2005 Ford Freestyle: multiple warning lights

Filed Jun 25, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 138,000 miles · IL

All engine lights come on at various times with no working gauges, but car drives. Withing past year, had instrument cluster replaced 2 times, alternator replaced twice, injector coils & spark plugs, cleaned/replaced, battery replaced, throttle body assembly & gasket, . Had diagnosed at 2 ford dealers in different states and neither can figure out what is causing all the dashboard lights to stay on. Both dealers were adament it was the instrument cluster, which clearly it is not since the error lights are still on. Have been told it could be electrical or rcm, but there is no way to test for either. Dealer wants me to foot the (hourly / union) labor rate while they try to figure it out. Currently car is currently with local mechanic who is going over the car to figure it out. Nothing has been determined yet.

Filed Mar 26, 2016 · Electrical · 88,000 miles · TX

While driving, my '05 ford freestyle awd limited the air & radio turn off, along with all of the lights on the dash, all gauges bottom out & the turn signal does not work. This lasts for about 30-45 repeatedly, in quick succession. You cannot signal a turn or know speed when this occurs which is a safety issue. The battery and check engine light come on & sometimes it reads check charging system. This happens on local streets and highway driving. I believe it coming from the instrument panel itself. I have seen this same complaint from many others has I research the issue on the internet. I'm not aware of any recall, even though ford is well aware of this safety condition. This started happening january 2016.

Filed Feb 9, 2015 · Electrical, Lights · 136,000 miles · OH

While driving the wrench light and engine light came on. Lost all power to the accelerator pedal, refused to go above 2k roma. Turned car off and let it sit for fifteen minutes. Turned it back in and lights were still on and car wouldn't accelerate. Replaced the throttle body and the accelerator position sensor. Still giving the same codes and won't allow me to clear the codes. Previous issues with unexpected acceleration in the past. Now the battery won't hold a charge, the lights are coming on when they are all turned off and it seems the electrical system I'd going crazy. It's now february and I'm being told the throttle position sensor needs to be replaced. Since my throttle body had the cold weather system on it that means another throttle body replacement with no guarantee it will fix the issue. I can't drive the car at all. I can't back it out of its parking space without it stalling out and all the lights inside abd headlights flickering. There needs to be a recall. I've spent till much money to keep putting more into it when replacing the parts that have the code issues isn't working.

Filed Jun 21, 2014 · Electrical · 80,000 miles · OH

While driving, my ?05 ford freestyle awd limited the air & radio turn off, along with all of the lights on the dash, all gauges bottom out & the turn signal does not work. This lasts for about 30-45 repeatedly, in quick succession. You cannot signal a turn or know speed when this occurs which is a safety issue. The battery and check engine light come on & sometimes it reads check charging system. This started fall 2013, no one found the problem. It stopped over the winter & started again this spring. Again 2 shops including the dealer again cannot find the problem. Battery & voltage readings were normal. Dealership says it could be the instrument console ($999.99) or a frayed wire but could not validate either issue & admitted the instrument console would not explain the radio & air turning off. The dealer recommended that I replace my relatively new battery, but couldn't give a reason & did not find something wrong with the battery or the wiring to the battery so I took my car home with no answers this is an issue I see all over the internet, I have 2 young children & do not feel safe driving while the instrument panels turn on and off repeatedly. I don't know if it impacts the exterior lights because it has been daylight. Will it take congressional inquiry like gm is facing before ford takes responsibility or issues a recall for these problems? They must not care since they stopped making the vehicle shortly after it entered the market, I do not trust ford.

Filed Mar 10, 2014 · Electrical · 127,000 miles · MD

The entire instrument panel went dark while drving at night, headlights included. The gauges all dropped to zero, then went back up, back to zero. This happened a few times within a minute. Then all the lights on the panel lit up including airbag , ABS, everything. Very scary to have this happen while driving in the dark. I am very thankful that it was me driving and not my 16 year old daughter -- it really could have caused an accident. This happened again last night while I was driving to pick up my 12 year old from church--- same exact thing. The engine was running fine, though. I researched the problem and saw many, many complaints and it's a known issue for this model year. Why isn't there a recall? This is a serious safety issue - do you want a oncoming vehicle to have there lights flashing on/off and instrument panel failing while they are driving straight toward you or someone in your family?

Filed Nov 19, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 125,000 miles · WA

When at a stop, our car lunges when you press on the gas pedal, forward or reverse. There is a hesitation after pushing on the pedal than it leaps forward or reverse. I was told from a dealer that it needed the throttle body cleaned and was told the same from a transmission shop. The transmission shop informed me of some problems ford was having with this transmission. I looked it up on line and seen many complaints. I cleaned it and it seemed to fix the problem. A couple of months ago, it started the lunging again. This morning, the car shuttered and stopped and several lights on the dash lit up, wrench, motor. The car wouldn't move, it wouldn't even rev up. It stranded my wife on the side of the road. I came to meet her and had it towed to our house. I cleaned the throttle body again. When I got in to try it, all the lights were no longer there but it still lunges. Very afraid to let my wife drive it again with the possibility of being stranded.

Filed Sep 9, 2012 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 104,000 miles · CO

Went to start my 2005 ford freestyle - the rpms on the vehicle increased slightly, the wrench, traction control and engine light came on, when I put the car in reverse, there was a loud thunk noise. I turned the engine off and tried it again. Same thing, I had to drive it approx. 2 miles, there was no power, but it got me to my class. When I came back out to my car an hour an a half later, only the engine light came on and the vehicle drove normally. Since then I have had it to the dealer to diagnose. At first they said it was the transmission that would need to be replaced. This is a $4000 repair. The diagnostic codes were generic and they could not tell for sure what the problem was. This behavior usually starts after the vehicle has sat for a few hours. When all the lights first come on, it says it has had a data transmission error. I turn off the car and restart. This usually resets the computer in some way. When only the engine light comes on, it will say "check engine, check transmission". Sometimes no lights come on. It drives normally. I took it back to the dealer so they could experience the whole issue first thing in the morning. They have now said that it is a short in the instrument cluster. The repair will be $1025.00, but they can not guarantee that this will resolve the issue for sure. I have also experienced where the lights will come on while I am driving. I have to turn my vehicle off in traffic to reset it. This is not real safe. I see that my year of car and newer has had several complaints for this issue and a lunging issue. I will be contacting ford tomorrow to see if I can get some help on this issue.

Filed Sep 12, 2011 · Acceleration · 80,000 miles · MA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. Whenever the gears began to shift from reverse to drive the vehicle would lunge forward and then backwards. While driving 70 MPH all of a sudden the speedometer would decrease to 35 MPH without any warning and the vehicle would also slow down. All of the warning lights on the instrument panel would illuminate. The failure occurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who performed a diagnostic test but could not diagnose the failure nor were any error codes displayed. Occasionally when the vehicle was turned off and then back on it would reset itself. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 86,000.

Filed Jan 21, 2011 · Acceleration, Electrical · 60,000 miles · AR

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds for a year the driver noticed that all the warning lights would illuminate on the instrumental panel on a intermittent basis. The vehicle would also stall on different occasions without warning. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed the contact that the instrument cluster had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired for the instrument cluster. The contact also stated that when trying to decelerate the vehicle it surge forward. The vehicle was also repaired for the instrument cluster for this failure as well. The failure continued to occur for the mentioned failures. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

Filed Oct 28, 2010 · Electrical, Lights · 100,000 miles · AR

When driving my 2005 ford freestyle down the road the entire cluster will start cutting out all the lights will come on. The first time this happened I was driving 30 mile per hour. I pulled over and shut off my vehicle, a few seconds later I restarted my vehicle the lights still came on they stayed on for about 20 minutes and then stayed off for about a 9 days. The second time it happened they stayed on for 4 days. I called our nearest ford dealership the same day they came on and was told it could be the battery causing it or could be the cluster cutting out. We checked and cleaned our battery which is only 9 months old. It was not the battery. Then on the 4th day all the warning lights in the cluster went off except the check engine light. After a day or so it to went out. The biggest problem with this the speedometer does not work when this occurs. ...I feel this is very dangerous, especially on the curvy and winding roads where I live. And it is a problem I thoroughly checked out many people are having problem with this issue yet ford has not had a recall on it or the other problem with the throttle body (lurching and surging). Both are safety issues and manufacturing defects. Bad enough the AC problem and having bought 5 sets of tires since I have bought the 2005 freestyle. I have owned ford products for many years and being they do not back their products I will not continue purchasing from ford.

Filed Oct 25, 2010 · Electrical · 59,000 miles · GA

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 ford freestyle limited. While driving approximately 50 MPH at night, the vehicle suddenly lost power. The instrument panel was not lit and all lights turned off. The contact was able to be restarted after ten seconds. The failure occurred intermittently and the contact replaced five batteries due to the problem. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but the failure could not be duplicated. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 59,000 and the current mileage was approximately 100,000.

Filed Aug 21, 2010 · Airbags, Driver assistance · 65,000 miles · DC

During vehicle operation, the instrument cluster suddenly and catastrophically fails, apparently disabling several critical safety features. The malfunction at first occurred intermittently, then more frequently, but now occurs continuously. A local ford dealer has replaced the instrument cluster twice without resolving the problem, indicating that original ford equipment may be defective. The speedometer and tachometer needles suddenly drop to zero and freeze. The digital display shows 'odometer data error.' all warning lights on the instrument cluster come on at once. Without these instruments, the driver can no longer monitor vehicle performance, such as speed and engine temperature. The malfunction definitely disables the automatic door locks and traction control. It may very well also disable the air bag system since the self-check display also does not work.