Transmission failed going down interstate at 65 MPH.
2004 Ford Freestar transmission complaints
Page 11 of 30: complaints 281 to 310 of 851, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My husband was driving up the hill to our house when our van had a sudden loss of power. He managed to get on the side of the road and out of traffic. Now the van will not engage in any gear. If you put it in drive or reverse and hit the gas the engine just revs. We need a new transmission.
Whilst driving, engine RPM increased with no vehicle acceleration. Had to coast into parking lot and found transmission had no forward or reverse movement. Luckily there was light traffic and emergency actions were not present to remove vehicle off road safely.
We were on a highway and it just lost all acceleration. Had it towed ($300) to shop. Needed a rebuilt transmission ($2440). Had that done. Now, 15 months later, the transmission is slipping!
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford freestar. The contact was driving 65 MPH when the transmission failed. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who replaced the transmission. The manufacturer was notified of the failure who advised that there were no recalls. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 76,000.
My wife started the vehicle up and put it in drive. As she pulled into traffic the vehicle lost all forward momentum while the engine RPM's accellerated to the point it caused the engine to stall. My wife was on an incline when this happened. She put on the brake and restarted the engine, it started fine and sounded normal until she put the engine into drive. The motor reved up and there was no forward momentum. The motor stalled once again. She started the vehicle again and put the transmission into low gear and was able to drive it one block to a ford dealership parking lot. This all happened with no proir warnig of failure. She drove the van to work a few hours earlier with no indications of imenent failure. After researching the internet, I found several hundreds of other 2004/2005 freestar owners that have the same systematical failure of the torque converter. This seems to be an ongoing issue with this make/model and should be recalled before someone is hurt or killed from an accident cused by immediate loss of forward momentum due to a failed torque converter/transmission.
Driving on freeway at 60mph the van just stopped accelerating, the RPM acted crazy. We pulled too side of road and would not move in any gear. I have had routine oil changes and maintenance, there was no signs or warning of any transmission problems. Vehicle towed. I have been told my van needs new transmission.
I had arrived at my brothers house after a 8-9 hour drive, unloaded the vehicle & visited for a few hours. We decided then to go out to dinner & would take my freestar. My brother has ms so I had to pull forward & try to back in to get passenger door closest to his exit from the house. When I put it in reverse to back the van barely started to move & then wouldn't move. I then let it roll down to the street & tried forward & reverse, but the van never moved again. I had it towed to a ford dealer & was told the transmission was gone. I had them put in a form reman unit. I had to drive my brothers van back home & come back for mine the next weekend.
When driving my car, it was hard to shift and when I came to a stop, it had a hard time shifting gears. I brought it to my mechanic who diagnosed the torque converter had gone bad. He replaced the torque converter and I had the car back for a week and the car died again while driving. The car is now diagnosed with a bad PCM and that will need to be replaced.
Transmission warning light appeared while on vacation. Stopped at a dealer said we were ok to continue. Car has felt weird since. Auto shop just told us we need a new transmission.
Going to work with my kids in the car 2004 freestar. Going to drop them off at family's house went to give gas lost all power no warning no indication there was a problem coasting in middle of main road very lucky its a busy road could have been bad. Needs to be solved before there is a fatality. No money to get it fixed right now with 3 kids and christmas round the corner.
2004 ford freestar lost all acceleration and stopped on major roadway. No previous signs of trouble from transmission. Class action filed in us district court august 2010 declaring faulty manufacturing. Ford refusing to repair without full payment of $3200. Current mileage 94,000. How many must get robbed before this is addressed?
I was driving down the road and the vehicle dropped out of gear and loss acceleration. It would not go back into gear.
Transmission issues had to be replace, check engine light will not turn off. I have read many reports online about issues with the transmission in the 2004 ford freestar, sensor light issues, tracking light issues. No warning transmission just died 200 miles from home.
My wife was driving the van when the transmission gave out, no propulsion but motor still running, and it coasted to a stop. Only she and I (driving instructor and safety officer) have carefully driven and maintained this vehicle since it was factory ordered and delivered from the dealer in 2004. Majority of mileage was on the open highway. Today we picked it up from the shop it was towed to and where it underwent major repair for four days. They rebuilt the transmission and replaced the valve body and torque converter. The total cost of this repair including towing and tax was $3499.
I have a 2004 ford freestar. I was on my way to the store with my 2 young sons. I stopped at the stop sign and when I went to turn, I lost any power that I had, without any warning my transmission went. I didn't have 1st, 3rd or reverse, I had to get my van towed home arrange for a ride. This is very dangerous and needs to be taken care of. Now my van is in the shop and $2000.00 later hopefully I can get a year out of this.
2004 ford freestar transmission quit for no reason while driving , just cut out while traveling 25 MPH up a hill in heavy traffic.
Transmission went out.
Engine misfires, will not go into gear, nor move, sometimes driveing down the road engine will shut off, ford dealer told us the transmission was bad, I took van to another repair shop, they found water in the PCM, replaced PCM, cost 1300 dollars, and still have same problem every time it rains.
Pulling away from a stop sign on a busy two lane highway, vehicle stop accelerating and engine revved freely. No shoulder and vehicle could not move under own power. Pulled over a little but vehicle was still in lane of travel, at night, with no street lights and small children in car!
2004 ford freestar RPM's 3000 at idle. Diagnosed as water intrusion in original PCM (powertrain control module) in april of 2011. Water intrusion occurred on replacement PCM as well within 3 months because rain kit per service bulletin ( # tsb-06-14-10) was not installed at the ford dealer. Second incident occurred with the replacement (new) PCM on 9/8/11. On 9/8/11 vehicle stalled out while in traffic. Replacement PCM diagnosed as water intrusion as well by different ford. Second dealer noted rain kit had not been installed by 1st dealer when new PCM was put in. Second dealer installed kit, but vehicle stalled out in traffic once again on 9/17/11. Replacement (new) PCM had been contaminated prior to rain kit installation. Vehicle is now at the ford dealer (that installed tsb rain kit) for 3rd PCM unit. Contact was made with the original dealer that installed the replacement PCM as well as ford warranty department, and as of this date of 9/23/11 neither has accepted responsibility for failure to install the recommended tsb rain kit that caused the replacement (new) PCM failure. We were very fortunate that no one was hurt during the 2 incidents when the vehicle stalled out while in traffic. We will continue to pursue action to make the first ford dealer / ford motor company financially responsible for neglecting to install the rain kit per fords service bulletin upon installation of the first new PCM unit.
My husband was driving on a 4 lane hwy in pensacola, fl when my 2004 ford freestar suddenly stopped pulling. No forward, no backwards, neutral, nothing and the rpms went extremely high. Zero warnings, and in heavy rush hour traffic. It is only due to my husbands race car driving experience and quick reaction time that he was immediately able to get the van on the side of the hwy. My husband and our two boys thankfully were safe but they were stranded in intense florida heat. I have had a lean fuel, various electrical, coil pack and PCM issues since I got the van june 2007. The ford dealership, and the easterns dealership I purchased the van from, could not figure out the problems. While under warranty, easterns worked on it but none of the issues were ever able to be fixed. I choose the freestar for its safety features so I knew I had a safe way to transport my children. This is no longer the case, I do not trust ford to take care of their defective products and I will not purchase another ford.
2004 ford freestar was driving home on a residential street came to a stop and went to take off from stop sign and all that happened was the rpms increased and the car rolled out in the intersection. This was at 10pm and I had a newborn baby in the van I pushed the van out of the way and we walked the mile to our house.took it to a repair shop and they said it was the pump shaft and torque converter it cost 1700.00 to repair it we drove it another 4000 miles and same thing but we don't have the finances to repair it this time because no one will repair it they will not touch it unless I pay to have a new transmission put in and they say it is 3500-5000.00.
Tranmission grinding and loss of power...
We purchased a 04 ford freestar in february 2009 thought we were getting a great deal. In october of 2009 we had to put a rebuilt transmission in it thank god it was covered under a warranty we purchased with the used car company. In may of 2011 guess what same problem and this time needed a brand new transmission at the cost of $3100.00. Now we are currently having reverse problems with our vehicle. I am looking for help here with getting my transmission and new repairs paid for due to I have a family of six and barely getting by. I am still paying payments on this vehicle. This problem with ford has got to be solved somehow....
Just exited interstate, van simply stopped moving forward, needed to replace transmission spline, cost 1385.76 plus towing. Front window also stopped working, various electric problems including battery draining for no reason, locks work sporadically, damp weather causes problems with electrical, chugging of engine ect.
As I started crossing a 5 lane intersection to turn on a side street, the van lost all drive power. Motor was still running. Had to avoid cross traffic coming at me as I slowly glided through the intersection to find a safe place to stop. Had the vehicle repaired and it was a bad torque converter and was told a very common problem with this vehicle. Very upset about the cost as well as my children were in the car when it lost power.
Driving at freeway speed (65mph) the transmission lost power. Vehicle will not engage in drive or reverse. Coasted to shoulder of the freeway and had to get a tow truck. Transmission needs to be replaced at a cost of over 3,000.00 dollars. The federal safety agency investigation number ea09016.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford freestar. While driving 45 MPH, there was an increase in engine rpms. The vehicle received no response from the transmission and slowly decelerated. The dealer diagnosed the vehicle with a faulty torque converter and advised having it replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. No repairs were performed. The current and failure mileages were 75,381.
Transmission went out while driving. Thankfully we were not on the highway. No grinding or slipping, the engine just revved and would vehicle would not move. Had 3 children in the car at the time. Very dangerous to trust this car. Got the car to a parking lot, now it has been towed to a mechanic to be checked out. We previously had problems with something in the ignition or something where the car would just sputter and die while driving. Replaced driver side window motor, but passenger side does not work either. Please get these off the road!
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2004 Ford Freestar?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history