Electrical System Problems of Ford Freestar - part 1

The alternator caught on fire and burned alternator wring harness.

See all problems of the 2006 Ford Freestar 🔎.

The rear wheel well has rusted on both sides and completely rusted out a large hole (approx. 1 ft diameter area visibly effected) in the the body of the van. The rusted out section is where the back seat is anchored to the frame, so the rust has cause the seat to no longer be securely anchored to the car. The hole has also caused electrical wires to get wet when water gets into the van and intermittently and unpredictably causing failure of electrical features, including headlights and blinkers, while driving.

See all problems of the 2005 Ford Freestar 🔎.

The transmission is grinding and popping when shifting gears. Also it has started not moving when I shift it into drive and 3rd and 1st. When I drive it I have to put it in 1st gear and change up to drive and it grinds and pops when giving it gas to go. It comes to a crawl going up hills. Has a big loss of power. The trackshion control light comes on saying it's not working. The electrical is messing up the doors are opening up when they are not supposed to going down road. It tells me that different doors are open when there not keeping the lights on in the van running down the battery.

See all problems of the 2004 Ford Freestar 🔎.

I read the recalls for 2004 Ford free star transmissions and my van without warning just quit working in the middle of the road while I was driving. I could get it to start back up for a second to move it to the side of the road, but it wouldn't start after that.

I just came across this website and wish I wrote this a year ago because I would have made a complaint then. I have had many issues with the lights flickering, coming on automatically when it rains, my interior lights staying on and actually catching fire because it had gotten so hot. My radio used to turn on by itself or not turn on at all, which has now been replaced. My van has literally died on me while driving more often at times when I'm making a turn or slightly moving my steering wheel. Has almost caused a few accidents because it shuts off without warning. My van will usually have a higher rpm when it's running in park or with foot on break(waiting at a red light). Then suddenly the rpms drop and fluctuate high and low and shut the engine off. My transmission is also starting to fail by not shifting properly. Usually into second gear. The indicator lamp light flashes with means error with the transmission. That is most likely due to the power train automatic transmission torque converter getting wet or it is powertrain automatic transmission. Also have issues with my my power steering the wheel knocks and sorta locks up at times , fluids have been checked and were perfect. I believe that it's associated with the steering hydraulic system failure.

Cruise control doesn't work, transaxle issue-light flashing.

Pcm has issues do to moisture which affects electrical slipping gears abs sensor problem power steering issues and tcm and this vehicle has all safety problems according to recalls none of it was fixed because Ford says your VIN number is not on list.

Passenger side mirror burned, smoldered with a great deal of smoke. Could see orange glow behind the mirror. Smelled like an electrical burn. Car was parked, no key in ignition, happened right after unlocking car with key fob.

See all problems of the 2007 Ford Freestar 🔎.

This is a big, big, deal related to dangerous safety issue. Reference bulletin:Ford TSB 6-14-10, issued July 24, 2006 (supersedes Ford TSB 5-23-7 issued November 28, 2005) my car suddenly lost control surging and unable to shift and no reverse gear. Have had off and on problems for the past year resulting in about $2000 of service to figure out why car acting up, surging, inability to shift, at times no forward or reverse gear. One time drove 25 mph to get home 20 miles and police stopped me because suspicious driving. I told him I was have transmission problems. Transmission as it turns out is perfect. Pcm is malfunctioning intermittently because of engineering problem of pcm shorting out. Towed to Ford dealer and said needed $2-5000 transmission. Towed home and suddenly started working. Investigated this bulletin that the Ford dealer was not familiar with and they accepted my information describing the bulletin to them. Why has this problem not risen to the recall status given the extreme danger on the highway driving and loosing all control of the car causing a very dangerous perilous situation to me my family and others on the road?.

Liftgait won't open replaced it and still won't open.

Water dripped from the wiper blade cowl into the pcm, causing the vehicle to start, drive briefly, and then shut off while moving, causing loss of control of electrical components of the vehicle while driving on the highway. Steering became difficult. If this had happened at high speeds or with a lot of traffic around, it could have been extremely dangerous or deadly. The mechanic says this is a problem he sees with Ford windstar vehicles. The mechanic stated the pcm was literally under water when he received the vehicle, despite the cause being a fairly typical rain storm, and drying out the pcm did not help, as the damage had already been done. This is a safety issue that, after searching online and speaking with mechanics, appears to be common. Ford needs to fix this issue before a vehicle loses control at high speeds.

The indiana alpr tracking system causes electrical malfunctions including the abs brake system and various other unknown malfunctions. The abs module has failed on the subject vehicle and the alpr attacks continue. These alpr attacks are initiated by electrical apparatus on top of telephne poles and on police cars. These attacks can be heard by sudden unexpected loud thumping on my dashboard which could cause an accident in addition to the abs brake system failure. These attacks occur both in motion and when stationary. The thumping is expecially surprising in traffic and could easily cause an accident. Plus, I do not have abs protection on slick roads.

Everytime I stop at either a stoplight or stop sign it stalls out. The battery light comes on and then goes back off. I am able to restart it back up and continue it on. I have had the electrical computer fixed and had a full tune up done and it still stalls out.

My van has a problem with water, that is when it rains the vehicle starts having problems with several components. (ie engine misfire, transmission fails to shift properly, door looks refuse to operate properly, among other weird things) this happens every time it rains. The problem as I have being able to trace it, is that the water that comes off the front windshield and into the plastic that covers the cowl area ( where the wipers are) drips on to the main electric wire harness connection that comes from the inside of the car and connects to the engine bay wire harness. As the wire harness connector gets wet, the vehicle starts acting up. I took the van to my mechanic but he was unable to find a problem, it was dry. I took the vehicle to a Ford dealer and, to my surprise, they knew about the problem but told me I had to pay the repair because its covered on a technical service bulletin (TSB 06-14-10) but its not a recall. How can this not be a recall when the van is going along well and as soon as it starts raining, I start having drive ability issues, transmissions starts acting up, engine starts acting up, some times stalls, in general I have a vehicle that appears to be "allergic to water. " this issue happens any time it stars raining heavily whether on the highway or city street or my driveway for that matter, if its raining I have to take my wife's car because if not I know will have to be dealing with an uncooperative vehicle. Ps. I put a date on the "when did this happen" field but this is an ongoing issue.

Where to start. . . . Every time its raining my van starts to putt and stall out I have almost had 3 accidents due to my van stalling on a main road trying to get home. . . Issue #2. I use my key pad to unlock my vehicle on nights that im working and lately it will unlock then re lock n unlock over and over with out being touched. I was driving down a road and it would unlock and lock. . Its not safe if its unlocking its self and my 2 year old reachs he could open the door while driving. . . Issue #3. . My van says I have 1/2 a tank of gas yet my digital gas reader continues to say 0 miles. .

I have problems with transmission when shift, some times is really hard shifting and also I have problem with battery light in the cluster is always on but the charging system works normally, this happen all the times.

Like many others who have complained about electrical problems on the Ford Freestar, I have to add my complaint regarding my 2004 Ford Freestar. First of all, when I bought my van used about 4 years ago, I did research on it, and learned about the issue of water getting into the pcm. So I took the van to a Ford dealership - campbell Ford in niles michigan - and one of their mechanics dried and sealed the pcm, along with the area at the base of the windshield that is prone to leak. That was two years ago (this van also had the torque converter work done by the previous owner). So here's the problem I'm having now: when driving, occasionally for no apparent reason, my radio goes dead, no time, no display, no music, and then the brake and abs light appear on the dash, along with the battery light and airbag light. This lasts for a few seconds, and then everything returns to normal (sometimes the battery light stays on permanently). When this happens I lose no power and the van drives like normal. That might occur 4 - 5 times / outing. I replaced the battery a few days ago and this has made no difference.

Before it broke down completely the van was driving funny, like if it didn't have enough strength especially when I was driving hill but one night I was driving the van and suddenly just shut off in the middle off the highway. Thanks god I didn't have many cars behind me and I manage to avoid getting hit by holding my phone out the window so to be seen until I was able to "drive" to a section of road with street lights. The next day I had it towed to my mechanic because it would not start anymore. The mechanic told me there was a lot of complaints for this problem. So I don't know what are they waiting for to make this an official recall. I feel very lucky my children and wife were not in the vehicle during these past incidences. I would like a response from you on this recall matter a. S. A. P. Thank you.

An incident from about a month ago: after traveling on the freeway and coming to a stop at a red light at the off ramp at 2am, my car began to sputter and rev. I proceeded to the next red light where my car shut off. Every time I started it, it would shut off right away. I drive for a taxi service and luckily I did not have passengers in the car with me at the time. I called a family member to come look and help. He ended up pushing my car with his into a nearby parking lot. After some investigation, I concluded it was the pcm. It was taken out to dry completely and the windshield area where water may have leaked into it was sealed with silicone. It started working again fine and has been since then. Now it has rained again and the problem has reoccurred. Today, after driving on the freeway and entering a neighborhood, my trans-axle light started blinking. Then my oil and battery light appeared and seconds after my steering wheel stopped turning and the car shut off. I was able to park in the street and restart the car, but once I put it in drive and moved about 1 foot, the car shut off again. It will turn on and stay idle, but once I start moving, it shuts off again. It has been raining the past 2 days. I suspect it is from the same issue as before. I also had my children in the car with me as I was taking them to school. I'm very lucky this did not happen on the freeway or major street.

This vehicle I received numerous recalls and had many problems with this vehicle. Major electrical problems. When it would rain and get car wash the electrical system would malfunction and cause engine not to run properly and check engine light would come on. In April of 2016 engine was malfunctioning and caused me to get in accident. This vehicle has since been impounded and loan company santander trying to bill me for remainder of loan and now causing major credit issues. I would like this to be covered by Ford/carmax for selling my family an unsafe vehicle which could have resulted in critical injury or worse.

The 2004 Freestar is shorting out all the sensors are shorting out u took it to be put on machine and it cane back with 17 sensors malfunction going on and it's the only vechele I own and I've googled the problem and I see 100000 other people are having the same problem what should I do I might be driving down the road and the vraje sensor is going and I can't stop I'm not rich I cantvgo buy another van please help me.

I was driving down the road at 45 miles an hour and vehicle cuts off. I almost had a head on collision with no control of steering. If I had been on interstate it would have been a wreck.

The power control module (pcm) gets wet . The car will then exhibit various failures including engine stop, transmission failure to engage, engine code indicators. This can happen when stationary (transmission won't engage ) or in motion( engine will shut off above certain speeds, may be 35-45miles per hour) or the transmission will begin slipping. Ford has issued a technical bulletin TSB 06-14-10 on this issue.

Drove the vehicle 1 mile to kids school on the way back it lost power , wouldn't accelerate . . The #40 fuse was blown and every time I replace it as soon as I turn the key on it blows again. Can't drive it and just seems like electrical problems keep occurring with it last time was water in the pcm causing other issues, may be the pcm again I don't know but these free stars are bad for this evidently. . Bad design and definitely bad for business. .

For a few years now various electrical thing have been going on my Mini van. The screen that shows mileage, etc. Has a short and can only be seen when it's really dark out at night. Awhile later, as I was driving, my cruise control gave out and no longer works. Now the light for my clock and the screen that tells cardinal directions and the temp outside is dead. I am concerned that this electrical issue could be dangerous. I didn't know about this website to report it till now.

My car has spent 10 days at Ford to be serviced after having the safety recall service for the torque converter performed. The vehicle was behaving unpredictably, sometimes stalling out while idled, stalling out while in motion, sometimes idling with high or low rpms. The dealership took it back in to check the torque converter, they then said it wasn't the torque converter but the throttle body, they then cleaned that and said it's not the throttle body, it's the pcm. The pcm is taking on water from a flawed design of the above pcm where water is retained and eventually leaks on to the connector. This of course is not covered by Ford, and can cost up to $1200 to replace. This issue creates a number of different symptoms making it hard to identify the origin of the problem. Causing extended stays for maintenance. This should be rectified by Ford and not it's customers as there's no way this flaw can be caused by user error, it's a design flaw that should not exist.

2nd time that this has happened. Was driving when the van started bucking/sputtering/surging. It would die and then fire right back up just to do it once again. Soaked pcm connector was to blame both times. This is obviously a design flaw by Ford and needs to be taken care of. I'm glad I was not on the interstate or in the middle of an intersection.

I was driving the vehicle and it was raining outside and as I was driving all of a sudden my car just died in the middle of the freeway no warning ,no nothing just died I almost was rear ended, I took it to a mechanic who said the pcm is not sealed properly and got wet and fried out this is unbelievable that Ford would see tons of these complaints like I have seen online same problems and put people lives and their childrens lives in danger with this poor manufacturing. What can I do ??? thank you brandi r berger.

Started sputtering, jerking, and stalling pcm was wet causing all kinds of havic lost power going into a turn and almost went into a ditch Ford needs to recall this ongoing problem and get it fixed before something major happens alot of people are complaining and Ford knows it is there fault and they have a problem but refuses to take care of it.

Van got up to 50 mph and stalled out and then completely lost power. I took it to a mechanic and he said the computer component was full of water. Computer had to be replaced.

The contact owns a 2006 Ford Freestar. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 25 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to respond. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was not available.

Had the torque recall done last August by a local dealership, and while accelerating yesterday I lost all control of the vehicle and the engine stalled, transmission is now shot and the pcm is damaged from the moisture even though I had completed the TSB the dealership advised me of. Several sensors kept failing randomly, and would only last about a month.

While driving on the freeway at 55 mph my vehicle lurched forward drastically and then stalled. I was able to get it to the side of the road coasting as I was in the outside lane. I could restart the car but only go 50-100 feet and it would stall again. I managed to get it off the road into a parking lot and found out the car wouldn't go into reverse. Although I could go forward. I am now being told that there was a torque converter recall for this year and make of car but not for my vehicle. I am being told the transmission will need rebuilt and be at a cost of 3000-3900 dollars. The car has approx. 102,000 miles on it. I was told by the transmission shop this is a common problem with this car even if they are repaired they tend to have problems again. It should be noted that it had snowed a large volume that day and there was a lot of water on the roadway.

Stopped at a stop sign and the van would not move. No gears worked. Couple days later, it drove fine. Couple days later no gears again. (and the torque converter was replaced under recall in 2012) now won't start and dashboard goes crazy after the key is out. With all the transmission problems and the wet pcm problems, I can't believe Ford doesn't have to recall these van because of the pcm!! this vehicle is a hazard to drive.

On christmas eve 2014 I got into my recently purchased 2005 Ford Freestar minivan to run a short errand. After starting my Freestar I put it in reverse but the vehicle would not move. I tried all the forward gears with the same result, the vehicle would not move. The engine rpm's would go up but no movement. I turned the vehicle engine off and on several time with the same results each time. I had to wait till the day after christmas to contact my local Ford dealership service department and describe my problem. They looked up my VIN number and said that all recalls on my vehicle had been done including the torque converter recall. I then had my Freestar towed to the dealership to investigate the problem. Upon investigation it was determined that water had gotten into my powertrain control module, and that is what was causing the problem. They removed the module and dried it and the connector out then reinstalled it and sealed it. After reinstalling the module they then started the vehicle and were able to shift the vehicle into all the gears and get the transmission to fully function, but now there was a service engine light on. The vehicle now would not idle properly and had a hesitation when trying to accelerate. It was determined after further checks that there were fuel codes coming up and that they were related to the pcm getting wet. It was determined that the powertrain control module (which Ford no longer manufactures) would need to be replaced. To fix the problem it would be a cost of $1000. 00 for a re-manufactured module and reprogramming in addition to the $650. 00 that had already been incurred for the work that had been done so far. Note there had been no problems or issues or engine codes on this vehicle till this problem occurred other than a problem one night with the power door locks not working, which corrected itself after restarting the vehicle.