Mercury Mountaineer harsh shifting problems

Filed Nov 27, 2011 · Body, Transmission · 64,000 miles · ID

Being having problems with rear lift gate [ not staying close, opens anytime, it wants to by itself. My transmission problems erratic shifting, hard shifting up and down shifting and in and out shifting on reverse from park to reverse pulls very hard. When I bought the car I told them they looked at like I didn't know what I was saying they made an appointment for mechanic to check it and said it was good but it wasn't. I have 84,000 miles on it never pull a trailer with it I've made 38 payments on it. Why does ford puts a product like that and asks alot of money for the car that can't even make to 100,000 miles they should be out of act. Hope ford will take care of this cars.

Filed Jul 20, 2011 · Transmission · 75,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mercury mountaineer. The contact stated the vehicle had a very hard shift for a few months. While driving the transmission failed and the overdrive light came on prior to the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times since it was purchased and was always told that nothing was wrong with the transmission. The dealer recently stated there was a blow hole at the bottom of the transmission and the hole expanded which caused the failure. The dealer told the contact there was a repair kit that could be used, but not until the transmission failed completely. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown, but the current mileage was 75,000. Updated 10/18/11*lj updated 3/22/12 *cn updated 8/11/12

Filed Jan 25, 2011 · Transmission · 68,000 miles · NM

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mercury mountaineer. The contact stated that the vehicle began to experience a very hard shift when changing gears and driving any speed. The vehicle would also surge forward slightly during the hard shifts. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they were unable to diagnose the failure. The contact also stated that the gear shift lever felt abnormally loose whenever operated. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 68,000 and the current mileage was 71,000. Updated 3/7/11 *cn updated 03/14/11

Filed Jul 13, 2010 · Transmission · 43,500 miles · MI

2006 mercury mountaineer v8 awd--when shifting from park to drive or reverse it "clunks" hard into gear. The wrench symbol and the engine symbol light up. The vehicle also drives hard as if it isn't changing gears. The dealership will only say that the ford tsb recommends replacing the transmission fluid and filter, then resealing with foam seal first but refuses to give me an actual diagnosis of what is going on with the car. They can not tell me the real problem and insist that we will have to work through the various steps on the ford tsbs which may or may not work (by their own admission) and the cost of final repairs is completely open ended. When I questioned what we would try next after the transmission fluid/filter replacement (because I was skeptical about this causing the issue on a vehicle with only 43,000 miles) they had no answers at all. We have owned this vehicle less than a year. An internet search reveals that this is a major ongoing problem with this model but ford refuses to own up to it. There needs to be a recall.

Filed May 22, 2010 · Body · 92,360 miles · TX

Glass lift gate strut froze when it was opened when I tried to close it, the force broke the hinge at the top. If I had not immediately supported the lift gate it would have fallen. The hinge on the other side was cracked and bent and about to give. The emblem on the gate has also been cracked for quite awhile. I did have the transmission fluid issue addressed when the vehicle was still under warranty, but still experience transmission slamming into gear in reverse at various times.

Filed May 2, 2010 · Transmission · VA · crash

I have a 2004 mercury mountaineer and the transmission is very dangerous, my wife started to back up and put it in reverse and the transmission hesitated and then slammed into reverse causing her to jerk and then her foot came of the brake and hit the gas pedal causing her to ram a parked car behind her, and that was just the first time .the next time I myself was in the vehicle and it done the same thing except there was not a car behind me to stp me and I went over a embankment and if not for a tree I would have gotten hurt bad , the tree stopped me from going to the bottom , and it still to this day will slam into reverse, nothing has been done with it yet . I have read on the internet that alot of mercury mountaineer owners are having the same problem this is going to get someone killed if it has not already.

Filed Jan 6, 2010 · Transmission · 43,000 miles · CT

Extremely hard shifting into reverse. Slipping in 3rd gear when transmission is running for 15 minutes. Over drive light flashes and transmission fails to work while on highway. I have to shift into neutral turn the car off then back on (while at 65mph) then it works fine the rest of the day.

Filed Sep 28, 2009 · Transmission · 29,225 miles · CA

Problems with transmission in my 2004 mercury mountaineer. When in park and shifting in reverse it delays and then a loud hard clunk. It also clunks from going into second gear. My car is out of the standard 36,000 miles/ 3 year warranty. I am very disappoint in ford. The car hasn't even hit 30,000 miles yet.

Filed Aug 27, 2009 · Transmission · 40,000 miles · NY

Vehicle's transmission "clunks" or hard shifts, when slowing down and coming to a stop, or at low speeds. Surges at stop lights, or will hesitate when the gas pedal is pushed. This has been an ongoing problem since I purchased the vehicle in 1997. I have taken it back to the dealer numerous times, and they tell me that 1. Nothing is wrong with the transmission or 2. They have downloaded a new program for the computer. I know there is something wrong, but no one will fix this. Now it's 4000 miles over warranty, and the problem is getting worse. Sooner or later this will cause an accident.

Filed Mar 4, 2009 · Transmission · 69,949 miles · OH

I drive my husband's 2003 mercury mountaineer it has 69000 miles on it now and we bought it used dec 2004. When the SUV shifts into 3 or 4th gear it clunks or shutters. We have taken it in to the dealers several times having it returned and told there is nothing wrong. In december 2007 we took it in again with the same complaint and they did a transmission flush. Now when accelerating up to 35 the RPM would raise up to 4,000, like it was slipping.then it shift into wrong gear. The overdrive off light on the dash started flashing. Next day service engine soon light is on. We took it to dealership they claim they won't know what is wrong with it until they take it apart and it could cost any where from $3,000 to $4,000. We repeatedly took it to the same dealer and they would never find anything wrong and now that the warranty is expired we have a major expense not covered.we ended up taking it to a transmission repair shop where they were very familiar with the problem. The overdrive piston put in at the assembly factory was made of aluminum and is a defective part. So after 1 week without a car, the new overhaul kit, overdrive piston and torque converter we spent a grant total $1,895.83. This is something the dealer should have fixed when we first complained about it. I can honestly say we will never go back that dealer again.