The Ford Five Hundred is a full-size sedan that debuted for the 2005 model year, but only made it through the 2007 model year before it was discontinued. The North American product was designed to bring back the range-topping, more prestigious American sedan, but its conservative styling and lack of power ultimately sealed its fate, after which it gave way to the fifth-generation Taurus. There are still some Ford Five Hundred sedans out there on the road today, but this particular example likely won’t be after suffering a catastrophic failure.
In this recent video from David Long of The Car Wizard YouTube channel, we get a look at a customer’s 2005 Ford Five Hundred that they brought in to his shop – Omega Auto Clinic – after experiencing some issues. Overall, the sedan doesn’t look too terrible on the outside, but recently, the transmission started slipping, shuttering, and oftentimes, not engaging properly. Long proceeded to check for codes, and found a few that provided clues as to what’s going on.
After looking up those codes, Long found one common recommendation from Ford – to replace the car’s CVT gearbox, though a large number of issues could ultimately be to blame for that failure. Long was sure to double check all of the potential alternatives – in some cases, the transmission filter can fall out and cause these issues – but that isn’t the culprit here, though the transmission fluid looks like it hasn’t been changed in a long time, and there are metal shavings in it, too.
Ultimately, Long could replace the CVT in this Ford Five Hundred, but it wouldn’t make much sense, financially speaking, as that repair would cost more than the car itself is worth. Then there are the many other issues that need sorting, which essentially makes this sedan “mechanically totaled.” It’s an unfortunate end for this Five Hundred, but not something that we don’t see frequently these days – in fact, Long previously covered a Ford Flex with a coolant leak that wound up sending that model to the junkyard, too.
Comments
A CVT in THIS? I don’t think so. I thought only Nissan had CVTs back then.
Yes, AWD Five Hundred/Montego and all Freestyles had a CVT built at Ford Batavia. FWD Five Hundred/Montego has the Aisin F21++ transaxle. I worked on that Aisin launch.