NHTSA Complaint #10449956 — 2004 MERCURY MONTEREY

ON 2/24/2012 I WAS MERGING INTO HIGHWAY TRAFFIC. THE TRANSAXLES LIGHT CAME ON AND THE VAN HAD DIFFICULTY SHIFTING FROM WHAT I THOUGHT WAS 2ND GEAR IN TO 3RD, JUST BELOW 60 MPH AND AT ABOUT 5500 RPM. I FOUND THIS ODD, SO I EASED OFF OF THE GAS. TRIED TO ACCELERATE AGAIN WHILE THE LIGHT WAS FLASHING AND IT WOULD STILL NOT SHIFT. AFTER PULLING OFF THE HIGHWAY AT AN EXIT. I TURNED OFF THE CAR AND RESTARTED IT. THE LIGHT DISAPPEARED. I DROVE AWAY WITH OUT INCIDENT. I PROCEEDED TO PICK UP MY CHILD AND THEN WENT TO FILL MY GAS TANK ABOUT 2 MILES AWAY. WHEN I HIT JUST OVER 40MPH THE LIGHT CAME ON AGAIN. WHILE FILLING UP ON GAS I READ ABOUT A POTENTIAL RECALL ON THIS PARTICULAR MODEL'S TORQUE CONVERTER, SO I WENT IMMEDIATELY TO MY LOCAL FORD DEALER. HE WAS AWARE OF THE POTENTIAL RECALL (EVEN THOUGH CONSUMERS WEREN'T INFORMED), AND REITERATED SOMETHING I HAD READ ABOUT THE PART NOT BEING AVAILABLE UNTIL THE 2ND QUARTER. WE AGREED THAT I WOULD HAVE MY CAR THERE ON MONDAY MORNING FOR A CLOSER LOOK. MONDAY CAME AND THE SERVICE ASSOCIATE CALLED. HE EXPLAINED THAT THEY COULD NOT RECREATE MY PROBLEM IN A ROAD TEST. HE SAID THERE WAS AN ERROR CODE IN THE COMPUTER'S MEMORY, BUT THE CODE WAS NOT RELATED TO THE TORQUE CONVERTER. FROM HERE, I GUESS THEY DRAINED THE TRANSMISSION FLUID AND SAID THAT THERE WAS WATER IN IT. HE TOLD ME THAT THEY WOULD HAVE TO EITHER REPAIR MY TRANSMISSION (@$4000) OR REPLACE MINE WITH A WITH A REBUILT ONE (@$3200). MIND YOU, THE VAN ONLY HAS LESS THAN 43,000 MILES ON IT. I WAS TOLD BY AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC THAT THE $4000 PRICE IS TO SCARE YOU INTO BEING MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE $3200 PRICE., BUT THAT BOTH PRICES SOUNDED STEEP. IN THE END, I BOUGHT THE REBUILT TRANSMISSION ANYWAY, BECAUSE IT HAD A 3 YEAR UNLIMITED MILEAGE WARRANTY THAT THE INDEPENDENT MECHANIC COULD NOT PROVIDE. SINCE THEN I'VE READ ABOUT A WATER /TRANSMISSION ISSUE THAT NHTSA IS INVESTIGATION. *TR