Posted on 06/04/2020 7:12:55 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
What in the world are you thinking going with a dry clutch?
Most dual-clutches, particularly those for high-torque applications, use a wet clutch system, where the clutch plates are bathed in oil. Ford wished to maximise fuel efficiency, and instead chose to go with a dry clutch system. The dry clutch eliminates pumping losses from the oil in the transmission.
With millions of vehicles fitted with the Powershift transmission... In many cases, Ford initially declined to offer refunds or replacement vehicles at no cost...
The high cost of repeated transmission repairs also weighed on Ford in warranty costs, estimated to be to the tune of $700 million.
It’s likely that Ford has had a stern, hard look at internal policies in the years since to determine just why such a defective transmission was allowed through to production.
(Excerpt) Read more at hackaday.com ...
There is a saying “you had one job...”
After a hundred years of making vehicles, auto makers can not seem to make a vehicle that holds together in the most basic fashion.
Just replaced my 2015 Ford F150 with a 2020 Ford F150. Never had any issues with the 2015.
“use a wet clutch system, where the clutch plates are bathed in oil.”
Bathed in oil ? What plates is he talking about ? It’s friction that transfers torque from the driving plate to the driven plate. The last thing it needs is oil.
What! Clutch disk bathed in oil!
That would be insane!
Once you depresd the clutch pedal shift from (say) 1st to 2nd gear you won’t go any where. Your whole manual tranny is junk!
A wet clutch is to be the hydro resevoir that compresses the actuator to release presure on the presure plate fingers and the clutch disk from the fly wheel.
Never mind, I googled it. It’s hydraulic coupling, closer in mechanism to an automatic transmission than a traditional clutch.
I lay the problem at three areas:
1. Companies run by bean counters and lawyers, not engineers. They squeezed every 1/100 of a penny they can out of a car.
2. Computer-aided design which the engineers can use to squeeze out every extra tenth of an ounce out of a part, often making parts too weak and failure prone. This didn’t happen much pre-CAD when engineers designed components stout and not at the edge of failure.
3. Government mileage requirements which really drive #2. The car companies have to meet market desires and government dictats. That is very hard to do.
Yep, trying to get ahead of the draconian millage mandates of the obumer era and it bit em in the arse.
How about the Mopar gen 3 hem that eats cams because oiling is incomplete at idle? There’s nothing you can do about this except maybe put a different model crate engine in.
Exactly
I have a 2016 Focus - No issues other than occasionally a bit jerky off the line. But, I drive it like a race car, so maybe that’s the key. 50k miles so far.
Yes, the original VW Beetles had a dry clutch.
Obama and the EPA have been responsible for a lot of garbage in the US but this isn’t their doing, it’s Ford’s cost cutting engineering that screwed this up. Ford has a history of releasing poorly engineered products and letting the customer be the beta tester, then refusing to pay for the fixes when the design proves subpar. The 6.0 powerstroke diesel comes to mind as a good example.
I used to be a Ford loyalist but no more, too many people have been burned by their shady practices.
It’s got nothing to do with dry clutches. Both dry and wet clutches have been around for at least 100 years and work fine if designed properly. This is just Ford building crap because they cut corners to save a few bucks.
“Unbelievably crappy products and terrible customer service.”
And here is an explanation of the root cause.
The video is about Tesla manufacturing and @ 41-minute mark Sandy Munro talks about his time at Ford and Dr Deming.
Munro is a most interesting character.
The Video is long and mostly inside Tesla stuff, still some fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pih4kU6yvz8
From wiki on Dr Deming, a huge influence on Japenese QC.
A number of Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely and experienced heretofore unheard-of levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality combined with the lowered cost created new international demand for Japanese products.
“ver-ambitious mileage requirements from an EPA full of eco-extremists were a part of the root causes of this debacle. This is a hidden cost of over-regulation.
Also, see # 34.
I have owned just one foreign car in my life, a 78 Mazda GLC. Mazda is basically Japanese for Ford. It was a crappy car... even though it was tiny and had no power it didn’t get any better MPGs than my 67 Ford Galaxy when driving down the freeway.
I have a Fusion hybrid with a CVT and I average 40 MPG.
-PJ
Oh well... I took advantage of certain tanked stocks and decided ultimately to take a strong position in F at $5.00 or so. I expect to sit for awhile and reap.
Oh yes, very familiar with Deming. “Part” of the root causes. Part of it’s on Ford for sure. Probably most.
You like driving a tranny?
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