I had a sudden, total failure of my Escape's CD4E transmission. One minute it is fine, shifting properly, etc., then a second later it is as if all gears are neutral - no connection between the engine and wheels. Before the failure there were no symptoms of any kind - no shudder, slipping, flaring, etc.

The car is a 2002 XLT 4wd, which I understand have a history of transmission problems. The problem happened on an out-of-town trip, so the car is now at a Ford dealer some 300 miles from home, in Valencia, CA. I am waiting to hear from them what they are diagnosing.

My main question at this point is whether anyone had had any luck in having Ford pick up some/all of the cost of repair for a similar transmission failure.

My car has 45,000 miles, and so is out of warranty - but you shouldn't expect a transmission failure at so few miles. It has been maintained properly - the last transmission fluid change was at a bit over 30,000 miles, and was done by a Ford dealer. Actually, that Ford dealer intitally put in Mercon V. When I pointed out that the proper fluid was regular Mercon, they (supposedly) replaced it again with Mercon, ran through the gears a bit, then replaced it one more time with Mercon to get any of the Mercon V out. At least that is what they said they did.

I have seen horror stories of $3500 rebuilds on this forum, and am hoping not to get hit like that. Any good words of advice?

Thanks,

Bob Schleicher

 

Be extra nice at the dealership! You can be frustrated but they won't do you any favors if you go ballistic. My understanding from other's experience is that the dealership has some take and give and might meet you halfway. If they aren't willing to help then I assume you have the paperwork where they put Mercon V in the tranny. Contact Ford regional (good luck since they were "consolidating" operations as a cost cutting move) since an authorized dealership put a non-approved fluid in the tranny. Mercon V is a no-no and it's specifically stated as a no-no in bold print in my manual. There are TSBs stating NOT to use it.

 

go to your states Attorney General's office, consumer affairs-automotive complaints div. get the ball rolling now, the stealership and FoMoBankrupt have already made their decision on your out of warranty failure.

hope you have copy of service sheet from dumbship that put in wrong damaging ATF, if not, get it, and name of each person you talked to there.

make copies of everything and send to everyone, write letters, get notarized and send certified-return signature to all including the dumbship that put in the wrong ATF

 

Ford Escape '03, 6 weeks out of my warranty ,cost 3000, not even a word from ford. I would never buy another ford in my life

 

I forgot 26,000 miles!

 

I have a 2003 Escape. Just 6 weeks out of warranty with only 26,325 miles on it, the transmission blew and I asked Ford customer service and the Executive board for help in defraying the cost since I have been a loyal Ford/Mercury owner for 25 years. I purchased 4 new Fords and 1 new Mercury. They refused to help offset the cost in any way!! I am outraged!! At this point I am not even going to fix the car. I am going to trade it in as is and NEVER BUY ANOTHER FORD AGAIN!!! My next step is to write to Ford customer service in Dearborn, MI to inform them of my expreience. This is a Disgraceful way to treat a loyal customer. No wonder so many people are buying foreign cars (more reliable). I hope you have better luck than I did. If there is ever a recall on the transmission I plan to sue Ford for the loss of trade-in value which I will document through the new car dealer.

 

What is totally unfair about your situation is that if you had bought the car used as a "Certified Used Car" it would have come with a longer warranty. I bought my '02 Tribute that way and the drivetrain was covered for 75,000 miles.

 

Hi maq and Escapeless and welcome to the forum

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
I work at a dealership and in cases like that the dealer can go to bat for you and try to get Ford to help with the cost of the repair. It's called an after warranty adjustment and Ford, the dealer and you split the cost of the repair.
I would sure try to talk your dealers into helping with it.

 

Just for curiosity, I checked out a Toyota truck forum. Let's face it, Toyota has an excellent reputation for reliability. Still, machines do have problems such as this":

John of Sonoma CA (4/1/04):
I have a 2000 Toyota Tacoma, 4 cyl. At 28k miles the engine became noisy. I thought it was valves. I took it to dealer where I had purchased it. The Toyota service dept. replaced pistons, wrist pins, rods, bearings and reinstalled the existing piston rings. They measured the clearences of rod bearings, exhaust and intake valves, all checked OK.

At 35k miles the engine noise returned. Took back to the dealer and was told by service dept. rep. that Toyota had made a batch of bad engines and would not do any more repairs, as the engine would perform properly but would be noisy due to clearences of engine parts. I had a major tune up at this time. At 37k miles had engine, manual transmissiom and exhuast noise. Dealer took test drive and said it sounded normal. Had no repairs. At 59.9k miles I had major tune up. Service Dept. forgot to top off brake fluid.

At 82.4k miles check engine light came on. Due to the statement at the made to me at 35k miles I took truck to an independent service mechanic. Had engine diagnostic which indicated random misfire, changed plugs and engine light turned off. At 82.7k miles check engine light on. Returned to same service as above. Had diagnostic and was advised engine needed valve repair as exhaust vales were too tight, cost would be $3,965.

At 82.9k miles I went to another independent service. Had diagnostic and was told #3 fuel injector not working. Had it replaced. I asked two Toyota dealers and was told that they had replaced only 6 injectors on any model and all were well over 100k miles. At 83.2k miles returned to original purchase dealer. Had diagnostic and was told it needed valve repair and a new cylinder head which will cost $3,928. The total expense on this truck since I purchesed it including my personal servicing will be more than the purchase price of it. My main complaint is the lack of support by Toyota in that they said there were no recalls on this engine and because it was rebuilt 55k miles ago their 60k mile warranty has no bearing and they deny any resonsibility for this engine.

 

Be extra careful dealing with that Ford dealer. Unless you get one of the service writers who has a concenus. I live there and have been bitten by them in the past with my 89 F250 ,96 F150. I have to get my Escape looked at and am thinking about taking it to Pasadena (20 miles away) just so I don't have to fight for a warrenty issue. They will try and get as much from you as they can. If I read the post from tcenci correctly and this was a Certified Used car they typically have a 6 year/ 75K warrenty. I was looking at purchasing one but my wife wanted new instead.

Good luck with the dealer.