Mercury Montego harsh shifting problems

Filed Aug 25, 2015 · Engine · 63,512 miles · IL

When accelerating suddenly the vehicle would just shift out of gear, make a loud clunking noise and violently thrust forward and then back. It happens a lot when trying to accelerate onto a highway. It is very scary feeling. It is a sudden jolt. When we took the car to the dealership the repairman said has seen a lot of the harsh shifting failure with the transmission with the montego.

Filed Apr 5, 2015 · Electrical, Transmission · 32,000 miles · MO

My 2006 montego jerks and clunks feels like it is going to drop out. It also slips into neutral from drive . The trans jerks so hard it feels like it is going to drop on the street . First noted this with less than32000 miller. Also had to replace front engine mount $475 , full instrument cluster $1100 36000million. There is a lot of people complaining to ford but nothing is being done.if not taken care of this will be my langford product.3ford's inmyimmediatefamily now. All will be scrapped ordering for cars from a company that takes care of its customers. Ford new the CVT trans was a problem.

Filed Jan 30, 2014 · Acceleration, Engine · 80,310 miles · WI

As I was entering onto the highway instead of accelerating the car decelerated and was losing power and RPM's went way too high then it should of. The transmission is not acting properly.the car has a clunking sound when hitting bumps.

Filed Jun 17, 2013 · Transmission · 109,000 miles · MI

Usually this happens after I have been driving a while and get off the freeway. I will be accelerating slowly and when I reach 30-35 MPH (2 or 3rd gear), suddenly the RPM's will race way up but the car is just coasting and not shifting. I let off the gas and sometimes it will kick into gear when the RPM returns to normal. Other times it hard shifts into the next gear, sometimes the RPM will race again and I need to coast off the road and come to a complete stop. It's an intermittent problem and does not do it all the time. It won't do it when I take it to the dealer. I am afraid I will get rear ended one of these times especially if I am in a construction zone where I cannot get off the road.

Filed Sep 15, 2010 · Acceleration · 48,000 miles · CO

Our 18 year old daughter who has a permit was driving our 2007 monetego one evening with me. When she went to park at a drive inn restaurant under my guidance, she was pulling into a parking space and the car unexpectedly lunged forward. As an inexperienced driver she panicked and took her foot off the brake - endangering the lives of at least 10 people that were eating at the picnic tables outside of the restaurant. Thankfully the car was going at a relatively low speed and the curb stopped its forward motion. I had noticed intermittent "lunging" when I applied the brakes just a few times before this and a clunking when shifting and I had already taken it to my local mechanic who checked the transmission and brakes but said they were fine. After the incident with my daughter we took the car to the dealer and they said that the throttle body is bad. I called ford three times to no avail. I have since done some searching on the internet and have found that this is a real problem for many people which actually confirms what the service manager at the dealership told me. He actually said that the service department there has seen a number of these fixes and he stated that the defect is very dangerous - there needs to be a recall now!!!!!

Filed Jun 15, 2010 · Transmission · 70,000 miles · NY

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 mercury montego. While driving at 70 MPH up a hill, the vehicle suddenly shifted out of gear, and made a clunking noise. Prior to the failure, the transmission had been flushed. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealership where the contact was informed that there was a harsh shifting failure within the transmission. The dealer stated that the contact would be responsible for repair costs as the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000. The current mileage was 76,394. Updated 07/28/10. *lj updated 08/30/10

Filed Sep 22, 2009 · Transmission · 50,000 miles · KY

I own a 2005 mercury montego fwd 6 speed. A couple months ago the transmission started jumping around, it seems like it would not go into to gear and when it does it will slam real hard. I bought the car used with 22000 miles and now it has 52000 miles. I've already replaced a motor mount because of the hard shifting. The dealership told me that it might be the valve body witch is around 2000 dollars with parts and labor. From what I have research about this car, it is a major issue and could get someone hurt. I purchased this vehicle for my wife and kids so it has not been mistreated. There is something wrong with the transmission to start going out around 50000 miles. From what I have read on the forums this is a problem and for the transmission to all of a sudden not want to shift right who's to say someone gets hit because they couldn't get out of the way in time. I have always owned a ford and this car is the worst. As soon as I save the money up just so they can even look at it we are out of a vehicle.

Filed Sep 22, 2009 · Transmission · 78,000 miles · IL

I purchased a new 2005 mercury montego in may 2005. The car now has 85k miles with the 6 speed transmission.the transmission has been fine on short trips (35 miles or less) but anything over that and it starts doing really crazy stuff. It will downshift 3-4 gears at highway speeds...slam into gear... Then immediately upshift. This happens so hard that the whole car shakes. One time it was so bad, we felt we had been hit. Sometimes it will go to downshift, and just goes to neutral causing major issues when involved with traffic trying to get of the road. This is a major problem which could cause an accident. When shifting from 3-2 at low speeds, it will downshift but shudder the whole car. All these symptoms occur only after trips longer than 35 miles or on a very hot day where the transmission seems to heat up. My local ford garage has tried reprogramming the TCM with no success (first tsb). They now say I need a remanufactured transmission at a cost of nearly $5000. Ford will not help in any way even though I firmly believe this is a factory defect. The car has never been abused, been in an accident, and maintenance performed at or sooner than recommended. The shifting into neutral is a safety issue. Ford needs to step up and admit they have a problem and replace the trans, it appears as they have fixed the problem because all the tsb's for this symptom (2 that I know of) affects only vehicles manufactured before oct 2005. How can ford or any other company know they have an issue and not take corrective action. I have always been a ford man since the early 1970's. How I have been treated with this defect could be construed as criminal. I guess they figure if they hold out long enough, the vehicles will all die and go away and they wont have any obligations whatsoever. In doing research on this vehicle with the 6 speed trans, there are lots of us in the same situation with the same symptoms and the same reply from ford.

Filed Mar 31, 2008 · Suspension, Tires · 1,100 miles · WI

Loud clunking from rear suspension, replaced rear shock and tightened torsion bars etc. Noise was reduced but never fully corrected. Consequently my car is out of alignment and ruined all 4 tires in just 32,000 miles. Service center is refusing to fix under warranty. They have stated that the tires cupping on the inside has been an issue on these vehicles so is there more wrong here than they are saying. I have my car serviced there every 3,000 miles and tires rotated every 6,000 miles. I pay them to take care of my car, if I would not have noticed my tires being cupped they would have never said anything.

Filed Apr 26, 2005 · Acceleration, Transmission · 12,000 miles · WV

2004 mercury mountaineer I've experienced multiple transmission problems; a hard jerking when you place it in reverse,and rough shifting while on the highway. Dealership made multiple attempts to repair, and often said they can't duplicate the problem. Also, cruise control quits working intermittently, replaced but still a problem.