transmission has its limits. And I think there were manufacturing problems in some of the early '01 cars. BUT, this is a great race trans. when properly assembled.

I have also had a Mustang with a T5. It never grinded. BUT, it was a pain in the ass to wrestle with: heavy, slow, etc. Sometimes I think the problem people have with the 3650 (and the T45, which has its own set of haters) is that is just lets them shift too fast for their own good.

my tranny

I have a 2002 with 14000, and I have have grinding problem from 1st to 2nd since I have owned the car, it sucks. Also, I have had a throw out bearing noise every since 500 miles. My buddy's 2002 gt had his tranny changed at 10000, for a bad third gear. His new one grinds from first and second. I love my car and ford, but they need to do something about this!

I had to respond here. I have owned a LOT of manual trans cars and trucks over the years and I strongly feel that the trans in my 02 GT is the BEST manual trans I have ever owned. I have made numerous passes at the strip(stock shifter) and drive it fairly hard on street with zero problems. It is extremely easy to downshift when driving hard and has a good quality feel. I am sure there have been some legit problems as well as some people who are inexperienced drivers trashing thier car and wanting to place blame elsewhere. Just want to show the good with the bad.

Originally posted by smontgo
Yup- Mine does the infamous 1-2 shift clunk. It's an 2002 GT and I'm about fed up with it. Sorry guys, I'm getting a GTO with an LS1, T-56 and 340HP.

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yuck