Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-105, 106-116
I have had no problems with this Mountaineer. I have owned it since late 2002 and have not had one problem.
The transmission shifts a bit hard at times, but not bad enough for me to take it in to the Dealer.
I was a bit disappointed with the 2002 model, versus the 2000 model I owned previously. Granted, the 2002 was a better ride, was larger, and overall was a better SUV. But, the 2000 had more creature comforts... the dual sunvisors, and higher feature radio for starters.
I have also been unimpressed with the "memory features". How much harder is it to program the car to remember the mirror settings and radio settings? If the car can remember where the drivers' seat was when I left the vehicle, why can't it remember my mirror settings, and radio presets?
Overall, Great SUV.
I have a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer. I have owned it for almost 1 year. I felt the same way as you about my "little" and once in a while slips in the transmission. I let it go and now I have to replace the transmission. They say that it is still under warranty {even though it has 37,678 miles on it}. I will find out next week when they say they will be done with it. So my advise to you is to take it to have it checked out. At least, you will have a record of your complaints in case something does go wrong with it.
We bought our 2002 Mountaineer new based on our favorable experiences with other Ford vehicles (Bronco, Windstar). However, we have had a very different experience with the Mountaineer. So far we have had the car in for transmission work 13 different times. The transmission shudders when shifting into overdrive and slips noticeably. The Ford dealership we purchased the car from finally overhauled the transmission last week ($1400.00 to fix of which we paid 10%, the dealership paid 10% and Ford paid 80%). It's' still not fixed, so I am contacting dealership and Ford tomorrow in hopes of one day getting this resolved...
I bought 2002 mountaineer and have transmission problems too. not very happy with that. 3 times in the shop and now it is over heating.. great.
I have 46,000 miles on my '02 Mountaineer and just replaced the water pump. On other cars I've owned, the water pump has lasted 100K. Is this anything to be concerned about?
I will take my 2002 Mountaineer in the morning for the 4th time since May with transmission problems. I am glad to have come here because they have continually told me there are no problems with the 02 transmissions and this has to be a fluke!
My Mountaineer has been at the dealer for one month today. In between I have had it for a few days here and there, but it's always the same thing. When the trans is cold it shutters when it shifts. Anyone who has resolved this problem please let me know.
My 2002 has been running very poorly, as if I have gotten bad gas. I took this into a dealer and he cleaned the fuel injectors. It ran fine for about a month and now it is jumping again. Any ideas?
Just wanted to keep everyone updated. They found that the spark plug needed to be replaced and it is up and running again. Love this Mountaineer!!!
I purchased my '02 Mountaineer used last month. My wife loves all the features and it's a pleasure to drive. Unfortunately I just had to replace both wheel bearings yesterday. I'll keep you posted on any other maintenance issues that come up.
We have suffered through owning our 2002 Mountaineer for 4 years. It has been in for service on all of the issues each of you have mentioned here - many times. We have had the transmission replaced twice, both times under warranty, although it is doing the same this again, and I have been told it will cost us about $1,400 to repair. We have had bearings replaced twice, and on and on and on...
Ford has not adequately addressed these problems and tries to deny them. I have no respect for the Ford organization at this point in time.
I've owned my 2002 mountaineer for 7 months, it has 38000 miles and the tranny just went. Apparently, there are problems with the transmission which aren't being addressed. I'm still waiting to see if the dealership is going to cover it. Any suggestions.
Our 2002 Mercury Mountaineer has given us many problems in the nearly 4 years we've owned it. We have had wonderful experiences will all of our past Ford vehicles (Fairmont, Escort, Tempo, F150, and 2-Explorers) --many of which we put on more than 200k miles. With our Mountaineer, we felt that from day one that the transmission did not work like it should. In January, we broke down on a road trip and had the solenoid replaced. Now it seems as though the transmission is slipping with the RPM going up over 4,000 while on the freeway and sometimes when it's in Drive, it acts like it's in neutral.
I have owned my All Wheel Drive 2002 Mercury Mountaineer since May 14, 2004. It was a pure delight to have the vehicle. November 2004 the vehicle cut off on me. I took it back to the dealer I purchased it from used. I found out through diagnosis that a 'solenoid' needed to be replaced. I shelled out the monies for the repair. The car ran slightly better however, I could still feel the slight jerky pause to shift change in this automatic vehicle. As of this past Sunday, March 19, 2006 my vehicle would not go past 20 MPH without a demanding flooring of the accelerator. I decided to park my Mountaineer and have AAA take it to a local repair shop. I am none delighted to inform you that a new transmission in the amount of $2400 is recommended. So no doubt you can tell I am sick to my stomach and have to pay for this vehicle through late 2008. Good Luck to you other owners I am praying some other dealership will offer a deal to take my large jug of LEMON of my hands.
We purchased a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer in Jan 2006 and we have a real bad rattling noise it sounds like someone is shaking a can under the car. The rattle sounds like it is coming from under the passenger side up front. We took it to a Ford dealership and we were told it is the Torque Converter, then the Catalytic Converter, and the Flywheel. All of theses items have been replaced and the noise is still there. You can hear the rattle when you put it in reverse and drive and as you go into certain gears, but not in park or neutral. Does this sound like it could be a transmission problem?
This noise is usually the cat converter heat shield. It is a 2 part shield designed to protect the carpet in the passenger side from burning. The lower half is there to prevent grass fires, in case you park on a grassy surface. I've had 2 Ford trucks, and both of them gave me this problem. Catalytic converters work by super heating the exhaust, which helps achieve a more complete burning of exhaust, hence lowering emissions. Some shields are welded together, some bolted. My first one was welded, so I just kept working it back, and forth until the lower half ripped loose, solving the rattle problem. The one I have now has the bolted kind. Upon inspection, I noticed 2 of the 4 bolts were missing. After replacing the 2 missing bolts... no more noise.