I have the same problem as the customer above me has. The car will jolt, and will go under smoke in the front engine while driving on the freeway. I had to let it cool, and add transmission oil to it and I made it home. I have taken it to 2 mechanics and the problem is the same one as above. I have to pour oil little at a time like every 3-4 days, but it leaks while I drive. It will not shift to 3rd, it stays on 2nd gear. It uses so much gas and it is awful to fear a fire or that it will just break on me and leave me on the side of the road.

I bought it used, as is and the dealer must haven known that the transmission was bad. After I had it for 5 days it started to bolt on me and it stopped going forward or reverse. I had to put transmission oil in it again and it went fine. For a minute I thought it was just out of oil when I bought it but that is not the problem.

The problem is that it is a factory defect. There are a lot of complaints on line about this same issue. Ford has to acknowledge and fix this. I know that to them it is easier to deal with paying off law suits then to recall and fix all the 2008 Lincolns MKX that they sold.

This is bad for Ford, Lincoln owners and especially now since Trump wants us to buy American products.

If there is anyone who can help me with this, it will be much appreciated.

WHAT DO I EXACTLY NEED TO FIX BEFORE THE TRANSMISSION BREAKS COMPLETELY?

It started with the power take off unit leaking, leaked about 1 year after I purchased the vehicle (I then assumed that the prior owner or dealer had the seals repaired and traded it); I got stuck with it. I took it to the dealer and they said that the PTU had to be replaced and the cost was about 2-3k. It the time I was told the vehicle was still drivable just replacing the fluid from time to time, but the jerking started to happen (as others had complained about); long story short, I waited too long to replace the PTU and I do not know if one thing has anything to do with the other but the transmission actually broke (I had transmission problems in the past and the car either would not go forward or reverse) this did neither it broke and was violently rocking, I could only pull off the road. Towed the vehicle in and was informed that BOTH the PTU and Transmission needed replacing I still do not know the total cost as it is still in the shop the 3-4K is only for the rebuilt transmission. I have seen so many of the same complaints online and not on this site it only leaves me to believe this should be a recall (at least the PTU assembly should be a recall) as it fails with the Ford Edge as well. Problem started at about 90K miles. Unbelievable because I really like the car and I have had many vehicles before this one.

Purchased vehicle used, while still under powertrain warranty. Soon started to notice that in certain situations, the transmission would shift VERY hard - so hard that it felt like I'd been hit from behind. It would do this a few times and then quickly go away. I could not recreate the problem on demand, but it only happened when automatically shifting up in the low gear range...typically from 1st to 2nd gear.

While the vehicle was still under powertrain warranty, and just about to expire, I took it to the dealership. They told me that there was an update needed to the PCM. This was allegedly completed and the vehicle was returned to me the same day.

About 30,000 miles later, the vehicle was suddenly leaking massive amounts of transmission fluid. The vehicle was no longer under warranty and the dealership said that they would not do repairs under warranty, even though I'd already brought the vehicle to them for transmission issues.

I took the vehicle to a third-party repair facility. They said that the transmission needed to be rebuilt. There was a problem with the torque converter, the clutch, and the differential assembly. The repair bill was $3,665.65 plus I incurred about $350 in rental car use since this repair took about 10 days. The repair bill states: "Rebuild transmission with master overhaul kit, kevlar sealing rings, bushings, seals, gaskets, thrust washers, fiber clutches, steel clutches, rebuild clutch packs, rebuild valve body, intermediate clutch band, differential assembly, power flush cooler lines, filter, up to 12 qts ATF, rebuilt torque converter."

The dealership should have investigated the problem more closely when I brought it in under warranty. The vehicle had only 91,216 miles on it when the transmission was rebuilt. The problem took many thousands of miles to escalate to needing a transmission rebuild. I believe that the dealership ducked out of their duty under the warranty and knowingly left me to deal with expensive repairs down the line.

There are many complaints online about similar issues with the 2008 Lincoln MKX transmission. It's very possible that there should have actually been a recall. The dealership showed me a service advisory issued from Lincoln describing the repairs they were supposed to do when a vehicle was presented to them with the issue I described while under warranty. This evidences Lincoln's knowledge of a widespread problem with this vehicle. The fact that the service advisory did not suggest any additional investigation into the issue also supports my contention that small inexpensive repairs were done to pacify customers and get them outside of the covered warranty period where the repair costs would then become the consumer's problem.