One problem related to noises during shifting has been reported for the 2005 Mercury Monterey. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2005 Mercury Monterey based on all problems reported for the 2005 Monterey.
I was pulling out of a gas station driveway in my 2005 Mercury Monterey minivan onto a main two-way road. I did not have to punch the gas to merge into traffic, it wasn't busy. As I accelerated across one lane of traffic and a turn lane, my vehicle lost forward motion. The engine functioned properly -- no safety or warning lights came on -- and I heard no thunk, clunk, grinding or other noise as I coasted to a stop in the turn lane. I shifted the vehicle numerous times into various gears (r, d, 3 and 1) but still the minivan would not move. I turned the engine off and on, tried again, but no movement. Again, I tried in all the gears, but the vehicle would not move. I repeated this a second time with no success in getting the vehicle to shift into any gear. Stuck, I called a tow truck and had the vehicle towed to a mechanic. This incident made me recall a comment a service manager made to me a couple of years ago at the Lincoln-Mercury dealer where I bought my Monterey and was getting it serviced. As we were test driving the minivan to try to replicate a sound the vehicle was making when it was driving the service manager commented that Ford was having trouble with transmissions. But he quickly added that it was did not affect my particular make and model. I wonder, though, about that comment since I only have about 56,000 miles on the vehicle. Clearly, the company had alerted service departments to be on the lookout for a potential transmission problem on some vehicles similar to mine. Prior to this incident, I've never experienced a problem with the drivetrain. Still, a problem such as this one should not crop up or the transmission go bad on a vehicle that is only four years old and has only 56,000 miles on it.