Changing a transmission in a 2015 Ford Escape

I hadn't done this on this type of vehicle before so I learned as I went. Hope this will help you!

[@robs4517]

Im doing the same thing on my 2015 Escape. What generally happens is that people don't do the maintenance and the internal filter will plug up and starve the transmission of fluid which causes overheating. Mine has 144000 miles on the original transmission.

[@iulianhutan1881]

This is what happened to me as well, it would slip in gears and it not change any gears when trans was warmed up. Ended up changing the trans oil filter and cleaning it inside, it works great so far.

[@randyscrafts8575]

My guess with that transmission it likely wasn't going into higher gears at highway speeds overheating it. May have stayed in 4 or 5 or back and forth between 4 and 5. Those weak valve body solenoids won't shift it properly and if you're not paying attention to the rpm's you'll never know except your gas mileage will be bad but also this will be intermittent. One day it'll work fine the next it will be afu then in the middle of driving it'll correct itself sometimes the check engine light comes on sometimes not.

[@josephbowles4995]

That’s probably what happened because if it’s not running while being towed the wrong way the fluid will heat up and fry everything there’s no fans operating to cool things down so yea or the other thing is a clogged cat converter could do that to !

[@chrispycritters123]

Haha 28:26 “I don’t know how a transmission can get this hot”. I’ll tell you why, this car is an entire pos. I can say this as a owner of a 2016 escape and the transmission went out at 59k miles and it was rebuilt by ford under warranty. It just failed again with a pump failure at 82k miles and it ate itself so off again for a rebuild and it’s getting traded in. I bought this car brand new and it’s been an absolute engineering nightmare of a cluster.

[@technicalitems731]

American, British, most European, Russian, Mexican car manufacturers need the whole board of directors and executives put in prison. My GF’s 2016 Ford Escape awd 2.0 is a POS. At 140k the trans has this rumble strip herky jerky thing. Autozone scanner says it’s a cam position sensor. Replaced. Then coil pack. Replaced. Oil changes on time due to sensitive cam phaser system. Constant junky construction of vehicle. Flimsy. Looks like a wiring and mechanical nightmare to repair. Will Probably need a Transmission after dealer is paid to properly diagnose this POS. I have a lot of vehicles. I’ve always wanted to think USA stuff was better. It may have been in the old days idk? But now? Fck no. My 2002 gmc savana van has a headlight wiring system with NO fuses or relays. No body control module system like 2003 and up. I bought a factory dealer service manual for it because the headlight switch would melt out of dash. I’d replace everything. Could not find fuses or relays. To trace the wires you’d have to remove outer dash, then inner dash support frame. If you touch harness you risk wiring shorts of the whole vehicle due to brittle crusty wires. And I live in the south…hardly any salt to corrosion. In the service manual, wiring diagram shows NO FUSES and NO RELAYS for headlights. Dangerous. Melts the fckn dash slot for headlight switch and no way to ever put on a new one as the slide in hole won’t snap the switch in place ever again. The EXPORT version has fuses and relays!! GMC loves the foreign customer but HATES the USA customer. What’s even more messed up is when I look at the under hood inner fender fuse panel…it shows the slots with labeling for headlights, low beam, high beam head light fuses. And relays. The slots in plastic are there beside the other existing fuses. But the wires don’t mount Inside the fuse box. The wires run right beside the GD thing on purpose. All they had to do was hook it up. But NO. You can’t buy the wire clips to make it snap in to the fuse box. No little clips or pins exist. I guess you could cut some out of a wrecked parts van from other wires that run to fuses. But you can’t risk hooking them in to the fuses box because of you twist the fuses box over to install the wires and pins for fuses….you’d cause shorts and have wire breakage. Junk wiring. Corrosion. Brittle insulation on wires. The only fix is to run new thick heavy wires to and from the headlight switch and battery out to headlights with aftermarket fuses and relays that you hardly have any room to screw into the inner fender (because it’s a van). Don’t screw it in tot the firewall. The under wiper tray will leak and rust. Imagine how many fleets of vans get sent to the dealer for headlight trouble? Millions of dollars a year. Until owner gives up and buys a new van. Foreign countries? They won’t buy a USA van without proper fuses and relays. Such corrupt trickery. I’m done! Japan wins. They are best. Japan is consistent and well designed within a value platform.

[@robs4517]

How many times did you service the POS transmission? I bet not once. Automatic transmission rebuilds are the single most expensive piece on any car now. They pack so many gears in such a small space and it is all tightly controlled by a computer -- it's no wonder they fail. Do the maintenance.

[@chrispycritters123]

@@robs4517 Followed it per the extended service agreement with Ford. I babied this car since it was our first new car. They did the first transmission service per Ford recommendations at 50k, and the unit failed at 59k. 2nd one failed about 20k later. So I don’t know, maybe just a lemon.

[@randyscrafts8575]

I have a 2014 escape. Check engine light on and off and on and off so much I don't pay attention to it any more.....I know it's the transmission. Transmissions on these vehicles are garbage. There are lots of little quirks to mine that are just annoying. It has a fast little engine but ain't worth a **** without a transmission. Eventually I'm sure, it'll self destruct. It's my daily driver but I have two backups. My 2018 f350 has all kinds of issues also. I'm a life long Ford guy still am but I'll never buy another Ford newer than a 1995. Right around 1995 ford started going to **** with electronics and solenoids and too much engineering that conflicts with other engineering. New fords are junk in my experience. Had a 1998, problems, 2004, problems, 2014, problems, 2018, problems. From 1998 thru the 2018 the problems got progressively worse. Electronics is the major problem.

[@josephbowles4995]

Oh and thanks for the video it’s very helpful

[@menyo4]

I just replaced the transmission on my 16’ Ford Edge, and I was told that I had to get some one to proggram it. i haven’t been able to get some one to come yet. My question is, If I go tonreverse and doesn’t donanything, then I shift on to Drive and nothing, Is ist because it does need programming? This newer tranny does not do anything at all. Any advise?

[@dealerauctionnightmare4689]

I don't think those have to be relearned. The Focus & Fiesta do have to be relearned. Make sure your fluid is full and no bent pins on the connector(s), broken wires, etc. You may have another bad transaxle. Look up "Ford Boss Me" on youtube and he should be able to tell you what you need to do.

[@winemandinem2338]

Usually if a trans needs programming it should still move the car. It may be in some kind of limp mode where it doesn't shift but if your torque converter is good the vehicle should move. If it won't move at all, do like Dealer Auction Nightmare said. Check the electrical plugs and fluid level.

[@randyscrafts8575]

Ford escapes have had transmission issues since Ford started making them. On these newer escapes it's poor design not a maintenance issue. The transmission shifts by valve body. The valve body shifts electrically by solenoid. If your solenoid isn't heavy enough for the task it won't be reliable and this is what happens in these newer escapes. Changing the fluid won't help. The solenoids need to be changed to a heavier solenoid but that would require re-engineering the transmission to accommodate costing Ford M-O-N-E-Y so they'd rather MAKE money replacing your transmissions anywhere from 30,000 miles (I've heard of them not lasting until end of warranty) to 100,000 miles. Also, escapes have a PTU that should have the fluid changed every 30,000 miles at minimum. 20,000 is better. The PTU sits in just about the hottest part of the undercarriage cooking the gear oil in it. Early models had a sealed unit where the fluid couldn't be changed and they hoped for the best but they can self destruct leaving you stranded. Anyway.....enough about Ford. 😂😂😂

[@bosspranks8349]

Did you ever find out why the transmission was burned up

[@winemandinem2338]

I never did find out but it several people are saying that towing would do it. I thought about that but when you tow it while not running, the fluid gets super hot in one small area, to the point it will boil and spit down there near the axles but I didn't know it could get the whole transmission hot enough to melt all the bushings and everything. Those are made of high-temperature composite plastic so it had to be really hot. I don't know enough about it to make a sure call.

[@montygram]

Did you have to do any programming with the TCM/PCM's to communicate with the "New" transmission? I am looking to do the same operation as you, with a AWD Escape and will need to buy a Used Transmission. I want to know if it will plug and play.

[@winemandinem2338]

After I completed this job the Escape ran fine, shifted beautiful and felt solid. I was told by several people that I got extremely lucky and I should have had to do a bunch of programming. Maybe that's the case, I don't know but it worked great, plug and play.

[@joeabels3931]

towing will do it.

[@bignix3490]

What engine model is this escape

[@winemandinem2338]

I'm pretty sure it's a 2.5 natural. Not the EcoBoost on this one.

[@rogeliolopez3692]

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