Faults:

09/21/2009 - On the test drive, the check engine light came on.

09/28/2009 - Had to take it back to have them fix the dinging sound. Airbag sensor defect was causing the check engine light to flash.

10/01/2009 - They had to order a new dash assembly without a speaker to make the dinging stop.

10/03/2009 - No antifreeze anywhere to be found, and the heater isn't working. "Nothing wrong".

10/15/2009 - Head gasket blew and there was no denying it. Took well over 2 weeks of waiting and finally got my vehicle back.

10/31/2009 - Did not dare put my 7 year old son in my car to go trick or treating, so my dad's 1995 GMC Jimmy took us, mostly because it was safer.

11/26/2009 - Had to replace the engine, because it was easier, cheaper, and less time consuming than replacing the blown head gaskets. It took 4 days, and when we were able to pick the vehicle up on 12/03/2009, the transmission was gone. On 12/04, it's going back. I have had enough of this piece of machinery.

General Comments:

Very comfortable heated leather seats, power everything.

A very beautiful vehicle. However, the transmission, dash assembly, engine, brakes, etc., make it not worth any attention.

Faults:

Transmission. At 115000 miles, the third gear band is gone. I'm told the aluminum bushings the band rides on is worn and needs to be replaced with brass bushings.

The wiring harness that runs between the driver door and dash developed broken wires that controlled the windows up/down motion, along with programming the #2 seat memory button.

General Comments:

Generally, I love the Mountaineer and it has always treated well. I change the oil every 3K - 4K miles and it keeps on running well. Too bad the transmission went bad. The transmission should have lasted well over 200K miles. Especially when I got the tow package.

Faults:

I bought my 02 Mountaineer used. I have in the past year replaced the tie rod on the rear 2 times. Fortunately I had a warranty and it only cost me $100.00 each time.

More frequently than not, it makes a noise when I am turning, sounds like a clunking noise.

Right now, I am dealing with a broken gear shift. I looked around on the internet and some of the articles I saw, people paid upwards of $1400.00 for the steering column and the part that they actually needed only should have cost them $70.00. It used to be that you could get the parts you needed, but now you have to buy the whole column.

Faults:

As of this morning it is in the shop and will cost a minimum of $2,800 to rebuild this transmission. The owner of the transmission shop said this transmission is simply an inferior product and is used in Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles (18 models), and this is a very common issue with them. I will avoid this transmission like the plague while shopping for our next vehicle.

Faults:

With only 56K miles, I've got 3 of 4 suspension coil springs broken with normal driving. This is very unusual for this many to be broken with so little miles. Vehicle was never abused or taken off road. Springs are broken in many places.

Faults:

When I first got my car at 24000 miles, the transmission needed to be rebuilt after a week and a half, still under warranty.

Have not had many big problems with it since then, just the brakes and scheduled maintenance.

However, I take really good care of my car and after three and a half years of owning it, it started to have problems starting about three weeks ago. I have to give it gas for it to start, and sometimes I have to balance the gas and brake at the same time so it does not die when I am stopped.

I took it in twice in two weeks to the same garage, and they said it might be a problem with one of the valves, but they weren't sure so they didn't fix anything, they just cleaned out the engine. They told me it was running fine. As soon as I get in it won't start again.

So now I am going to take it into a Ford place tomorrow. If anyone has had this problem, please let me know what the problem with your Mountaineer was so I can maybe point the mechanics in the right direction. I will post again when I get my car as to help anyone with this problem in the future.