1891 messages,
Last post on May 22, 2013 at 1:13 PM
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Ford Freestar Forum.
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Ford Freestar, Mercury Monterey, Transmission, Van
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#759 of 1891 Re: $1000.00 from Ford [nadineb]
by coneflower1
Sep 07, 2009 (9:59 am)
Hi all.
My husband and I have a 2006 Freestar now on its 2nd transmission.
We posted in Aug of last year when we were on a family trip and pulled into traffic from a McDonalds and the vehicle died. $3000 later we were back on the road and experiencing financial woes as a result. My husband drives this vehicle for work so it has high milege 130,000. No chance of a trade due to this and the loan so we are screwed and nervous every day. 2 weeks ago he was on the road with my 2 daughters when the same problem occured. This time there was a warranty. Now our daughter is in college 3 hours away and I panic every time we have to drive there. We reported to NHTSA in Aug 2008. Don't think the problem ended in 2004, we're among the rest of you. Please keep up the info on the class action. We'll support however we can. God bless each of you and keep you safe.
#760 of 1891 Re: $1000.00 from Ford [coneflower1]
by jgenovese
Sep 08, 2009 (1:05 pm)
Coneflower,
Please feel free to contact me via regular Email. My contact information is in my profile which you can get to byclicking on my name to the uper right in green and underlined.
Jim Genovese
Annapolis, MD
#761 of 1891 Re: Arrogance of Power [nadineb]
by jgenovese
Sep 08, 2009 (1:13 pm)
Hey Ford! This article should be required reading for everyone in the chain of command over there. Rest assured, your arrogance will will catch up to you. When you put families with children in harms way, expect to be held accountable.
Jim Genovese
Annapolis, MD
#762 of 1891 Re: Arrogance of Power [jgenovese]
by nadineb
Sep 08, 2009 (1:28 pm)
President Obama delivered a speech on Labor Day before union auto workers, and the one thing that struck me in the speech was that he said how one person can make a difference. I believe that if we all stand together, we can make a difference and get Ford to do what should of been done years ago.
Fired up - Ready to go!
"Let's Roll" United Flight 93
#763 of 1891 2005 Freestar with failed auto trany
by lmk7
Sep 09, 2009 (1:47 pm)
Hello everyone.
My 2005 Freestar's auto trany died at 131,000 km (80,600 miles). The torque converter failed....had the transmission taken apart and the mechanic found the splines worn away and metals bits inside.....tried to back up in my driveway and the car wouldn't move. I'm taking Ford Canada to Small Claims Court and hoping someone, anyone in this Forum might have answers to the following questions:
1. My Freestar was regularly serviced by Ford dealer, auto trany included. If the auto trany was not defective, how long should it have lasted? Any authoritative source for the answer?
2. The Class Action idea I've read is a good one and I would support it. This said, has an attorney been approached in the USA for this purpose? If so, would anyone have the details of who he/she might be?
3. Has anyone individually taken Ford to court on this issue? If so, what happened?
4. Has anyone ever gone to a consumer protection media person on this issue and been successful?
5. Does anyone know the name of an expert auto trany mechanic (or mechanics) familar with Freestars? I may need him (them) as an expert witness (or expert witnesses). Ford has replied to my legal claim saying the warranty expired at 100,000 km (62,000 miles), so too bad for you.
6. Any secret warranties concerning the auto trany?
I hope that NHTSA thoroughly exams this trany problem and forces Ford to undertake a recall. Here in Canada, as far as I know, Transport Canada has done nothing. I strongly suspect that it's waiting for NHTSA to do its thing, then copy it. Sadly someone will have to be seriously injured before NHTSA or Transport Canada are to act quickly.
Thanks for reading this post!
LMK7
5. Has anyone been SUCCESSFUL with having Ford replace their auto trany at its cost after the warranty expired?
4.
#764 of 1891 Looking for Hints!
by anabel
Sep 10, 2009 (9:12 am)
Hello Everyone,
Some of you guys may know me. I also broke down twice and 4 months apart with my 2004 Freestar. I am now waiting because I know it is not "IF" it happens, it is "When" it happens. Believe me, we are trying to stay positive on this. We tried to trade it and since my husband lost his job, we could not afford to give in more money for the $1500.00 we are upside down on it. But at least it was worth the blue book value which is more than the clunker money. We all know they are worth much less with this transmission issue if not -0-, sad to say. To get to my question to everyone:
I am trying to figure out some type of warning sign that this car may be trying to give us and we are not noticing. These are my observations.
1. The RPM's seem to run high. Mostly around the 1500-3000 range consistantly. Now I live in a location that is hilly and winding roads. But when I am in a flat highway, that is the case. Is everyone noticing that with there cars.
2. Because of the above, does it seem that the engine is working much harder to keep up with the transmission?
3. Seems to use plenty of gas. Mine says 14.9 miles to the gallon in the worst condition in town traffic and in the best it can get up to 19.8 miles. But this weekend on a somewhat 4 hour long road trip, it never got higher than 15.6. I imagine it is because of the high RPM's.
I think I am on a timer with this car. Our last breakdown was July 4th of this year. The breakdown before that was Feburary of this year.
Anybody else noticing funny stuff before the breakdown?
#765 of 1891 Re: Looking for Hints! [anabel]
by nadineb
Sep 10, 2009 (10:03 am)
Maybe you explain what you mean by "broke down". What type of repairs were made to the vehicle?
#766 of 1891 Re: Looking for Hints! [anabel]
by sunburn
Sep 10, 2009 (4:49 pm)
You say the RPMs run high. At 70 MPH on level ground, our Freestar turns just over 2000 RPM. When climbing a hill, it might jump up to 3000 RPM or more. If you are running much more than that under the same conditions, you might have a problem with the torque converter not locking up. That would explain the poor mileage. Our Freestar turns in 16-17 MPG around town and 22-24 on the highway.
#767 of 1891 Re: Looking for Hints! [sunburn]
by aggieme
Sep 11, 2009 (4:22 am)
I agree with you sunburn. My RPM's and MPG are right in line with yours.
#768 of 1891 Re: Looking for Hints! [sunburn]
by anabel
Sep 11, 2009 (7:27 am)
Good Morning Everyone,
To answer several questions on one note, I broke down twice because of transmission failure. Root cause for both cases was with the Torque Converter as with everyone else on this blog.
To sunburn, Yes, the RPM's seem to run high always. Seems like the transmission is working overtime and so is the engine. We noticed this more because we borrowed my brother-n-laws car and it is a Pontiac Grand Prix. He loan it to us just in case. Well, my brother in law lives in South Texas and my husband and I drove that car up to Austin for about 250 miles with me following behind. My brother-n-law thought his car used lots of gas, but compared to the Freestar we actually can't compare. The Freestar uses so much gas because you can tell that the engine is always reving really high now. Even after a transmission rebuild the second time. It is definately having trouble.
On our second breakdown we were in Los Angeles, California. Now that is a long haul from Austin Texas. Plenty of time for the MPG's to creep up to at least 24 mpg. But no Sir. It wasn't going to happen. At around 70 mph continuous driving, it will be around 1500-2000 depending if you climb a slope or not. If you are around hills it hits 3-4000 and stays there and does not shift quickly off, or course depending on the grade. The RPM's really never stay still for a bit. They just seem to jump around just because. Now this is what is happening currently. The transmission was replaced on July 4th at AAMCO Transmission in Las Vegas, NV. So we are just two months from when it happened last. Too soon for another breakdown, but we feel it coming. By the way AAMCO in Las Vegas, they are another nightmare.