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Comments
As for the other sundry creaks, either all my spraying of the suspension and weatherstripping has helped, or the high temps have reduced them. I will apply more lubricant to the suspension joints and seals soon.
The vehicle is running well, if a bit leisurely. The shifting action of the 5 speed has greatly smoothed out, and frankly is nicer than my Accord's was. Clutch action is as well smooth as compared to new. I test drove a Mazda6 5 door stick prior to buying the Tribute, and it, too, had a very abrupt clutch take up, so maybe that is typical of new Mazda products. The AC is not as freezing cold as the Accord's was, or my friend's Hyundai Elantra, but that is somewhat typical of Mazda from what I understand. Or maybe it is typical of Ford in this instance.
I have an escape 02 XLT v 6 and had one stalling experience without any warning lights etc, about June 02. Saw the message .1567 and enclosure therein; brought a copy of the quoted TSB to my dealer and had the engine tested and PCM reprogrammed. No further engine stalling to date.
The same TSB may be relevant in your case.
conked-out at the next stoplight. I was able to start it briefly to pull into a store
parking-lot. I had it towed to a reputable neighborhood auto-shop. The tech.
diagnosed it as a bad alternator within five-minutes after testing several things.
Alternator (remanufactured) - $242.00
Labor - $157.00 (had to get to alternator from underneath vehicle, take apart
lower control arm, fender-well splach shield and various other
parts).
Total = $469.00 (including tow).
Looks to be a valid way to change the alternator per my ALLDATA subscription
that I checked out. Rather expensive, but it was 2.0 standard labor rate hours,
d/t dissembly of front parts to remove and install it. That was just about correct
too. Not like the some of the old alternators sitting up near the top that you can
to more easilly. Runs great now that it's done, no flashing panel lights or
electrical glitches. The only forewarning-sign I had was that my radio went dead
about 2-minutes before I got to stoplight, which I though was strange. Then
the instrument panel lights went kaflooey, next everything shuts-down. Not too
good of a feeling being totally shut-down in morning traffic.
If it's any consolation the shop-owner says that he has not seem too many failures
on the Ford alternators. He did say he changes GM alternators, ~10-times more often than Ford. Just so happened that mine was the the Ford-one to fail that day
or week... I'm not disappointed, becasue most alternator failures I've had have
occurred 70-90K range on most any car I've owned previously.
I bet it's the same thing that it's was with the Contours/Mystiques, the one-way roll-over flapper valve at the end of the filler tube sticks. Must have been a big supply of them left over?
My 98 Mystique every now then does after a sudden warm up in the spring. It's a long story, but I found a piece of 3/16" diameter semi-ridged nylon tubing that about 8 inches long than needed where it contacts the flapper at the end of the filler pipe. Couple easy strokes pull out the tubing and fill away.
It's great to find a sight like the CEG -contour.org where a bunch of car buffs sharing info. Especially early in the site's history Ford/Visteon engineers participated in helping us.
Unfortunately the CEO Nasser put a stop to that and then stopped production to build your Escape.
I'm lookin for another such site and then I'll buy that car. Of course my 98 Mystique LS built 07/97 I'll be keeping it at least anyother l0 years, waiting for the manufactures to use common sense and offer CR diesel in a drivers chassis car. Tests where conducted a couple years ago in Europe on CR diesel 2.7liter v-6 220 hp 345 ft.lbs. torque @1900 43+mpg at stead 70 mph. It was planned for a Jag model. I lost track of what happened.
Paul
I've noticed some transmission problems with some of the older Escapes and was wondering what types of problems anyone is experiencing regarding the 2004's and 2005's. I can't complain about the gas mileage either...I got over 110 miles per 1/4 tank so far...mixed city and highway driving with the air conditioning on...it's 90+ here (Buffalo) today with VERY high humidity. (I can't give a more precise MPG figure since I've only had the car since this morning, BUT I was figuring I'd be lucky to get 50 miles or so per 1/4 tank...)
Any info. would be appreciated. I just may go trade my Mazda for a smaller SUV...PLUS with a move down to Louisville in a few weeks, a Ford product may make for an easier transition for a "northener" (Louisville has two huge Ford plants that I know of)
Thanks in advance for any information.
This problem is driving me nuts enough to get rid of it, but no one will want to buy it with this crazy problem. Please advise if you have this problem or any ideas about what it might be. Thank you so much!!
My new 2005 Escape XLT engines pings using 87 octane gas. It will ping under the slightest load and going up slight inclines. I've had it back to the dealer at least 3 times, they've decarbonized the engine twice but it has not fixed the problem.
Then they say they cannot duplicate the problem.
The Escape has 10K mileage so far.
Going to 89 octane will reduce the pinging buy won't make it go away.
Manual recommends 87 octane.
Thanks for any comments.
In brief; I live in the foothills of the Sierras so I do go up and down some pretty good inclines on a regular basis and I had just noticed that there was a whirring type noise as I was headed up the hill to my house. I made a mental note that I better get it to the ship the following day but alas it was too late since the next morning on the way to work it started revving without engaging. I checked the fluid and it was clean and full, no leaks and really no clunking, grinding or breaking type noise leading up to the failure. I had it towed to a Monroe transmission who estimated the cost would probably be around $2.6k at the max. This was on Tuesday and they thought they could have it done on Friday. Well, Friday came and about 3pm when I was going to go pick it up they said that it was not passing their driving test after reinstalling and that they would not have it ready till Monday/Tuesday the next week. Ok I am thinking, better to take some time and get it right. Tuesday I go to pick it up and it cost, guess how much? $2.6k and you know how you sometimes just start to get a feeling that you are not being told the whole story? Well, I trying to get the guy to explain what caused the failure and they were very vague saying this or that "may" or "could" cause a failure. And then he also said (and this is where I started to feel they made an initial misdiagnoses) is that a solenoid was bad and that he was worried the mechanics would have to remove the whole tranny again to replace which he said they didn't and it was easy to replace.
So, I am wondering if perhaps the solenoid was not what caused the failure and whether the transmission shop rebuilt my transmission when it didn't really have to, at my expense (I believe they rebuilt it and on Friday when they tested it still didn't work and that's when they determined the solenoid was bad). Does anyone know what the symptoms are for a solenoid failure on this make and model is? Any experiences such as this? Am I way off base? If not any recourse?
Thanks for listening and I appreciate any feedback.
As an example, my alternator gave-out a few weeks back. I had my Escape towed to a shop which is(was) purported to be a good shop (in business 20 yrs.).
They replaced the alternator (turned out to be more than they bargained for) just fine, but in so doing my inner CV joint was messed-up by them, for which they did take repsonsibility. They sent the half-shaft out to reuild it, and re-installed it. Done deal, right ? CV shaft seems o.k., but I've got a strange noise (sounds like knuckles cracking) when I accelerate from a stop either from the suspension, or from the re-built half-shaft. The shop can't figure it out, but swares it's not the re-built half-shaft. They sprayed WD-40 all over the suspension components, didn't do any good (I knew it probably wouldn't) thinking the noise would go away. It hasn't, but hasn't gotten worse to date. The owner-mechanic and his lead-mechanic have heard the noise too, test-driven my Escape and simply cannot figure out where the noise is emanating from (or so they say). They're nice enough and they say that they want to get it right, but have not made a 2nd effort to diagnose it and get it right. Things happen, and anywhere you take your vehicle is a gamble. I will not be taking my vehicle back there unless they can eliminate the noise that they created when they did the original alternator replacement.
You may want to check the cruise-control cable. Mine was replaced under warranty (~$20.00 part) about 3-yrs. ago when it broke or something. Not sure how long it took to replace, but I believe it was less than 1/2 hr. according to the service ticket. Could be a fuse or relay in the engine compartment too. There's
a kick-panel with fuses on the driver's-side footwell I believe and in the engine compartment both.
It turned out the battery connector has some problem so it wasn't conducting
very well. He replaced the part and it has started fine after that.
The big cable that is hooked up to the battery terminal and the connector is
what I'm talking about.
I would like to buy something like Raybestos quiet stop ceramic pads which are supposed to provide good stopping power with low dust:
http://www.raybestos.com/usa/brakepads.htm
I inspected my brakes about 6 months ago and the rotors looked fine to me, so I would rather keep my existing rotors if possble. Will switching to ceramic pads kill the Ford OEM rotors?
miles (for ~$500.00) that the OEM rotors were essentially 'disposable' or non-turnable at that point. A lot of manufacturers are going to these type of parts. I wonder why Ford makes the 'dusting' pads and disposable rotors, when GM makes pads that don't dust (at least for their trucks) and turnable rotors. Ford and other manufacturers seem to be doing this to either save money up-front on engineering costs or parts costs, not sure.
If it were me, I'd not use the Ford OEM rotors or try to turn them, because it may cause a wierd wear pattern with the new pads. I'd go ahead and spring for the
new rotors eventhough the overall cost will be bit more. Raybestos is an excellent brand for both pads and rotors and are used by a lot of shops nationwide
as aftermarket match to OEM.
What have you learned?
But I also notice quite of bit of engine vibration coming through the accelerator pedal, mostly under heavy engine load such as right before the upshift while passing on the highway, though I'm not sure if it's typical for this type of vehicle as I have been driving a silky smooth Contour V6 for the last 5 years. I am a little worried that there is a loose or broken engine mount or other drivetrain component that is causing the vibration and that it will be very hard to trace by the dealer.
The quality of the braking system has not been affected except positively I believe.
A friend has a 2005 Mazda Tribute with the front-rear disc set-up. The quality of the braking is very good and the new style calipers and pads don't dust-up on his
Mazda either.
Escape XLS and Mazda I, have front disc rear Drum regardless of having AWD system.
same here
had to have hatch lock re adj. works fine now
Is it really that annoying though? I hardly notice it and I think you should only hear it when in "Park". Are you hearing it all the time? With the stereo volume set low I don't even think I can hear it at all come to think of it.