[Tom29625]

I had this transmission malfunction on my 2011 Fiesta (won't up-shift correctly) after replacing the battery last winter and finally had the car serviced the other day by my local private repair shop. I tried various tricks to get the controller to reprogram including disconnecting the battery again for a while and reconnecting, putting miles on the car, driving it through a series of acceleration runs at graduated intensity so it would "re-learn" proper shifting and nothing worked. I did find that the car can be forced to up-shift by putting the shift lever in neutral for a few seconds and waiting for the revs to drop, then back to drive. Still, it was a pain to have to do that every time I slowed enough to drop to a low gear. My service tech read the codes and cleared them, then told me I'd have to go to Ford for help. Anyway, the morning after he returned my car to my driveway I went out and started up and lo and behold, not only were the annoying error messages gone (which I expected since he cleared the codes) but the car drove and shifted normally again. Whether this will last once I've gone the required miles for the computer to register new faults again, I don't know.

If I were the suspicious type, I'd wonder if Ford did this on purpose to get people to see a dealer even though all they really need to do is clear the codes and the problem will disappear. If all else fails, get somebody at the local auto parts store to loan you a code reader and clear any codes. It just might be all you need.

It's the ground lug that is bolted to the body of the car.
Remove the bolt, Sand off the paint and replace.
Clear out the codes.
Had the exact same thing as you.....

 

[sawbuck]

I had this transmission malfunction on my 2011 Fiesta (won't up-shift correctly) after replacing the battery last winter and finally had the car serviced the other day by my local private repair shop. I tried various tricks to get the controller to reprogram including disconnecting the battery again for a while and reconnecting, putting miles on the car, driving it through a series of acceleration runs at graduated intensity so it would "re-learn" proper shifting and nothing worked. I did find that the car can be forced to up-shift by putting the shift lever in neutral for a few seconds and waiting for the revs to drop, then back to drive. Still, it was a pain to have to do that every time I slowed enough to drop to a low gear. My service tech read the codes and cleared them, then told me I'd have to go to Ford for help. Anyway, the morning after he returned my car to my driveway I went out and started up and lo and behold, not only were the annoying error messages gone (which I expected since he cleared the codes) but the car drove and shifted normally again. Whether this will last once I've gone the required miles for the computer to register new faults again, I don't know.

If I were the suspicious type, I'd wonder if Ford did this on purpose to get people to see a dealer even though all they really need to do is clear the codes and the problem will disappear. If all else fails, get somebody at the local auto parts store to loan you a code reader and clear any codes. It just might be all you need.

Interesting....I took my daughter's 2011 Fiesta (150K) miles - when she bought a new car - to maintain it until my youngest granddaughter gets her license later this year. I want to give her a reasonably sound vehicle. In spite of high miles, the car is in good condition. Used vehicles are much more expensive than the usual upkeep to maintain this one- I told myself....

During the recent MLK holiday weekend, it wouldn't start in subzero weather so I jumpstarted it. It had been sluggish for the past few starts so I figured a new battery was needed and had my local auto supply store replace it with a premium battery. On the way over, I found it would not shift beyond 3rd and getting to that required 3500RPM. Long story short, I figured cold had gummed up the tranny somehow never giving a dead battery a thought. I went to AAMCO later for advice. He spent a week (COVID caused employee shortages) diagnosing the problem but neither his nor a Ford employee friend's diagnosing system could get the TCM response expected other than an indication it was mechanically OK, I retrieved it 2 days ago. I am back with the auto shifting really wonky. The guy said he did get it to go through all 6 gears but at VERY high RPM, as I had experienced.

Yesterday, I took it to Ford for some overdue recalls my daughter had avoided, but unfortunately, those related to TCM had expired. I was floored at the cost of them diagnosing the transmission issues further so I have been doing web searches and reading the owners guide (which I should have done before touching the battery issue). Anyway, on page 298 of my user guide there are cautionary steps related to transmission relearning after battery replacement. A TCM replacement is not available anywhere in NH for several months and is downright expensive. Perhaps wishful thinking, but it did seem that the transmission was SLOWLY learning because it seemed to shift up and down just tiny bit better the last time I drove it (yesterday).The AAMCO guy told me that driving it won't hurt if done sensibly.

We are again in the throes of near blizzard conditions here so I won't be driving for at least a day. However, the steps described in the manual (some posters have tried some of these) are free so I am going to give those a try as soon as the weather allows. Will post an update afterward.

 

[Tom29625]

Yea... hopefully sanding off the paint where the ground lug attaches to the body, next to the washer resivoir will fix the problem.
There's a couple more ground connections that I have not messed with but can as cumulative effect could add to the problem.
New battery, cleaned the paint off the ground lug connection and the cleared the codes at orielys..... mine runs like new.

 

[sawbuck]

Well,a few days ago, I followed the owner manual post-battery-change routine (warm up, idlle, AC on, idle, etc.) but the idiot light for transmission fault AND lousy shifting persisted. I borrowed an OBD II fault scanner and noted 2 faults, one for heater resistance (0054) and another for transmission ECM/TCM (0606). I paused a day then decide to give the erase command - which cleared bot faults - since I still had shifting issues. Lo and behold!! not only did the idiot light disappear but, a few short miles drive later, the shifting issues did also. I'm a happy camper. I am confused on how the removal of an indicter light that I have a problem could actually FIX the problem but it must all be tied into the computer logic somehow.

 

[Alexakaeee]

I'm on my 2nd TCM malfunction since buying the car in 2017. Both times have been a result of the battery draining too low or dying and being jumped off. I read somewhere that Ford has 44,000 TCMs currently on back order, so any hope of a repair in the near future is out the window. The car has been sitting for almost a year now because of this issue and I'm over it. I figure if I want to get anything out of it sell or trade I might as well make an attempt at whatever fixes I can find that've worked for someone else.... But honestly I accepted a long time ago that Ford screwed every owner of these defective cars with no plan to rectify it. I didn't see $1 of that settlement and never will, and the extended warranty is meaningless when they won't produce/provide the replacement part that's still defective in the end, anyways.

What sucks the most is I love the car... it's the only car I've ever financed and the most I've ever paid for a vehicle because I needed something dependable that was safe for my son and I to drive in. Both sides of my family retired from Ford Motor- well into retirement by this time- nonetheless it's a shame to be put out like this by the same company my mother, father and 2 grandfathers dedicated so many loyal years to.

I'll update with any results that come from the suggestions I try out. I'm gonna sand the ground/bolt and run the resets and see if anything changes. May try "scrubbing the clutch" at some point also bc a lot of people had success with it from what I've gathered. I read several cases of people salvaging TCMs from junkyards and with some work successfully swapping and flashing them to resolve the issue, but that's a long shot at this point. Any other success stories would be greatly appreciated! Sharing my story to offer insight for anyone out there at a loss.

 

[Fabio Fiesta]

Wanted to reiterate what others have said here based on my experience with my 2017 Fiesta. Battery died, jumped it off to get to work, had Check Engine light on and transmission service message on head unit display. Driving to work the transmission’s failure to upshift was immediately notable, but revs were extremely excessive after 2nd gear. Shifting to neutral and back to drive at speed would select the more appropriate gear, so I did that to get to work without too much hassle. Once I got the new battery in, the transmission issue and lights/indicators persisted. Hooked up an OBDII reader and it read out code P0606 (see photo). Cleared this code and everything returned to normal conditions (other than the clock and saved radio stations, of course). I figure this is a limp mode of sorts to slow the vehicle until there is sufficient power to critical systems/components (stability control, ABS, etc.). Why it doesn’t reset once sufficient power is restored is unclear… Hope this helps.

 

[Nellie]

" Transmission failure" after battery replacement

I have a 2012 Ford Fiesta SE. Last night the battery went dead, so I got it replaced by AAA. This morning I thought the warning lights that I was seeing were on because the battery had been disconnected. There's an orange wrench light on the instrument panel (I assume that's the check engine light, didn't look it up yet) and the radio screen gives a message saying, "Transmission malfunction." It will shift into drive, but it doesn't seem to want to shift from first to second gear. So I parked it. BTW, the reverse also worked. I have tried leaving the battery disconnected for about 40 minutes and then reconnecting it, but I'm still getting the same error. After Googling the problem, I learned that the car is more than likely in "limp home" mode. I also read from multiple sources that the car should reset (or go back to normal, for lack of a better term) after 20-30 minutes of "normal driving."

Should I drive it around at 10 miles an hour for a while? Just pay to have it towed to the nearest dealership? My powertrain warranty is up. I can't exactly afford a bill from the dealership, but of course, it's better than making the problem worse and more expensive to fix. I'd just rather not pay Ford to "fix" my car if there isn't anything actually wrong with it. Any advice from someone who has experience with this error is very much appreciated.

Ford dealership refused to do much except charge me for all the hookups.
Went to a local car repair, they ran a diagnosis, cleared the codes and viola, no problems. Fiesta is back to her old running self.