What does the "Transmission Limited Function" error in my 2013 Ford Mondeo mean?

Ford’s Powershift dual-clutch transmission is one of the most suspect pieces of engineering in recent history. When failures of the transmission first started being noticed, Ford, rather than fix the problem, took the view that owners were driving the car incorrectly and laying blame there. It didn’t end there, though, as the high failure rate of the gearbox soon had the ACCC involved and Ford was subsequently fined and accused of `unconscionable conduct’ by the consumer watchdog.

Fundamentally, the transmission itself was junk. It suffered failures of the electronics and sensors as well as the control module and, in some cases, failure of the mechanical parts including clutch-packs. Symptoms include harsh shifting, a loss of drive, noises and, as you’ve noted, failure to select some gears.

Even worse was the dry-clutch unit fitted to Ford Focus, Fiesta and Ecosport models which would fail even more spectacularly. These were so bad, Ford ended up offering owners of those vehicles a very cheap trade-up deal to the newer model which used a conventional torque converter automatic rather than the dreaded dual-clutch. Unfortunately, the wet-clutch unit in your car wasn’t included in that offer, but the failures are still well documented.

You’re right that the car is well out of warranty now, but I still think you’d be wise to have a chat with Ford’s customer service division to see if there’s anything that can be done to help you out financially. Throwing away a modern car with just over 100,000km on board just doesn’t seem right in 2021. Nor does a transmission that costs almost $10,000 to replace. But I can see your point about throwing good money after bad; on today’s figures, your car is worth about $10,000, roughly the same as the gearbox it requires.