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Ford Freestyle CVT Transmissions

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Comments

  • ct2ctct2ct Member Posts: 5
    2006 FS-just over 38,000 miles, just out of warranty, i start to hear weird noises out of the engine, like a belt is loose. Then it starts roughly, runs roughly, especially in cold weather. It also had acceleration problems, not accelerating like it did originally. Sometimes had a pause and then kick with power. Further, when i put it in reverse, it had a disturbing acceleration, which could be very dangerous. Sort of lurched backward with too much power for just taking my foot off the break. It has now been in the dealer 2 times, for a total of 4 weeks. They have told me it is one issue and then another. They replaced the engine sensor light twice, check the PCM, the wiring and the coils. They alternate between telling me it is my problem for not changing the oil soon enough (went 14,000 miles before change) to telling me it is a computer problem or some other part. Now they are telling me it is a timing chain issue that will cost me $1600 or if that doesn't fix it, the whole engine needs to be replaced for a cost of $6800! This car is not that old, doesn't have that many miles on it. Is this just another transmission failure issue, like others I have read? Suggestions? I have liked the car, but I cannot afford to put in a whole new engine in it, especially if this is a design defect. :sick:
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    I've been trying to find out the sensitivity of fuel economy to CVT chain tension (clamping force on the cones). Specifically, is this tension/force just set, or is it somehow automatically adjusted? I don't see how this force is directly sensed, so is a certain hydraulic pressure simply commanded, with hope that the force/tension turns out right? In a nutshell, what is the control law/strategy for chain tension and clamping force against the cones? Any maintenance required? Below, a quote and link from ZF's Mini Cooper version of our CVT. I understand ours is very similar, ours having a torque convertor for smoother takeoffs from a standstill, and different control software of some kind.

    I posted this in the Freestyle maintenance section in hopes of snagging an answer from fordwrench or somebody else that understands the internals of this. I communicated this question to the son of the engineer who led the original development for the basic ZF design, and he is asking his dad about this. I'll post his answer later should I get it and compare it with the brainiacs who might answer this here. I'm certainly going to learn something here, and hope you all will too.

    From the Mini Cooper CVT transmission article PDF file to download here..., page 21

    "Pressure is supplied to the secondary pulley to ensure that there is always adequate clamping force onto the belt for all load conditions. A solenoid valve influences the secondary pressure control valve, optimising the pressure and hence the clamping force.
    Optimisation of this pressure improves fuel consumption.
    The working valves in this area are the secondary valve, the exhaust secondary valve, and a PWM solenoid secondary valve."
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    I found some more info into what is going on inside these CVTs: In the June 2008 issue of SAE's "Automotive Engineering International" magazine, Hirofumi Okahara said he's "not satisfied with the current efficiency of current CVT metal link-type drive belts. We are developing more sophisticated sensing throughout the CVT to further optimize the degree of clamping force at the pulley and reduce pressure on the steel belt under running conditions", speaking about the Nissan CVT. The Nissan (JATCO) CVT may be similar in some ways to the Ford Freestyle (BMW MiniCooper, Audi ZF unit). Actually, it may well be that the Ford Freestyle/500 CVT is more efficient than the JATCO Nissan one, as it has been noted in the past (Car and Driver) that the JATCO CVT wastes some energy in internal hydraulic pumping losses. Depending on how clever the engineers are, it is possible the ZF CVT (Freestyle, etc.) doesn't waste as much energy internally. However, the clamping force Okahara speaks about critical to efficiency may be a problem in some Ford Freestyles, since it is difficult to gaurantee optimization in all production vehicles. I wonder if this is behind the inability of some Freestyles to get good MPG. Okahara wants more sensors in the JATCO unit to better measure and control clamping force.
    Also see Technical CVT Paperor another Set of CVT Tech Papers. A lot of engineering/tech reading; not easy to understand. Anyway, I'll try to run Okahara's comments past one of the engineers responsible for the ZF CVT in our Freestyles to see if he thinks clamping force variations across many Freestyles could be a problem.
  • stevedebistevedebi Member Posts: 4,098
    The Taurus X does not use a CVT, and the forum should either be "Ford CVT", "Freestyle CVT", or just "CVT Transmissions".
  • jjr4jjr4 Member Posts: 1
    I have an '07 Freestyle (Manufactured in late '06) with 39,000 miles. I am having identical problems with acceleration, or lack of, and surges, or lurching forward and in reverse. Did you ever figure out the problem?
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    We were doing fine until Ford changed the Freestyle to a Taurus X and added the CVT.

    How about we just drop the CVT?
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    No, just drop the TaurusX from this forum and keep the "Freestyle CVT" association in this forum. The Taurus X does not have a CVT, and there is already another Freestyle/TaurusX forum to handle the other similarities in the vehicles.

    To be clear, Ford used a CVT in the Freestyle from '05-'07, and the TaurusX from '08-on has a new engine, tranny, and front suspension, and otherwise the vehicles are almost identical (only front end cosmetic changes).
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    ct2ct and jir4,
    You both might be having the same problem the forum poster named jrmust has. See his post at Freestyle lurching issues post by jrmust

    I think what jrmust was experiencing, and the dealer finally resolved, was a loose electrical connection in the accelerator pedal or where the electrical signal moves the throttle in the manifold, one or the other; I couldn't tell exactly from jrmust's post. You might be able to email jrmust to get his attention, by clicking on jrmust when you see it green and underlined to the right of the title. That might work.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    jjr4 and ct2ct,
    The forum post jrmust does not have an email address listed, so post on the Ford Freestyle Maintenance and Repair forum by clicking here and jrmust is most likely to hang out there.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Ok, if anyone happens in here with a Taurus X transmission problem, yell and we can start up another discussion just for you.
  • drewmimidrewmimi Member Posts: 9
    I have a 2006 Freestyle AWD. Waiting for a plane, with engine idling, drove away at slow speed. Stopped for traffic and the yellow wrench light comes on and the car won't move. Put it in park, shut off the engine, restarted, won't move. Shifted through low to reverse to drive, the car moves slowly. Shut off again and loaded passengers. Parked for the night. Next morning, no wrench light, car runs fine. To the dealer, they change a transmission module since the "codes" were not related to the transmission. A month later, same thing and back to the dealer. Dealer rebuilds transmission with info from Ford that seal is allowing fluid to bypass, causing loss of power from engine through the transmission. Month later - still working.
  • nibyaknibyak Member Posts: 26
    That’s sort of what they did to my 06 last year. I started having problems at around 60,000 miles. Never had the no-go problem but had the wrench light and hard downshifting when going up hills. My dealer’s service department had no clue what was wrong and I ended up having loaner cars for a total of nine weeks. The third time the service department had the CVT out of the car they finally fixed it (with Ford’s hotline help). The problem had to do with input shaft machining defects which destroyed the o-ring seal and screwed up the internal pressure. The service manager stated that Ford specifically told them to check the integrity of the input shaft seal. The list of parts is outlined in “TSB 06-11-4 CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSAXLE (CVT) NOISE DIAGNOSIS”. I will also say that my car never made any noise that I heard. I have included the list of parts from the TSB below. Not all of the parts on the list will have to be replaced for every CVT, but as you can see, they don’t appear to be inexpensive parts.

    PART NUMBER PART NAME
    7F9Z-7015-A Input Shaft
    5F9Z-7025-A Bearing
    5F9Z-7F465-AA Diff Assy AWD
    5F9Z-7F465-BA Diff Assy FWD
    5F9Z-4222-BA Diff Bearing Race
    5F9Z-4222-CA Diff Bearing Race
    7F9Z-7H348-A Side Shaft Gear Assy 5.19
    7F9Z-7H348-B Side Shaft Gear Assy 5.54
    5F9Z-7J309-AA Dust Cap
    5F9Z-7L280-CA O-ring

    All of my problems were fixed under my extended warranty and I didn’t even have to pay the $100.00 deductible. I have put about 40,000 additional miles on the repairs and haven’t had any issues.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    Host Steve,
    Could you add "500/Montego" to the title? Those had the CVT as well. Sorry I forgot to mention that before.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    You're welcome to go start your own Montego discussion over in Sedans. :shades:
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    The same CVT transmission was in the Freestyle/500/Montego for model years '05, '06, and '07. Therefore, shouldn't this CVT discussion include all the vehicles that had the identical CVT?
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Parts is parts but we don't ordinarily lump the different vehicle types together like that; we do have discussions like 4WD & AWD systems explained that aren't model specific.

    And we do refer people with a, say, Rodeo question to a Passport one if they don't find answers with the search tools.

    We could link this over to Sedans and just call it something like Ford CVT Transmissions.

    Meanwhile, if anyone has a question about their CVT, please jump in.
  • baethkebaethke Member Posts: 8
    My 05 FS has a noise coming from the tranny that sounds like a bearing on a pulley dragging when it is in P or N. When its under load it stops. And now the cvt tranny seems to surge when accel and trying to pull a hill. And it also sounds like a regular transmission in a low gear when going down a hill. Oh yes and one more thing, it has a really loud whine and some what grinding noise going in reverse. Anyone want to take a stab at it?? :(
  • saabturboidsaabturboid Member Posts: 178
    It doesn't sound like the same exact thing as you are experiencing, but our '05 AWD FS has been making a loud whining noise for about a year now, worse when it is hot out. At first I thought it was the CVT going south, but later discovered the whine is coming from the power steering pump. Our Ford dealer didn't seem too concerned about it and said, "We've heard a lot worse", even though people turn their heads to see what is making the noise when we drive by. Perhaps this is one reason why Ford is in trouble.

    - Chad
  • baethkebaethke Member Posts: 8
    Thanks for the idea but i figured that out right after we bought it. If you fill the power steering up past the max mark it should stop it for you for awhile. thats what i tried on mine just for the hell of it and it worked.
  • bestwilkebestwilke Member Posts: 1
    Hi. New to this forum. I have an 05 Freestyle with about 29K miles on it. We use it primarily for trips to TX coast from OH to get out of the cold weather. I purchased an extended warranty when I bought the vehicle. I've thought about getting a new vehicle, possibly a Taurus X, but not sure if I want to keep the CVT or not. Haven't really had any problems with it other than a squeaking noise from brakes being in the salt air I was wondering if I'd get as good gas mileage without the CVT. Doesn't Volvo use the CVT on their wagons? Have they had any problems with it? Any thoughts or comments are welcome. Thanks.
  • tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    You may want to check out the Ford Freestyle Real World MPG discussion.

    tidester, host
    SUVs and Smart Shopper
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    Similar CVTs based on the Freestyle's ZF brand (German) designed CVT are in the BMW MiniCooper and some Audi cars. Volvo does not use it. The Nissan CVT is not a ZF unit. You might be thinking of the Haldex AWD system, shared by Freestyles with Volvos. And the Freestyle chassis is based on the Volvo S80 and XC90 designs. For a summary of the overall reliability of the CVT form over about a thousand owners, Consumer Reports shows the CVT to be of average reliability compared to all transmissions in other cars. Like any transmission, especially automatics of any kind, things can go wrong, but no more frequently in the CVT than in other automatic transmissions.
  • ct2ctct2ct Member Posts: 5
    I have an 06 Freestyle-had to have the entire engine replaced at cost of 6000 bucks-long story. However, now while sitting idle for a short period of time, maybe 3-5 minutes or more, with A/C on, the engine revs and if i don't have a solid foot on the brake, the car will dangerously lurch forward. Anyone else had this issue? I would get rid of this car, if i wasn't upside down in it. NOthing but problems. Thanks for any help. :sick:
  • baethkebaethke Member Posts: 8
    You should get better gas mileage with a CVT. As long as you are comparing it to use with the same size engine. But ford has had alot of problems with there CVT. But over all you will do better on long trips with it.
  • carstenbcarstenb Member Posts: 37
    the a/c needs some extra power from the generator hence it revs up. you are aware of the P position of the shift lever :confuse:

    Carsten
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    The Freestyle CVT gets average reliability scores from Consumer Report's surveys. Some cars have less reliable automatic transmissions, and some cars have more reliable automatic transmissions. If you zero in on one owner and they happen to have had trouble with their CVT, then you can't say the entire fleet has the same problems on average. They are a sample-size of one.
  • bruneau1bruneau1 Member Posts: 468
    The ac does not cause surging. If everything is working properly, the computer will maintain the same rpms with or without the ac. Of course, use of the ac does consume some power.
  • baethkebaethke Member Posts: 8
    If it is such a small group then Ford would still be using the CVT.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    Actually, the CVT is not being used by Ford because it is too expensive to make compared to a newly available 6-speed. The main steel belt on the CVT is a German ZF part that costs too much, as well as some other parts on it. Ford formed a new deal with GM to jointly develop a new 6-speed transmission recently, sharing the development costs with each other to reduce costs. The 6-speed is slightly cheaper to manufacture and very good.
  • apoind1apoind1 Member Posts: 1
    Had the same thing happen to me yesterday for the first time. I put the car in reverse, then had to slam on the brake...as the engine rev-ed very fast. It did it twice in a row. I had no problems going forward...and haven't tried reverse again, but will be taking it into the shop tomorrow. We have less than 30,000 miles on it. This is actually our first problem with the vehicle...but what a scary one! That's why I decided to get online and see if others have had it.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    apoind1: Report this to the government NHTSA and they might make Ford fix this problem with a recall notice. The website is: Report to the NHTSA click here

    Consider that the surging might be due to the accelerator pedual sensor (transducer) sending signals to the engine to "go" when it shouldn't. The Freestyle is a throttle-by-wire type, with no mechanical linkage as in most other cars. See jrmust post with accelerator pedal problem
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    bestwilke,
    I just checked the latest surveys from Consumer Reports (April '08 edition at the library) and the Freestyle CVT is above average in reliability. The engine was also above average, the old Duratec 3.0. The Ford 500 sedan, which used the same CVT in about half of them, was also above average.

    Also, you asked about fuel economy in the Freestyle vs. TaurusX: Freestyle easily beats it.
  • tennesseemomtennesseemom Member Posts: 1
    My Freestyle just starting surging like you are describing. I am around 30,000 miles and will have to take it to the shop immediately because I have a 16 year old and it could cause him to wreck. We just replaced the battery last week because the car would not start and have a rattle around the front tires when I turn. What other problems do I have to look forward to.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    tennessemom, apoind1, ct2ct,
    Let us know what the diagnosis is. I'm wondering if you all have the accelerator pedal transducer sensor problem like jrmust did. Could be something else. I've had zero problems with my '05 Freestyle at 43,000 miles now, but am looking for weak design features to watch for in the future.
  • pjsextonpjsexton Member Posts: 1
    My husband and I purchased a Freestyle when he worked in parts at the Ford dealership. We loved our car, but while it was under the original warranty it left us sitting along the interstate due to a throttle problem. We managed to get that fixed and just as we entered our extended warranty, the power steering pump went bad. Now, just at the end of our extended warranty, at 60,000 miles, our transmission went out as we were, once again, traveling on the interstate and passing another car in the left hand lane. We heard a pop and a squeal, and thankfully, we got to the shoulder of the interstate where we sat for nearly 2 hours waiting on a tow truck!!! My husband works for the same automotive group, but is now in service at Chrysler. I hate to say it, but I wish I hadn't purchased this car and can't wait to trade it in for another one. It still isn't fixed and I'm not sure if it is fixed if I'll be able to trust it again. What do you think?
  • drewmimidrewmimi Member Posts: 9
    Well, guess what? The yellow wrench is back and transmission is bucking. Back to the dealer, bad codes which don't coincide with the yellow wrench. Ford wants the dealer to drive the vehicle to "catch" the codes. My luck, Iowa Lemon law limits to 2 years or 24,000. First yellow light----25,000 miles and I get hosed because the car's worth has gone south. Waiting for the dealer and ford to decide. Can't trust this car now. With the floods, heat and coming winter, the Freestyle was suppose to be our go anywhere vehicle. Appears now that it's going to be our around town vehicle only.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    pisexton,
    Could you write back with what they found failed in the transmission? Sounds like the inner cones cracked or the steel belt broke (guessing).

    I don't know if I would single out the Freestyle for reliability problems. A friend of mine bought a Honda Pilot a couple of years ago and he was saying he bought it because it was predicted to be reliable. Then he had a cylinder bank head crack (serious stuff), and 3 months later his transmission failed. Still, like the Freestyle, you can look at the total population of Freestyles and Pilots out there and see they both do better than average than other models out there. I think we're seeing normal random failures, part of the chance we take when we own vehicles of any kind. I do hear and see in Consumer Reports that Chryslers fail at a higher rate than any other make of vehicle.
  • sully320sully320 Member Posts: 4
    My fiancee is leasing a 2007 Ford Freestyle. She has 50k miles on it. The engine was idling noisily. The noise got louder when she accelerated, so she took it to the dealer and was told that it was outside the warranty. The diaganosis? Transmission failure; the price? $7,000! We've been loyal to Ford for years and have about 20 Ford vans in her company's fleet. The dealer and Ford absolutely suck when it comes to addressing the problem. No wonder so many people are staying away from Ford. I wouldn't buy a cotton ball from them
  • stevedebistevedebi Member Posts: 4,098
    "My fiancee is leasing a 2007 Ford Freestyle. She has 50k miles on it. The engine was idling noisily. The noise got louder when she accelerated, so she took it to the dealer and was told that it was outside the warranty. "

    Lesson learned. One thing I ALWAYS do when leasing is to ensure that I have a warranty that will last the length of the lease, even if that means buying an extended warranty. With a lease you don't have any choice - you have to fix the car, or they will charge you for the fix when you turn in the lease...
  • sully320sully320 Member Posts: 4
    The lease is for 3 years. The warranty is for 3 years or 36,0000 miles. The tranny failed at 50,000 miles. The vehicle was used for personal transportation. No towing. No way the tranny should fail after 50,000 of normal operation. It must be due to a defect, but Ford's stance is "tough luck. It'll cost you $7,000" While my fiancee is a loyal Ford customer, I have never purchased one because, when I first started driving 30 years ago, my dad told me that FORD stands for "Found On Road Dead" I guess not much has changed in the last 30 years at Ford.
  • saabturboidsaabturboid Member Posts: 178
    $7,000 is crazy talk for a transmission rebuild. Are CVTs really that expensive to rebuild or are we paying three times the cost of a traditional transmission rebuild because CVT owners are stuck without any other options? I was under the impression that CVTs were rather simple transmissions without many parts (at least compared to a standard automatic). This should translate into a less expensive rebuild process, not more.

    As far as Ford acronyms go I prefer Finest Operating Road Device or First On Race Day. Fortunately your transmission problem is not common and Consumer Reports rates Freestyles as better than average for reliability.

    - Chad
  • stevedebistevedebi Member Posts: 4,098
    "The lease is for 3 years. The warranty is for 3 years or 36,0000 miles. The tranny failed at 50,000 miles. "

    As I recall, the FS has a 5 year, 50K warranty on the engine and transmission? This is different from the overall 3 year 36K warranty. You might want to check if the car was actually in warranty. If it was only a little past the warranty, contact the regional or national Ford representative and see if they will offer to cover part or all of the problem. After that, find another dealer, because THEY should have thought of that.

    As for cost, the entire reason that Ford went away from the CVT for the Taurus X was the cost of the transmission parts. So I'm not surprised it is expensive.

    I am sorry for the cost you have incurred. The question I have is if there is an issue with the CVT as a design or if this is a problem specific to your car. I think yours is one of only 2 or 3 reported as being a problem in the Edmunds forums. There is a fair possibiltiy that it is just a case of mechanical failure.

    I was simply making a suggestion for future leases with any car company. When I lease, I'm very careful to accurately estimate the actual miles to be driven, and then get an extended warranty to cover those miles. My last lease was 39 months, and I had a 45K, 42 month extended warranty, so that I would be covered for the duration of the lease.
  • finelinevanfinelinevan Member Posts: 6
    I read this posting on CVT transmissions as well as others. I was buying a used Freestyle with 20 k on it and was concearned of the negative bloggs. I decided to see if this many complaints where happening with this trans along with other complaints.

    I went to someone I know that is a mechanic for Ford at a big dealership. I asked him whats the deal with CVT breakdowns and he said up front that they really dont get many problems at all on the CVT in fact he does not re- call any major problems as of yet in his shop. Thats in Northern Jersey. He did say they recommend changing the trans fluid every 30k of two years( Ford every 60k) Runs about 200.. He said the fluid thats changed is dirty black so it makes a difference and Ford is the only place to get the fluid. But he said they seem to be holding up fine as far as he can see.

    He said they had break problems that they where changing breaks and rotors and fixing the problem a while back. But Ford was picking up the bill for the work done.

    Then I went to a high performance tranny place that is a specialist on high tech trannys, A top rate place that deals with foreign and domestic and race cars.
    I talked to the owner about my concerns the CVT. His 1st reaction was that is a great tranny system and said as long as you change the fluid every 2 years you will be fine. He said he loved the entire CVT concept and it makes so much more sense for millage and less MOVABLE parts to breakdown. He went on to say only Ford is where he can get the trans fluid. So thats 2 direct exact answers. Then he went on to say he just got back from Fords unveiling of the 2009 F150s . He said Ford REPS said they will be implementing the CVT in other cars in the near future.

    He did say failures can be caused by people not being trained and using other type fluids cause failures. He said some mechanics should not get into areas they have no idea of the tech that makes them work. Anything new will start people talking negative. He said everyone will be going to CVT in the neat future because the great marriage with gas mirage that can't be over looked . Nissan going 100% in all their cars now.
    I love the Freestyle and I do get a honest 28 to 29 mpg hwy and 24 on country roads for which I drive on. I will as I do keep up on maintence and run mobile 1 and change the fluid in the CVT with Ford CVT fluid every 2 years.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    It was previously said "...$7,000 is crazy talk for a transmission rebuild. Are CVTs really that expensive to rebuild or are we paying three times the cost of a traditional transmission rebuild because CVT owners are stuck without any other options?..."

    www.fordparts.com has the CVT going for $5,000 (just the part), retail. Give generous labor and a few other small parts totaling $2,000, and you've got a dealership making more money off car repairs/parts than the profit on selling new vehicles, a scenario typical around the U.S..... It is probably true that the cost is extra high because other tranny repair shops won't go near our CVT, from what I've heard. I'll check Aamco to see if they will repair it.
  • coldcrankercoldcranker Member Posts: 877
    Consumer Reports contacted hundreds of random Freestyle owners, and they say collectively that the CVT is failing at lower rates than the average automatic tranny out there, so that does corroborate what the Ford mechanic is saying. Our CVT has above average reliability. When it does fail, people suddenly naturally feel motivated to call Henry Ford a jerk on forums on the web. When the CVT does just fine, it is ignored and there is no motivation to write about it on forums.
  • rmcwilliamsrmcwilliams Member Posts: 5
    I am having similar problems. The car seems to run at very high RPM but only goes 40 MPH. It also bucks. The yellow warning light comes on that shows a slippery road with a car. That's probably just from the bucking but not sure. The Ford dealership has had my car 5 weeks with still no resolution. My car is from a Lease company as this is a company car. The lease company though told me that it is covered under warranty because the powertrain warranty is 60,000 miles. I have 54,000 miles on the car. That may be a special deal for the Lease company but I would double check to make sure it isn't covered under warranty. Call somebody else besides the dealer. I found the dealer lying to me on several itmes so don't trust what they say.
  • rmcwilliamsrmcwilliams Member Posts: 5
    I checked FORD website and they list a warranty of 5 year 60,000 miles on 2007 and on 2006 with a $100 deductible. Seems to me you shouldn't be paying the $7,000 as it is in the coverage area. Go higher on the food chain at FORD.
  • sully320sully320 Member Posts: 4
    We went around and around with the dealership and with "customer service" representatives at Ford regarding the tranny failure at 50K. I suddenly realized that we have a 5 year 60K warranty on the powertrain. We faxed the new vehicle sticker to the dealership (Thank God my fiancee kept it) and the dealer is now (hopefully) repairing it under this warranty. I am thankful that we didn't lay out 7 large to fix it, and then have to go after them to get it back. A lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth could have been avoided if the dealer or the cs reps just said "Oh, you're covered under our powertain warranty". We haven't gotten the car back yet, so I'm reserving judgment until then
  • rmcwilliamsrmcwilliams Member Posts: 5
    I would watch that dealer. Probably they were going to charge you 7K and then turn around and enter a warranty claim with FORD and get another 7K. They work that deal all of the time. Glad you don't have to shell out 7k. Good luck on the car. I'd sell and buy a Chevy.
  • bellaspopbellaspop Member Posts: 14
    I apologize for the length but if any can share any info I'd truly appreciate it.

    My 05 SEL FWD has 57,750 miles on it. A week ago I got the wrench light. I pulled over shut down and looked up the meaning of the light in my manual. It says to contact my dealer immediately. I turned the car on and the light was gone I did a system check and got the message that the transmission was OK. Drove it like that for 2 days then the light came on again but the car drove fine - no noticeable problem with power, noise, or vibration. I took it to a buddy with a code reader to diagnose it but we could get any info. I made an appointment with a dealer in the town where I work and before I could get it there the light came on again this time accompanied with high engine revving and a noticeable loss of power. I had it towed to a transmission shop closer to home and they got a reader for a "turbine speed sensor". Apparently the sensor can't be replaced because it comes attached to a valve cover that it can't be separated from. So I need to buy a part and was quoted a price of $1000.00

    Anyone out there ever heard of this? Also, if previous posts are true and they're not using this transmission anymore are they going to make the replacement parts when this happens to me/or someone else again?

    Thanks
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