Ford Falcon Gearbox & Transmission Problems

A snapped tailshaft is very unusual these days, and suggests a material fault in your shaft. I would expect that Ford would replace the shaft almost without question. We'd certainly like to hear more.

Sit down with your dealer and go through all the issues with him and seek a resolution with a time frame attached so you know what will be done and when it will be done. If you don't get any satisfaction with the dealer, elevate it to Ford directly. After that seek legal advice. Ford has a responsibility to fix your car, and while the service you have received appears to have been appalling it does appear that there has been an attempt to repair your car. I doubt that you would have much success in getting a replacement car while there are moves to fix yours. Despite the run-around you have received from dealers, the problem cannot be difficult to fix, any competent mechanic should be able to do the job. Stick with it and be demanding.

A tailshaft shouldn't break at all, let alone at such low kays. I would have it examined by a mechanic to try and determine how and why it failed, and approach Ford about getting a replacement.

We haven't had any specific reports about the diff in the FG, although we had plenty about the diff in earlier models. If you've given it a hard time you might have cooked the oil in the diff, so have it changed.

We have had reports from the trade of the coolers splitting, and also the plastic fittings cracking. As your son's car is just out of warranty I would suggest you approach Ford about covering part of the cost of the repairs.

You'd have to wonder if they've actually done the work they claim to have done, or if they have then you'd have to question their competence. I would go to another automatic transmission specialist and get your car assessed by them.
 

It can happen at any time, it doesn't have to be at 170,000 km. It happens when the transmission oil cooler, which is in the radiator bottom tank, fails and allows engine coolant to enter the transmission fluid stream. It's common with the BA and BF models, but not the BFII, which had an external transmission fluid cooler to overcome the problem. The only real way of ensuring it doesn't happen is to fit an external transmission cooler and bypass the one in the radiator.

There can be problems with this transmission as the kays climb, and they're expensive to fix, but yours would seem to be relatively new and unlikely to be affected by age issues. The transmission does have a heat exchanger, which can split, and when it does it allows the transmission fluid and coolant to mix, which is a deadly scenario for an auto trans. But our auto transmission specialist says he hasn't seen a lot of them in his shop.

I doubt that the clunk on stopping is caused by petrol sloshing   around in the tank, and the clunk on changing gears is a common one.   I reckon both clunks are caused by a harshness in the transmission   and could be improved by a software tweak.

The auto can fail at any kilometres, not necessarily 200,000 km, and it's because the transmission cooler that's in the radiator fails and coolant gets into the transmission. The transmission can be serviced, but you have to take it to an automatic transmission specialist, who could also fit an external cooler for $500-$600.