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Ford Freestar Transmission Problems

1900 messages,  Last post on Jun 14, 2013 at 12:47 PM

You are in the Ford Freestar Forum.

What is this discussion about? Ford Freestar, Mercury Monterey, Transmission, Van


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Messages Page 153 of 191

#1516 of 1900 Where do I start by shay672

Jul 19, 2011 (9:53 am)

I have spent the last three hours reading almost every post on this site clear back to 2006. I am so p*s*ed right now I could sceam. We also have a 2004 Ford Freestar that we are at our wits end with.
 
In March of 2010 on our way to a wedding our tranny went out with out warning..going up a slight incline in the road it just stopped. We were in the middle of Iowa on a county road with noone around. 2 hours from home we had a relative come and tow the van back for us and take it to a friends shop who in turn we had to have towed to another shop to rebuild tranny. Luckily we were only charged 700.00 to have it fixed.
 
Fast forward to this year. Earlier this spring we started to experience issues as my husband states (started falling on it face). You would drive along and it would just get sluggish and then resume normal. A friend of ours suggested it was the EGR Valve, which we took off and cleaned and the problem seemed to stop for a bit. Then it seemed to come and go, we hadn't noticed much until last night when my husband drove it to work and barely got it home. Said he came off the interstate and then it just started running rough and kept wanting to die. And smelled very hot when he got it home. Last week we had a couple of pretty good rainstorms and now it's very hot and humid outside. Now it sits in front of the house. I am seriously think or praying that its this PCM and not the tranny.
 
 We are in no financial state to have to rebuild another tranny. The company I worked for closed in March and we only have one income and no employment in area. And have spent every dime we have trying to keep vehicles running this summer. And it just continues to be one headache after another. We are at our wits end, and are in no situation to get rid of the van at this time.
 
 We too have experienced the cruise that only works when it wants, the drivers side window that only works when it wants, lost all the security lighting inside. Broken back door latch(happened while at grocery store when it was -30. Delay when putting in reverse, surges, radio reset, driverside back door that wont open half the time, air in back wont work. And you would think after all of this we would have moved on. We would but cant afford to.

#1517 of 1900 Case Closed. by nadineb

Jul 21, 2011 (12:17 pm)

As of July 15, 2011. NHTSA
 
The subject vehicles suffered from a design issue whereby water could run down onto the cowling under the hood and located in the area of the windshield wipers and then drip onto a computer module, the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), which could be manifested in a variety of symptoms depending on which part of the circuit board became wet or which of the connector pins shorted out. In addition to causing an engine to stall, which may or may not then restart, the water intrusion could also cause the transmission to shift poorly, the vehicle to have erratic power, a malfunction indicator light to come on, or result in an inability to start the vehicle, an inability to shift the vehicle into either forward or reverse. Also the problem could cause a higher than normal idle RPM in Park, or for the radio to malfunction, or the interior lights to stay on. During this investigation ODI was concerned with the effect of the engine stalling or a drastic and sudden loss of power either of which may create a safety risk. In reviewing the actual number of these types of incidents, collectively referred to here as engine stalls, the number was found to be below what would be considered a defect trend. For example, the number of engine stalls identified in Ford's warranty claims for the model year (MY) 2004 subject vehicles, the MY with the most failures, was 200 out of population of 125,865, for a failure rate of 0.16%. The one crash recorded by a complainant to NHTSA, VOQ 10311522, alleged that the engine stalled, due to water intrusion into the PCM, while the road was turning causing her to go off the road and according to the police report the vehicle then hit an embankment and a tree stump. Ford reported in their response that there were three alleged crashes but none of these were validated as being caused by a problem with water intrusion into the PCM causing a stall. Accordingly this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will continue to monitor complaints and other information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future if warranted.

#1518 of 1900 Re: Case Closed. [nadineb] by tervmom

Jul 21, 2011 (1:01 pm)

Replying to: nadineb (Jul 21, 2011 12:17 pm)
Oh, my. Just amazingly stupid. Those are just a few of the vehicles effected by this engineering blunder. What about the vehicles it hasn't happened too yet (2005s and 2006s)??? My 2006 just went early at 42,000 miles. How about the people who thought it was only their vehicle's problem (like Ford service desks were going to tell them theirs wasn't the only van this happened to). I'll just always remember the night I ran out for a quick errand in the rain and my van just STOPPED in the middle of an unlit road with no shoulders - only ditches. So glad I remembered my cell phone as it was late, untravelled and AAA was over an hour.

#1519 of 1900 Re: Case Closed. [tervmom] by jeepermeo2

Jul 21, 2011 (4:38 pm)

Replying to: tervmom (Jul 21, 2011 1:01 pm)
You mean to tell me NHTSA doesn't find a drastic and sudden loss of the transmission to create a safety risk. Driving on the interstate or pulling into a busy intersection and the transmission suddenly just lets go and you have no way to move the van out of harms way. There are over 1500 messages on here, more posting every day, with most telling the same story, but that's not being looked into. I sincerely hope the agency will continue to monitor complaints and other information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future because it is warranted!!!!!

#1520 of 1900 Freestar need to recall the van by bigdstett

Jul 29, 2011 (4:11 pm)

Wow I just had my brakes done $260.00 rear brakes and calibers went to Walmart came home and my tranny goes out just stopped working nothing . theirs no way that there can be these many problems with the transmission on one van and they do not recall it this is criminal. I have been out of work for 2 years my wife is on temp unemployment this will kill us i guess eating is a luxury. please help me Ford.

#1521 of 1900 In case you didn't already know by maddad321

Jul 29, 2011 (10:38 pm)

JUST IN CASE YOU DID'T KNOW THE ONLY WAY FORD WILL DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM
IS IF YOU REPORT THE PROBLEM RIGHT TO COSTOMER SERVICE AT FORD MOTOR COMPANY
MY 2005 FORD FREESTAR TORQUE CONVERTER WENT AT 101000 ONLY PUT 100000 MILES AFTER I HAD PURCHASED THEN VAN FINAL COST OF REPAIR WAS 2500.00 THANK GOD I DIDN'T HAVE MY 3 LITTLE GIRLS IN THEN VAN CONSIERING MY 2 YOUNGEST WERE UNDER 2 AT THE
TIME

#1522 of 1900 Re: Case Closed. [nadineb] by jeepermeo2

Aug 17, 2011 (2:36 pm)

Replying to: nadineb (Jul 21, 2011 12:17 pm)
nadined
I got this reply from Stephen McHenry today, Aug. 1,2011. The case is still ongoing. We need more people to report there complaint to NHTSA at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm
 
The investigation into the failure of the torque converter in the Ford Freestar is not completed, the water intrusion into the PCM was a separate and distinct investigation. The complaint you filed with us on March 1, 2011 is still on record and part of the current, open, investigation EA09-016 on the torque converters; you can obtain more information on that investigation at our website www.safercar.gov.
 
Stephen McHenry >
 
Investigator, US D.O.T.
 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
 
Office of Defects Investigation
 
NVS-213 Room W48-308
 
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
 
Washington D.C. 20590-0001
 
********
 
Fax *********
 
Investigation: EA09-016
Date Opened: 11/10/2009
Principal Investigator: Stephen McHenry
Subject: Torque Converter Output Shaft Failure
Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Products: 2004 and 2005 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey
Population: 205,219 (estimated)
Problem Description: The torque converter output shaft may fail, resulting in a sudden loss of motive power with no warning.
FAILURE REPORT SUMMARY
                                   ODI------------- Manufacturer ---------------- Total
Complaints:------------ 124------------------- 0--------------------------- 124
Crashes/Fires:----------- 0---------------------0 ----------------------------- 0
Injury Incidents:--------- 0--------------------- 0----------------------------- 0
# Injuries:----------------- 0--------------------- 0----------------------------- 0
Fatality Incidents:-------- 0----------------------0----------------------------- 0
# Fatalities:--------------- 0---------------------- 0----------------------------- 0
Other*:-------------------- 0---------------------2791------------------------2791
*Description of Other: Warranty claims indicating loss of motive power.
Action: An Engineering Analysis has been opened.
Engineer: Stephen McHenry
Date: 11/10/2009
Div. Chief: Jeffrey L. Quandt
Date: 11/10/2009
Office Dir.: Kathleen C. DeMeter
Date: 11/10/2009
Summary: ODI has received 227 owner complaints alleging a sudden and unexpected loss of motive power due to an internal transmission failure in the subject vehicles. Of those complaints, 124 can be attributed to the torque converter output shaft splines stripping causing a sudden loss of power to the drivetrain. The remaining 103 complaints experienced a loss of motive power but the specific internal failure cause within the transmission is not known.
ODI is continuing to assess the scope, frequency and safety-related consequences of the alleged defect.

#1523 of 1900 Re: Same thing happened to us! [idbumpkin] by emmb

Aug 05, 2011 (1:56 pm)

Replying to: idbumpkin (Jun 08, 2011 7:47 am)
How do I join this in on this class action lawsuit? Same thing happened to me.

#1524 of 1900 Re: Same thing happened to us! [emmb] by mmartin152

Aug 07, 2011 (11:05 pm)

Replying to: emmb (Aug 05, 2011 1:56 pm)
had only 80000 miles on my 2004 freestar and had to fork out money to get the pcm fixed and trasmission.

#1525 of 1900 water in transmission by ban4

Aug 08, 2011 (11:09 am)

I have 2005 freestar with 190 thousand KMs on it.A week after returning home from a 3000km
trip my speedo stopped working and my traction light and antilock brake lights came on. I pulled the dipstick for the tranny and found the fluid was white. It was full of water from the
rad..I put on an external rad cooler and flushed the tranny 3 times to remove the water.I am lucky so far becaues it still works as well as it did.My dash lights are still on and my speedo
still not working.
I just wanted to let all you Freestar owners know that this could be your next problem.I called
my local dealer about it and they have never heard of this issue with a freestar.

Messages Page 153 of 191

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