by "Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
Published 05/24/2017 at 01:33
by "Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
Published 05/24/2017 at 01:33
Tags: Mad science
; I might be crazy
STARS: 1
So, I came across an article about the crazy depreciation of these cars in the US market due to their terrible DCTs. It brought me back to a thought I had a while back...
http://www.thedrive.com/the-hammer/10481/long-term-reliability-how-ford-completely-lost-the-focus
Why doesn’t Ford accept defeat and just slap a traditional hydraulic automatic transmission in these cars for the US market?
The fact that it sounds like a 2-year-old one is expensive at half the MSRP tells me this might be the most cost effective basic transportation vehicle available today that isn’t soul-sucking to drive (even in the base spec, these have pretty great handling).
Obviously, it seems a little crazy to do any major work on a car still under warranty (I’d drive it until the tranny shits the bed, then send it back for a replacement, then do it again until the warranty runs out, but that’s just me), but wouldn’t it make sense to just replace the DCT with something better? It’s basically a Mazda engine block, so I wonder if a Mazda automatic transmission would fit. Quite a few older small Fords were just funny-looking Mazdas with Ford engines and the current Focus platform is just an updated variant of the common platform used for numerous cars (most importantly, the European Mk2 Focus and Mazda 3 shared an enormous number of parts).
I’m thinking that at the rate they’re depreciating these will be $4-5k cars in another year or so, which is damn close to basic transportation value. It’d be hard to beat a 3 year old commuter car with about 30k miles (with modern safety equipment/test ratings) for around $5-6k invested... I know it isn’t a completely trivial swap due to the onboard computers, but I’m sure we could work around that.
Has anyone had both apart? Could it be confirmed whether or not they would mate right up? Has this been done?
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
05/24/2017 at 05:18, STARS: 0
might get messy with wiring, mounts and may affect emissions/fuel economy too.
"V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me!" (v8demon)
05/24/2017 at 08:07, STARS: 0
2.0 liters, a motor you have to really spin to get torque, and a traditional torque converter don’t make for an efficient or fun driveline.
A have a 2012 Focus SE. I cant imagine how much power that a torque converter would sap from the low end of this car.
"nafsucof" (galinskiomatic)
05/24/2017 at 08:18, STARS: 0
See I went the other route. My wife needed a car and we got her a 2014 focus se MANUAL. It’s great gets 42 mpg highway and no transmission issues. I know that doesn’t help, but a manual swap would be easier as the parts are available.
"TahoeSTi" (tahoesti)
05/24/2017 at 09:37, STARS: 0
Why not just put a manual it in?.....that said....you should just buy a 90's fox body mustang to replace it with....and swap the focus badges to it.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
05/24/2017 at 10:51, STARS: 0
I’d counter that people drive far slower things. Some people just must have automatics, so why not put a reliable one in it?
I noticed that DCT was a bit rough in the rental car I drove, but it wasn’t as bad as I would have expected based on all the hate thrown at it. Being a manual driver, I think the transmission and I understood each other better than it would with someone accustomed to torque converter automatics.
I’m not sure your worry about loss of power is well founded, either. Modern automatic transmissions lock their torque converters very rapidly so you have minimal loss of power. This is good for both fuel efficiency and driving experience, but is more demanding on the transmission.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
05/24/2017 at 10:53, STARS: 1
That is a point. If we could teach everyone to drive a manual, this wouldn’t be much of a problem.
For me, I’d just buy a manual car or swap it, but I really don’t need one. I’m aiming more for a solution that makes these cars that already exist more reliable for an average automatic driver.
"V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me!" (v8demon)
05/24/2017 at 11:02, STARS: 0
Converter lockup really doesn’t have a lot to do with low speed driving in traffic in first and second gear. Stall speed does.
The DCT in the one I have has been pretty good actually. The TCM on the other hand decided Seppuku was desirable and bricked the car in my driveway about a year ago. Ford replaced it under warranty and now warranties the TCMs to 150k. I’ve been good with the fluid changes, keeping intervals under 30k. There’s only 3 quarts of fluid in the thing after all...
Pro tip: Turning the traction control off changes some settings that make the transmission seem to respond better.