Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. The contact stated that the vehicle would shift into neutral abnormally while driving at any speed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who diagnosed that there was water in the power train control module and that it would need replacing. The manufacturer was contacted who filed a claim but provided no further assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 96,000. Updated 06/01/11*lj the consumer stated the vehicle was repaired. Updated 07/29/11
2005 Ford Freestar transmission complaints
Page 12 of 24: complaints 311 to 340 of 677, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The brunswick county department of social services owns a 2005 ford freestar van. On april 20, 2011 five agency staff traveling on interstate 95 north to a meeting traveling at a speed of 75mph experienced a sudden failure of power causing the vehicle to slow down eventually stopping. The driver immediately move to the shoulder at which the vehicle would not restart. The vehicle has been transported via tow truck to a local automotive repair shop for transmission failure.
Driving at 25 miles per hour and I turned the corner and lost all motive power. The motor ran fine but the van had no gears forward or reverse. There was no indication of a problem, I didn't see or hear anything and no check engine light came on. This is the first time it has happened. A mechanic told me the torque converter output shaft would need to be replaced and the transmission rebuilt.
I own a 2005 ford freestar with 55,000 miles on it that I bought new . But on april 15 2011 as I drove down the road at about 30pmh I suddenly had no power of forward motion. I was heading to a hill . Not knowing what was happening a hit the brakes to stop and pull over to the side of the road. The car behind me was forced to go around me in the other lane. Thankfully nobody was coming up the hill. I tried to put the van into reverse to see if it worked but it was like being in neutral. The van started rolling down the hill again. The motor would race no matter what gear I put the van in. I had the van towed to transmission shop were I was told that they had heard of this problem. He asked if where were any signs of a problem prior to this. Which there were not. He told me that the torque converter output splines were sheared off and the transmission had to be rebuilt. That would cost about 2,300.00 and take a week. Now he is going to save the parts for me so I can see what happenedto them. I would like to see if ford will take responsibility for this defect because it doesn't happen on every van made but is happening on a select few years. Maybe it was a bad match of parts ,but I don't think that we should have to pay for that problem.
Vehicle was operating in normal manner in traffic. Suddenly all drive power to the wheels was lost. There was no warning at all from a sound to any shudder from the vehicle. Sudden loss of propulsion very dangerous in traffic moving 50 MPH. Engine never stalled or died. Driver was able to maneuver vehicle from fast lane to a parking lot entrance and stop vehicle. Engine runs fine, brakes no issue; however, the van will not move in any gear. The transmission never engages while shifting on the steering column. There is absolutely no fluid leakage or smoke from the transmission. Van was towed to a transmission repair facility. Torque converter and pump were replaced. Total charges of about $1000 for the work. Service manager at bill collins ford denied knowing of any issues with the transmission. While I was talking to him two customers arrived to pick up vehicle with exactly the same problem and similar occurrence of loss of power in traffic. His explanation was coincidence, yet this torque converter / transmission is stocked at a much higher than normal level in the parts department due to high demand per the service desk tech.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. While driving 25 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who performed a diagnostic and determined that the transmission failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer advised the contact that the failure was not recall related and they would not assist with the repair. The failure and current mileage was 26,000. Updated 06/01/11*lj updated 07/08/11
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. The contact was driving approximately 25-30 MPH when the vehicle experienced a loss of power. The accelerator was engaged yet the vehicle did not respond. The vehicle was later towed to a local mechanic shop where she was advised that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired with a re-manufactured transmission from the manufacturer. The failure mileage was 55,800 and the current mileage was 55,942.
While traveling on I-94, going 70 MPH, I attempted to accelerate and the vehicle did not respond. The transmission was completely gone. I had to pull over to a safe location on the side of the busy highway without the use of a transmission. My husband and 2 small children were in the van with me at the time. It was very unnerving and dangerous. We had the van towed to a local ford dealership and they stated that it needed a new torque converter. They quoted $1400 for the repair but we were able to get them down to $1100. The van has only 66000 miles on it. This is not acceptable. Ford needs to recognize that this is common problem and a recall needs to be made.
Vehicle stopped having any forward and very limited backward power in my driveway. There was no warning and the vehicle had only 23,000 miles. There was no warning or previous indication of a problem. No transmission leaks, the fluid was a normal color. The transmission had to be rebuilt.
My son drove the freestar home the night of 3/20 and stated it was running a bit rough. The next morning my wife had a hard time starting the care to drive our daughter to school. Once she got the vehicle started and backed it out of the driveway the vehicle stalled in the middle of the street and was unable to restart. I had the vehicle towed to the ford dealer and was actually able to start the van but it now had no reverse. The dealer had the van for 12 days and replaced the PCM. We got the van back and the check engine light came on immediately. The dealer now states that the wiring and connectors to the PCM are all soaked and they need to be dried and cleaned. After doing some research it appears that this is a known issue with the freestar and that I was quite lucky as to the timing and location of the vehicle when it failed. I truly believe that this design flaw in this vehicle needs to be resolved by ford prior to anyone getting injured.
Our 2005 ford freestar ltd minivan has experienced sudden loss of power symptomatic of a transmission failure, which no warning or signs of a pending failure. This occurred while my wife was driving, and although it did not result in an accident or serious incident, it could have. The van has been taken to a local mechanic shop for diagnosis and repairs. The symptoms experienced seem very similar to those articulated by others in a pending the federal safety agency investigation of faulty torque converter input shaft splines on this model year vehicle.
My wife was taking my kids to school when she pulled out of our drive way and drove about a 1/2 mile and the car just stopped going forward. She tried pushing the gas and they engine just revs up. Luckily a neighbor was coming up and took her home. We you start the car it will not go into gear. It won't go in drive or reverse. We have not had any transmission problem up until this point.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestar. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle suddenly lost power abnormally with an increase in engine rpms. The vehicle was then towed to an independent mechanic where he was advised that the torque converter, shaft and a pump would need replacing. The vehicle was repaired for all components. The failure and current mileage was approximately 146,000. Updated 05/24/11*lj updated 05/26/11
My wife was on the interstate with my 2 and 4 year old traveling 70 MPH today(3/15/11). Van lost power to transmission and thankfully she was able to reach the safety of the shoulder by way of dodging to semi trucks coming up fast behind her. Van is at the dealership now to figure out what has caused the failure of power. I have read about all of the issues other owners are having and find this very dangerous and disturbing. Something needs tp be done by ford to rectify the issue.
I have a 2005 ford freestar. We bought it in 2008 and enjoyed driving it all over texas but the rear brakes have always has made a moaning sound no matter what is replaced and the front brakes rattle. Dec 2010 replaced the water pump, alternator, ilder pulley and belt tensioner before I found the solution on youtube that it was the camshaft sychronizer that was making a shrieking noise. Then without warning three weeks later the transmission completely failed at a traffic signal 83230 miles, left my wife stranded in rush hour traffic luckily it wasn't at night or my kids in the van. No cause could be determined by mechanic other than tranny pan was full of metal and had to be completely rebuilt for $2000. I have owned an f150, aerostar, and explorer all went over 180,000 miles and still working when I sold them. The freestar has been a let down. Next minivan will be nissan or toyota. Hopefully ford will recall the tranny on these van since most of the comments I have read experience tranny failure around 80k miles hopefully no one get hurt because of it.
I own a 2005 ford freestar minivan. Over the last couple of days I noticed it would shift hard when I put it into drive. Then on tuesday, 3/8/11 me and my family was on the highway, my husband driving, and noticed the van would not shift into 3rd gear. We pulled over and checked transmission fluid and added just a bit. We then started driving again and then the van would not shift into 2nd gear. We were able to get it to a mechanic and was advised that the transmission needed to be either replaced or rebuilt. We are having it rebuilt with at least $1600 or more expense.
The day after a heavy rain, my 2005 ford freestar started stalling out and the engine light coming on. I thought it was a sensor as I had the same problem last year after a heavy rain & took it to the local mechanic who replaced the cam sensor which solved the problem. This time the mechanic said it was the transmission & he could not fix it. We had it towed to the ford dealer we bought it from who confirmed that it is the transmission & will cost us $2,200 to have it fixed. Why is such a new, low mileage vehicle having this problem? I have been reading many complaints about the transmission on this very same vehicle. Why hasn't ford recalled it? We cannot afford this and I need my van. It is so frustrating. Especially knowing that I am not the only one having this problem. Isn't there something we can do??? I still owe over $2000 on this van that I expected to last me for years without having to repair the transmission. Please help!
My husband was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the problem and he narrates the events below. I was coming out of a baseball game and after a stop sign I started moving out from an intersection turning right with traffic from the left. Suddenly, the 2005 freestar made a noise and accelerated (as I had my foot on the gas) and like shifted to neutral gear. I tried to get it in gear again only to notice that it was still in drive. I tried to steer it to the side of the road but as I was just moving out didn't rolled enough to clear the traffic lane. Cars from the left started avoiding me going close to the middle of the two lane road as oncoming traffic honked their horn. Regardless of the gear it stood like if in neutral. Finally after a while the traffic slowed down so I got out and started to push the van to the side of the road. I had it towed to my house and couple of mechanics that had come by have quoted me over $2000.00 which I cannot afford since I just got a job. I had to rent a car until I can figure out what to do.
We were running some errands on 3/4/11. It was raining . Different times I notice a little bit of hesitancy when leaving the malls & pulling away from stoplights & stopsigns. On 3/5/11 we were backing out of our driveway & proceeded to put in drive, van kind of chug a lug and went maybe 30 ft & stop. Restarted van and it would do this all over again. Finally after about 5-6 times ,went around the block & parked it in driveway. Mileage is 80,939. We had trouble like this in jan 2011. Had it towed to lynch ford, dealer charged us $150.00 & could not find anything wrong. Maybe because it was inside the dealership & got dried out. Mileage approx 77800 back in march 2010, the transmission was doing the same type of thing chug a lugging & then stop. Had it towed to a local shop who then had to tow it to the ford dealer. Ford did have a recall issue on TCM , replaced it,the cowl panel & new key fobs. We had to pay for labor due to ford motors fault what supposedly didn't cover. Mileage approx 65,000 not sure on this. At this time. I believe it is the same trouble again.
Driving on interstate at 75 MPH with cruise control on, engine RPM rapidly increased and vehicle slowed in speed. Cruise control was disengaged, depressing the accelerator caused an increase in RPM, but vehicle had no motive power. Pulledto shoulder of interstate, vehicle would not move in any gear. Towed for repairs-cause of failure attributed to torque converter current mileage-77069. Parts required to effect repairs-torque converter overhaul kit, bushing kit, outside diameter band, pump rotor kit, clutch completer.
I purchased my 2005 ford freestar new and with 72,082 miles I had to have the torque converter, banner kit, hardened pump shaft with pump gears replaced. We were accelerating from a stop and felt a thump like we had run over something. Prior to that the van would shake at 30 to 40 miles per hour. The cost of the repairs were $14450. The repair shop stated that the transmissions in the freestar's are not built for van's. 72000 miles is to low for something like the transmission to have to be repair. This is a major problem and needs to be addressed by ford.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford free star. The contact stated that the transmission failed and was replaced with a rebuilt transmission. Within 18 months, the rebuilt transmission failed. The vehicle was not repaired and neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were contacted in regards to the failure. The failure mileage was 88,109. Updated 04/08/11
The transmission failed without warning 200ft.before railroad crossing.
First and foremost I am a mother of three and use my van daily taking my daughter to school. This is my second time having to report transmission failure the first being in june/2010 we was driving and without any warning the van's transmission went out we had it fixed in july 19 2010. Then again 2/26/2011 I was driving about thirty miles from my home to visit my brother in the hospital I had got word he was not doing well from surgery and I did not make it I heard a noise and felt a surge so I pulled off into a parking lot and called my father that was at the hospital to come and pick my daughter and me up. He checked everything under the hood and did not see a problem. My husband showed up a few hours later in which he heard a noise in the transmission when he went to put in gear it started rolling there was nothing it had done went out. So we called the wrecker man to come get it we had done spent $45.00,$50.00 and now this cost $90.00 on tow bills. I will not know until later this week what went out. I got on the internet last night and day after day someone is reporting this same problem here we are. In less than a year ours has went out twice what will it take before ford does something to fix this losing a family member or a whole family. We still owe on our van and with the economy was hoping to pay it off and enjoy life without payments for a while but who knows.I do not feel safe even getting in this vehicle I just feel it will take a death before ford wises up and does something this is so sad I reported my problem in june of last year hoping to get something done and now here we are again 8 months later with reports coming in everyday and nothing is being done. I am contacting other media to try and get word of this unlike toyota trying to say this or that there is too much information about these ford freestar transmissions reports page after page when you put 2005 ford freestar in the search. So why hasn't something being done before it is too late?
I was driving my 2005 ford freestar van to work. My trip to work was just like any other day. No problems and worry free. I was at work pulling into my parking place and it was just like someone had put the vehicle in neutral. The vehicle will not move in any gear, or in any direction. This has been an issue for many people now including myself.
I am the original owner of this vehicle,and I have had the same problem occur twice. The first time was at ~30k miles on a local road. The second was at ~65k miles on the interstate. Both times I was on a gently increasing slope and suddenly lost drive power. In the first case, I did not have enough speed (~25 MPH at failure) and thus time to react to get the vehicle to a safe position. I was forced to glide backward down the slope to get to the side of the road. In the second case, I had enough speed (~70 MPH at failure) and the experience from the first time to get the vehicle safely to the breakdown lane before losing momentum. Both experiences were very discomforting, as I was carrying two young children. The second time was especially unsettling because it was at night on the interstate in the middle of the winter, not to mention that it was second time with the same symptoms. In both cases, all other engine functions appeared to operate normally. In both cases there was neither forward nor reverse power. I have always had this vehicle repaired and maintained at the dealership where I purchased it new. For the first failure, the dealership diagnosed and repaired the torque converter. They told me that the splines had been stripped off. The second failure happened only a week ago, so it is currently in the shop being repaired. The diagnosis is that the torque converter splines were again stripped and also that the pump needs to be replaced.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford free star. The contact noticed that the gear shift selector would not move into any gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was awaiting a response. The contact called the manufacturer who stated they will send a letter to the local dealer on the contact's behalf. The current and failure mileages were 63,000.
2005 ford freestar 62,665 miles. Transmission went while driving with no warning. After researching this repair will cost between $2500 and $3500 dollars u.s. Lost all power control to the vehicle. Going up hill started to roll backwards only option was to stop.
Water leakage through the left windshield wiper cowling caused our power train control module to go bad. This repair is costing us almost $1,000.00 dollars to fix. Upon researching this issue on the internet we have come to realization that this is a very prolific problem with this make and model of van. Just for them to get the part is going to take a month. That shows you just how prolific it is. Ford is not taking responsibility for this faulty cowling that leaks directly on to the PCM even though tens of thousands or more people are having to have this part replaced multiple times costing them thousands of dollars out of their own pockets. There needs to be a government forced recall on these vehicles cause it's apparent that ford is not going to take responsibility for their faulty equipment design on their own.
Driving at 55mph, transmission suddenly disengaged. Transmission would not engage after stopping. No fluid leaks, high amount metal flakes in fluid, high fluid level (not circulating) also sudden and slight whining noise from trans as well. Torque converter, or pump has gone bad.
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