I wanted to talk about the problem I had with my 2016 EL 2WD (111,000 miles) transmission. This is a longish story but might save you time and money in the same situation.
During longer drives, more than 1 hour, the wrench light would come on during the drive with the message "See Manual". The manual doesn't give any indication of course. After a stop and start of the engine, the wrench light was off again. I had this occurring about 3 times in the last 2 months.
I read the code out and got a "P1744 - Torque Clutch Converter Circuit Performance" I searched this forum, but didn't get any definite answers as to the cause.
I brought it to the closest Ford dealer to get it diagnosed. They had the truck for a full day with the only result telling me they read the code out (confirming the above code I read out). But they offered no solution at the time and asked me bring it back for diagnosis. Great I thought, they told me the earliest they can have a look at is in 4 months! (There are 86 cars in front of me for transmission related problems! Also, advised not to drive it). Obviously not acceptable to me and I took the Expy home with me and rang 2 other Ford dealers in the area, some results. One was booked out 8 weeks the other over one month. I can't wait that long as I have an upcoming trip driving 4000 miles.
I decided to bring it to a transmission shop instead (after recommendation from a local car repair guy). It took them 2 weeks to fix the problem. But to their credit, they properly troubleshooted the issue by driving and collecting live data via a scanner. They informed me that the torque converter is slipping and the torque converter clutch cannot fully engage, which causes the P1744 code. They had to drop the transmission and open it up to see how much is damaged. Luckily for me, the damage was fixable and they performed a rebuild by changing the following parts: new torque converter, valve body rebuild, solenoid lube regulator rebuild and new torque converter clutch. New fluid and filter completed the repair. Some of the parts were optional but were changed 'while we are in there'.
To sum it all up, rather than replacing the whole transmission (which Ford would have done, they do not rebuild them), I got away with a rebuild. Still not cheap, but saved me a lot of money. The Expy would have not been hardly worth to fix given its age as it would have cost between 7K to 9K incl. a new transmission and labor at Ford. Even a rebuilt transmission is over 3.5K plus labor. So, go to a transmission shop instead of the dealer (unless its a recall).
Side note: I asked the transmission shop if they know why there are such long wait times at Ford for transmission work. Basically, lots of transmissions failures and 'one' person at the dealer who has the training to diagnose/fix them. All they do is remove/replace. There is also a parts back log issue for certain transmission parts. The transmissions shop I used employs an ex Ford Mechanic. They also have their own stock of original parts.
During longer drives, more than 1 hour, the wrench light would come on during the drive with the message "See Manual". The manual doesn't give any indication of course. After a stop and start of the engine, the wrench light was off again. I had this occurring about 3 times in the last 2 months.
I read the code out and got a "P1744 - Torque Clutch Converter Circuit Performance" I searched this forum, but didn't get any definite answers as to the cause.
I brought it to the closest Ford dealer to get it diagnosed. They had the truck for a full day with the only result telling me they read the code out (confirming the above code I read out). But they offered no solution at the time and asked me bring it back for diagnosis. Great I thought, they told me the earliest they can have a look at is in 4 months! (There are 86 cars in front of me for transmission related problems! Also, advised not to drive it). Obviously not acceptable to me and I took the Expy home with me and rang 2 other Ford dealers in the area, some results. One was booked out 8 weeks the other over one month. I can't wait that long as I have an upcoming trip driving 4000 miles.
I decided to bring it to a transmission shop instead (after recommendation from a local car repair guy). It took them 2 weeks to fix the problem. But to their credit, they properly troubleshooted the issue by driving and collecting live data via a scanner. They informed me that the torque converter is slipping and the torque converter clutch cannot fully engage, which causes the P1744 code. They had to drop the transmission and open it up to see how much is damaged. Luckily for me, the damage was fixable and they performed a rebuild by changing the following parts: new torque converter, valve body rebuild, solenoid lube regulator rebuild and new torque converter clutch. New fluid and filter completed the repair. Some of the parts were optional but were changed 'while we are in there'.
To sum it all up, rather than replacing the whole transmission (which Ford would have done, they do not rebuild them), I got away with a rebuild. Still not cheap, but saved me a lot of money. The Expy would have not been hardly worth to fix given its age as it would have cost between 7K to 9K incl. a new transmission and labor at Ford. Even a rebuilt transmission is over 3.5K plus labor. So, go to a transmission shop instead of the dealer (unless its a recall).
Side note: I asked the transmission shop if they know why there are such long wait times at Ford for transmission work. Basically, lots of transmissions failures and 'one' person at the dealer who has the training to diagnose/fix them. All they do is remove/replace. There is also a parts back log issue for certain transmission parts. The transmissions shop I used employs an ex Ford Mechanic. They also have their own stock of original parts.
