Official Tremec 3650 Issues Thread

#1,021
I've been watching this thread for three months. Brought my '02 GT in round about February - got fluid change - was told to drive for a few hundred miles. Well its much better now that the weather here in New Orleans is in the mid to upper 70s. Did the fluid change help - you ask. Who knows. :shrug: Back when it was 45 outside the shifts were bad, but not cosistently. One smart guy told me to press the clutch all the way to the floor. Sure am glad I got that rocket scientist advice. Anyway I have been patiently watching this thread for info.

Left car at dealer this morning. They are keeping overnight to see how it drives tomorrow morning. We'll see. I'm starting to agree that there might not be a TSB. If time keeps tickin' with no warranty repair, all those people with any amount of warranty left will have burned it up by next winter. I only have about 9k left which will not last through summer. Depending on the number of complaints, it might be cheaper for Ford to just wait it out. To bad - I was raised with Fords. My first "hotrod" was a '66 Fairlane that my Grandmaw owned. Got it in '88 with 60k, three on the tree, no air, no power stearing, no power brakes, 289cid, original window sticker and owners manual. Also had a '98 Mustang GT (auto), '99 F-150 (stick), '85 F-150(stick), a mess of crown vics and grand marquis, and even a brief stint with an Escort GT (stick) :notnice: The only other makes I've owned were a '87 Toyota Cressida with a 5 speed (which by the way shifted slicker than snot) and a '83 Mazda Rx-7 GLS (which also shifted very well). Now that I look back, even the worst manual trans -4 speed in the '85 with 150k hard miles on it - shifted far better than this state of the art trans.

But I digress.

Additionally, I too have talked to a TREMEC regional sales manager (or something like that). He comfirmed that the 3650s had problems and that Ford was aware of the replacement parts produced by TREMEC. That was back in February.

Good luck everyone.
 

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#1,022
I called Ford this morning...they told me they were unaware of this problem. Huh. That's odd.

Anyway, I'm supposed to get the normal "send a notice to the dealership" treatment, and take it in this week. I'm going to wait until tomorrow, to make sure they received the notice. When I called the shop up last week I also got, "...well, did you have the clutch all the way to the floor?" Oh, is that how that pedal works??? Lately though, I barely have to touch the shifter for it to just pop out of 2nd with the clutch in. I'm worried it's going to start getting much worse.

This may give me a good way to rationalize selling the GT and going for an '03 Cobra next year.
 
#1,023
Good luck.
I talked to Ford as well. They already knew the service manager at my dealer by name and called him. He called me, not in a good mood it seemed, and said bring the car in so his techs could check it out. Well being that I pay my own bills by working and all, I just got the car to the dealer. Round two. "Look kids, Big Ben. Parliament. "
 
#1,025
Wirehead said:
Jeeze. I've been wanting to reply to this for two days but it took me this long to get enough time to read the whole thing so I don't ask something someone else has already asked (and had answered) 973 times.

Anyway, before I heard anything bad about the 3650 I picked one up on Ebay to go with a 5.4L DOHC swap into my 96 GT - first major mod I've ever done to my car (or ANY car, really). I haven't really experienced the grinding issue, despite this being a used transmission of somewhat unknown vintage (I was told 4k miles but now that he has his money the seller won't respond to my emails, so I'm hoping he wasn't just making up stuff). I DO have an issue that was mentioned a couple of times in this thread, though, which no one has yet responded to.

At idle the car is NOISY. It sounds like the transmission is full of rocks or something. It shifts pretty well, though I've noticed (as others have commented) that it gets pretty notchy after getting nice and warm. It seems to like being driven hard - the best shifts are always the ones when I'm beating on it a bit. The FEEL is no worse than my old T45. The T5 I had in my '88 coupe with 5.0L was smoother, but it had a Pro 5.0 the whole time I had the car, so it's really not a good basis for comparison.

To give a bit more info:

In neutral with the clutch released, I hear a sound like a random rattling - no real high- pitched noises - not like metal contacting metal - it sounds like a rock polishing machine with a full barrel. Almost like a REALLY bad throwout bearing. The noise goes away completely when I press in the clutch and all I can hear then is the exhaust. I do have some other minor stuff - if I listen closely I can hear some gear whine when accelerating in 3rd and possibly 4th, but those don't seem like too big a deal.

I don't recall the name of the 2 other people who mentioned this same issue, but hopefully they're still around and will chime in.

The cost of the swap has pretty much wiped out any money I had for diagnosis or repair for quite a while - so I'm hoping someone here can give me a clue about what to expect here, without me having to have someone tear the tranny apart and see what's wrong. I don't know what's "normal" for these things, and I've never had a brand new car, so I might have more trouble than I think simply due to being unfamiliar with how good it's SUPPOSED to be. It certainly doesn't shift "like butter" as some have said their transmissions did after the Ford fixes.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


All you're hearing is your clutch locking onto your flywheel ... then spinning. A typical noise for people who install an aftermarket shifter. The noise is always there in any manual trans, but removal of rubber boots & increased rigidity of the shifter just make it louder!
 
#1,026
Interesting

So I went to the dealer this afternoon and spoke with only the service department manager - apparently he'd seen this problem before. We took the car for a ride, and I believe he felt the problem, although he said it didn't seem too bad. He told me to bring it back in tomorrow and he'll have a tech look at it...I was told that they'd try to just get me a new transmission to solve the problem right out.

A very important piece of information that I learned: apparently, installing an aftermarket shifter will void your drivetrain warranty from the shifter back. So, if you take your car in for this problem (or anything else with the transmission), reinstall the stock shifter first. Once it has been noted in Ford's computer system that you had an aftermarket shifter in at some point, your drivetrain warranty will be void from there out. Some techs are cooler than others, and won't rat you out. However, once it gets to the point of having the insurance adjuster come in, they will actually photograph all major parts of the vehicle and inspect for such things as short-throw shifters. Pretty nice of Ford, eh? It almost seems like they were aware of this problem with the Tremecs before they were installed. :nonono:
 
#1,027
Well as stated before, they have to prove that the shifter or any other aftermarket part caused the failure, but most people aren't willing to get their own legal help. I on the other hand did and Ford could not provide proof that the shifter caused the tranny failure so then they said I abused it and that caused the failure and the only evidence they provided was that my rear tires had less tread than the front. At the time the car had 13,000 miles and was bone stock except for Flowmasters, Mac CAI, and 18" Roush wheels and used 18" tires from Ebay which I proved which explained the difference in treadwear. They lost both times.
 
#1,029
Drivetrain back?

So, are you saying that Ford claims a broken, trans, driveshaft, rearend, axles...would be void if you installed a shifter? How can a shifter be responsible for an axle?

In theory then, if I put an aftermarket Air filter in the car then the entire engine would be void, the entire drivetrain would be void too since it is connected to the engine, right?
 
#1,030
Legally, to Ford, yep.

That's what I was told on the drivetrain issue. :shrug: I don't know how the he*l they would try to explain a shifter causing all of that damage either. I definitely understand your argument, but I'm sure their goal is to make you battle them from the very bottom up, if it comes to litigation.

Man, that stock shifter is a POS.......1-2 grind is still there, although less obvious. Probably just seems that way due to longer shift handle.
 
#1,031
Does anyone know the part number or name for the brass plate with the rubber boot on it that you have to cut for the aftermarket shifter? When the time comes to bring it in I dont want to have the stock shifter with that boot cut to give them any ideas. I also lost a bolt to the stock shifter. Im assuming its a standard bolt?
 
#1,032
HI guys I also took my 02 in they realized their was a problem, put in a new 3650. As soon as I left the lot it was still doing the 1-2, I made a u turn and took it back, my ford dealer than installed a full synth. fluid and told me to drive it for a few hundred miles, well it's 6 months later and it is still shifting bad. Ford has told me their is no problem that it is normal. I have had it with Ford, I am selling this piece of junk and buying something else, maybe an RX8 or a camaro. we need a class action lawsuit to make Ford realize what a problem this really is, good luck to everyone who is having a problem. :nonono: :notnice: :bang: :bang: :bang:
 
#1,033
:bang: :nonono:
Ok, I took the car back to the dealer this morning. I waited for an hour for their transmission tech to show up. We take the car for a ride, and we both drive it - him first, then me. He says that he has noticed absolutely no problem. His only suggestion was, as before, making sure the clutch is completely depressed before shifting. He also offered to check the fluid, just to appease me.

Then comes the interesting stuff. I told him that this thread built my concern for the problem up enough to bring it in to have it looked at. I was told, 1.) that I should not believe all of the wrong information on the internet, and that people are imagining problems, and 2.) That indeed there is not a TR-3650 in my '03 GT, but a T-5. His only basis for this statement was pulling the plastic shifter cover up for about 2 seconds to verify this. I left unsatisfied, and without a plan. So I called up Ford right after this, to do my own verification of what transmission is in my car. After about 15 minutes, they were able to tell me that it is a 3650, as we already knew. Then I had them call my dealer, just for fun, and verify this with their service department.

I'm still pondering where to go from here with this, since it's warm out where I am now, and it's gonna be pretty tough to have anyone detect the problem.
 
#1,036
...

Oh, and I also called Tremec on Friday.

1.) The engineer I spoke to said changing to a new fluid doesn't do jack, according to the techs he's heard from in-house there.

2.) A TSB is supposed to be out within a week - yeah.....right. He said to call back if no TSB has been posted within a few days and he'll look into it.

This is ridiculous. I too am just going to forget about it until winter or a shot trannie rolls around.
 
#1,037
FINALLY!!!!!!!!

I found a dealership that will address this problem!! the notchy , grindy 1-2 shift!!

I have taken it to 2 other dealerships and got the BS story "we cant reproduce the problem"...........whatever

I took it to Autoway FORD right down the road from me . (I didnt take it there originaly because it is a smaller dealership and I thought the bigger dealerships may be more apt to help.....WRONG!!)


I just drove it home and it shifts like a dream!!

They didnt replace a single part on the tranny itself , they replaced the Quadrant shaft and clutch pedal assembly .

I'm not sure if this is a new TSB or not . It is #529043
The part numbers are:

1 F4ZZ-7506-A QUADRAN
1 3R3Z-7519-BA PDL ASY
6 B7AZ-2471-B BRKT PD

All covered under warranty!

I'm going to put my Steeda Tri-ax back on right now!!

:nice: :flag:
 
#1,038
Me too

BMan5150 said:
I am officially signing off this thread. There's not going to be a TSB, and I'm done following this thread. I'll just learn to live with the notchy, loud, but strong 3650.
Click to expand...

I agree. I have never had the grind problem so I can not comment on the problem there, but I do agree that this transmission is just notchy and that is just that. I drove my friends 04 GT the other day, he bought his the same day I bought mine by the way, and the transmission was just a notchy as mine from 2nd to 3rd, and sometimes other gears. I have to say that his stock shifter felt like a tooth pick now that I am used to my tri-ax. I did take the stops out of my tri-ax like tremec recommended anyway. So I too am signing off and have just accepted that it is just the nature of the beast. :(

Later
 
#1,039
"They didnt replace a single part on the tranny itself , they replaced the Quadrant shaft and clutch pedal assembly . "

That's interesting. I've often wondered if stiffer motor & tranny mounts would make a difference. But it's still hard to explain why things get better on hotter days. Keep us posted on your car's situation. If it holds up or if it reverts back etc...
 
#1,040
hexum311 said:
I agree. I have never had the grind problem so I can not comment on the problem there, but I do agree that this transmission is just notchy and that is just that. I drove my friends 04 GT the other day, he bought his the same day I bought mine by the way, and the transmission was just a notchy as mine from 2nd to 3rd, and sometimes other gears. I have to say that his stock shifter felt like a tooth pick now that I am used to my tri-ax. I did take the stops out of my tri-ax like tremec recommended anyway. So I too am signing off and have just accepted that it is just the nature of the beast. :(

Later
Click to expand...

Never heard tremec recommending removing the stops on the shifter, is that actually posted somewhere. Should they be removed, or just adjusted all the way back
 
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