Troubleshooting serious vibration

[Spiderracer314]

Calling all my trouble shooting friends. (Turn sound on video)

What could be causing this. 2012 ford transit connect. It feels and sounds like you are driving over severe rumble strips. It is unpredictable. Sometimes I can drive to work and back and it never happens. Some times it happens 40 times. I’ve replaced the torque converter and trans fluid. Everything runs great except this. As you see in video the tach climbs while it is happening. If you let your foot off the gas it goes away. If you don’t it lasts 5-10 seconds. Happens twice in this short video. Let’s here your theories.

[davidparker]

That is strange!  Just a wild guess here.  The tranny might being trying to shift unsuccessfully.  Maybe a hanging solenoid.  Have you check for trouble codes?

[G B L]

Does it happen in more than one gear? If you held the Transmission in third what happens.

Edited November 4, 2019 by G B L

[Fifty150]

It could be engine misfire.  Use an OBD II monitor to check for misfires, misfire count, and to see which cylinder is misfiring.  On some cars, low grade, sporadic misfires, which are not misfiring consistently, do not turn on the "CHECK ENGINE LIGHT".  Change spark plugs and coil-over-plug & boot.  Checvk for engine compression.  Once in awhile, on some cars, EGR & PCV valves and sensors need to be changed.  

 

Are there any hard downshifts or upshifts?  Does the transmission ever fail to engage, or slip?  It's not always the transmission.  But a transmission fluid exchange should be performed anyway.  It's an old car, and I doubt if the transmission fluid is fresh.  

[Spiderracer314]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:19 PM, davidparker said:

That is strange!  Just a wild guess here.  The tranny might being trying to shift unsuccessfully.  Maybe a hanging solenoid.  Have you check for trouble codes?

Thanks! We ran a code reader on it the other day and this is what it came up with:

[Spiderracer314]

On 11/3/2019 at 11:34 PM, Fifty150 said:

It could be engine misfire.  Use an OBD II monitor to check for misfires, misfire count, and to see which cylinder is misfiring.  On some cars, low grade, sporadic misfires, which are not misfiring consistently, do not turn on the "CHECK ENGINE LIGHT".  Change spark plugs and coil-over-plug & boot.  Checvk for engine compression.  Once in awhile, on some cars, EGR & PCV valves and sensors need to be changed.  

 

Are there any hard downshifts or upshifts?  Does the transmission ever fail to engage, or slip?  It's not always the transmission.  But a transmission fluid exchange should be performed anyway.  It's an old car, and I doubt if the transmission fluid is fresh.  

That's a good idea with the engine misfiring. I had thought it was solely the transmission, but I'll look into it. We actually just changed the transmission fluid again last night with a higher quality fluid, thinking that might fix it, but it did the vibrating thing again on the way to work this morning. 

[Spiderracer314]

Good news guys! We checked to see if the engine was misfiring and found that it was. We replaced the spark plugs and coil over and it seems to be running fine. Weird that every shop we took it to said it was a transmission problem, but hey, its running right! We'll see how long it lasts, but fingers crossed lol

 

[Fifty150]

On 11/5/2019 at 4:38 AM, Spiderracer314 said:

We actually just changed the transmission fluid again last night with a higher quality fluid

 

Just a thought; you should Mercon LV.  Ford automatic transmissions have been known to fail because the wrong fluid was used.  Not to say that you have to use Ford Motorcraft brand.  You could use other brands which meet specifications, or are Mercon vLV licensed.  But you do not want to use just any type of ATF sold over the counter.

 

When Ford began using Mercon V, a lot of people were buying Dex/Merc ATF and/or multi-vehicle ATF.  Those ATF do not meet Mercon V spec.  Those transmissions failed. 

 

The 6F35 uses a low viscosity fluid.  Be sure that your choice of ATF is labeled for Mercon LV.  Most of the over-the-counter ATF are not Mercon LV spec.  It's not too late to correct this.  And be sure that you perform a triple drain & fill, or a transmission return line exchange.  I cannot stress how important it is to have the correct ATF.

 

Glad that you got some new spark plugs and coil over plug ignitions, and that it worked out.

 

On that note, what brands did you use?  Did you stick with Motorcraft, since it's what most people recommend?  The common theory is that Ford engines operate best with Motorcraft plugs and ignitions.  I don't buy it.  I think that there are brands which may not work well, and then there are people who buy less expensive spark plugs.  To save money, some people will install the least expensive spark plugs.  Commonly, that would be a copper spark plug.  Not a great idea when your car came with finewire platinum, double platinum, or iridium spark plugs.  The other common mistake is to use spark plugs right out of the box, without checking the gap.  Some plugs say that the recommended part number for your application is correct, and that you are not suppose to change the gap.  Then there is the controversy that today's modern engines and modern spark plugs do not require anti-seize.  Then when you're looking at coil over plug ignition, Motorcraft can cost up to 3X as much as a product which you've never seen or heard of.  

[herb]

Fifty's right ,  MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you use ONLY the( Mercon LV ),  many people think trans fluid is trans fluid and it should be fine but with this particular vehicle it's NOT fine .  ALWAYS refer to the owners manual before just assuming things and making a mistake .

[Fifty150]

Another member on this forum is using Global Triax ATF, which is labeled as a low viscosity fluid and claims to be suitable for Mercon LV.  I am using Valvoline Maxlife ATF, which on the label, reads "recommended for" Mercon LV. Wal*Mart Supertech,  Philips 66, Peak, Castrol, and Mag 1 all bottle ATF which they claim is suitable for Mercon LV use. 

 

RedLine offers D6 ATF: "As ATF requirements lean toward lighter viscosity, this one has ultimate stability." 

 

 Royal Purple Max ATF is Mercon & Mercon V, not Mercon LV.  I would not use.

 

Amsoil list Signature Series Fuel-Efficient Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid, which sells for $60.95 per gallon.  A fuel efficient automatic transmission fluid recommended for GM, Ford and Toyota transmissions where lighter viscosity oil is required. 

 

Amalie has Dexron VI, a low viscosity.  But does not recommend it as suitable for Mercon LV.  I would not use it.

 

Lucas Oil specifically states on the Technical Data Sheet NOT TO USE  for Mercon LV.

 

Mobil 1 Synthetic LV ATF HP is approved and licensed by General Motors against DEXRON® HP ATF.  I would not use.

 

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Edited November 8, 2019 by Fifty150