10.0

really awful
Typical Repair Cost:
No data
Average Mileage:
93,000 miles
Total Complaints:
1 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. new transmission (1 reports)
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problem #1

Mar 052019

Five Hundred SE

  • CVT transmission
  • 93,000 miles

In the beginning of March 2019, I was driving home from work and as I started to accelerate up a small incline, my car started jerking very badly. I put my four ways on, slowed down and continued up the road. I replaced the spark plugs right away thinking they were bad because I had never changed them in the 3 years I had it. Weirdly, my car was fine for about 2 weeks before this jerking started up again.

This time I replaced my right control arm thinking it was a suspension issue. I had the left one changed the prior year so it needed to be done anyway. Again, the car seemed fine for a couple days but the problem occurred again and this time with a grinding noise. I noticed that it was happening when I reached above 35 mph. For awhile I drove to work on back roads so that I didn't have to reach that speed.

Eventually I decided to take it to the Ford dealer. I drove instead of towed because I wanted someone else to hear and feel what I was. The car didn't even make it to the dealer, it seized up and would not go anywhere. The dealer quoted me $4,000 worth of repairs. They said my caliper is was seized so I needed a new one, as well as rear pads and brakes. Also, I needed some gaskets in my engine and two intake manifold screws. My brother and I did these repairs ourselves to save the labor costs.

After putting everything back together, the car seemed to run a lot better and I had faith that it was fixed. I still felt like it was shifting a bit weird so I took it back to the dealer to get another diagnostic. They said they updated the pcm and tcm and that it shifts correctly now. I took him and the next morning, my problem occurred again and very badly. I was in the middle of traffic when it started jerking and almost didn't make it to my destination. We again decided to drive it to the dealer. It made it but barely. At this point I was so fed up and afraid of the car. When I took it back they then told me the 6th gear was shot and that there was metal in my transmission fluid. After experiencing all this, THIS CAR IS NOT SAFE. I only had 93,000 miles on it and thought it would last me a very long time. Some symptoms that I was experiencing were: transmission slipping, clunking when putting into reverse or drive, jerking/bucking above 35mph, grinding, and burning smell.

- Kelly V., BETHLEHEM, PA, US