2013 shifts VERY hard -- Tuffy says the transmission is toast

[Alex]

Out of nowhere our 2013 Fiesta automatic transmission started shifting very, very hard. Scary hard and slow. No check engine light on at first. The next morning check engine light came on. Took it straight into a local Tuffy for a diagnosis. They said the transmission is "toast," and gave us an estimate of $6200 to replace. Mileage is 129k.

I am headed there later to take the car. I will ask for the codes they got from it..... I'd like a 2nd opinion, but the girlfriend just wants to get a new car and trade it in as is. Probably not going to get much for it as is....

Any suggestions? Find someone to put in a refurb transmission and sell it? Sell it privately for parts/as is? See if Ford will do something for us (unlikely)? What else can I do?

Thanks!

 

[scotman]

I would explore getting another transmission and controller. You will have to get it cloned to your vin once installed. My reasoning for keeping it is that "its the devil you know". If you have performed the 100k maintenance on it, it still owes you around 60 to 80 thousand miles! Plus, if you dump it you will be giving it away. And nobody gets much car for less than ten grand nowadays. And the ten grand car is probably going to need a major maintenance performed very soon. Good luck with this! Keep us updated!

 

[Handy Andy]

That shifting very hard, just might be from a loose connector or corroded battery terminals causing poor voltage regulation and power delivery to the TCM - which if all other things were the same - no striking hard rocks or leaking fluids anywhere from striking a curb or flat tires making the undercarriage scrape and get damaged - the Occam's razor here is either bad seal - or poor power connections to the Transmission control module - which if left to itself will damage the transmission beyond repair and will need replacement - so to me this looks more like a poor ground or even a broken ground wire lug or loose connector that prevents the system from having the power to shift properly.

This could be expensive, yes - hopefully it's not someone's way of telling you you're screwed - but a quick fix or check would be to get out the service history and look at previous repairs and see if maintenance like a new battery is needed or some time with a wire brush some wrenches and some de-oxit (an electrical contact cleaner) and clean up ground points or a simple inspection and repair of the wiring - can correct this.

 

[musgh]

I would explore getting another transmission and controller. You will have to get it cloned to your vin once installed. My reasoning for keeping it is that "its the devil you know". If you have performed the 100k maintenance on it, it still owes you around 60 to 80 thousand miles! Plus, if you dump it you will be giving it away. And nobody gets much car for less than ten grand nowadays. And the ten grand car is probably going to need a major maintenance performed very soon. Good luck with this! Keep us updated!

We recently had an analogous situation and to had to make a similar type of calculation.

My SFE needed a new engine and the decision was whether to spend almost $9k, sell car for parts, or buy new or even used car. Fact is, there is no way I could get a car for 9k that is new and one wonders if a used car at that price would mean further big maintenance down the road (unless the used car sold is from a trusted friend/person).

My SFE cost something like $16k when we bought it in 2014 and this year we paid about half the cost of that to get a new engine

[Edited: It only dawned on me now that this forum sees users from all over the world and not just the US]

 

[wicksgirl]

i believe there is a recall on the 2013 ford fiesta tcm. You can check your vin number on the ntbsa website