Ford technician and man behind the YouTube channel FordTechMakuloco, Brian Makuloco, has been churning out all sorts of informative videos over the years, mostly pertaining to various Ford models and known issues. Those include a hissing noise present in 2006-2010 Ford Explorer SUVs, as well as excessive coolant consumption with the second-generation twin turbocharged 3.5L V6 EcoBoost engine present in select Ford F-150 pickups. Now, Makuloco is back with a fix for another F-150 specific issue.
That issue pertains to 2007-2020 Ford F-150 pickups equipped with the 6R80 six-speed automatic transmission, in the form of shuddering caused by the torque converter. This particular problem is generally caused by a lack of proper maintenance on the owner’s part, and in the case of the Ford F-150 in the video, the owner has never serviced the transmission across 168k miles, in fact.
Typically, this shuddering starts to happen when the transmission is hotter, in the 175-195 degree or higher range, according to Makuloco. As we can see, once the torque converter is engaged, there’s a decent amount of slippage happening. The good news is, fixing this particular problem is pretty simple. Once Makuloco gets the customer’s Ford F-150 back to his shop, he lets everything cool down before completing that task.
That fix is to simply change the transmission fluid out, drain the old fluid, remove the pan and filter, and install a new filter and replace the pan first. In this case, the pickup needs to drain eight quarts to get it to roughly two-thirds of total capacity. This is important, because as Makuloco notes, one doesn’t want to do a full flush – only a partial one – to prevent creating new issues with the transmission’s clutches.
Makuloco also adds Ford Motorsport friction modifier – two bottles, in this case, due to the severity of the shuddering. After that’s done, it’s important to take the truck for a drive, as the fix won’t work instantly – however, after a few miles, this pickup’s shuddering issue is gone, meaning that it won’t need a new torque converter, thankfully.
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