You would think that with all of the "QUALITY CONTROL" that is performed, FORD or their supplier would have periodically pulled a shaft and tested for the amount of shear force required to actually shear the splines on the shaft.

In regards to your Brother's concern, I can understand that. I mean, Ford could have said..."Aahhh...We're only making these for 4 years, so just use up the stock laying around"...

I mean look at a 04-05 Limited and then look at a 06-07 Limited. They went kinda cheap on them with no two-tone paint or body cladding to set them apart from a PLAIN-JANE... But yet, the price told you what you were getting besides an emblem...

 

I was driving to the store two weeks ago and my van stopped. Have had no issues or problems. I had seen the recall on our local news a few days before. Had it towed to transmission shop - guy check and said yup it was torque converter. called ford got a number etc. etc take to local ford dealer after fighting with ford and local dealer I ended up paying over 2500 to have tranny rebuilt. All ford was going to do was pull out the torque converter and put the same one in because the "new and improved" parts aren't ready yet. no removal of fluid, filter checking etc. Seriously concerned me because what about the metal in the tranny from the spun out converter?

still trying to fight and get reimbursed for the torque converter and labor for it.

 

What year is your buggy and how many miles on it?


"the "new and improved" parts aren't ready yet"

Makes one wonder... Especially since it's only the 2004-2005 models and then not even all of those are affected. Ford isn't that good that they only had just enough "GOOD" shafts to finish the last 2007 Freestar that they built.

It's also strange that this is the exact same tranny (AX4N/4F50N) that was installed into the 2004-2005 Taurus/Sables with the Duratec engines, but they weren't included in the recall.

But...what do we know...We're just consumers with more money than what we know what to do with and nothing else to spend it on...

 

I'm trying to determine if it would be advantageous to park the vehicle before the torque converter fails, and if I did that would it save having to rebuild the tranny.
I bought my Freestar when it had 64,000 miles on it. I love it. The first thing that I did was change the transmission filter and replace fluid with Synthetic. (No flush). It shifts beautifully and if it were not for the recall I would not touch it. This is one of the cases when I would subscribe to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory. Kinda like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane just to see if the parachute works.
I called Ford and my VIN number is on the recall list. I was told that the recall letters would come out after April,1 when the new parts become available.
If it would avoid metal particles getting into the transmission in case of failure I could park it for a couple of months before it fails, with not much inconvenience. I don't have the shop manual so I am not sure of the way the torque converter/tranny assembly is put together. Is this just wishful thinking on my part?

 

Can someone give me the Ford phone number to see if my freestar is covered in this recall???
Thanks
Dimasp28

 

The Phone number for Ford is 1-866-436-7332.

For more information check this website,

Used 2004 Ford Freestar Recalls - 2004 Ford Freestar Recall Reports - Motor Trend Magazine

 

IS this a US recall or canada to? i have 2004 Freestar 4.2l still shifts fine with 187,000 kms!!!

 

never mind i just called ford, mines on the list LOL torque converter replacement!!! won't be till April!!!

 

Just to answer a very valid question, yes the recall is for all US / Canadian Ford Freestars. ALL Freestars from 2004-2007 were assembled in the Oakville Ontario plant with the transmission produced at the Van Dyke Transmission plant in Sterling Heights Michigan, so all North American sold Freestars of the specified years are included in this recall.

Cj - I have the same year, with nearly the same kilometrage (haha metric conversion of milage) and mine still shifts fine too.

Now the million dollar question, to change or not to change? What are you going to do?

 

A couple of links to give some very good info concerning our vehicles and the tranny.

Ford Freestar
Ford Freestar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ford AXOD Transmission
Ford AXOD transmission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scary to know the transmission on our vehicles is a design dating back to 1986.