Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Attica, Ohio

Attica, OH Car Consumer Discussions

2004 Freestar with multiple issues

by jnunnally73 on Sat Feb 16 10:04:46 PST 2008

I own a 2004 Freestar, which I might add comes with a significant monthly payment. Reveiws stated a minivan with comfort and reliability like never before. After 3 years of run time, and less than 70,000 miles, the vehicle of "reliablity" turned into the vehicle of "liability"! In late October of 2007, I left the parking lot after work, engaged drive and made it another 50 feet before the van died as I continued to roll. Luckily at that time, I was only going 10 mph. After $100 tow bill, and nearly 9 days at the dealership, I was told that "Catastrophic" failure occured withitn the transmission body. That is hard for me to comprehend, when the van showed no indicator lights or hard shift patterns, even at the time of failure. Needless to say, the 3/36,000 had expired. So $3,000.00 and 12 working days later, I get the van back from the Ford dearlership. Four days later, same symptons. Only this time, I had my children in the vehicle with me at the time I was traveling at a rate of 35 mph through town. I regained control of the van without power steering or assisted braking. I immediately called the dealership, paid another tow bill, and waited 3 working days for a diagnosis. I was told that I had significant water damage to the PCN board located under the cawl panel (excuse the spelling). A transmission and a PCN board within four days! Come on, I don't buy that! But I did, and paid another $280.00 for a tube of silicone to be applied to the plastic housing that the board is mounted in. Dealership assured me that the board was fine, "here you go". Three months later, same symptoms. Only this time, I finally get a transmission indicator light on the dash. Tow bill number 3 later, and 7 working days, I was told that the board needs replaced. FINE!! The only saving grace I might have is that the Service Manager I demanded to get involved, admitted to me that Ford is issuing service bulletins on Freestar PCN failures due to the design of the hood and how body seems allow water to land directly on the PCN housing! After asking the manager what the PCN does for my van, he explained, among many other functions, that it controls transmission shifting through electrical buss cables. Did I really need the $3,000.00 transmission, or just the board that controls it???? Oh, I forgot to mention, at the time of this last failure, I was traveling 55 mph on a two lane highway, lost complete engine power, steering, and braking: then played "chicken" with a semi hauling silica sand. I'm guessing I would have lost that one and my children would have lost their dad! How much more has to happen before Ford admits complete failure of their design, stops putting peoples' lives at risk, and offers to make it right monetarily with those who have survived, and issues a world wide recall for those still at risk. If Ford wants to build an American made car and ask Americans to buy it, rather than a foreign made model, then they need to step up and protect the American consumer. I am so ready to go public with my travesty, if they won't protect my family in the family vehicle they made, then I will! Jason Nunnally 103 E Pike St Attica, IN 47918

Re: Sporty red roadster> [andys120]

by magnette on Thu Mar 15 13:33:38 PDT 2007

I answered the earlier post from work, but now I've had a chance to look up the Sabra, the old-fashioned way (books). Apparently although Reliant set it up the Sabra went into production before the Sabre in Uk, although it was the same basic design - indeed the first 100 were actually made in England by Reliant, and were exported including some to USA. Engine was a Ford Consul 1703cc 4 cyl. Don't know about the windscreen, but the British Sabre was later upgraded to the Sabre Six, and that led to the Scimitar a few years later. There was a Sussita, but it was more like a 4wheeled Reliant, and that later evolved into a car you probably won't have seen called the Reliant Rebel. Also I was wrong about Cyprus. Reliant developed cars in Turkey - Anadol - but the other nation that they set up a car plant in was Greece - Carmel Attica, apparently.

Re: LOOKING FOR A PLACE AND PEOPLE IN INDIANA [myboyblue]

by tsjay on Tue Jun 14 14:16:35 PDT 2005

Blue: Welcome to Emdunds Jeep Wrangler! Congrats on that Jeep. I would love to have you come down here and wheel with me at Turkey Bay. It's a long drive, I know, but I think you would say it was worth the trip after we have been on the trails at TB. Paul already gave you the link to my Turkey Bay website. Much closer to you, and a real nice place to wheel, is Badlands in Attica, IN. It's a pay to play private park and ecompasses 700 acres around an old rock quarry. One thing about going somewhere to wheel that can make all the difference in how much you enjoy yourself is having a local guide. Without someone to guide you, you can get into trouble by getting into something too extreme, or you could just not even find the fun spots. I am your man for Turkey Bay. I go just about every weekend. I've been to Badlands, but not enough to do any guiding there. Tow hooks front and back and a CB radio are minimum requirements. Come on down! Tomster Have you hugged your Jeep today?

Re: LOOKING FOR A PLACE AND PEOPLE IN INDIANA [myboyblue]

by chris_doing on Tue Jun 14 14:14:35 PDT 2005

Badlands Offroad Park is in Attica, that's about two and a half hours away from me. Drop me a line if you want to head out there sometime.

more info on VON's

by joey1 on Tue Jun 08 21:49:10 PDT 2004

I spent about an hour clicking through probably 150 Dealer codes and copied all the VON's starting with 13xxxxxx. Only Cars in D1 or greater appear on the Chrysler online Vehicle Trace system. I am estimating that the 13xxxxxx VON's accounted for about 15% of the total VON's. The other 85% were in the 12xxxxxx range. I have no clue how VON's are assigned or how the sequence is determined, ie., do they add 1, 100, or ?? to the previously assigned VON? It is impossible to tell how many VON's have been assigned unless someone knows the numbering scheme. The only thing my excercise tells me is that they haven't passed my VON yet (obvious since I just order the car almost 2 weeks ago). What is strange to me is how few 300 VON's appeared on the Vehicle Trace System. Many large dealers with over 300 cars in production didn't have any 300's showing up at all. If they are building 970 cars a day I would have thought I would have seen a lot more 300's in the D1 and greater status. Not to create angst, but if I had a car with a VON in the 12xxxxxx range I would call my dealer for an explanation why cars are being allocated (and built) to other dealers with later (13xxxxxx) VON numbers. Here are the VON's starting with 13xxxxxx that I randomly found with my search. The numbers starting with 4xxxx are the Dealer Codes. I copied the VON number and the last Vehicle Location info with a date. The "Vehicle Delivered to Dealer" date shown below is a forecast only. 44010 13077940 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-17-04 01:00 PM CDT Martin Dodge-jeep-chrysler, Bowling Green, KY 44033 13104943 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-04-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 44037 13131668 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 44039 13071408 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-21-04 09:30 PM PDT Perris Valley Dodge Jeep Chrysler, Perris, CA 44074 13122500 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 44090 13050467 Shuttled to Facility 06-05-04 11:35 AM EDT Detroit Jefferson Assembly, MI 44474 13019329 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 13019341 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 44480 13044557 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 44484 13064831 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-04-04 07:37 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 13102397 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-04-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 13015750 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-28-04 12:01 AM CDT Kayser Chrysler Center Inc, Sauk City, WI 45008 13071232 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-14-04 12:01 AM EDT Upstate Dodge-chry-jeep Inc, Attica, NY 45026 13100992 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-04-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 45030 13035641 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 13126552 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-04-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 45032 13122224 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-22-04 11:30 PM CDT Goodson Chrysler Jeep Dodge North, Spring, TX 13122225 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-22-04 11:30 PM CDT Goodson Chrysler Jeep Dodge North, Spring, TX 13122243 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-23-04 11:30 PM CDT Goodson Chrysler Jeep Dodge North, Spring, TX 13122314 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-04-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 45039 13079846 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-21-04 10:00 PM CDT Diamond Dodge-chry-jeep Inc, Bastrop, LA 45040 13108941 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-14-04 12:01 AM CDT Aurora Chry-dodge-jeep Llc, Aurora, MO 45043 13005585 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-16-04 08:30 AM EDT Heritage Dodge-chry-jeep, West Jefferson, NC 45047 13018233 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-10-04 07:30 CDT Foothill Ranch Chrysler Jeep Dodgeinc., Lake Forest, CA 13004538 Scheduled for Build (D1) 06-03-04 07:38 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 13004390 Built - Pending Inspection (I) 06-08-04 08:31 AM EDT Brampton Assembly, ON 45055 13034481 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-14-04 12:01 AM EDT Diehl Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Franklin, PA 45058 13010809 Vehicle Delivered to Dealer 06-24-04 08:00 PM EDT Beck Chry-dodge-jeep OF Starke, Starke, FL

David

by tsjay on Fri Jan 09 09:48:51 PST 2004

On two different occasions I have driven 8.5 hours each way to get in just one day of wheelin' at Superlift ORV Park in Hot Springs, AR. Also, I have driven up to Badlands in Attica, IN, which is a 6.5 hour drive for me, to get in one day of wheelin'. So, you might as well be as crazy as I am. :) Just come on down for a short trip before you do the "big one." Consider it a scouting mission. Tom Have you hugged your Jeep today?