Apparently the 2005 Mercury Mountaineer has serious transmission problems, and Ford is aware of them. I had great difficulty finding a competent person to fix the problem, kept getting jerked around over astronomical pricing and being put off for days regarding the diagnosis and/or when it would be fixed and how long it would take. The process took a month and I had it to three different garages, starting with Aamco who did nothing but attempt to rip me off. While moving it from them was a cost to me, it was better than them taking advantage of me. They wanted $4500 to rebuild the transmission. When I told them I was pulling the car off their lot, that number miraculously dropped to (are you ready for this?)---$450 to put in a used transmission (which I would purchase separately) OR for the $950.00 + tax they demanded of me to pull the transmission and diagnose the problem, the price now dropped form $4500 to around $2200. I could not longer trust them, got stuck with a used transmission that did not fit the car and had to get a salvage operation involved to help me recoup my losses on the used transmission. This was a nightmare from Hell!! I have been driving for almost 40 years and have never, ever experienced such lies, incompetence and total abuse when repairing a car. I regret every buying the car, it is a nice looking and comfortable car that rides nice when it runs. But Ford should be accountable for this!!!!!!

I do all regular maintenance to my vehicle. I have been the sole owner. I had a transmission flush done at the Ford dealer and within a day started hearing noises and having a rough shift problem. I reported this to the dealer and made an appointment to come back at the end of the week. By the next day, the rough shift became more pronounced and I suddenly lost my reverse gear in the car. As I tried to limp into the dealership, I lost all gears above third gear. The dealer told me that it was a transmission failure and that they would need to replace it with a rebuilt unit for $4,500.00.

I towed the car to AAMCO who confirmed that the inside of the transmission was a mess and that the transmission oil was black (remember I just had it flushed and changed). They rebuilt the transmission for me for $3500.00 and it now runs great. I was told that Ford and Mercury SUV's were their best customer....and that the rebuilt transmissions are no good either. I was not impressed with how my dealer treated me after 11 years of servicing the vehicle in their shop. They had NO culpability in the cause and effect of my transmission failure.