My previous TCM warranty replacement was back in Jan 2018 only and back then was 81,000km.
Recently in Jan 2022, it died again and mileage is around 150,000km clocked.

Oh no, doesn't sound good. So that means the new TCM only lasted 4 years before it went kaput again.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Mar 18 2022, 08:19 AM

From this information, perhaps the TCM failure or lifespan is related to the mileage instead of age of vehicle? In my case the mileage was about 70,000km (7+ years) when the TCM failed. Maybe the lifespan of the TCM is in the range of 70,000-90,000km.

Mine is first time.. 8 years with 180k km.

Wow, surprisingly your TCM managed to survive that long and so much mileage
Maybe due to my heavy foot and aggressive driving style

Haha.. maybe I the opposite of heavy foot. My brake pad only 2nd set. The one given free as first replacement from ford.

Based on current information, presumably for the Ford Focus mk3.

TCM Failure for Ford Focus mk3

1. Mileage of failure = 70,271 km ; Time of failure = 7.5 years, 1st time (Sportyhandling)
2. Mileage of failure = 180,000 km ; Time of failure = 8 years, 1st time (Aneip)
3. Mileage of failure = 81,000 km ; Time of failure = ? , 1st time (Ahtiang)
4. Mileage of failure = 150,000 km ; Time of failure = 4 years, 2nd time (Ahtiang)

From this information it appears that the TCM failure is not correlated to mileage and time.

Aggressive driving style is suggested to be a possible reason for a quicker failure of the TCM as suggested by Ahtiang. However, from my understanding the TCM is Transmission Control Module which is supposed to be electronic. I'm not sure how electronic devices can be affected by aggressive driving since it is usually the mechanical devices that will fail more quickly with wear and tear if you drive aggressively. Items such as clutch, brake pads etc.

Anyway, it looks like the maximum lifespan of the TCM so far is 8 years. I suppose there won't be any data of failiures hitting 10 years since the Focus Mk3 was launched around 2012 or 2013.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Mar 19 2022, 11:06 AM

Based on my experience;

Clutch failure
Severe jerking or shuddering at low speed acceleration below 40 of 50km/h. Power in acceleration is not affected as the vehicle can still accelerate normally from low speed to high speed

TCM failure
Loss in power during acceleration. Upon hitting certain speed, say 60km/h, the vehicle will not accelerate to higher speed any further although you step on the pedal. Strong jerking when you step on the pedal at certain speed.

Message on the display "Transmission Overheating. Stop Car for 15 minutes", something like that, will come up occasionally. I presume this is due to clutch working harder as the vehicle is unable to accelerate and the clutch is overheated especially when traffic is heavy and the transmission is constantly changing between 2nd, 3rd or 4th gears.

its like a devaju of my current car when u mention this. i believe like you all say. by 7 to 10 years tcm going kong. 😬

mine is about 96km, 8 year, my wife drive very conservative. after i started using and a little more aggressive, these issues all pop up. 😵‍💫

3. Mileage of failure = 81,000 km ; Time of failure = ? , 1st time (Ahtiang) - 2014 Dec car and 2018 Jan died the TCM. Around 3 years+

I suspect the failure could be the 2 actuator motor that sit inside that TCM. The 2 actuator motor (1 for odd gears and 1 for even gears) send signal to operate the mechanical shift fork within the DCT gear box. There could be life span on these 2 actuator motor. I suspect aggressive driving style trigger the need to change gear rapidly up or down, hence the lifespan could be shorten. This is purely my opinion ya from some reading back then when my TCM died the first round

At the moment, my car is still sitting in Ford Ara Damansara awaiting TCM parts joining the long list from last year. I ask Ford Auto Excellent and they quote me 3.5K for a new TCM replacement with programming. Lead time 1 day to order and ready stock . So Ford MY is testing my patience on how long I can survived without a car before I need to pull the trigger

The thing is that when everything is working flawlessly, Focus MK3 is a very fun dynamic car to drive. It hugs the road effortlessly when you go into those long bends and you know you still can push the car further and the chassis still holds (I suspect is the torque vectoring but make sure you have good tyre and not the botaks one ). And when you put it into S mode and floor it for example rite after you exit the toll gate, the car just pull ahead so effortlessly quick on the gear shift. Car handling on B road is also sharp (Ford Fiesta is slightly better if you ask me maybe the chassis is much compact so the balance is better I feel).

This is what makes me sticking to my Focus MK3. Sadly Ford globally has stopped Focus sales in Asia Pacific, I was eager for MK4 arrival back then...

This post has been edited by -ahtiang-: Mar 20 2022, 07:15 AM

OMG. More than 3 month already. Did they forget about it or what?

Similarly, the only reason I kept the Ford Focus mk3 for so long is the performance and driving experience of the vehicle. I have known about the clutch which may require periodic replacement once the jerking becomes severe and I can still manage to accommodate this additional maintenance. I think the cost is around RM3.5k if I'm not mistaken, quoted by Bengkel Auto Excellent also. Now, we have to worry about this additional TCM replacement. Once it's out of warranty, the cost is on our own and it's another RM3.5k. I don't know what other costly wear and tear parts that may need replacement which will all add up to the cost of maintenance.

So, in summary, although my earlier intention is to keep this car for as long as I could, now I am having 2nd thoughts. Apart from the usual oil and filter maintenance, I can't imagine spending an additional RM5k to 10k or more in every 2 to 3 years to replace faulty parts. The other nightmare is just like your situation, to have the car at the workshop for prolonged periods. In my case, they took nearly 1 week for them to replace the TCM and return the car to me so it's still not too bad.

I will see how it goes. Touch wood, hopefully the new replacement TCM will last for another 7 to 8 years but I may have sold the car by that time.

TCM Failure for Ford Focus mk3

1. Mileage of failure = 70,271 km ; Time of failure = 7.5 years, 1st time (Sportyhandling)
2. Mileage of failure = 180,000 km ; Time of failure = 8 years, 1st time (Aneip)
3. Mileage of failure = 81,000 km ; Time of failure = 3+ years , 1st time (Ahtiang)
4. Mileage of failure = 150,000 km ; Time of failure = 4 years, 2nd time (Ahtiang)
5. Mileage of failure = 96,000 km ; Time of failure = 8 years, 1st time (Rajenrao)

Actually, there's another reason of keeping the car for so long. It's the low resale value. I can't believe it when the 2nd hand car dealer quoted less than RM20k for my vehicle when I inquired last year. I think it was RM16k of 17k. The resale price was even lower than Proton.

I know the common faulty parts would be Shift Fork and Clutch Plate on top of the infamous TCM. Clutch Plate was 7 years if not mistaken the warranty.
Apart from that next common pricey stuff is the steering column rack. Catalytic converter I have already hack it coz that catalytic converter is a monster price as well.
ABS sensor is also another common stuff.

No they didn't forget but seems like the source of Ford MY (I suspect via Ford TH) stock is just not arriving. I did some Reddit check and seems like Globally Ford is low on stock for TCM. Many US ppl also having their beloved Focus and Fiesta with TCM fault waiting for that parts. Few message back, one of the guy here reported 6 months waiting period.

Yeap and its mainly due to the DCT drive train that we have. MK3.5 I believed holds better price value with lesser of this headache.

just an update from ford

they called me and said that my tcm is faulty. can replaced under warranty since its 10 year.

but they themselves cant promise when the tcm parts arrive. got another 15 car before me waiting. 🤦🏼‍♂️

how is it that 3rd party workshop can replaced it in 2 days? 🤔 hmmmm

Which Ford Center you sent yours to? Mine is at Ford Ara Damansara and waiting period is unknown

I believed there are stockist outside which stock up the TCM for selling. Ford center on the other hand I believed are order when they received car with faulty TCM and with now global shortages of electronics...

Seems I'm not so lucky. The transmission error not related to TCM so not under 10 year warranty. They need to bring down the gearbox which will cost 600 to check. The fix might be 3k for clutch or maybe up to 10k..

So I think, I will bring the car to outside workshop. Any input of what might the the cause? I think the staff talk about related to clutch.

This post has been edited by aneip: Apr 4 2022, 09:02 AM