Tranny question - 04 Ford Freestar

[Burtess]

A family friend has a 2004 Freestar with some possible tranny troubles.

 

To get it going you need to put it in low 1, over and over, and then you can get it moving. Once moving low 2 for a bit, messing around with it also.

Finally it can go into drive, and once it catches there it will drive like normal. It will shift up, down, you can stop and start and it is like normal. If you shift out of D to park etc. then the problems start again.

 

This year range had lots of problems with the torque converters, does this sound like what this is?

Or could it be something in the shifter/column that is toast?

 

She is a single mom, and although she has a $2000 budget for fixing it, she is worried about getting more work done than necessary.

 

Anyone have any educated guesses what this could be?

 

Thanks,

 

Burt

[ecmilley]

sounds like a soleniod pack has given up mand it's in limp mode or just worn out take it to a reputable trans shop average cost for these i have seen is 1700-2200

[Skipper D]

First pull the dip stick out for the trany and see if it has any oil left in it , if not or it shows below add , top it up to the full mark only , you might get lucky , if this dose'nt get you going then it off to the trany shop .

[Mike Pike]

If you're going to a Tranny shop, there's a good one close to you on Hwy 5 near Hwy 6( Clappisons ). It's called Dick's Transmissions. A father son operation, I believe. I've found 'em to be very honest and they didn't jam me with the trickery of some of the chains.

[bigbuck]

Have her go out and get a couple of written estimates. Then she can have whomever she was the most comfortable with fix it. I've heard service advisors telling women that they needed a new flux capacitor and that it was a very expensive piece of safety equipment that their vehicle could not do without. I know a few guys that are Service Advisor's and whenever someone comes along that does not have a clue about cars, they see $$$$$$.