Ford Freestar Brakes

bri66

Van has 35,000 miles and wife told me last weekend it was making a funny noise. $400 funny for rear brakes and new rotors. I have a 2001 Escape and those rotors are disposable, but I guess the ones on her van are also. I remember a time when you use to be able to turn them once. Guess they don't make em like they use to. First vehicle I've owned with front and rear discs. Front discs usually go first and rear drums usually only need adjusting, but with rear discs I guess they go first. Two monthly payments this month. HA! HA! Sorry to hear about your transmission. The one in my Escape went about the same mileage, but I had the 100,000 mile powertrain and they covered it. Didn't know they sold a 75,000 mile warranty.

kbeaulieu

I had my rear brakes replaced at 22,000 miles. I am at 33,000 miles now and having problems with the whole braking system. Everytime I am at the dealership I get a different story as to what is wrong with my van. I am going through the lemon law right now to get this thing bought back. Nothing but trouble from the front bearings at 6500 miles to the brakes to the transmission. I have other issues too, just too many to list

jshriber

I have a 2004 ford freestar i started hearing grinding coming from the back driver side. to make a long story short the caliper on the back brakes of the freestar are faulty. Ford however if you are out of the 3yr 36000 will not replace - we get to eat the cost.if you goto www.nhtsa.dot.gov you can pull up all of the others that have had issues but ford wont do anything until someone dies as a result.

markfnc

45,000 miles on our 2005 SES. No brake problems yet, just got new BF Goodrich tires.

krjordan

I have a 2004 freestar. The rear brake pads are in good shape, but are very squeaky. When the brake is applied, the noise stops. It randomly comes and goes while driving. Any ideas on how to fix this noise?

rivercity

My suggestion is to buy a different vehicle. (sarc) I have a 2004 Freestar also. I also have an odd squeaking from the brakes. I took it to Ford a long time ago and they said they couldn't identify the problem. I have had the front brake pads replaces AND the rotors turned (12-07) but the front brakes are pulsating again and squealing when I press the pedal. Good luck finding the problem. I am still searching.

susanhai

my mechanic (not Ford) said that the rotors that came on the vehicle were so thin that they couldn't turn them. Our rear brakes were shot and the rotors on the back were very unevenly grooved... he said that he had never seen anything like it.

jc8911l88

LR rear caliper would not spin compress fully. Also, piston side pad worn to metal backing plate. Other pads show normal wear after 35k miles.Any ideas why piston wouldn't compress? Followed Alldata procedures, removing emergency brake cable from bracket etc. What did I miss? Also, after turning piston approx. 3 turns it began to weep fluid.The master cyl. cap was off and even loosened the bleeder screw. The piston offered no resistance to turning. Ended up replacing both calipers.

tomeo

Hello from Canada!
I am also experiencing the funny noise coming from the rear right wheel. It started after I changed the rotors and pads (@ 50,000 km). I complained to my mechanic and he put another set of (higher quality) pads. But noise is still there. Did you manage to fix your noise problem? thx

kkalbfleisch

I have an 05 Freestar and when I apply the brake and am coming to a stop, I get an annoying squeal from the brakes. I have heard this is due to poor design from ford. If anyone has more info etc. on the cause of this, any input would be appreciated.

Kris.

dtownfb

Your van is 4 years old. I wouldn't jump the gun and assume a squeal when braking is a poor design. It could be a simple as needing new brake pads.

kkalbfleisch

Actually, the brake pads are almost brand new. I have also read in many other forums that people are having the same issue. I have also read that this is a known issue due to poor design.

dtownfb

The NEW brake pads squeal??? Did the old ones squeal? How do you determine that it must be a poor design because your brand new brake pads squeal?

The only thing that offered in your post is that has changed is you installed new brake pads. And these brake pads are squealing. Have you talked to the mechanic who changed the pads? Sometimes there is squealing with new pads.

I'm not trying to defend Ford but you have offered nothing to suggest that the brake design is poor other than squealing brakes and reading about a poor design somewhere.

Provide more information so people can help you.

dtownfb

kkalbfleisch: here's an interesting article on brake noise: http://www.nissanhelp.com/diy/car_care_tips/brake_noise_solution.htm

conash

I have a ford 2005 ses freestar. My brakes squeak as well. It is almost as though something is cranking when I press on the brake. The sound can be heard outside of the van as well. When I took it to the dealership while it was still under warranty I was told, "that's Ford." So basically you are correct when you say it probably has something to do with the design of the brakes.

It is so embarrassing when you drive a car, and everyone can hear you brake. It seems to be getting worse and worse.

jroyse

Haha. 2004 Merc Monterey here. Front Bearings went bad around 60k (loud EEEE! squeal at highway speed). Took it to a Merc dealer, they replaced the bearings, and checked the PCM TSB (OK), then they said the "groaning" noise when I put on the brakes was the calipers, and they would need to be replaced. HA! These are Phenolic pistons calipers, and it is a design problem with them making noise. Part of life really, they groan. Phenolic pistons on calipers are how large vehicles with large brakes keep the brake fluid from heating up and boiling, and you losing brake power. Plastic lined calipers squeak, but they don't boil fluid! However I think it was poor dealer service to say I needed new calipers ($$$!). So I took the van to an independent shop - they pulled the calipers and lubricated the slide pins the calipers ride on and most of the groaning went away, the un-lubricated metals was amplifying the piston noise. I believe it was $80 labor for the independent shop to do something correctly. If you want to know what true cost of parts are, try www.rockauto.com and look up the part. Before you buy it, make sure the independent shop takes outside parts, sometimes they will!

wheatltc

HELP !! Is there any easy way to check brake fluid levels on a Freestar? The fluid resevoir is located under plastic "shelf" in the back of the engine compartment, is very difficult to view well, and I have no idea how I would add fluid if necessary (without using some type of funnel/tube arrangement.
'

barrybeck1

I have a 2004 purchased brand new freestar now with 115,000 miles on it. It was in the shop 15 times in its first 16 months of life. The dealer tried to get it returned under the lemon law but Ford refused saying it had 2 many miles on it! I use it daily as I am a repair person and have to use my own vehicle. Fortunately my trans went out at about 65,000 and it was under warranty so Ford had no option but to fix it. Something about the pump shaft going thru the torque converter. I haven't liked the way it shifts since they fixed it 2 year ago untill a mechanic friend of mine found something very interesting. The right rear brake caliper was frozen and the right rear brake was always engaged so it was causing wheel drag. He tried to fix it but eventually he had to replace the caliper. This was just found after 4 years and 110,000 miles, why didn't Ford find this lots earlier, I complaigned about the brakes making a scraping noise when the Van was new and was told thats normal when they are cold and it will go away when the vehicles warms up. It did but when we found this the right rear brake inside pad was worn on an angle and was down to the metal backing, funny how the left side was OK and wearing normally. I had to have both sides done but now the new caliper had to be added as the caliper piston was sticking. My machanic said probably from over heating and it became warped. I fully now believe that was the main reason for the transmission problem since now it shifts so smooth I can't even feel it and the highway milage went up almost 2 miles per gallon

richmich

I have a 2004 Mercury Monterey.

I had similar issues with the rear caliper sticking causing uneven wear of the pad and also a noise when breaking (somewhat load whistling type noise).

We noticed over the last 30-60 days a "groaning" type noise coming from what I think is the rear passenger wheel area.

You can only hear this when you go slow around 0 to 10 MPH.

Any thoughts on what this is. I was thinking bearing but never heard anything like this or maybe it needed lubrication but cannot find anything on lubricating the rear axle/wheels.

Thanks, Rich

richmich

companyman01

about a month ago, the brake pedal started settling an hour or so after parking, triggering the brake lights. It has run the battery down a couple of times, stranding my wife. Has anyone had this happen? I am trying to figure out whether it is a problem in the brake lines or with the power assist up under the dash.

companyman01