I have a 2004 Mercury Monterey (well maintain, 65K). Last Friday (April 2, 2010), I was driving in Florida turnpike with heavy traffic and all of sudden without any warning (alarm or light) loss motive power. My whole family w/ kids was in the vehicle and I just thank! god, that we were not hurt. I immediately pulled into a roadside. I tried but wasn't able to put to any gear, heard bird chirping sound from the engine. After stranded in the middle of freeway during heavy traffic for more than 3 hours, I had it towed to my mechanic almost 73miles and had to pay $300 towing fee to bring the vehicle to the mechanic. My mechanics initial investigation found that transmission is gone and need to replace it. After searching the web, I found very similar issues for the Ford freestar (which is identical to Monterey). Ford /Mercury should recall these vehicles to fix this transmission failure problem and not to put loyal Ford customer in a dangerous position in a highway.

- Boca Raton, FL, USA

Vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly lost power while wife was driving on level terrain with two passengers at constant speed of approx. 65 mph in right lane of an interstate. Engine RPM increased but vehicle speed decreased. Power loss was complete. Fortunately a rest area was within coasting distance and vehicle was able to come to a safe stop there. Engine would crank and run but vehicle would not move in any gear, forward or reverse. Vehicle was towed to a Ford dealer, who diagnosed transmission failure. Vehicle was repaired at a cost of approx. $3,300 by replacing transmission and torque converter with Ford remanufactured parts. I personally reviewed the failed transmission and torque converter when I picked up the repaired vehicle. Due to the substantial core charge (approx. $600) I allowed the dealer to keep the parts for return to Ford. While reviewing the parts, I was able to identify and photograph what appeared to be the root cause of the failure. All teeth of the pump drive spline (a female spline inside the torque converter) were sheared off so that the spline bore was completely smooth. (I also observed and photographed an undamaged converter for comparison.) there was no damage to the mating male pump drive spline on the transmission. The nature of this failure clearly points to a design or manufacturing defect. The failed spline teeth must have been soft or they would have damaged the mating teeth on the male spline. The failed spline component appeared to be a stamped 1/8" thick steel washer which was welded to the inside of the torque converter case. Failure of this component suggests that its design thickness and strength were grossly inadequate to support the pump drive load for the service life of the vehicle. It is extremely dismaying to have the failure of a less than $2 component result in a potentially life-threatening situation and a very expensive repair bill. Of particular concern is that there was absolutely no warning of impending failure!

- Bartlett, TN, USA

2004 Mercury Monterey minivan. Complete, sudden, unexplained transmission failure. Vehicle would not move and made a high-pitched whirring noise when turned over, which was the transmission totally gone out. 90000 miles, bought 5 years ago from a dealer with 20000 miles, maintained excellently since then with no other problems. Our mechanic said he fixed 2 other vehicles of similar mileage with same problem in the last 2 months, unusual for our rural area. He explained this seems to be a common defect of this vehicle. Cost us $3000 to repair, not under warranty. The dealer would have charged $4000. Ford/Mercury motor company barely acknowledged the complaint, replied with a pat reponse encouraging me to visit my dealer and find a new vehicle!, and that was the extent of their customer service. In googling this problem it seems there are many other people experiencing the same problem and I even read about a potential recall because of these problems. I wish I'd never bought this car.

- Grand Rapids, MI, USA

Transmission failure of 2004 Mercury montery at highway speed. Van suddenly lost acceleration. Transmission spline was defective and transmission was replaced.

- Central Square, NY, USA

2004 Mercury Monterey vehicle turns on but does not reverse or drive will not move in any direction. Possible diagnose is transmission torque converter. Vehicle was driving fine and all of a sudden this happened.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

I have a 2004 Mercury Monterey the transmission went on it at 56,000 miles I've been reading on the net that it's happening to alot of the same vehicles around the same miles. The van was driving fine and it just quit no noise no warnings nothing just quit.

- Fountain Hill, PA, USA

We were traveling down the road at about 50 mph when all forward momentum was lost. We coasted to the side of the road where we attempted to put the vehicle into gear. The vehicle would not go into any gear. Transmission specialist suspects torque converter failure possibly transmission damage. This is extremely concerning since this vehicle is low mileage (59,129) and has a perfect maintenance history.

- Daytona Beach, FL, USA

Transmission went bad in my 2004 Mercury Monterey sometime around spring of 2005, tranny was covered under warranty so I didn't put much thought into it as it didn't cost me anything, thought it was a freak problem. Last month the transmission went out in my van again, at this moment I have 62,570 miles on the van. The van died in an intersection and we were nearly re-ended we being me, my 10 year old son and my 14 month old granddaughter. I just had to take my van back to the transmission shop two days ago as it has again stopped shifting gears properly. The mechanic says it is the cooling system that cools the transmission that is causing the problem-none the less it is a recurring dangerous problem. I decided the file a complaint after finding 1132 post on edmunds.com regarding this issue. I cannot include my VIN number at this time because the van is in he shop along with my registration in the glove box.

- Lutz, FL, USA

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.

- Shoreview, MN, USA

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

- Atlanta, GA, USA

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.

- Doylestown, PW, USA

I own a 2004 Mercury montery.I was driving down a main road when all of a sudden, when I stepped on the gas the van quit moving. I had no warning, the rpms moved but my vehicle would not move in any gear. I managed to make it into the left turn lane on a very busy road, and had to wait 40 minutes for a towtruck, the whole time hoping I wouldn't get hit. There was no shoulder on this particular road to pull off on. It was very frightening. This could have been extremely dangerous had this happened on my way to the university. I have to drive about 40 miles on an expressway at night for my classes, if this would have happened then I could have been in alot of trouble. Not just the fact of getting hit on the expressway but being a female stranded at night alone on the expressway. I hope Ford is forced to fix this problem.

- Howell, MI, USA

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.

- Churchville, NY, USA

My Mercury Monterey 2004 transmission surges an slipped while traveling down the highway an sometimes in reverse when backing out of driveway it has 45,600 miles and is under warranty till April 22 2010, I will be going to the shop for repairs or service next week.

- Belleville, MI, USA

I have brought my vehicle into southgate Lincoln Mercury in southgate mi several times prior to the torque converter repair. Since the repair I have continued to experience problems with drivability. Gas mileage has reduced greatly (was around 17-19) down to 13.8. the vehicle drives at high RPM's and I still experience where the RPM will kick up briefly then will go back down. My complaint to the dealer was submitted again just prior to warranty expiring and now I am stuck with a vehicle that they can't seem to repair. I continue to get that they can't identify a problem.

- Wyandotte, MI, USA

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.

- Garden Grove, CA, USA

Transmission failed at highway speed. Vehicle had no indication that there was a problem. I was driving in us highway 83 when vehicle suddenly shifted from drive to neutral. Vehicle slowed to a stop.

- Bismarck, ND, USA

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

- Asbury, NJ, USA

2004 Mercury Monterey mini van. Torque converter has failed and rendered the mini van inoperative. Fortunately, my son and brother in law were not in highway traffic. I see there is some research on this. Has there been any updates on this research to qualify as a recall from Ford? thank you. [xxx] parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Coral Springs, FL, USA

While traveling on I 75S in our 2004 Mercury Monterey our vehicle suddenly seemed to have lost it's transmission. After getting us across two lanes over to the side by the guard rail we sat 2 hours in the ice and snow at a dangerous place along the road side, according to the police who waited with us with lights on. After getting towed into a Ford dealer we found out our torque converter went out causing us to rent a vehicle to be able to continue onto our family vacation. How fun to vacation not knowing how much the repairs would cost and also having to add on the cost of a rental vehicle for the week. If there is anymore we can find out on a possible recall, we heard from the dealership this has been a common problem, we would really appreciate it.

- Greenville, OH, USA