Freestar tranny took a dump

Hey all. It has been a while since I have been around. There weren't to many postings in this forum a couple years ago when I bought my 2005 Freestar. Last night my wife was driving the van home when the tranny stopped working. I had it towed to the local Ford dealer where I bought it. I am glad I bought the extended warranty but it has been almost 24 hours and the warranty company hasn't approved the claim. The manager at the service department said the gear pump shaft spun out. I am not really sure what that means yet but after Googling "Ford Transmissions". I found that there are hundreds (thousands?) of Freestar owners that are very PO'd at Ford for their transmission problems like mine. The oil has been changed to at the required intervals and the service manager even said that the oil was clean. I have never owned a foriegn car but if the warranty company gives me crap about this and doesn't pay, I am done with American made cars. GM lost me years ago. I wouldn't even consider a Crysler product. I also own a 2005 F-150 and have been reading about the spark plug issue, the injector issues, the list goes on. I have had good luck with my Fords up to this point. I am hoping all goes well. I think, based on posts in other forums I have read, that I am going to have to get rid of the Freestar. Sounds like Ford screwed the pooch on this one. By the way, my van has only 52k miles on it. I bought it with around 20k on it two years ago.
I am off to the dealer. Wish me luck!

Good Luck! I'm sure the warranty will be made good. If it is as you say, they've seen this problem before and they know it was nothing you did to make it go out. The oil pump supplies the hydraulic pressure to the pistons on the clutch packs. The gear pump shaft has a design flaw and should never have failed.

Well, it is Saturday night and no word on if the warranty adjuster approved the repairs. They did give us a POS Mitsubishi Gallant for a loaner (Enterprise). The van and tranny are in a hundred pieces all over the work bench. They showed me the shaft that went bad. There is another bushing that should be replaced also. I hope that the guy that took the thing apart can get it back together correctly. :eek7:

The dealer is putting a used tranny in it. I could have gone new but would have cost me another $800 on top of the $200 deductable. I think I am just going to get rid of the van next spring. I think the same thing is just going to happen again. Ford definitely dropped the ball on this transmission. I might try a Lexus. :mad:

Hi, what was their justification for giving you a used transmission? Is that just their 'rule' or 'policy'?

I was covered under an extended warranty which is basically an insurance company which is why there is a $200 deductible. They could have chosen to have the old tranny repaired but the rebuild would have cost more than a used one. I am sure their "rule" is to pay out the least amount possible as is with all other types of insurance.

I was covered under an extended warranty which is basically an insurance company which is why there is a $200 deductible. They could have chosen to have the old tranny repaired but the rebuild would have cost more than a used one. I am sure their "rule" is to pay out the least amount possible as is with all other types of insurance.

I was covered under an extended warranty which is basically an insurance company which is why there is a $200 deductible. They could have chosen to have the old tranny repaired but the rebuild would have cost more than a used one. I am sure their "rule" is to pay out the least amount possible as is with all other types of insurance.

My tranny wet out at 75,000 and glad I had warranty at the time to cover it. I haven't had or heard of any other major problems with the vans other than that so your van should be pretty reliable after this hurdle! I understand how you feel though, it's like the american car makers don't care enough about it's customers to put in quality parts anymore.