Ford recall - software update clutch slip 18S07

[Nalaneerg]

On 9/7/2018 at 2:16 PM, pcaouolte said:

Agreed. I personally would not have booked the car in for this. In my opinion it is probably best to leave it for as long as possible to increase the chance that the clutch will fail the slip test and Ford would pay for the clutch replacement.

Mine was done as part of a scheduled service at a Ford dealer. When the dealer printed the service schedule from their system there was a big note at the top with words to the effect of "Ensure software update for clutch slip 18S07 is carried out." I didn't ask for it to be done.

I have driven manual cars for over 30 years and have owned several that have done more than 100k miles without needing clutch replacements. It's pretty unlikely that I'm going to slip this one to the point of destruction.

I took mine in and the garage even sent me an email telling me the clutch was slipping and tried to charge me close to £1000 to change it. Yet they apparently carried out the software update without changing the identified slipping clutch ? This cant be right surely. 

[Botus]

two different things....    

a mechanical part that wears with use - exacerbated by poor design, driving type (motorways vs in town stop start) and or bad driving

software that's been enhanced to work around modern driver's lack of mechanical knowledge and or common sense

 

if the car had 60 k miles and is on the original clutch, this is within acceptable mileage to be worn out... normally a car's brakes will have done 2 sets of pads and a set of dics by this time... why should a clutch last significantly longer?  that said - it should with a good driver, doing mixed driving and using the handbrake to hold the car on junctions...   an idiot who doesn't know what the handbrake is for and thinks riding the clutch is acceptable and the modern craze of slipping the clutch instead of changing gear deserves all the cost, pain and suffering entailed with swapping out a component that ought to last 150k miles

[DawnMC]

My son drives a 2016 1.0 Ford Focus Zetec S which went in for the clutch recall late 2018, about 3 months later it was in the dealers having a new clutch fitted but Ford are refusing to admit it should be covered under the warranty, the car has done approximately 33000 miles. Is it feasible that within such a short space of time the clutch could fail having passed the recall ?

[TomsFocus]

 

14 hours ago, DawnMC said:

My son drives a 2016 1.0 Ford Focus Zetec S which went in for the clutch recall late 2018, about 3 months later it was in the dealers having a new clutch fitted but Ford are refusing to admit it should be covered under the warranty, the car has done approximately 33000 miles. Is it feasible that within such a short space of time the clutch could fail having passed the recall ?

Tbf that just sounds unlucky.  It is perfectly reasonable that it could have been fine 3 months ago, the slip detection software should have alerted you to the fault after the recall was done if the clutch was bad at the time.

Is it possible your sons driving style may have accelerated the wear?  The clutches on these aren't particularly strong and can't the 'abuse' that clutches on other cars might...

[DawnMC]

On 5/10/2019 at 1:35 PM, TomsFocus said:

 

Tbf that just sounds unlucky.  It is perfectly reasonable that it could have been fine 3 months ago, the slip detection software should have alerted you to the fault after the recall was done if the clutch was bad at the time.

Is it possible your sons driving style may have accelerated the wear?  The clutches on these aren't particularly strong and can't the 'abuse' that clutches on other cars might...

TomsFocus I don't think its related to my son's driving he had access to one of our other cars for two years and they've done twice as many miles as the Focus with no sign of a new clutch yet. Does anyone know whether the clutch should have been checked as part of the recall and would this information be recorded ? I'm just trying to get as much information as possible to add to our complaint to Ford.

Edited May 15, 2019 by DawnMC
Spelling error

[TomsFocus]

8 hours ago, DawnMC said:

TomsFocus I don't think its related to my son's driving he had access to one of our other cars for two years and they've done twice as many miles as the Focus with no sign of a new clutch yet. Does anyone know whether the clutch should have been checked as part of the recall and would this information be recorded ? I'm just trying to get as much information as possible to add to our complaint to Ford.

As I say though, the clutch on these just isn't very good.  Other cars clutches can take far more use & abuse.  That's why they've had to limit the power from the engine in this software update, because the clutch can't handle it.

The clutch would have been checked for slipping before they applied the software update.  As long as it didn't slip on that day, they will apply the update.  If it had slipped straight afterwards, a dash warning light would have come on and the engine would have gone into reduced power mode.  

[Thomas.B]

i just got a letter as well from the Ford about the clutch slip detection 18s07, that does mean ill get the clutch replaced?

[Tommo17]

I know this is an old post. But I just happened to check for re calls the day after so was done 2 days later. 

I was told its a software update for the clutch and also temperature sensors in the engine (eco boom?) 

[TomsFocus]

44 minutes ago, Thomas.B said:

i just got a letter as well from the Ford about the clutch slip detection 18s07, that does mean ill get the clutch replaced?

It won't be replaced unless it's slipping already.  Just a software update for the majority of recalled cars.

9 minutes ago, Tommo17 said:

I know this is an old post. But I just happened to check for re calls the day after so was done 2 days later. 

I was told its a software update for the clutch and also temperature sensors in the engine (eco boom?) 

There is more than one recall depending on which engine you have.  If you've got the 1.6 EcoBoost they are due for the clutch slip recall and a coolant recall which adds a coolant level sensor and low level dash warning.

[Tommo17]

Just the little ole 1L 6 speed 🤪

[TomsFocus]

1 minute ago, Tommo17 said:

Just the little ole 1L 6 speed 🤪

Ok, well you should've definitely had the degas hose recall done by now so should just be clutch slip recall for yours, you can check on ETIS though.  

[Thomas.B]

recently i've indentified issues with my gear box as it quite stiff to get in gears and i dont know if that isse will get solved by the recall or will i hae to get it fixed by my own?

[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, Thomas.B said:

recently i've indentified issues with my gear box as it quite stiff to get in gears and i dont know if that isse will get solved by the recall or will i hae to get it fixed by my own?

Hmm, ok.  Can you select gears easily with the engine switched off?  It could be clutch drag if so.  That's not really part of the test though, they only check for clutch slip, so chances are they'll just update the software, and you'll have to replace the clutch yourself.

[Thomas.B]

yeah i can change the gears with my enigne off fine, it stuggles when i have my engine on. so i'll need to change the cluch my self?

[GUSVLACHOS]

Hi,

Today i update my mk3 FOCUS 1.0 ecoboost 125hp manuf.12/2013, 30k miles with the 18S07 TECHNICAL RECALL

Soon after strange things happened:

a) The economy warning gear selection in the panel doesn't work any more for the 1st & 2nd gear, and when you put the 3d gear , the warning prompt you to put 5th gear ignoring the 4th,when you put the 4th gear it prompt you to go to 6th gear ignoring the 5th !!

b) After 20 years in car racing, i notice significant change in torque curve ( much more linear!!) than previous, and  reduce in power !!

I return back in the official workshop, and they said that all these has nothig to do with the update, thus drive me mad and after a fight they accept an appointment for the next wednesday to check again the problem.

Initially the technical director was polite to me and after my demands became very rude giving me the impresion that they want to get rid of the problem.

I regret for making this update, and i wonder if they can remove this update, and  bring previous ecu mapping.

Does anybody had any similar problems ??

Gus

 

[TomsFocus]

10 hours ago, Thomas.B said:

yeah i can change the gears with my enigne off fine, it stuggles when i have my engine on. so i'll need to change the cluch my self?

Unless it's slipping as well as dragging (unlikely tbh!) then it won't be covered under the recall and you will have to replace it yourself.  Worth taking it for the recall just in case though...

49 minutes ago, GUSVLACHOS said:

Hi,

Today i update my mk3 FOCUS 1.0 ecoboost 125hp manuf.12/2013, 30k miles with the 18S07 TECHNICAL RECALL

Soon after strange things happened:

a) The economy warning gear selection in the panel doesn't work any more for the 1st & 2nd gear, and when you put the 3d gear , the warning prompt you to put 5th gear ignoring the 4th,when you put the 4th gear it prompt you to go to 6th gear ignoring the 5th !!

b) After 20 years in car racing, i notice significant change in torque curve ( much more linear!!) than previous, and  reduce in power !!

I return back in the official workshop, and they said that all these has nothig to do with the update, thus drive me mad and after a fight they accept an appointment for the next wednesday to check again the problem.

Initially the technical director was polite to me and after my demands became very rude giving me the impresion that they want to get rid of the problem.

I regret for making this update, and i wonder if they can remove this update, and  bring previous ecu mapping.

Does anybody had any similar problems ??

Gus

 

The reduced torque on the 125ps engine after the clutch update is well known about and even been proved on rolling roads now but Ford won't admit it.  You can't have it removed or rolled back by Ford.  You can have the PCM remapped by an independent company though, that's the only way you can get the power back...and more!  

The gearchange indicator shouldn't be affected though.  I wonder if they've updated the cluster at the same time?  I know there were updates available for the earlier clusters which didn't always work properly.

[pcaouolte]

The gear change indicator was affected by the clutch software update on my car. Before the update it came on at higher revs than after the update. Before the update it would only suggest moving up one gear, after the update it sometimes suggests moving up two gears. I don't see this as a fault or a problem. I can ignore the indicator and change gear when I want to.

The system also reports a better average mpg than before.The mpg hasn't actually changed, just the indication in the cluster display has changed. 

[GUSVLACHOS]

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Unless it's slipping as well as dragging (unlikely tbh!) then it won't be covered under the recall and you will have to replace it yourself.  Worth taking it for the recall just in case though...

The reduced torque on the 125ps engine after the clutch update is well known about and even been proved on rolling roads now but Ford won't admit it.  You can't have it removed or rolled back by Ford.  You can have the PCM remapped by an independent company though, that's the only way you can get the power back...and more!  

The gearchange indicator shouldn't be affected though.  I wonder if they've updated the cluster at the same time?  I know there were updates available for the earlier clusters which didn't always work properly.

Thanks a lot  "Toms Focus" for your informations, now i 'm sure what they did. Can you suggest me those indepented companies for remapping the PCM ?

Does anyone read what was about the two papers were we put our signature for the updating ? ( i thought it was regular work order, but now i thing it was acceptance of all above bullshits ).

Does anyone remapped the PCM with the 2015 Chinnese clone ETIS diagnostics, is this reliable ?

Of cοurse i forget to mention that in the first 0.5k miles they replace a leaking water pump. Since then i refill every month a glass of antifreeze and i don't know were all this stuff goes !!The car had the improoved degas hose from new and the thin hose & expancion tank doesn't leak. I start  thinking that there is a crack in the head as Toms wrote in a previous post, but the car never overheated. ??!!

[TomsFocus]

16 minutes ago, GUSVLACHOS said:

Thanks a lot  "Toms Focus" for your informations, now i 'm sure what they did. Can you suggest me those indepented companies for remapping the PCM ?

Does anyone read what was about the two papers were we put our signature for the updating ? ( i thought it was regular work order, but now i thing it was acceptance of all above bullshits ).

Does anyone remapped the PCM with the 2015 Chinnese clone ETIS diagnostics, is this reliable ?

Of cοurse i forget to mention that in the first 0.5k miles they replace a leaking water pump. Since then i refill every month a glass of antifreeze and i don't know were all this stuff goes !!The car had the improoved degas hose from new and the thin hose & expancion tank doesn't leak. I start  thinking that there is a crack in the head as Toms wrote in a previous post, but the car never overheated. ??!!

Where do you live?  In the UK there are places like Revo, Celtic and Pumaspeed that do remaps for the 1.0, as well as loads of small companies.  Or you can use a Superchips Bluefin device instead.  A quick online search should find some remappers near you.

These engines do burn a little coolant because they run so hot, it's not likely to be a problem unless you're losing a large amount.

 

[GUSVLACHOS]

21 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Where do you live?  In the UK there are places like Revo, Celtic and Pumaspeed that do remaps for the 1.0, as well as loads of small companies.  Or you can use a Superchips Bluefin device instead.  A quick online search should find some remappers near you.

These engines do burn a little coolant because they run so hot, it's not likely to be a problem unless you're losing a large amount.

 

Thanks again TOM for reply,

I live 2k miles away ! in Athens- Greece, so if it is able for a company to remapp the ECU through internet somehow, there is a chance to do it.( I have the 2015 ETIS interface/diagnostics ??)

Otherwise Bluefin superchip looks most likely! (Does this cancel 18S07 bullshit?)🙄

[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, GUSVLACHOS said:

Thanks again TOM for reply,

I live 2k miles away ! in Athens- Greece, so if it is able for a company to remapp the ECU through internet somehow, there is a chance to do it.( I have the 2015 ETIS interface/diagnostics ??)

Otherwise Bluefin superchip looks most likely! (Does this cancel 18S07 bullshit?)🙄

I'm not sure if places can remap these online, it won't be possible to do it with ETIS though.  Maybe MPPS?  There must be places in Greece offering remaps though!

Bluefin won't cancel the update, you'll still get the clutch slip warning and reduced power if the clutch ever starts slipping.  But while the clutch is still fine it will give you a lot more power and torque than you have now and a better power band as well.

[GUSVLACHOS]

5 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I'm not sure if places can remap these online, it won't be possible to do it with ETIS though.  Maybe MPPS?  There must be places in Greece offering remaps though!

Bluefin won't cancel the update, you'll still get the clutch slip warning and reduced power if the clutch ever starts slipping.  But while the clutch is still fine it will give you a lot more power and torque than you have now and a better power band as well.

Ok,thanks for the help.😀

[Middleman]

Hi there. I have just joined this forum because it appeared to have the most sensible posts about the slipping clutch problem. Yes,Botus, I have been driving for many years and I know exactly what the sounds, smells and feels of a slipping clutch should be like. Do you know what a computer controlled slipping clutch sounds like though? I think I may have just discovered and wish that I hadn't. There is a lot to say so I might have to split it over several posts.

The focus is a late series 3 Zetec. 1.0 Ecoboost, 6 gear model bought in March 2018. It is driven mostly by my wife but she only does about 7000 miles yearly and is now still below 10K total mileage, and yet it did last Thursday write off its clutch on a 150 mile, mostly motorway journey. I was not with her but have no reason to doubt her description of what happened. The recall notice we got was in march this year. No clutch slip was detected by the local main dealer but, as Ford request, the software update was done so that,as I understand it, a slipping clutch cannot now cause the disks or plates to catch fire or shatter. I did question how many people keep the pad slipping for long enough to make it catch fire but was told that some people drive with their foot resting on the clutch pedal. Both my wife and I have been driving enough years not to do that.

On Thursday, after pulling away from the first roundabout, the orange warning message appeared saying that the car needed to be serviced. You have to press Yes to acknowledge that you have read the message, and it then changes to an eye icon. My wife pulled off the road at the first opportunity and turned off the engine. She then restarted it and the warning had gone away. It did not come on again until she reached Stokenchurch on the M40, She stopped at Oxford Services, stopped the engine and again when she restarted the message had gone. She had an important engagement in Stourbridge so drove on with the warning coming on a couple more times before she got there. It was not until that evening when she got to her brother's house near Worcester, where she had arranged to stay overnight, that she had a chance to ring the RAC for advice. Their man came early Friday morning, did the usual checks on the software with their box, but declared that he had no idea what the fault codes meant, as Ford will not disclose them.  He suggested she rang the AA as they had the Ford Assist contract and so would know. They came but said that Ford would not tell them what the codes meant either. The Worcester main Ford dealer replied that they were so snowed under with work that they could not even consider doing anything before the following Wednesday, so the AA decided that since the car is still under the 3 year parts warranty they would recover it back to our local Ford dealer and bring my wife home. Monday morning the local dealer stripped down the clutch and found that one side of the plate had been completely warn away and that it would cost us £750 to replace as the clutch is not covered by the warranty.

I will break there and let you make comments before I tell you the rest. As I am going away for 2 days now it will be the weekend before I can carry on. Two things you might like to comment on. My wife told me that throughout the motorway journey the engine had very little power - she could not get it above 60mph (whereas normally it is hard to keep it down to the 70mph limit), and the engine sounded very noisy (usually you can hardly hear it) and she heard several other occasional noises too.

 

[FatHead1979]

9 hours ago, Middleman said:

Hi there. I have just joined this forum because it appeared to have the most sensible posts about the slipping clutch problem. Yes,Botus, I have been driving for many years and I know exactly what the sounds, smells and feels of a slipping clutch should be like. Do you know what a computer controlled slipping clutch sounds like though? I think I may have just discovered and wish that I hadn't. There is a lot to say so I might have to split it over several posts.

The focus is a late series 3 Zetec. 1.0 Ecoboost, 6 gear model bought in March 2018. It is driven mostly by my wife but she only does about 7000 miles yearly and is now still below 10K total mileage, and yet it did last Thursday write off its clutch on a 150 mile, mostly motorway journey. I was not with her but have no reason to doubt her description of what happened. The recall notice we got was in march this year. No clutch slip was detected by the local main dealer but, as Ford request, the software update was done so that,as I understand it, a slipping clutch cannot now cause the disks or plates to catch fire or shatter. I did question how many people keep the pad slipping for long enough to make it catch fire but was told that some people drive with their foot resting on the clutch pedal. Both my wife and I have been driving enough years not to do that.

On Thursday, after pulling away from the first roundabout, the orange warning message appeared saying that the car needed to be serviced. You have to press Yes to acknowledge that you have read the message, and it then changes to an eye icon. My wife pulled off the road at the first opportunity and turned off the engine. She then restarted it and the warning had gone away. It did not come on again until she reached Stokenchurch on the M40, She stopped at Oxford Services, stopped the engine and again when she restarted the message had gone. She had an important engagement in Stourbridge so drove on with the warning coming on a couple more times before she got there. It was not until that evening when she got to her brother's house near Worcester, where she had arranged to stay overnight, that she had a chance to ring the RAC for advice. Their man came early Friday morning, did the usual checks on the software with their box, but declared that he had no idea what the fault codes meant, as Ford will not disclose them.  He suggested she rang the AA as they had the Ford Assist contract and so would know. They came but said that Ford would not tell them what the codes meant either. The Worcester main Ford dealer replied that they were so snowed under with work that they could not even consider doing anything before the following Wednesday, so the AA decided that since the car is still under the 3 year parts warranty they would recover it back to our local Ford dealer and bring my wife home. Monday morning the local dealer stripped down the clutch and found that one side of the plate had been completely warn away and that it would cost us £750 to replace as the clutch is not covered by the warranty.

I will break there and let you make comments before I tell you the rest. As I am going away for 2 days now it will be the weekend before I can carry on. Two things you might like to comment on. My wife told me that throughout the motorway journey the engine had very little power - she could not get it above 60mph (whereas normally it is hard to keep it down to the 70mph limit), and the engine sounded very noisy (usually you can hardly hear it) and she heard several other occasional noises too.

 

Keep us posted mate.

[EXFO]

My son's Ford Focus 1.0 Zetec S 6Spd, 2015 plate, had a recall in June 2019, it failed the tests and the garage removed the gearbox to examine the clutch mechanism. They found excessive wear on the clutch friction plate and damage to both the pressure plate and the flywheel. The car has to date covered approximately 32,000 miles. The garage contacted Ford and were told they could replace the clutch mechanism under the recall, the garage asked Ford if the flywheel would be covered either under warranty or as a part of the recall, they were told no to both. The garage told my son he would have to pay for a replacement flywheel, a cost of £555.70.My son was working abroad when the car was in the garage so asked me to go and look at the car. The garage were very helpful and had no issue with allowing me to inspect the components. I am an engineer although I do not work on vehicles but I do understand the operation of the clutch mechanism. I found the friction plate to be very badly worn and both the pressure plate and the flywheel showed damage caused by the slipping friction plate, the markings on both plates were virtually identical. The workshop manager agreed that the damage to both plates was clearly caused by the slipping friction plate and he gave me a copy of the e mail he had sent to Ford, in it he states that in his opinion the damage to the flywheel should be covered either under warranty or under the terms of the clutch recall, Ford refused. I contacted  Ford from the garage but the person I spoke to refused to discuss the matter with me because I was not the owner of the vehicle, despite explaining that my so was out of the country. As my son needs his car I paid for the replacement flywheel. I also asked the garage to put the damaged components into the vehicles boot in order that we could retain the evidence for a complaint to Ford, I was able to retain the flywheel but not the clutch mechanism as that had been replaced under the recall and had to be returned to Ford. The workshop manager took a number of very clear photographs of the damaged components and sent them to me along with copies of the various e mails he had exchanged with Ford. 

When my son returned home he contacted Ford to complain, he was given a "case handler" who informed him that she would investigate the complaint and contact him once she had done so. She should be in contact tomorrow.