Automatic Transmission problems of the 2004 Mercury Monterey - part 1

The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Monterey. The contact stated while driving 40 mph the vehicle stopped moving without any warning. The contact mentioned that the engine was running but she was unable to accelerate. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The VIN was not available. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 40,000.

Without warning (lights, noises, messages) our 2004 Mercury Monterey, with only 67k miles, would not go into reverse. When we then tried to put it into drive, it would not go forward. When switched back to reverse, it then went forward! luckily our service garage is only a few blocks away. . . . So it only took us a couple of hours to get it there. Mechanic found magnet in tray covered with not only metal shavings, but also larger chunks of metal. Luckily this happened in our alley, so there were no traffic issues to deal with and no one got hurt.

We were driving our 2004 Mercury Monterey with only 50,000 miles on it, doing about 40 mph when all of a sudden, without any warning signs, the rpms increased and the vehicle stopped accelerating. It acted like it was in neutral. We were able to drift off the road onto the shoulder and discovered we had lost all the gears in our van. Thank god no one was hurt, but the 4 adults and 3 children under 2 were stranded on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere 3 1/2 hours from home.

On Saturday July 2, 2011 we were driving our 2004 Mercury Monterey from the upper peninsula of michigan to our home in ohio. My wife, three children, and I thought we had a day of driving ahead of us and then the vacation would be over. Suddenly, without any warning, on the highway near gaylord michigan the engine continued to run but the car was not being pulled forward. All we could do was coast to the side of the road. Our van has only 67,000 miles on it and has never had any kind of transmission problem. There were no check engine or any other warning lights. We had the van towed to a repair shop, and they told us the transmission was bad and that this is a known problem with this Ford Mercury Monterey. Since it was Saturday July 2 we had to wait three days (since Monday was july4th) to even get a quote on a rebuilt transmission. All the rental car companies were also closed until Tuesday. We finally got the car back on Friday July 8th with a rebuilt jasper brand transmission in it for a cost of $3,422 plus a hotel, tow, rental car, etc. Through research on the internet I have found that many other people have had this same problem with Ford freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans.

Driving on highway. Sudden loss of all forward motion. The engine did not turn off, just sounded like it was in neutral. Changing of gears had no response. Since the, all parts have been replaced and still no response.

20004 Mercury montery driving on highway on cruise control at 67mph when vehicle lost power drifted to lane that was closed to traffic due to highway construction and avoided being hit by traffic traveling behind me had to be towed to a Ford/Mercury dealership. Was informed that it was the transmission and needed to be replaced at a cost of $3500. 00 I am an 80yr. Old women with no other driver and have less than 40,000 miles on this van and feel that this should not have happened. Also feel that there should be some warrenty but was told that there is not st. Louis,missouri.

I was traveling down the highway when I lost all forward power to the van. Had the van towed and was told the toque coverer had failed and would need to replace the transmission .

Transmission problems: I own a mercurey Monterey 2004 van. I purchased it used in July 2008 and in December the transmission stopped working. I did have an extended warranty so it was repaired but not replaced or rebuilt. I don't know why they did not replace the transmission since there were so many complaints. In February 2011 I hadthe same problem happen again while traveling on the highway. It just stopped and I veered off the highway, had it towed. Well this time I had the option of getting the same thing done or rebiuild it. The only problem is the extended warranty has expired so I had to choose to have it repaired. That repair cost me 1700. 00. The job as before is only good for 12,000 miles. Ido quite a bit of traveling. Has there been any resolution to all the complaints that have been made. Please let me know. Thanks for your attention to this complaint.

I have a 2004 Mercury Monterey was driving and all the sudden transmission went out without warning. No warning lights or other shifting problems. Very hazardous. They want 4 to 6000. 00 to repair this is definitely a Ford problem and should be repaired by them. I could have been killed and my passengers only by the grace of god we weren't.

I was on my way home after picking up my 2 granddaughters and my car just lost all movement. The motor was running but when I tried to accelerate it would not move forward. I was able to coast to the bottom of the hill, where luckily there was turnoff lane. I called for assistance and then had to be towed. The girls were scared to death, I guess just knowing that we weren't able to go, it was dark and we were on a busy highway. The mechanic has informed me that it is the transmission. My car is a 2004 Mercury Monterey, only 77,000 miles. It has never given me any trouble. This has been quite an inconvenience, especially since I work everyday and it is going to be quite an expense to replace, last quote was 2600. 00, which is not easy to come by given the economy. After reading over 100 complaints from others sharing the same experience, I feel this is definitely something that needs to be investigated. I guess we were lucky that an accident did not occur, given the circumstances under which this happened.

My family and I were traveling down a rural road when our 2004 Mercury Monterey just lost its power to move. The engine was still running but when I pushed on the gas we didn't have any response and we coasted to the side of the road out in the country away from everything and everyone. Our cell phone had no signal so I had to walk three miles to get my signal on the cell phone to be able to call for help while my wife and grandson waited in the van until I returned. I had to get the van pulled 35 miles back home and it is still setting because no one knows why it quit moving and what to do about it. I tried all gears and none of them work.

I own a 1994 Mercury Monterey minivan and the transmission went out with no warning while driving on a narrow road with no shoulder. I had nowhere to go except the ditch. My van has under 73000 miles on it and this is the second major repair to the transmission in less than 5 months. Something is very wrong with the Mercury Monterey transmissions as evidenced by the large number of reports of failure and the fact that a class action lawsuit was approved against Ford for this exact problem>.

Without any warning our 2004 Mercury Monterey had drivetrain issues. We were at a red light and when we went to accelerate the van did not move. We turned it off and waited a few minutes the started it back up. We were then able to park it along the road before the transmission started to not work again. We now are not sure as what to do about it. We can not afford to put money not it to have it repaired. After reading here and on line this seems to be a issue with Ford. We called Ford and they said to take it to a dealer and have it looked at. I first went to the dealership and they said it would be $75. 00 per hour to look at it with a window of 1 to 3 hour cost. And 1 hour minimum fee.

Had transaxle repaired in 2009 for $2,500. Transaxel was replaced. Driving home from nashville to knoxville last night transaxel went out at 70 mph. Had to coast to a stop. Was smoking when pulled over.

Driving on the highway in our 2004 Mercury Monterey, the car acted like it went into neutral and had to be coasted onto the shoulder. There was no warning light or indication of any mechanical problem beforehand. After taking it to the dealership, they declared it was a problem with the transmission. All required maintenance had been done on the vehicle. The vehicle is currently at the dealership.

Driving home from west side of state to east sideof state and had cruise control on. Had my 2 year old, 4 year old and 5 year old and wife in car. Engine was at 2300rpm and around 65mph. Cruise control was engaging power to maintain 65mph and then rpm flared up to 4000rpm and all loss of power. I was on freeway and barely was able to pull over. Was half on shoulder and part on white lane marker. Could not get car to drive off lane. People were honking and was worried that we would get hit. Could not get kids out of car because of dangerous objects from moving car tires passing by. I have no power in reverse drive, second or 1st. Its like being in neutral with engine revving and no movement. Please advise.

2004 Mercury Monterey has had power train automatic transmission replaced twice and only has about 67,000 miles on it.

The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Monterey. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph the vehicle suddenly stop accelerating. The contact was able to drive the vehicle onto the emergency lane and call a tow truck. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic who stated that the transmission was destroyed. The manufacturer stated that since there were no recalls, or related warranties that there was nothing that they could do. The contact was concerned about the safety risk as well as the possibility that a crash could occur. The failure mileage was 40,000.

Own a 2004 Mercury Monterey with a rebuilt tranny when bought. 3 young kids under age 3. Transmission just went while driving with all 3 kids. Thank god no-one was hurt! this is a known problem. Why is there no recall????.

My wife was driving my 2004 Mercury Monterey around the perimeter of our local mall. Suddenly the van slowed, and she noticed the tachometer showed the rpms increasing as the pressed the accelerator. The van stopped dead. She had to call me to push the van into a parking space until we could have it towed the following day. The could have been extremely dangerous in traffic. I have a handicapped 19 year old daughter, and rely on this van for her transportation, so on top of the safety issue, this is a tremendous inconvenience for us.

We have a 2004 Mercury Monterey with a little over 50k miles and my husband was traveling out of state and after a few hours of driving on the highway the transmission stopped working. He is now stranded in another state 5 hours from home and 6 hours from his destination with 3 children. Something has to be done about this.

While driving my daughter to school this morning, I felt like the accelerator seemed to slip, I had to stop for a bus stop as this happened. When the bus moved and I could go I pushed the gas and the engine revved but the car wouldn't move. There were numerous cars behind me on a narrow two lane road. Fortunately a gentleman offered to push me off the road, I thought I was going to have to have a twelve year old boy get behind the wheel so I could push the van off the road. I had to have the van towed home, and am currently trying to figure out what to do. I just had to have the compressor and fan replaced on this vehicle. This is just one more problem in a long line of problems I have had with this van. This is the worst car I have ever owned. Based on the complaints I've now found on this van same year and model I believe my next step is to contact my senator, this ranks right up there with the Toyota recalls. I'm frankly very surprised there have been no recalls yet for this lemon. I thought I was just unlucky but I see I'm far from the only one suffering from these problems. By the way this van has approximately 94k miles. Not what I would call high mileage.

Going up a hill (56 mph zone) on a clear sunny day, light traffic. On the way down our 2004 Mercury Monterey van was placed into cruise control. After a minute rpm shot up and lost momentum, coasted to right shoulder, all of the transmission fluid spilled over the road and into other vehicles. First occurrence, no warning, no accident due to light traffic. Stranded about 40 miles away from home vehicle towed to a dealership. Transmission replaced.

My 2004 Mercury Monterey had the transaxle light flashing on and off periodically. When the car would get to 25 miles per hour, it would jump into gear. We had the transmission fluid changed which resulted in no improvement. Today as I was on the entrance ramp to the highway, I started to accelerate and the car did not accelerate and would not go over 25 mph. I luckily avoided a major accident by shifting it into 3rd gear. When I put it back into "drive",, I was not able to get the car to accelerate. I was very worried that someone was going to hit me.

I was driving about 35 mph late at night when I lost forward motion. Car will start, but it chokes and then dies when going forward. Car will not go in reverse. I had no problems with it till now. Trans fluid is fine.

I was driving the van then suddenly lost all forward power. The engine revved but was not making the van go forward. I was on a busy road and pulled over. I could move the shifter to park, reverse and drive but it did not make the van move at all, forward or backward. This was sudden. It was very dangerous to lose power in traffic.

While driving at highway speed I lost the ability to move (transmission) and narrowly escaped being rear-ended by traffic.

While driving our 2004 Mercury Monterey the transmission quit working right in the middle of the road. I was able to get to the side of the road with out incident. The van only has 78,000 miles on it and would expect more than that on a major component. I'm still making payments on a van that doesn't work. To get it fixed is between $1500 to 2500.

I was traveling down 78 ( a major road in town and my van (04 Mercury Monterey) just quit going. I had to coast into a turn lane to get out of the main road. It was very dangerous and I had my kids in the car. There was no warning at all, it just quit going. I called my dad and he got the repair shop to pull my car out of the turn lane. The mechanic said it was my transmission; it needed to be replaced.

Was driving 2004 Mercury Monterey premier minivan when suddenly while in drive gear lost all drive power to the wheels. Luckily there was an out to pull safely off the road, into a driveway. If this would've occurred 1/4 mile further in the roadway there wouldn't have been an "out" as this is a very curvy mountainous road where few places to safely exit the highway. Potentially there could've been terrible injuries or worse w/4 passengers in the vehicle including my precious 2yr old daughter and handsome 4 year old boy. There was a complete loss of power talk about having no control of a situation. Very scary and nerve racking. This is definitely a safety concern that needs to be a recall. This could've been a whole lot worse. First thing I did when I gt towed home was checked internet for problems with tranny and the article came up about nhtsb probe about this exact description so I felt I had to make a complaint. Hope this enough description.

2004 Mercury Monterey ,transmission does not work. Stopped in the middle of 5 lane interstate.

My wife was driving home in our 2004 Mercury Monterey when all of a sudden it lost power to the power train. The car remained on, but would not go anywhere when the gas was pressed while in gear. Luckily she was not far from home and we were able to push it until we could get it to our home and call a tow truck. I am more than relieved that we purchased the used vehicle warranty from the dealership we purchased the vehicle from. It appears the transmission will be fully covered under this warranty. I noticed many other blogs and a recall investigation filed for this problem, so I thought I would report one more occurrence of this problem for this vehicle.

Was on my way home late at night with my three children and had the vehicle on cruise control and suddenly without warning, the rpm needle went all the way over and I realized that pushing on the gas pedal was not making the vehicle speed increase and I was losing speed. I had an 18 wheeler on my bumper and was fortunate to have been able to get to the side of the road. Stopped the vehicle and checked under the hood. The vehicle would not go into drive, 3rd gear, low or reverse. I had to have the vehicle towed over 80 miles.

Sudden loss of ability to move car. We were driving and suddenly our 2004 Mercury Monterey lost power to the transmission. The engine would still run but no gear would initiate.

2004 Mercury Monterey my wife's van was running and working perfectly. She then went to the grocery store, came out and started the vehicle. It would not go anywhere, the transmission was lost. It cost us $1400 to replace it.