NHTSA Complaint #10676940 — 2005 FORD FREESTAR

AFTER HAVING THE TORQUE CONVERTER RECALL REPAIR DONE, THE VEHICLE STARTED HAVING MINOR TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS (THOUGH I DID NOT RECOGNIZE THEM AS THAT AT THE TIME). IT WOULD BE SLUGGISH IN SHIFTING, FOR EXAMPLE. HOWEVER, EVENTUALLY THIS REACHED THE POINT THAT AT TIMES I COULD NOT PLACE THE TRANSMISSION IN REVERSE. I WOULD BE STUCK UNTIL AFTER GOING BACK AND FORTH THROUGH THE TRANSMISSION, OR TURNING OFF AND RESTARTING THE VEHICLE, IT WOULD EVENTUALLY ENGAGE IN REVERSE. THEN THIS STARTED HAPPENING IN FORWARD GEARS ALSO. I ASSUMED IT WAS PART OF THE SAME TRANSMISSION ISSUES AS IN THE RECALL (NHTSA ENGINEERING ANALYSIS #EA09016), BUT THE DEALER SAID NO, IT WAS WATER IN THE TRANSMISSION AND A SEPARATE ISSUE ALTOGETHER. NO-ONE CAN EXPLAIN WHY THIS SHOULD HAPPEN AT 70,000 MILES. I THINK THIS IS RELATED TO THE ORIGINAL ISSUE OR THE RECALL REPAIR AND SHOULD BE COVERED. IT SEEMS NHTSA HAS TWO OTHER INVESTIGATIONS GOING ON THIS: NHTSA PRELIMINARY EVALUATION #PE09033 AND NHTSA PRELIMINARY EVALUATION #PE10033. I WANT TO ADD THIS TO THE DATA COLLECTION, SINCE I THINK FORD IS RESPONSIBLE. *TR