Thank you. Thought I was going to be into weeks of issues. Went out and tried your fix on a 2013. They still are painting the ground location. 5 minutes work. Back in business. This is what the internet is all about, practical people solving problems.

Thanks for sharing this fantastic tip and video. My wife's 2012 Ford Fiesta was shifting gears erratically upon acceleration from first gear and up. I removed all 3 of the 010 bolts show in your video. Neither of the 3 had the 4 little dots for the bolt you recommended. I could not find the the bolts with the dots online, so I cleaned the 010 bolts the car came with using carburetor cleaner spray to clean off dirt, grime and then used some sand paper to remove the little bits of rust and corrosion around them and the holes they were bolted to. I stripped the paint off all 3 holes. I sprayed them with carburetor cleaner and used Q-tips to clean the debris inside the hole threads. I also cleaned off the acids and corrosion on the battery terminals and used sandpaper to clean the negative battery cable ends for better contact. I put everything back together, and took the car for a 5 minute drive. The gears shifted smoothly, no hesitation, acceleration was quicker than in the past. Overall the car performed better than ever. Thank you FordTechMakuloco. You are the man.

I performed this fix from this video to the ground cable when my 2013 Fiesta was still very low mileage; It instantly made an improvement to the shifting. Throughout the years, it had received Ford's reflash of the trans computer and it's shifting is pretty good! It now has 177,000 on it and is very consistent with 39-40 mpg with a mix of driving and with the A/C on! Thank-you sir for sharing your advice with us.

i just tried it. and the magic happened 🤩 now i dont have jerking my transmission drive smoothly. and the biggest difference is my voltage. i got a reading of 13.4-8 always. and i just thinking that my alternator was bad. when i do this my voltage is now normal. i got 14.2-4 now all accessories are running.. tomorrow ill do a long drive. then i will update you guys.. thank you for this video.. by the way i have focus 2012

Did this on my 2015 Focus... Clutch "A" was stuck... today she's running smooth. You're a life saver bro.. Thanks!

Did this to my 2012 Ford focus and it really helped.they were gonna charge me 1800$ to fix it I'm glad I saw this video first.thank so much for posting this 🤘

Hi ! Thanks for this. Found a similar situation with my daughters Trend 2 litre here in Australia which lost reverse and surged in drive. Used my hand held code reader to find the error and found this KZfaq as a result. The bolts (in fact I could only see one easily) are in a different location yet close to the battery. Took it out, soaked it in coffee machine de-scaler fluid until fluid turned cloudy, then wire brushed with my BBQ wire brush and rinsed and dried and re-installed and all good again. Engine light went back off and now all gears working, thanks so much, you have saved us potentially a lot of time and money.. Best regards from Australia.

Worked on my 2013! I didn't rub the paint off, but used star washers and plenty of torque on all 3 bolts. The two smalls were the right ones, the big one was the wrong bolt. I didn't replace it, but tried the star-washer method instead (on all 3,) and it fixed the problem of the laggy, fidgety, temporamental tranny. (Hope I don't get Googled for saying "tranny.") Shifts great now. BTW - I did plenty of di-electric, cleaned all contact surfaces AND also cleaned both of my battery terminals & cable surfaces well while I was at it. THANK YOU FORD TECH guy!

Saved me a ton of headache. Fixed the ground issue and replaced the battery, all active codes went away. Thanks a lot!

So, I'm back to recap my experience. I did this to my Fiesta along with cleaning the battery terminal corrosion. I also cleaned up the MAF sensor and throttle body. Wow. I just have to say infinite thank yous. My transmission is still acting funny, and Ford is supposed to flash the TPM when I bring it in. But I'm not sure if they were just jerking me or if they were serious, but they said they couldn't do the TPM without me replacing my throttle body, MAF sensor and alternator (my reason for trying this). I went from 17 codes down to 3 (p0300/340/365 - camshaft pos sensors/misfire codes) which is definitely an improvement. Ford quoted me $1600+tax parts and labor for those 3 things. Something that took me about an hour to do (in the dark... and I scrubbed everything super clean), they told me would take 7 hours of labor. I spent $23 at autozone getting MAF sensor cleaner, throttle body cleaner and a wire brush and grease. My Fiesta was running really loud and revving high (about 1200-1500 idle and like 3000-4000 going at 20mph or so) and now idles really quiet and at about 750rpm, it doesn't shudder or grind at really low rolling speeds. Aside from the cam sensor issues and the TPM that I can't do anything about, I'd say the surgery was a success. I wish I could shake your hand. You are the man. For the record, I had ZERO prior experience working on cars. Total n00b. Before last week, I had no idea what I was looking at under the hood lol. I am just frugal and have a lot of curiosity in how things work and confidence (or stupidity) to try things myself.

Thank you for the video, it fixed my problem. I appreciate you taking the time to help us non-mechanic types.

I have a Ford Fiesta 2014, since was in the maintenance service for 15K i idvised about this problem, there was request by the dealer the replacement part for the power shift transmission, since 2 months ago, now the part have not arrived yet and i made the same fix showing on this video and i fell greatly appreciatted due the the problem in transmission dissapear on low spead, thayk you for this video and the advised.

I have a Fiesta 2014 and it had the same problem. I managed to fix it with this video.

Extremely helpful video! This helped our Fiesta run much more smoothly.

Thanks for this. Took mine to the dealership 4 times and they wouldn't touch it because it wasn't throwing codes. It died over and over at stoplights and stop and go traffic. I went ahead and sanded the base of the ground bolts (2) behind the battery, one under the driver side fender and the one right by the battery that you recommended. I really appreciate it!

I did the battery terminal fix.. I am three weeks in and cannot believe the results! It is drives & shifts perfect and I have 58K on my 2011 SES. ( I did have the seals replaced under warranty at about 20K and probably 3 more flashes) I also did the clutch reset trick you showed in another video,, If you have not tried it, DO IT, the total battery re-grounding cost me $1.49 for the terminal grease and one of my wife's nail files. She was not about that.

Dude thank you, wife and kids were stuck with me 60 miles from home. Was gonna have to go on a journey to get to the dealership (just bought the car) and then home. But I was able to jiggle it into reseting and it came out of limp mode. Will be doing the sanding tomorrow. Again thank you for this code.

my wife just had a no crank issue yesterday and today it left her stranded at a stoplight, car was running but wouldn't move, she was able to put it into low gear and it sputtered to the curb and then started going fine again. I'm gonna check this out when she gets home thank you so much

I took one of these cars as a demo, back in 2011 and of course I had a transmission engagement issue while picking my daughter up from skating one day. I got it going while playing with the wires under the hood (like I knew what I was doing). I remember our Dealership mechanic saying there was too much paint on the ground! Very simple fix.

I can't believe in the agency they changed the TCM and it broke again and has been in there for months, I got tired took it home, I did this and the key reprogramming and now the error disappeared and everything works perfectly fine again, I can't thank you enough!

I don't know if this video heloed or not. I was stuck at work this morning. I cot the engine to turn over, but only barely. Then, my 11 fiesta simply would not slip into gear. At all. It just acted like it was stuck in park. No mantenence lights, no squat. I cast around the internet for a couple minutes looking for a fix and happened upon your video, so I got into my tool box and found the right socket, and gave the grounding bolt about a quarter turn. No sooner had I fiddled with it, it began spitting medium heat sparks, (in the dark orange-bright orange range) At that point I figured I had either fried my batery, or incinerated the corosion, so I got back onto the car and everything worked just fine. This is a great video man. Cheers.

I bought a brand new Ford fiesta ses in 2011 & it's almost 2020 & I'm still driving it ,put over 200,000 miles on it so far and still going strong, & I don't drive easy, ever , I'm a heavy foot driver, hard on vehicles

Good deal I just bought 11 Ford Fiesta from the auction and I am doing the same thing. Thank you Sr have a wonderful weekend.....

Just had my 2013 fiesta with 120k just throw check engine light and service trans now. 6 codes stored. All trans related. Removed negative cable from battery and car connection. Dipped both in Coca cola, scrubbed with sand paper, sanded ground connection on car. Fixed all issues. Thanks a ton

Thanks for this video, got my friends focus back on the road.

it was amazing .I was involved with this issues and spent $500 and then wanted to change whole transmission as mechanic said, but I was thinking it isnt because of transmission cause i felt its voltage ,this video saved my $3k .THANKS

This solved my problem! Saved me big money! Many Thanks!

Worked for my wife's 2011 Fiesta. Thanks a ton!

It fixed my problem. Thanks for the good video.

I had this exact problem this weekend on my fiesta 2011. Worked like a charm!! Thank you so much for the video and for the help!

just had one today,some of the glue from the heat shrink was under one of the ground eyelets. good video

Thanks for the video. I bought a 2011 Fiesta and saw that someone ran a second ground and now I know why.

Dude, you almost bored me to death until you got to the solution. OMG you were exactly 100% correct. It fixed the car. We have had two warranty clutches put in the car and now it's out of warranty and I was sweating the $3000 decision. Thank you very much

The ground mod works. It also Improves performance somewhat.

Hey FordTech, Nice video. I've worked on Helicopters, Jets, Cars etc. I've also had extensive training in wire repair and corrosion control. I partially agree with your fix. Here's what my training has told me about what you should do: 1. DON'T remove the paint. Here's why. The reason is that over time the dielectric grease with begin to fail and attract dirt. The more exposed metal with dirt will cause moistue to set up in the joint on the bare metal and cause excelerated corrosion that will creep into the threads. Well you know the rest of the story there. So how do you fix it, here goes. 2. Clean the cable contact with a wire brush as before, and degrease with brake cleaner. 3. Clean the bolt mating surface and threads as before, and degrease with brake cleaner. 4. Clean the threads in the anchor nut, tap if particularly nasty, and degrease with break cleaner. 5. Now where the cable mates with the anchor nut use an internal serated heavy duty lock washer. 6. Apply your dielectric grease on the washer and mating surfaces, YES LEAVE the paint ON! 7. Install a second grounding strap to the block from the same position, on the BOLT side of the NEG cable. 8. Tourque the bolt down to specs. When the bolt is torqued the new lock washer will cut through the grease and into the paint all the way to the metal, but only where the lock washer teeth meet the paint. Remember before the paint prevented the cable mating surface from making any ADDTIONAL contact at all. It only allowed contact with the anchor nut on the bolt side, through the cable and onto the anchor nut threads. With the addition of the new lock washer you now have two surfaces contacting the body. Leaving the paint on leaves less of any area for corrosion to set up, "it's a matter of when not if". Even if you cleaned the paint off and didn't use the new lock washer, the grease would still limit contact to some degree. The teeth on the washer ensure GOOD solid contact in multiple areas. The added ground cable also ensures additional contact for electronics and the Starter. This is what I was taught in wireing and corrion control school. I also used to run a corrosion control repair shop for electronics as well. Been doing this stuff for years. So trust me you'll have less returns if you follow this. It takes more time to explain it than it does to do it. Also, although not a FORD story, here was a simple solution to an electrical problem with Dodge Caravan Headlights. Here's how I fixed it. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/irZkps-pl9awgas.html I've found on vehicles: airplanes, cars, boats etc. If it has intemitant electronics in it, the problem usually is a bad, dirty or intermitant wire/contact. You'ld be supprised how much stuff I fix just by cleaning, reseating electrical connectors/connections. Good grounds and contacts are a must in electronics. Cars are the worst because the electrical standards aren't as stringent as aircraft so they fail sooner. Best Wishes/Blessiings Keith.

I have a 2013 Ford Focus and it's doing the same thing with all these transmission codes I'm just going to clean the ground and hopefully it works out ,thank you so much for posting all your videos .

You are the best, u save my life to many times thank you

I do own a Ford fiesta 2011 and definitely this is a valuable content for me thank you so much. God bless you!.

This worked on my 2013 Focus . Life saver

Omg thank youuu! I have a ford ecosport 2015 premium and i have been struggling with turning on the car and sometimes the reverse wont work from time to time and this solution has helped now the car turns on everytime.... It seems like its a problem from ford itself

Thanks for the video, man. Mine didn’t mess up until 156,000 miles. My problem coincided with the battery dying. That gives me hope. Right now it’s still broken, but it only screws up between 1st and 2nd occasionally. When it does it goes into neutral. Lucky my 2012 is within Ford’s new recall thing and I have two more years to bring it in.

Excellent explanation many thanks for sharing valuable information 👍

Hello, thanks for sharing the video, i have a ford fiesta 2012 S, the dealership have ordered a new clutch but not sure when will arrive and if that would solve problems of jerking at slow speed or the delayed speed up when hiting the gas, they didn't suggested me the fix u show in ur video, also my car makes a noise when I turn off the engine like something metallic that hit idk if that's related to the clutch but gets me worried, have u heard something similar? thanks again

Thanks for the video. It fixed my car!

Underneath the battery coming off of the transmission going to the body is another ground cable that needs to have the same thing done to it

Beautifully explained. I'm on my 2nd fried TCM in 3 years. Currently Ford has about 44,000 TCMs on back order so no fix anytime soon even under warranty... they really did a number with this one.

great post I did exactly what you did and AOK thank you!

thank u makuloco im a mechanic in mich gut did a head gasket thought it went wrong but it was the pant on ground saved a lot of time

Hey Makuloco, I purchased a 2011 Ford Fiesta SE Hatchback today with 52,000 miles on it. I have 7 days to return the car for any reason. I'm planning on taking the car to a mechanic tomorrow to get an inspection. I haven't noticed any signs of transmission / any problems. What should I look for exactly? Is there any way to find out if my car is going to be a suspect of this transmission problem or any problems for that matter? Thanks!

Great vid!!. purchased a 2012 fiesta auto and noticed slight grind/rattle when clutch warmed up coming from passenger side when in low gear.Tried this and noise is gone for now. taken a few long trips and also driving around town. Will update if any probs come back.Thanks.

Thank you it worked in my ford focus 2011 model. Cheers bro.

Awesome job, the contact for the ground so ever tiny,

I recently bought a 2012 ford focus off a small dealer ship and didn't do my homework till after the fact 😃 what good is that right ?so first two weeks car runs fine then one morning i go to start and car wont start then when it finally does start it wont shift into gear so i put it in neutral and rolled it back my self drive seemed ok but i did notice the gears where shifting slightly harsh and whenever car would come to a stop it would begin to shudder like it was about to bog out any way i was pretty bummed paid in cash and 2 weeks later im having these problems so i did some research and come to find there s a class action law suit on models 2011/2012/13/14/15/16 and just about everyone experiencing same technical issues so i saw your video on the ground connection and i did exactly as instructed in the video and what do you know all the problems i described went away check engine light went off no more harsh shifts and car fires right up so im keeping my fingers crossed it continues to run the way it is Now thanks for sharing you saved me a ton of money 🙏👍🙂

Great explanation, thanks!

Thanks for the video! Quick question: will a transmission from a Fiesta work in a Focus? I have access to two Fiestas that they were in a light front-end crash with under 40k miles. Can they be swapped?

Great information. Sand that paint off, maybe add secondary ground from that point to transmission case? Just a thought.

Thanks for video. My car has 141,000 on it and I just had problems this morning. It does not want to go into 2 gear and accelerates on it's own a bit when I'm on the brake. reverse seems fine and never had issue until now..

My solution for Ford Fiesta transmission problems: buy a Honda or Toyota.

You da man! I'll try that as soon as I get back from Borneo :)

Thanks for the video. I have the manual trans but am having grounding issues with my car. I've cleaned the ground discussed in this video & the 2 lower ones behind it on the crappy plate, also another on passenger fender. All bolting points were painted. I dont get different Service Engine Light when its warm but get when its cold. My double click up & down drivers window works again but my car will shut off at idle sometimes when idling. Do you know where there are additional grounds on the 2011 Fiesta? Ford wont help. Thanks

wish I had never purchased this vehicle

dude thanks for doing this video i just bought a 2012 ford focus yesterday and i experienced a delayed park the first day i took it out I drive up to 200 miles a day and there is times i can be 110 miles from home ill be taking a look at the grounding this weekend to put a stop to any future problems that may come up the last thing i need is to be away from home that far and be stuck. I was surprised to not see a ground wire not going to the engine on this thing the norm would be chassis to battery and also battery to engine 2 ground sources. Is ford really getting that cheap the ground and hot line have to feed the electronics i suppose the engineers forgot about this or maybe they are lacking an electronic engineering degree.

I just bought a salvaged 2011 Fiesta w/manual transmission. Were they having shifting problems with this trans as well? Excellent information and video. Thanks.

Great tip. thanks you for sharing!

Fordtechmakuloco, is there anyway I can email you a question? You seem like the only ford mechanic that's honest and knows what he's talking about. Just left chino hills ford, and I'm having a hard time believing his diagnosis. Thank you for your informative videos, and time.

I had a no start no crank on my 2010 Focus. I did this and it fixed that issue but the right after I was throwing a bunch of transmission p07** codes and it would only start off in second or third gear and stay. Would clearing the PCM fix this?

I'm an auto technician I too have seen these car have transmission problems that is caused by a bad or loose ground. That when repaired fixes every problem. But there is also a recall on alot of transmission control modules(TCM) but they are back ordered for months

Excellent information!

I took mine in for the recall door latches when I 1st bought it 8yrs ago and they said they were doing the transmission recall too. I started having this issue just now and I see the main ground bolt was changed but the other 2 were not. Do you have a part number on them so can order them? She is just around 300 shy of hitting 200,000 and in great shape, hoping to keep her going a while longer, I love this little car.

My just started to do this today hopefully I can resolve this issue

Thank you so much. I will be trying it on my car.

Great video. Very informative!

I wish we could all tip you. Was really pissed when all the dash lights would turn on and lights would dim while driving.

Very good, Show !!! Now a doubt, my Focus is 2013/2014 1.6 powershift from Brazil, I am with "transmission problem with service lookup" problem I took to a company that passing Scanner detected 03 errors P0606, P06b8 and P0884 all seem related to TCM / ECM , my transmission works everything except the S, but the error always comes back, in Ford they claimed to be transmission and that to generate the diagnosis they charge 450.00, since they do not accept diagnosis of another company that is not Ford. Question: Any chance of being a real change or just a TCM module since the car is moving normally? Thank you .

So was the issue with these dual clutch transmissions purely electronic? I'm looking at a few Fiestas and Focuses to buy, but I knew these transmissions had issues. Were there other common problems with those transmissions mechanically or were the issues all electronic?

Can you possibly tell me the name of the screw you need to make this worth and the length pls :)

A question for you, FordTech: You showed two other bolts/grounds further down in the engine compartment - What are they for? It looks like those points have too much paint as well!

Worked like a charm!

Most likely, the dielectric grease - or ANY kind of grease, such as petroleum jelly, axle grease, Korode Kure, etc. - is the key. Cover the contact area with grease and re-torque the bolt, and the electrical connection should be reliable. I learned this from my dad in the 1950s. He would put a blob of grease on the base of tail light and turn signal bulbs before putting the bulbs into their sockets to prevent intermittent electrical problems, especially when driving in areas where roads are salted in the winter.

While google searching my issue I came across this video and I thought I would have a great easy fix. I have a 2013 Ford Focus that was driving just fine but occasionally it would not engage the reverse gear. If I wait, sometimes hours, and try again it will work like nothing is wrong until it surprises me by getting me "stuck" in a parking spot I've nosed into. I had the recall work performed on it years ago, that reprogrammed the TCM I believe, and never had issues until this month. I attempted this fix the other night but didn't have the extra wire with alligator clips, so I did what one commentor suggested and turned the key to drain power that way. It could have been placebo, but I really felt like it was driving and shifting better...the next day it didn't shift into reverse again. Do you have any recommendations? (additionally my OBD reader is showing the error codes P087A, P287A, & P1450)

Bought a 2013 Fiesta used and i still love it. So far it's done me good and it was the cheapest i could've gotten. I wasn't wasting my money on an older car

I have a 2011 fiesta and it shutters and bucks a lot, it does have the dual clutch on it and it’s out of the warranty period. It’s pretty much undriveable because the rpms are everywhere and it’s shifting a little late. The transmission service light is on. So my question is, is it worth getting it fixed?

I've never had a bracket from my negative terminal to my chassis on my 2011 focus, is something missing? Or is that just not standard on this model?

anyone know how Id go about getting the correct ground bolts?

Just did this to my 2016 and no luck,.I can reset the transmission but it won't stay reset. Thanks for the video

Wow.. invaluable information..

There is a class action suit being filed in California over the Fiestas transmission issues

hi Ford tech, i have a ford focus Sf 2012. it shows the error message u0101 which is almost always trigered by the following message "Hill start assist is not available". it has spent more months in the shop fixing it than i have driven it and still the issue hasnt been resolved. what do you suggest will be the fix to this issue? thanks

You pretty much listed all the problems my wifes car is experiencing, i tried everything you said even cleaning off the terminal, but still no reverse and it makes that choking sound wjen it tried to start.

Any chance you are in Colorado? Also, the 2012 Fiesta is covered until 100K miles on it due to the engine as well as the transmission being recalled.

My 2014 Ford Focus had a "transmission malfunction" error shown and would not even start. Changed the battery even before the 16month productive period was up. Was told by a Ford technician that the transmission uses up power before everything else in the system. I even observe a slight flickering of headlights and room lights. Electrical shop says my alternator charges fine at 13-14 v. So I am going to inspect the grounding as you recommend. Thanks a lot!!!

I can't find my engine to chassis ground on my 2010 focus. I seen a green painted bolt under my car but nothing goes to it.. any suggestions?? Thanks

Is the 2016 focus still have the same issue as the models before?

This really works! Thanks!

I had an no crank issue with a 2014 Hyundai Sonata. Lights on the dash was flickering. A friend of mine told me that slot of manufacturers are using cheaper metals which is causing these problems. My case was the ground bolt was corroded and I replaced it with a new one.

I have just purchased a 2012 Ford Focus with 18,000 miles from a Ford dealer , the initial pick up from a stop is not that hot dangerous when entering a parkway acceleration lane , it shifts normally until I attempt to down shift with my right foot as one would any automatic transmission but this transmission will just rev high in protest until I remove the pressure from the gas pedal then it will shift normally and accelerate , I don't even think that it is down shifting when I put my foot into it , any idea what gives , could it be a slipping clutch ? it came with a one year power train warranty. I also feel some vibration in the steering wheel when up at parkway cruising speeds.

I just bought a 2011 fiesta with a broken transmission looking for advice on what to do. I am pretty knowledgeable on doing labor on cars just never on a dual clutch...... here are the issues when I picked the car up... and BTW I bought it pretty cheap as a fixer upper I knew about the issue... the grounds haven’t been cleaned yet... I drove it a couple of miles home and it wouldn’t shift past second and wouldn’t let me rev the engine past 3k.. shutter noises galore.... won’t go past 34mph.... question is do I take the chance and start replacing the tcm and clutch or take a shortcut and put a low mileage used trans in it? Seems like a lot of the ones I’ve seen are going bad after 120k plus ..... GREAT VIDEOS BY THE WAY I WOULDNT OF BOUGHT IT IF I HADNT WATCHED LIKE 5 OF YOUR VIDEOS. JUST WEIGHING MY OPTIONS BEFORE I START DIGGING INTO IT

Is it safe that i will disconnect the negative wire to do that...i have a 2022 ford focus. I am worrying if i remove some electical/computer and reconnectes may not work

Great Video. I have a 2011 Fiesta, received the recall notice for TCM. Before I take it in I have a question. During a hard stop (especially when ac is on), the car will stall out. RPm's will stay around 1.5k then slam down prior. Do you think this is a ground connection issue or the TCM? Thanks

Can I still take this same approach if I have the other style of bolt?