2004 Ford Freestar: jerking or lurching

Filed Aug 8, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 230,000 miles · GA

Driving down rd n it felt as if someone was pushing break while I was smashing gas pedal . Lost all fire to car wouldn't go no where. I was on a country rd going uphill. It spots n sputter n jerks real hard going up hill like my transmission going bad but motor sounds good so I have no clue..

Filed Feb 23, 2019 · 138,000 miles · TN

Takata recall: I had the torque converter replaced, per recall in 2013 or 2014, when I lost power in my van while driving on the highway in wa state. I believe my van had about 70,000 miles at that time. I have since moved to tennessee. Yesterday, I while driving, van died at a stop sign, while moving on the street, turning a corner, and then while driving, lurching forward before dying. It would start, drive a while, then die again. I had it towed to a shop, where they say the new torque converter is "shot" and took out my transmission. It will cost me $2300-4000 to replace the transmission. Ford employee looked up my VIN # and said im not part of a "recall" for bad replacement torque converters, but how can a torque converter go bad....that bad!! In 5 years... And 59,000 miles? My van now has 138,000 miles on it.

Filed Nov 7, 2017 · Transmission · 250,000 miles · VA

The vehicle loses power as I am driving it on a city street. It also happened on the highway, so I don't use the highway anymore because of the loss of power.. When the speedometer needle goes over 2 RPM , it stalls even more and jerks.

Filed Jun 13, 2017 · Engine, Seats · 81,000 miles · PA

The third row seating latch has rusted out on the driver side. The vehicle I believe has issues that other 2004 ford freestar vehicles have the same issues and were recalled. I have contacted ford, and they refuse to help. I have 4 children and I fear to take them anywhere in this vehicle. Please help. The vehicle jerks and stutters when in drive whether I'm moving or at a stop light as long as I am in any gear. It only has 85,000 miles and I've purchased it in february.

Filed Aug 9, 2016 · Transmission · 150,000 miles · IN

When we bought this vehicle we loved it but it steadily went down hill. We got notification of recall about 6 months after purchase and tried several times to get into the dealer. Finally got it in march 2016 and now here I am paying on a vehicle that the torque converter went out on. Prior to repair the transmission would roughly shift and jerk/lurch into selected gear and at higher rates of speeds would shutter and trans light would come on. Now it doesn't respond to the gas pedal right away and then the engine shakes/shudders and the dipstick has a substance on it and when driving today it just coasted like in neutral! I have 4 children and this does not give me faith in ford and it is my 3rd generation star van and my 6th ford vehicle in general.

Filed Feb 26, 2016 · Transmission · 123,000 miles · WA

I bought this car in 2014. It stranded me on the side of the road it wouldn't go in reverse or drive. Finally after 4 hrs I got it to where I could drive it home. Took it to a shop and they said nothing was wrong they had to see it act up. Even though the check engine soon light was on and the light for the transaxle was on the shop said they put it on a diagnostic machine and it showed nothing. So I took it home and it when I drive it it jerks and the RPM's go to about 4000 RPM's before it shifts. I have had it 4 times at a shop and the same thing happened they couldn't find anything wrong. Now it has really gone bad. It no longer shifts you cant get it past 35 miles per hours because the engine would probably blow. I can't take it on the freeway but every shop I took it to said nothing is wrong. I have a year to go on payments on a vehicle I couldn't even drive if I knew this was going to happen I wouldn't of bought it. The dealer I bought it from didn't even tell me that this van had this problem now I don't know what to do. I don't even know if this van is on the recall list or not or is it too late to get it fixed. I started having this problem 6 months after I bought it in july of 2014.

Filed Feb 8, 2016 · Transmission · 170,000 miles · CO

My van suddenly went out of gear and the van lurched forward, while driving at about 35 MPH. Thankfully we were in town, and not going a faster speed or on a major hwy! After coasting to a safe place, we finally managed to get it to go back into gear for a short time. After several attempts, we managed to get it home. It refuses to go into gear now and has been parked since then. I know there has been a recall on the torque converter for this make and model, and those customers have experianced the exact same symptoms as my van. This is obviously a problem with a lot more vans than originally thought and the recall needs to be extended to other VIN #s, including mine.

Filed Dec 10, 2015 · Transmission · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford freestar. While driving at any speed, the vehicle jerked back and forth without warning. The contacted received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v006000 (power train) and the vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who insisted that the recall repair was performed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the recall repair was performed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was not provided.

Filed Oct 5, 2015 · Seats · 223,040 miles · MO

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford freestar. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle jerked violently. The contact discovered that a large piece of metal was protruding from under the rear passenger seat. The VIN was included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 13v081000 (seat). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 223,040. The VIN was not available.

Filed Jul 25, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 156,000 miles · IN

Started sputtering, jerking, and stalling PCM was wet causing all kinds of havic lost power going into a turn and almost went into a ditch ford needs to recall this ongoing problem and get it fixed before something major happens alot of people are complaining and ford knows it is there fault and they have a problem but refuses to take care of it.

Filed Feb 5, 2015 · Electrical, Transmission · 102,000 miles · OH

While driving on the freeway at 55 MPH my vehicle lurched forward drastically and then stalled. I was able to get it to the side of the road coasting as I was in the outside lane. I could restart the car but only go 50-100 feet and it would stall again. I managed to get it off the road into a parking lot and found out the car wouldn't go into reverse. Although I could go forward. I am now being told that there was a torque converter recall for this year and make of car but not for my vehicle. I am being told the transmission will need rebuilt and be at a cost of 3000-3900 dollars. The car has approx. 102,000 miles on it. I was told by the transmission shop this is a common problem with this car even if they are repaired they tend to have problems again. It should be noted that it had snowed a large volume that day and there was a lot of water on the roadway.

Filed Aug 4, 2014 · Electrical · 85,000 miles · OH

I was driving down the road with my kids in this can, and it suddenly stalled.it happened repeatedly every time it snowed or rained. It will also not want to accelerate and jerks or hesitates as you are driving. This can is dangerous!! Ford needs to accept responsibility and get this problem fixed!