Faults:

Where do I begin? I bought my Mountaineer in March of 2005. It had 34,000 miles on it and thankfully was a pre-owned certified vehicle. My problems began in September of the same year.

Sept-05: Heard a loud pop and then lost some of the power with transmission. Keeping the speed below 25 mph, I was able to drive it the three miles to the dealer I purchase it from. I was told the trans-band broke and caused some internal damage. My portion of the cost was only $100 (deductible amount). The dealer billed Ford $1600.

Oct-05: Took it back to the dealer. The car didn't seem to be driving as it was before. The shifting was erratic at best. They couldn't find a problem so I picked it up a few days later.

Jan-06: The car started stalling on me when the car was in idle. Stopped at a red light, stopped in traffic jam or just warming with the car still in park; didn't matter. Also, I still wasn't happy with the way the transmission was operating. The stalling problem was blamed on the idle air control motor. $200 to fix and the stalling problem was solved.

Mar-06: The stalling has returned and the overall performance of the car is horrible. Some days are good some are bad. Took back to the dealer. After two weeks I was told to come pick up my Mountaineer. They couldn't find anything wrong with it.

July-06: The car is hesitant when shifting...again. This type the solenoid and the valve body was replaced. $1400.00 billed to Ford, $100 deductible billed to me. No resolution with the stalling.

July-06: Same day I picked up the car, the erratic shifting happened again. This time it was accompanied by hard down shifting.

Oct-06: I took it to a different dealership who was able to find the stalling problem. PFE Sensor was bad as well as the micro-processor. Once the micro-processor was replaced, the Trans passed all test.

Oct-06: Day one after pickup. Still stalling and shifting erratically.

I'm at a loss here. I love the truck, but have never had so many problems with any other vehicle.

General Comments:

Love the car, hate the engine.

Faults:

Rear Axl Bearings at 55,000 miles replaced, 1,200$.

Front Wheel Bearings Left and right, 72,000, 677$.

Front Differential and Hubs, 76,000, 3,100$.

Consistently poor gas mileage, avg. 11.5.

Engine hesitation when ever it rains, 2 complete plug and wire changes worked for about 4 months each.

Engine stalls on cold start up, on again off again problem... since purchased.

General Comments:

This is a great looking and fun to drive suv. Handles great on road conditions thanks to awd.

Faults:

The leather seat are not wearing very well. My previous Ford Explorer's leather looked great when I traded it in at 137K miles, the Mountaineer's seats started looking bad at 50K miles, perhaps the Explorer's seats came from a tougher cow.

At 100K I replaced the transmission. I have pulled my boat a total of 12 times since I've owned this truck, other than that there has been very little stress put on this transmission. I followed all of the guidelines in the owners manual, but still lost the transmission.

About 3 weeks after the transmission I started having problems with the fuel injectors. Another huge bill.

Then 2 weeks later, new wheel bearings! It just keeps getting better, I'm well on my way to buying this truck again.

All told, I've spent approx $7000 on this SUV since the first of the year.

General Comments:

When I first bought this SUV I was thrilled. My father-in-law was a Ford employee and not only did I love the truck, but I got a good deal. In the last 4 months I have more than made up for that discount in repairs. I'm actually nervous driving it for fear something else will go wrong. I travel all over the Midwest fly fishing. I rarely have to go off road and when I do it's VERY tame. This SUV just doesn't do it. I have been spending a great deal of time researching my new truck, and it's name is Toyota. This has been a real disappointment for me, my Grandfather owned a Mercury Dealership, my first car was a Mercury Montclair, and as I mentioned before my father-in-law is now a retired Ford employee. I'm afraid I will never purchase a Ford product again.