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SUVs Ford Freestyle Ford Freestyle CVT Transmissions
203 messages, Last post on Oct 23, 2009 at 6:23 PM
You are in the Ford Freestyle Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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My Ford Dealer was finally given permission to replace my CVT with a new transmission. I have an AWD 2006 SEL. It appears that there may be a dirty little secret about the CVT-you either have a great transmission or get one like I had. Thank goodness I still had warranty and my dealer was persistent.
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Replying to: vrm (Nov 30, 2008 1:51 pm) The CVT is more reliable than the average of all automatic transmissions out there in the same model years, according to surveys done by Consumer Reports over thousands of owners. A fewer percentage of all Freestyle CVTs go bad than the average automatic transmission on the road for the '05 to '07 model years. My '05 Freestyle has had zero problems, but thats just one case. Thats the important point: A statistical sample of one is no good, but a big survey tells the whole story regarding your chance of failure.
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Replying to: drewmimi (Nov 30, 2008 7:13 pm) Yes, either one will break or it won't. Thats the way it always goes with all cars on the road. The Freestyle with CVT is no exception. Cars carry a certain risk. The risk of failure for a Freestyle CVT is less than other automatic transmissions according to a survey. |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Dec 01, 2008 7:41 am) 1) Did Ford make any changes to the 2007 model? In terms of reliability, am I better off buying a 2007 vs. 2006? 2) What type of transmission does the 2008 Taurus X use? Is there any data to indicate this is better than the CVT used in the 05 to 07 models?
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Replying to: vrm (Dec 01, 2008 8:04 am) One problem I have with the '08 TaurusX with the newer more powerful V6 and 6-speed transmission is that fuel economy is worse than in my '05 Freestyle with the CVT. Another reason I like the CVT Freestyle better is that it effectively is an infinite speed transmission, always choosing the optimal ratio for best fuel economy and power demand. Fantastic up and down mountains/hills. The 6-speed approximates that task pretty well, but you can still feel the shifts and relative mechanical violence inside the 6-speed compared to the CVT. Nissan (Murano, Altima, Maxima, etc.) uses a CVT and advertises the absence of jerkiness, called "shift shock" in the parlance. The Freestyle CVT, made by ZF, is similar to the CVTs found in MiniCoopers and Audis. |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Dec 01, 2008 8:48 am) Carsten |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Dec 01, 2008 8:48 am) FS with CVT Pros -Better fuel mileage -Smoother transmission Cons: -Requires 60K maint. which can cost $400+ at the dealer -CVT not being used in other Ford vehicles i.e. discontinued part -Unclear how long the spares will be available for CVT. Does Ford provide a end-of-life date? TX with 6 speed Pros: -Transmission being used in multiple product lines -Trackrecord indicates good reliability -Does not require 60K maint. Cons: -Fuel economy not as good as CVT
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Replying to: vrm (Dec 03, 2008 9:31 am) I did think the 60,000 mile CVT (filter + fluid) service is $300, though. I bought the FT-178 part number filter myself from rockauto.com for about $40, and the special unique fluid for the CVT you can only get from a Ford dealer for about $100 in fluid alone. Then its about 2 hours labor, which puts the total at $300. (It is true that a 6-speed transmission only needs a service stop every 100,000 miles.) Actually, the fuel economy of a 6-speed is about the same as with a CVT. In fact, in the Ford500 / Montego, which is the sedan version of the Freestyle, the Aisin-brand 6-speed gets better MPG than the CVT version in that same car. (Freestyle only gets the CVT, though.) The drop in fuel economy of a TaurusX vs. the Freestyle is largely due to the bigger 3.5L V6 in the TaurusX, not the lack of a CVT. On another forum a while back, somebody took a look at how many Ford Freestyle/500/Montego CVT-equipped cars were sold 2005-2007, and the figure turned out to be about 300,000. I don't know when parts will no longer be produced, but there is a pool of spares for old Freestyles in 7+ years. Ford technicians might be the only people out there specifically trained on this CVT, although Audi and MiniCooper technicians are accustomed to a variation on Ford's CVT (all made by the German ZF company).
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Replying to: coldcranker (Dec 03, 2008 3:21 pm) |
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Bought a 2006 Freestle SEL new from local dealership. No major issues except brake recall. We hit 25,000 miles and one day we started the car and the wrench, engine light, and traction control (car swerving light) all came on and the car road really rough. Got home, shut it off and the next time it was fine. Two days later it did the same thing except it started jumping forward when I accelerated and stopped. Took it straight to the dealership and it was a "wire". They couldn't explain why the car did didn't run fine. So out the door we went. 8 days later, it started again except worse. The car wouldn't accelerate and when I was up to 40 or 50 mph it would suck back like I downshifted and drop me to 20 mph which was great for the cars behind me. I took it straight to the dealership and the man looked at it and said, "Yep, it's the transmission". After a week, they still had no idea what it was and told me they were contacting their "master mechanic" and he would come out 24-48 hours after the call was placed. The NEXT morning they called me to pick up the car....and they replaced the throttle body. My Husband picked it up and drove it about 50 miles and put it in the garage for the night. The next morning I went to start it and the car lurched forward in park!! Then the rpms were almost to the red zone while it was idling. Turned it back off and restarted it....fine. Came home let it sit in the garage for about 2 hours and when I started it, it did the same thing. As I was driving BACK to the dealership, my blinker was going crazy and my power door locks kept locking and unlocking. When I arrive the "nice" man told me he has NEVER heard of a car lurching/jumping forward in park...apparently it mechanically can't happen. He told me that if it doesn't do it to him, there is nothing else we can do. So that is where we are at....I'm aware of the Lemon law but it's 2 days short of being in for 15 days and we were told the car had to be in three times for the same problem. It was the same problem on our end but ford turned it into a different problem everytime--I don't think they even mentioned the word transmission. We did pay extra for the extended warranty and even went into the dealership to have them buyback the car and put us into another ford or my same car without the CVT and after they ran the numbers, we would have been screwed. I know this is long, BUT I called another Ford dealership to see if they would offer me more than our local dealership for a buy back and after I gave him the info and VIN he told me my car is a liability and he could only auction it off, not resell it on his lot. So my question is, do I have any other recourse? For us, this is a safety issue. I drive my children around (all under 9) and I cringe everytime I get into the car. The dealership claims the've "never heard of these problems". I owe $20,000 on the car (bought it new for $32,000). I'm not asking for everything back....I did drive the car for two years before this started. However, I need to get out of this car for our safety but can't do so with the $20g hanging over our head. Any ideas??  Thanks!!
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