'04... No Go!

acremeans · 10-20-2009, 08:58 PM

04 Mercury Monterey 4.2L / 64K miles. Was on the interstate, and just lost all gears. Engine is making a winding noise that increases with acceleration. Only thing that the tranny seems to do is lock into PARK. No engaging of any gears forward or reverse. Only vehicle that the whole family can ride in, so need some help! Also, hoping that I can avoid a shop to save the $. Brother-in-law and myself can do most work, so if you think you know what it is, let me know... going to start pulling stuff off in the morning.

Adam

woodstockfreestar · 10-21-2009, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acremeans

04 Mercury Monterey 4.2L / 64K miles. Was on the interstate, and just lost all gears. Engine is making a winding noise that increases with acceleration. Only thing that the tranny seems to do is lock into PARK. No engaging of any gears forward or reverse. Only vehicle that the whole family can ride in, so need some help! Also, hoping that I can avoid a shop to save the $. Brother-in-law and myself can do most work, so if you think you know what it is, let me know... going to start pulling stuff off in the morning.

Adam

If your lucky its just the torque converter, the slines shear off of them and that is what your left with. Sudden failure and no gears. Mine also whined like that - I had a warranty so I ended up getting a transmission rebuild.

theoldwizard · 10-21-2009, 09:17 AM

Yep, sheared splines or broken input shaft. Time to rebuild.

MonsoonMike · 10-21-2009, 09:27 AM

Welcome to the club! Same thing happened to me with the same exact vehicle '04 Monterey at just about the same exact amount of miles back in June. What a coincidence.

But I can't say anything bad about these vehicles because it's all just a coincidence.

Ok sorry I'll behave.

Seriously, sorry about your loss acremeans. Mine cost me $2,400 to have a new torque converter and a rebuilt tranny. When my torque blew, it ruined the tranny. From what I hear, sometimes you can just get lucky and it's just the torque converter which is much cheaper, around $400. Best of luck.

P.S. Not telling you what to do, but I'd take it to a trusted independent shop. At the Ford dealer, you're only going to get the same faulty torque converter. My trusted local guy says this torque converter is as cheap and flimsy as paper. He gave me a heavy duty one. Costs a little more but worth it.

acremeans · 10-21-2009, 10:12 PM

Well, thanks for the input guys... supposedly my issue was more than the torque converter, and more than likely would have been $1900+, so I decided to ditch the Monterey and get an '09 Expedition XLT EL. Had been looking for another car for a while, since I have a 4th child on the way. Only thing now is that I have a car payment again... and I lost big on the trade in, since they took it AS IS. And if you are wondering, trade in was only $2500... Car wasn't in best of shape though, 6 disc no longer worked, several dings in the exterior, not to mention the huge hole in the back bumper that happened when my wife backed into a street light pole. And yes, the backup sensors were screaming at her, but she 'didn't see it... it was in her blind spot'... That's a whole different story. Thanks for the help guys. I'll be in the Expedition Forum if you ever want to drop a line.

RIP Monterey
02/06 - 10/09

Initial purchase price of '04 Monterey $16000
Trade In $2500
Purchase price of '09 Expedition $37000
Knowing that one bad Ford doesn't stop me from buying another... Priceless

Adam

GraybeardAv · 10-22-2009, 12:13 AM

The dealer's gotta' be smiling..

crazy96863 · 10-22-2009, 12:53 AM

Mine still works fine but when the time comes I am going for the Expedition EL as well. 4 little peeps myself.

woodstockfreestar · 10-22-2009, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acremeans

Well, thanks for the input guys... supposedly my issue was more than the torque converter, and more than likely would have been $1900+, so I decided to ditch the Monterey and get an '09 Expedition XLT EL. Had been looking for another car for a while, since I have a 4th child on the way. Only thing now is that I have a car payment again... and I lost big on the trade in, since they took it AS IS. And if you are wondering, trade in was only $2500... Car wasn't in best of shape though, 6 disc no longer worked, several dings in the exterior, not to mention the huge hole in the back bumper that happened when my wife backed into a street light pole. And yes, the backup sensors were screaming at her, but she 'didn't see it... it was in her blind spot'... That's a whole different story. Thanks for the help guys. I'll be in the Expedition Forum if you ever want to drop a line.

RIP Monterey
02/06 - 10/09

Initial purchase price of '04 Monterey $16000
Trade In $2500
Purchase price of '09 Expedition $37000
Knowing that one bad Ford doesn't stop me from buying another... Priceless

Adam

I have to ask why would you let Ford rob you and then go buy another vehicle from them???

MonsoonMike · 10-22-2009, 08:50 AM

If it makes you feel any better, I'm actually surprised you got $2,500 for an as-is, dead Monterey. That's actually not bad. I've heard some horror stories about people trying to trade these things in "as-is" and getting like about 500 bucks. Sometimes I'm still debating whether or not to trade mine in now that it's "temporarily" working fine right now. I say "temporarily" because I've just had too many problems to trust it. What would the trade-in value for a average maintained 2004 Monterey with 76,000 miles on it be? I say "average" maintained because it has some wear like a few minor stains from food, etc, but nothing serious and outside it pretty flawless except for some stuck tar on the front bumper when I ran over some nasty tar a few months back. lol

GraybeardAv · 10-22-2009, 09:16 AM

If I didn't already have one, I'd jump at a dead Monty for $2500. The dealer probably fixed the tranny for $500, replaced the bumper on the cheap, and is now asking $7K for it.

Watch ebay and Craigslist for prices.