Official Tremec 3650 Issues Thread

SpitfireMk24 said:

before you shift into reverse, shift into first once or twice, it lines up the synchros perfectly for reverse. . .all ford trannys are this way.

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Should i be counting my blessings that i havent had any problems yet, or should i be counting the days to when it explodes? I have 3000 mile on my 04gt with no probs yet.

2ndtime05 said:

Should i be counting my blessings that i havent had any problems yet, or should i be counting the days to when it explodes? I have 3000 mile on my 04gt with no probs yet.

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The TSB is only for '01 1/2-03.

The 04's "Supposedly" didn't get any bad trannys from Tremec.



Mine has been at the Dealer for 2 weeks now!

I'm starting to wonder if some porter took my car out and wrecked my $hit!

i have the triax in my 02gt and i can hear all the tranny noise,especially 5th gear.the tremec tech told me to lower the fluid level anywhere from 3.0l to 3.2l. i did it and it does shift better but its noisier especially with windows and top up.ford won't do the tsb for me in michigan, been to 2 dealers and they say its normal.i complained to ford and they agree with the dealers.i guess i'm stuck so i'll never buy a ford product again.it could be one reason people are buying so many foreign cars!

so have you ever felt a really slow grind? its hard to explain but let me try. when shifting into gear, do you ever feel liek the gears grinding slowly, kind of like a "knobby" or "notchy" feeling? its not fast enough to hear the grind, its . . thats pretty much the best I can do.

So if you know what Im talking about, I have an interesting discovery.

alright so my car has always done this on ocasion while shifting into third, but recently it started doing it all the time into second as well as third. I would feel this notchy crap that pissed me off. and i even grinded at the stoplight once or twice, cause it didint want to go into first!! the only thing that made it worse, is i had the dealership take a look at it a while ago, and a couple friends of mine drove it, but nobody seems to experience it like I do. So Im like whats wrong with me, right?

well ive been reading this book that pretty much gives the newbie everything he needs to know about autocross. so in the section about seating, it says that your seat should be positioned so that when the pedals are fully depressed, your legs still have a slight bend in them, and you should be able to steer the wheel 180 degrees with your hands in the 9 and 3 positions without your shoulders lifting off the back of the seat.

so being the dork that i am, I start trying out all the tricks and stuff described in this book. so wehn i move my seat (which was significantly farther back than i am accustomed to) the problem ceases almost completely. so my thinking is maybe the way my arm is making it shift when im further foward moves the gears ina way the tranny doesnt like? and when other people drive, they move the seat, so they dont experience it either.

what does everyone think?

rrl said:

i have the triax in my 02gt and i can hear all the tranny noise,especially 5th gear.the tremec tech told me to lower the fluid level anywhere from 3.0l to 3.2l. i did it and it does shift better but its noisier especially with windows and top up.ford won't do the tsb for me in michigan, been to 2 dealers and they say its normal.i complained to ford and they agree with the dealers.i guess i'm stuck so i'll never buy a ford product again.it could be one reason people are buying so many foreign cars!

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when you installed the shifter, did you put the silicon gasket maker stuff in between the shifter and the tranny? I think that helps with noise reduction a lot. the biggest difference you can make on the sound is to re-install the rubber boot thing that goes around the base of the handle. the steeda instructions have you do away with this, but some people like to keep it in there. I personally was bothered by the gear noise much like you are, but I dont care about it so much anymore. theres not much you can do about it, but its not that big a deal, nothings going wrong, its just doing its thing.

2ndtime05 said:

Should i be counting my blessings that i havent had any problems yet, or should i be counting the days to when it explodes? I have 3000 mile on my 04gt with no probs yet.

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well, i wasnt saying you have to, it just makes it easier, especially when shifting into reverse is sometimes an issue for you.

rrl said:

i have the triax in my 02gt and i can hear all the tranny noise,especially 5th gear.the tremec tech told me to lower the fluid level anywhere from 3.0l to 3.2l. i did it and it does shift better but its noisier especially with windows and top up.ford won't do the tsb for me in michigan, been to 2 dealers and they say its normal.i complained to ford and they agree with the dealers.i guess i'm stuck so i'll never buy a ford product again.it could be one reason people are buying so many foreign cars!

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What dealers have you gone to? That's I don't see why the dealer won't fix it. They're making money on it and it doesn't cost Ford a dime. Tremec is the ones taking it up the old highway for this screw up! I'll talk to my buddy at the dealer I'm dealing with to see if he can help you out. That is, if it's not one of the one's who told you no. I highly doubt it is. Please let me know.


I got a phone call about mine today. All the parts are in and tranny was put back together. SWEET! So I thought.... He tells me the mechanic who is working on my car took it out for a test drive and he doesn't like the way first gear feels. He want's to take it apart and try again in the morning. He said he'll make another attempt to get it right then he's going to make some phone calls to engineering at Tremec. I asked, what about just putting in a new tranny? I was told that the replacement trannys AREN'T 100% NEW, but rather they are re-built. F*** That! I'd rather have them gut mine and re-do it completely if they can't figure out what the deal is, which was another option that I brought up. I'd rather have it done right for FREE, then pick it up and have to take it back when it gets warmer out and have to posibly replace it at my cost. I don't feel so bad. I got a loaner truck that I've done quite a few brake torques with in the mean time! Don't worry. I took pictures and I'll post them after I turn it in!


P.S. dsg_gt2004 Dude you're killin me with the avatar! Does that belong to you(Is it yuor girl?)?! I think I speak for all of us when I say Post some FULL SIZE PICS OF THAT FINE ASS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

This won't help the cause but:

2001 Cobra 31,600 miles

No issues-- yet.

GT JAY said:

What dealers have you gone to? That's I don't see why the dealer won't fix it. They're making money on it and it doesn't cost Ford a dime. Tremec is the ones taking it up the old highway for this screw up! I'll talk to my buddy at the dealer I'm dealing with to see if he can help you out. That is, if it's not one of the one's who told you no. I highly doubt it is. Please let me know.


I got a phone call about mine today. All the parts are in and tranny was put back together. SWEET! So I thought.... He tells me the mechanic who is working on my car took it out for a test drive and he doesn't like the way first gear feels. He want's to take it apart and try again in the morning. He said he'll make another attempt to get it right then he's going to make some phone calls to engineering at Tremec. I asked, what about just putting in a new tranny? I was told that the replacement trannys AREN'T 100% NEW, but rather they are re-built. F*** That! I'd rather have them gut mine and re-do it completely if they can't figure out what the deal is, which was another option that I brought up. I'd rather have it done right for FREE, then pick it up and have to take it back when it gets warmer out and have to posibly replace it at my cost. I don't feel so bad. I got a loaner truck that I've done quite a few brake torques with in the mean time! Don't worry. I took pictures and I'll post them after I turn it in!


P.S. dsg_gt2004 Dude you're killin me with the avatar! Does that belong to you(Is it yuor girl?)?! I think I speak for all of us when I say Post some FULL SIZE PICS OF THAT FINE ASS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

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Your story is the exact same for me, they put the new parts in and they didnt like they way it felt. so they are going to keep it for another week. They gave me a loaner taurus(2005), so i feel a little better about it. They just told me that they are going to order all new parts and put them in and hopefully the tranny will feel better.

By the way, my avatar got removed by a mod, but that's my g/f

i went to jerome duncan ford in sterling hts and huntington ford in rochester and both told me it operated ok.they also said i was the only one with a complaint.i contacted ford motor co.customer service and they said too bad! i e-mailed the board of directors and i've gotten no response from them either.the car only has 7500 miles on it and has never been abused.i am also not a kid,i'm 50yrs old and they still treat customers bad.ford told me the tsb was only a procedure and that if the dealer feels it shifts ok then thats the way it is.i asked they them why the tsb then and they couldn't answer.at the time i did this i was in the market for a pick up and because of all the aggravation i leased from chrysler.i've had fords all my life within the last 10yrs i've purchased 8 new fords(most of them lincolns).incidently i think the reason they don't want to fix it is because they work on a flat rate and judging from other responses it's taking quite a bit longer so they lose out on the labor end.its only a guess on my part.i can't be taking time off from work to go to different dealers either.its probably on a data base when they pull your vin and see that the complaint is the same and giving the same answer.

dsg_gt2004 said:

By the way, my avatar got removed by a mod, but that's my g/f

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That's VERY NICE BTW!

rrl said:

i went to jerome duncan ford in sterling hts and huntington ford in rochester and both told me it operated ok.they also said i was the only one with a complaint.i contacted ford motor co.customer service and they said too bad! i e-mailed the board of directors and i've gotten no response from them either.the car only has 7500 miles on it and has never been abused.i am also not a kid,i'm 50yrs old and they still treat customers bad.ford told me the tsb was only a procedure and that if the dealer feels it shifts ok then thats the way it is.i asked they them why the tsb then and they couldn't answer.at the time i did this i was in the market for a pick up and because of all the aggravation i leased from chrysler.i've had fords all my life within the last 10yrs i've purchased 8 new fords(most of them lincolns).incidently i think the reason they don't want to fix it is because they work on a flat rate and judging from other responses it's taking quite a bit longer so they lose out on the labor end.its only a guess on my part.i can't be taking time off from work to go to different dealers either.its probably on a data base when they pull your vin and see that the complaint is the same and giving the same answer.

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Jerome Duncan, I should have known! I wouldn't buy a bottled water from those azzholes! I bought one vehicle from them only because my brother knew a guy who use to work there. NEVER AGAIN!
I'll PM you my buddys name and #. Give him a call and see if he can help you, that is if you still have the car. I don't understand why they won't fix it. The dealer gets paid for fixing it, and Ford gets re- embursed from Tremec for the cost!

I sent you a PM rrl.


I just got a call about a 1/2 hour ago. My car is FINALLYdone. Only thing is, it's been gone so long I think I forgot how to drive a stick! J/K

Appareently the problem was with the new 1st gear. It was to tight on the main shaft and it was hanging up and not spinning freely and that's what was causing the problem after they put it back together. The tech talked to engineering ( Not sure if it was a Ford or Tremec engineer. ) and they told him that if the origional 1st gear was o.k. then to go ahead and re-use it. It was, and they put it back on and it's fine now. The service kits come with new gears just incase the syncros mess the oigional gears up. I'm assuming since mine only had 9,??? miles on it that's why mine were o.k. It's all documented so if I have any troubles it will be fixed again for free. got a free alignment and new wiper blades too! Never said a word about my mods either. It's not who you are, it's who you know!

I forgot to mention, I didn't even buy my car from the dealer that fixed it!

I'll post the rental truck burnout pics after I turn the truck in and get the pics uploaded.

GT JAY said:

I'll post the rental truck burnout pics after I turn the truck in and get the pics uploaded.

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do that, they gave me a 2005 taurus

anyways, my car is supposed to be ready this week after friday...HOPEFULLY WEDNESDAY....can you tell me if your transmission feels alot better or not

dsg_gt2004 said:

do that, they gave me a 2005 taurus

anyways, my car is supposed to be ready this week after friday...HOPEFULLY WEDNESDAY....can you tell me if your transmission feels alot better or not

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I won't be picking it up 'til tomorrow morning. I work the afternoon shift. But I'll let you know tomorrow.

Just got my car back at about noon thirtyish. Smooth like Butter!

I didn't realize how FUBAR my tranny really was. I get rubber in 3rd like crazy now. I was going to take it easy for a while, but I couldn't resist. I read in the TSB papers that it will get even smoother after about 3-400 miles after repairs have been done. I'm having 2nd thoughts about going with a Tri-Ax shifter now. Awesome day to get the car back too. It's like 85* here and awesome for the top down. Too bad I'm at work. Figures the rest of the week is supposed to go back down into the 60's and high 50's. Oh well, lots of sun left this year. i'm just happy to have her back.

I'll post the rental truck burnout pics as soon as I get them uploaded!

GT JAY said:

Just got my car back at about noon thirtyish. Smooth like Butter!

I didn't realize how FUBAR my tranny really was. I get rubber in 3rd like crazy now. I was going to take it easy for a while, but I couldn't resist. I read in the TSB papers that it will get even smoother after about 3-400 miles after repairs have been done. I'm having 2nd thoughts about going with a Tri-Ax shifter now. Awesome day to get the car back too. It's like 85* here and awesome for the top down. Too bad I'm at work. Figures the rest of the week is supposed to go back down into the 60's and high 50's. Oh well, lots of sun left this year. i'm just happy to have her back.

I'll post the rental truck burnout pics as soon as I get them uploaded!

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AWESOME
My third has always sucked...I AM DYING TO GET MY CAR BACK..i already forgot how it feels to have some torque ...get those pics up