The fault comes out when the fuel is low, or when the tank warms up in hot weather. Fuel pressure is then lost, the engine does not get enough fuel and can stop while driving. The authority calls this a loss of motive power, and it is the most serious consequence a fault can cause while under way.

The milder sign is hesitation at part throttle and sluggish acceleration, and the fault is reported above 40 000 kilometres.

In July 2025 the maker issued a recall for it under number 25S75 (25V455 at the authority), and it covers 850 318 cars from the 2021 to 2023 model years. One thing has to be known, though: when the campaign started the final repair was not yet ready, and owners first received only an interim notice. On an affected car it is therefore not enough to ask whether the recall has been carried out; it also has to be clarified whether there was anything to carry out.

This is not individual bad luck: in April 2023 a class action was filed over it in the United States, and it covers the Expedition, Mustang, Ranger, F-150 and Navigator built from 2017 onwards which were fitted with this transmission. The fault is reported above 60 000 kilometres.

The most important thing to know is the maker's response. The maker did not issue a recall and did not replace transmissions, but issued technical bulletins instead, and according to the claim it told owners that the abrupt, harsh shifting is normal. No settlement has been reached.

For a buyer this means that the workshop's opinion decides nothing here. On the test drive it is your own experience that counts, and it has to be compared with what a properly working transmission of the same kind can do.

It is not the mileage that decides but the year of casting and the use. On the blocks cast between 2015 and 2019 there are grooves forming slots between the cylinders, and the risk is highest on those. In 2020 the maker revised the casting: in place of the open slots came small coolant passages drilled diagonally from the outer wall, and with that the metal backing returned. The number of failures dropped noticeably as a result.

The load is what counts, not the distance: the critical case is a heat-soaked restart after hard use.

The symptom is coolant going down with no visible dripping, white smoke, an uneven, stumbling idle, misfires (codes P0300 and P0316), mayonnaise-like oil and running hot.

The repair starts with a pressure test, then a revised gasket, a new cylinder head or a complete block replacement follows, depending on the extent of the damage. An engine that had already overheated before the repair can remain distorted, and then the coolant loss comes back.