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Ford Freestyle Maintenance and Repair

1415 messages,  Last post on Nov 28, 2012 at 11:27 AM

You are in the Ford Freestyle Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Freestyle, SUV

Messages Page 134 of 142

#1326 of 1415 Re: CVT [sinder] by stevedebi

Jan 07, 2010 (4:03 pm)

Replying to: sinder (Dec 29, 2009 7:39 am)
"You may be surprized to learn that many of us are STILL paying on our Freestyles. We are NOT particulary thrilled to have to walk into any deal completely upside down!
FORD has the market cornered with the CVT's in the Freestyles.
  
There is a right and a wrong in life....and people ought to know the difference.
  
Now, I'm not trying to be rude, but what difference does it possibly make, how many people any Freestyle owneres haul around ?
Whether it is a single owner, OR we deliver meals-on-wheels to the elderly..WE DESERVE to have a transmission that lasts MORE than 65k miles."
 
I actually sold my 2006 FS a couple of years ago, but mainly because I wanted a smaller vehicle.
 
Ford has not "cornered the market". Anyone who wishes could set up a repair shop and get the parts from the suppliers by negotiating the prices and contract at the wholesale level. But there simply aren't enough ZF CVT units out there to make it profitable.
 
I must point out that each auto manufacturer warrants a specific car part for a certain amount of time. In the case of the FS drivetrain, I think that is 50-60K depending on when you bought the car. This is the length of time that Ford, and each owner, agreed upon when the vehicle was purchased. I realize that people tend to expect longer periods, but any part on any vehicle is subject to breakdown. I'm sorry your FS tranny went bad, but it is not the result of bad design - the transmission is actually more reliable than most. But you, and the other people reporting problems here, got a bad one, or simply had some combination of bad luck.
 
Good luck in your efforts to resolve the issue.

#1327 of 1415 Re: CVT [stevedebi] by sinder

Jan 08, 2010 (7:54 am)

Replying to: stevedebi (Jan 07, 2010 4:03 pm)
Ummm Stevedebi ????
 
You SOLD your FS before anything happened to it, so you haven't a clue on what it's like to a) get parts for it b) get ANYONE to work on an existing one c) have to pay over 5K for a remanned one from FORD because nobody else will touch them.
 
That, is CORNERING THE MARKET....... There are even FORD dealers that won't work on the damn things.
 
I called EVERY transmission ship in a tri-county area. NOT ONE shop will touch this CVT transmission. They all have the very SAME negative comments to say about it. Quite similar to the Saturn IVT......which btw is a "type of" CVT....and Saturn LOST in a class action lawsuit addressing the transmission.
 
If there " simply aren't enough ZF CVT units out there to make it profitable" (your quote) , where are the parts coming from, Stevedebi ???? There are people on this forum that have waited 5-6 weeks for a parts.
 
How does somebody that did NOT have a problem with this transmission and SOLD thier vehicle, chime and and tell ALL of us that are out thousand and thousands of dollars, that we just suffered a little bad luck. Give me a break. It is what it is.....

#1328 of 1415 Re: CVT [sinder] by stevedebi

Jan 12, 2010 (6:11 pm)

Replying to: sinder (Jan 08, 2010 7:54 am)
"If there " simply aren't enough ZF CVT units out there to make it profitable" (your quote) , where are the parts coming from, Stevedebi ???? There are people on this forum that have waited 5-6 weeks for a parts. "
 
I probably wasn't clear on the statement. The parts are coming from Europe. But there are not enough Ford ZF transmissions (i.e., 2005-2007 Freestyle and Ford 500) on the road to make it profitable for an independent transmission shop to get set up to fix them.
 
I agree that Ford should have allowed for more spares. It would be interesting for people to indicate their manufacture date; perhaps there is a correlation in dates and failures.
 
I didn't like the "cornering the market" phrase because it implies that Ford is intentionally restricting the market. That is illegal and is not the case. The people with problems got a bad transmission, and (again) there just weren't that many of them produced in those three years; they are uncommon.
 
This is different from the Saturn problem, in which case the transmission design was defective. I think it is in production that the Ford CVT problems occurred, rather than design.
 
I am sorry for your troubles, and it would bother me too if it had happened, although my FS was a lease and I had the extended warranty added so that it would finish the lease while under warranty. But I tend to do that with all my leases; it wasn't because of any particular FS part or concern.

#1329 of 1415 Re: CVT [stevedebi] by bobw3

Jan 15, 2010 (8:08 am)

Replying to: stevedebi (Jan 12, 2010 6:11 pm)
It makes sense to me that the cost of repairing a FS CVT transmission will cost more because there are less of them out there and you'll probably be restricted to a dealer.
 
That being said, the cost of replacing ANY transmission on a vehicle of this size will probably be a few thousand dollars, so if I need to replace my CVT, I'll end up paying an extra $1000 in comparison to a non-CVT.
 
However, if I'd have driven a 7 passenger vehicle (eg minivan or SUV) with a normal transmission, I'd probably average about 18-19mpg. With my Freestyle after over nearly 80,000 miles my average has been 22-23mpg. It rarely goes under 20mpg and on long road trips I'll get 25-27mpg. So if I would have owned another SUV or minivan, after 80,000 miles at 18mpg at $2.5/gal, I'd have spent $11,111 in gas, and with my FS at 22mpg at $2.5/gal I spent $9,091. That's a savings of $2020 for me.
 
So at least in my case, if my transmission ever does need replacing (so far no problems other than a Transmission Control Module replaced under the emissions warranty) and costs me $1000 more than a normal transmission, at least I'll know I've already saved twice that amount in gas.
 
No I won't be happy about replacing the transmission (or making any other repair) but I have to look at the total cost of ownership and not just a single repair.
 
For those of you that have had multiple transmission repairs/replacements I agree, that does really stink, as does it stink for anyone with any car that has multiple problems. I've read many other car forums here on Edmunds (Freestar transmission, Odyssey, transmission, Suburban transmission, Ram transmission, Lexus RX 300 transmission) and every car out there as similar stories with a few folks who have a lot of problems and then a bunch of other folks saying they’re not having any problems...the Freestyle is no different, and the owners of those other vehicles are just as irate as those here.

#1330 of 1415 Re: CVT [bobw3] by danallan

Jan 15, 2010 (8:24 am)

Replying to: bobw3 (Jan 15, 2010 8:08 am)
Bob, you are my kind of guy. That's exactly how I would look at things too. Plus, the difference in price paid for my Freestyle versus the higher price I would have paid for a comparable model of a competing brand.

#1331 of 1415 Re: CALLING ALL CVT ISSUES...05 FORD FREESTYLES [yoyo123] by explorerx4

Jan 16, 2010 (5:35 pm)

Replying to: yoyo123 (Dec 05, 2009 1:58 pm)
did you ever look into replacing the hitch bar with a 2 inch version?
i am assuming the current one can be unbolted and a larger one can replace it.
try etrailer dot com.

#1332 of 1415 Removal of Rear Seat by sandra24

Jan 26, 2010 (3:05 pm)

How do you remove the rear bench (fold up) seat permantly in a Ford Freestyle 2005?

#1333 of 1415 Re: CVT [bobw3] by asa203

Feb 07, 2010 (2:47 pm)

Replying to: bobw3 (Jan 15, 2010 8:08 am)
Your fuel estimates are flawed. I drive a Freestyle AWD and My wife drives Honda Oddysey EXL. The best gas mileage I have ever gotten on the Freesystyle is 23.5. We have gotten 27.5 on the Oddysey more than once. Both of these vehicles have complaints about transmission failures, but so far we have been ok. I would not be happy to pay 5K for a tranny repair on any kind of vehicle.

#1334 of 1415 Re: CVT [asa203] by sinder

Feb 08, 2010 (3:21 pm)

Replying to: asa203 (Feb 07, 2010 2:47 pm)
My mileage runs like yours, asa203. The best I have EVER fot was 23.5 as well.
 
Now here's the "kicker" on the transmission. $5500 to have a "remanned" one installed.
HOWEVER ::::::: FORD provides a 3 year 100K mile warranty on the REMANNED one ! Does anyone else find this just a bit odd ?
 
Any particular reason they wouldn't offer that on a brand new one????

#1335 of 1415 Re: CVT [sinder] by stevedebi

Feb 08, 2010 (4:36 pm)

Replying to: sinder (Feb 08, 2010 3:21 pm)
"My mileage runs like yours, asa203. The best I have EVER fot was 23.5 as well.
  
Now here's the "kicker" on the transmission. $5500 to have a "remanned" one installed.
HOWEVER ::::::: FORD provides a 3 year 100K mile warranty on the REMANNED one ! Does anyone else find this just a bit odd ?
  
Any particular reason they wouldn't offer that on a brand new one???? "
 
The maximum I ever got was 27 on my 2006 SEL, at 70 MPH.
 
I think they don't have new ones because the transmission is no longer manufactured. They have to remanufacture them.

Messages Page 134 of 142

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