Transmission Overheating Ford Focus – What Can Go Wrong?

In general, the Ford Focus enjoys a good reliability score in the compact cars segment of the market. Aside from the performance, comfort, fuel economy, and reliability it delivers, it also possesses relatively low annual maintenance costs. The said features make it very appealing as an everyday car.

Transmission overheating message highlights

• Common reasons:creep mode, slow driving uphill, worn-out clutch
• How to fix:change the driving conditions, check the clutch
• Possible consequences:clutch may fail completely
• Priority level:Medium
• Can you drive?Carefully
• DIY repair:Possible
• Repair price range:$0-$2,500

How do you know the transmission is overheated?

Well, your PowerShift transmission, and you may be surprised by that, doesn't have a temperature sensor. But how on Earth does the car computer know that it overheats? Well, there are a whole lot of things to be explained in this sphere.

You will know that the transmission is suffering from heat when the Focus shows you the message saying "Transmission Overheating, Please Stop Safely" or some other variation of this warning message. If there is no sensor, how does the brain of your car know when to throw this message?

Well, here's the algorithm:

• your transmission is slipping and this is registered in the control units of the vehicle;
• after the transmission slips several times in a row, the TCU (transmission control unit) concludes that the transmission is overheated;
• it throws the message asking you to stop safely and wait till the unit is cooled down;
• this usually happens in a traffic jam when the car is in stop-and-go traffic or when going up the hill slowly.

Even though the message says that the transmission is overheated, there is no way the car can know the temperature of the fluid inside the PowerShift unit, so you shouldn't worry much about the heat.

However, you should worry about the health of the transmission. Usually, this is the first sign that the gearbox in your Ford Focus is about to ask for a very expensive repair including clutch replacement and TCU reprogramming or replacement. This may cost you anywhere between $1500 and $3000 depending on the damage.

When can your Focus transmission actually overheat?

When the dual-clutch transmission overheats, it can really slip. And this is why the TCU is programmed to tell you about overheating when it registers transmission slipping. Usually, the actual overheating happens in two common cases:

• When you try towing something really heavy in the stop-and-go traffic which is obviously not something your Ford will love doing.
• Or when you are in a traffic jam and the transmission is mostly in D while the car is stopped and you are pressing the brake pedal.

There are solutions for both cases. To avoid the first problem, just don't tow anything with your Focus. Its transmission is pretty shabby and can bite the dust anytime. If you tow something heavier than a thousand pounds, you will probably kill this transmission even sooner than its average lifespan of 100,000 miles.

To avoid killing your PowerShift in traffic jams, turn the shifter to N or P whenever your Focus is stopped. This will help you relieve the tension from the clutch pack. Of course, it's not necessary when you stop your car for 30 seconds or so. But if you are going to remain in place for more than a minute, it's worth shifting to N.

The thing is that when the vehicle is in P, the engine is connected to the transmission and it sends some torque to it all the time. You keep it stopped only by pressing the brake pedal. This may heat up the clutch, especially if these calm periods are changed with slow movement with shifting between the first and the second gears.

What to do when you see the transmission overheating message in the Focus?

Well, your first option is to just stop at a safe place for a while and let your transmission cool down. If it's really because of overheating, you will not get this message again after you park your car for ten minutes. At least, it costs you nothing to just wait for ten minutes and see if this helps you solve the issue.

But in most cases, after you start the car and drive, you will see this message again. Even if you won't see it right away, it may reappear in several days in a completely different road situation. This means that you have a problem with your transmission and it isn't likely connected with overheating.

Here's what you should do, in this case:

• drive carefully and be ready for a more serious problem with the transmission;
• check if the PowerShift shakes when shifting between the first and the second gears;
• if the shifting is smooth, you can continue driving but very carefully;
• if there are shakes when shifting, driving is not recommended or should only happen in emergency mode (up to 15 mph, on the right side of the road, emergency blinkers are on);
• plan the visit to a good repair shop or dealership as soon as possible;
• have the PowerShift inspected properly by a good mechanic and see what they tell you.

These transmissions are known for bad clutches that are extremely expensive to replace and have only 100K miles average lifespan. Also, they have faulty TCUs that may need replacement too, making the overall repair price more or less the same as buying a remanufactured PowerShift transmission.

This is one of the reasons why the third-generation Ford Focus got so many bad reviews and reports. It had a recall due to faulty clutches in the pre-facelift model years (2012-2014) but the recall actually didn't change much and post-facelift models also have a faulty clutch.

Can this happen because of the fluid?

No, this is almost impossible. Technically, the dual-clutch transmission in your Ford Focus is just the manual gearbox with a kind of robot attached to it. This robot is called mechatronic and it does all the job for you shifting gears. It also needs proper regulation by the very tricky control unit and it has two clutches for smooth operation and shifting.

The transmission fluid is only used in the actual gearbox - the one that is borrowed from the manual transmission design. It's very durable, reliable, and almost never asks for repair. Just changing the fluid once every 60,000 miles or so will make it work much longer than all other units in your Focus.

The clutch and the mechatronic have no contact with the transmission fluid. So, the quality or level of fluid will not affect the temperature or condition of this transmission to the point where it will throw an error message and ask you to stop safely.

Unfortunately, just changing the transmission fluid will not help you deal with this problem.

What can kill your PowerShift even earlier than average?

If you see this "Transmission Overheating" error message at about 100,000 miles, you should understand that it's time to go to the dealer or repair shop and have the PowerShift repaired. But what if this message pops up much earlier than that? Or just 10,000 miles after you replaced the clutch pack?

Well, there are several things that may kill your dual-clutch transmission in the Ford Focus earlier than you expect:

• abusing your car - the transmission is pretty tender and it will die quickly if you drive aggressively;
• driving only in city traffic - a lot of shifting between the first and the second gear is not something that PowerShift loves;
• water damage of the TCU - all kinds of glitches may start developing if this happens to your transmission control unit;
• extreme weather conditions - the PowerShift hates working under too hot or too cold conditions, so it will fail earlier.

As you see, the transmission in the Ford Focus is pretty weird in terms of its quality and durability. This is not the best dual-clutch gearbox in the world and it's going to get on your nerves, especially after reaching the 100,000-mile mark.

On the other hand, the 1.0 EcoBoost Focuses have a conventional automatic transmission. This one is much better and will not throw all those messages and warning lights. But the engine is not durable enough, so you will anyway start having problems with the Focus pretty early.

Final thoughts

I believe that the "Transmission Overheating" error message in your Focus is something that you should be careful with. While it almost always shows the upcoming problems with the clutch and/or the TCU, it may actually mean that your clutch started slipping because of too much load on the gearbox.

Stop for a while, let the transmission cool down a bit, and try driving. If the message comes back on the dash within the next few days, just visit the dealership or a good repair shop and have the vehicle inspected.