2004 Freestar Tranny Woes

4.2 l Just turned 101k. My wife was driving it today and the tranny just gave up while she was driving down the road 25 mph. No gears left whatsoever From what I read all over the net, this has been a known problem for this vehicle and somehow I should feel lucky that I got 100k out of the tranny.

Not looking forward to this bill.$$

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

$1700 to rebuild. Took it to a trusted transmission speacialist. He confirmed a lot of what I read on the internet. The torque converter in the tranny has known issues from the factory.

Steep repair bill for a vehicle I'm stll paying on. But if there is any good news, he said there are several updates in the tranny and it should definitely get more mileage than the original factory tranny.

$1700 to rebuild. Took it to a trusted transmission speacialist. He confirmed a lot of what I read on the internet. The torque converter in the tranny has known issues from the factory.

Steep repair bill for a vehicle I'm stll paying on. But if there is any good news, he said there are several updates in the tranny and it should definitely get more mileage than the original factory tranny.
The problem is that the "splines" on the torque converter are really to small and soon or later they will break, mine has been replaced ( fixed) about the same millage as yours. Fortunatly my transmission shop told me that they replace this part with an aftermarket converter spline ( almost every transmission shop use this aftermaket part) and the problem will never ( hope so ) come back.

The problem is that the "splines" on the torque converter are really to small and soon or later they will break, mine has been replaced ( fixed) about the same millage as yours. Fortunatly my transmission shop told me that they replace this part with an aftermarket converter spline ( almost every transmission shop use this aftermaket part) and the problem will never ( hope so ) come back.

Just got it back. Mechanic said almost exactly what you did. He said the new one is thicker and made of hardened steel. I too shouldn't have this problem again. As I mentioned in my first post, he said the torque converter was 1 of many updates with the rebuild that doesn't use the original parts. Also, he mentioned that in his opinion, as many as he has seen, there should be a recall these tranny's. Who knows, but I doubt ford will ever own up to it.

I really like the van. I hope ths is it for a while.

Here's a what has been replaced between 95k and 101k. Luckily I was able to do everything myself but the tranny.

Alternator expensive
serpentein belt (expected)
Plugs & wires (expected)
coil pack
Brakes (expected)
egr valve
cv joint
tranny very expensive!!
stabilizer links

Welcome to the club. My tranny made it to 50K. Ford dealer put in a used tranny under our extended warranty. I doubt it had the updated parts so I wait for it to happen again. One more year of payments then I am dumping it.

My parts list so far:

516321 miles- Transmission
59, 375 -Plugs, wires, coil pack (dealer told me the plugs were bad when it was the coil pack)
64,905- Vapor Canister purge solenoid (vapor canister still needs replacement)
64,940 EGR Valve
Also needs new tires but new that was coming. I am happy when this thing goes 6 months without a problem. I have probably around 85 k miles on this now. Oh, forgot to mention we had all the door sensors replaced under the extended warranty before it expired. It has just been a barrel of laughs with this vehicle. Ford really poked the pooch on this one. No wonder they got out of the minivan business.