My Ford Five Hundred Experience - A Nightmare

[rpared]

I leased a Ford Five Hundred from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in Ontario, Canada and it has proven to be a nightmare since day 1.

I felt I was given a bad car although I am a long-time customer of Whiteoak Ford Lincoln having leased 2 other cars from them since 1998.

I leased a dealer demo and was not good at judging the condition of the car when I took it out. Since the first week I experienced breakdowns when the engine just stopped running moments after I started it.

The car has been in for service 12 days since I leased the car from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in October 15, 2005. It's been in for service 5 separate times for a variety of repairs such as: air intake switch, pcm replacement (when the engine would not fire after the air intake switch was replaced), pcm re-programming (when the engine would not fire again weeks after the pcm was replaced), steering repair and rear strut replacements. What's unbelievable about the strut repairs was when I complained about excessive thumping noises in the rear of the car, the Whiteoak Ford Lincoln service department replaced the left rear strut. When I picked up the car after a couple days, I still heard thumping noises in the rear. When I brought it back, they replaced the right rear strut.

You'd think that the rear right strut would have been checked when the left was replaced.

Now, I still hear slight thumping sounds in the front of the car and don't know what to do anymore because I've already reported this observation and the Whiteoak Ford Lincoln service department insists that there is nothing wrong with it.

Another thing that frustrates me is that I've written 2 letters to the President of Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in Ontario, Canada and I have not received a call from his office to address these problems.

My Ford Five Hundred experience leased from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln is a total nightmare.

[Georgia Boy]

Purchased a 2006 Mercury Montego----knock on wood----it has been everything I wanted in an automobile. The five star rating for the car(with side air bags) was a pleasant surprise after the car was already mine.

My "testing" has shown my mileage to be, at a conservative speed of 60 to 63 miles per hour, varying from 28.3 to 29.2, depending on the hills etc. when using the cruise control. The auto was to be a Grandbaby Buggy for my wife.
At this point, we could not be more pleased.

When I drive it I like the ride and the seating better than a standard sedan. I drive a Sport Trac and have gotten spoiled about being "up".

Hope my "luck" holds---really happy at this time.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I hope it was just one of those things and not what I can expect to occur.

I also hope this car is not on the Ford/Mercury hit list.

Georgia Boy

[99Expy]

I have an 06 500 as a company car. Now has 105,000 miles on it. Only problem is every once in a while, the dash goes out. All gages go to 0 but car keeps running. It has happened only twice so far, not sure what it is. Engine keeps running, it is not a safety issue. We love the car, great room and comfort.

[wildstang]

Maybe they updated the 06 version some but we have had some problems. Both front struts have been replaced, one of them had the bearing on top going bad and then the other was leaking, this was about 6 months apart, swaybar bushings wear quickly creating a rattle thud sound also. Ours is the limited awd model that we bought used. Also when driving we can hear an occasional chirp. I think it is the traction control pulsating the brakes just enough to get noise. Doesn't seem to matter if going straight, corner, smooth or bump. My wife also got some bad gas this winter, full of water, that screwed the fuel pump so we had to get 2 new pumps put in. I think the car has like 80,000 miles on it now. Mileage isn't that great, 20-maybe 23. Some of the weather stripping is coming unglued around some the doors. It does seem to run good and ride good and seating position is good.

[Howard]

Originally Posted by 99Expy

I have an 06 500 as a company car. Now has 105,000 miles on it. Only problem is every once in a while, the dash goes out. All gages go to 0 but car keeps running. It has happened only twice so far, not sure what it is. Engine keeps running, it is not a safety issue. We love the car, great room and comfort.

Have same problem w/2005, 500 limited, did you find a solution for the problem? My dealer has no idea what i'm talking about and will need the car for a couple of weeks. Help. H.

[LastTudor]

Originally Posted by Howard

Have same problem w/2005, 500 limited, did you find a solution for the problem? My dealer has no idea what i'm talking about and will need the car for a couple of weeks. Help. H.

It almost has to be a ground problem in the gauge cluster. For all the gauges to go down at once, you'd either have to lose power to every gauge, or you'd have to lose ground. Since each gauge gets its own independent signal, the likelihood of it being the power side of each gauge is very very small. They probably all get one ground though, and if it's intermittent, all the gauges would drop out when the connection to ground goes away. If I were a betting man, I'd bet it's in the connection between the gauge wiring harness and the gauge cluster