kathykim

I was looking to purchase one for towing now that Ford has repurchased our Escape. The RAV4s are not towable unless you get a Remco Lube Pump. The Remco Towing website tells you what you need. I am anxiously awaiting replies from anyone who is already towing with this setup to see how it has worked for them. After our experience with the Escape, we aren't planning to tow anything that hasn't already been tried by someone else! We're making due with a used 2002 Honda CRV for now, but do plan do purchase a new car in the next year or so.

Ours was running when they bought it back, so don't give up hope. I really found the process to be frustrating, but fair once we provided all of the information.

When we called customer service at Ford, we asked that the problem be escalated and that was when we received the info in the mail from the BBB to fill out. The settlement is according to the Lemon Law in your state. The paperwork was somewhat time-consuming, but fairly straight-forward. I will say that we are pleased with the settlement that we ended up with. The most frustrating part to me was that they would not give you a "number" until you agreed to settle. You were told to figure it out yourself based on the formula in the booklet. Our situation was a little different, as we bought a certified pre-owned, so there were already miles on the car and we had a disagreement as to what mileage should be used in computing the buyback. However, since a "certified pre-owned" is still considered a "used" car, we were happy we were able to do anything at all, as the AZ law only gives 15 days on used cars, but they treated ours as if it was new. If it turns out that you don't qualify at this point, keep towing it until you burn up another one. That was our plan. And unfortunately, it WILL happen. Just make sure you have a dealer document the fluid level before you leave, so they cannot blame it on you. Good luck - believe my, I understand your frustration!

I hope it works out for you, but if you actually read through this whole forum, you will see that we burned up our third transmission even with the correct fluid level. . However, they have also made a change to all the transmissions built after February 8, 2010. We never towed with BOTH the lowered level AND the new transmission. We had the dipstick replaced and the fluid lowered. If I were you, I would still initiate the process, as it is very time-consuming. If you tow and don't have a problem, you don't have to complete the process. I'm just thrilled that we were able to get ours bought back and as of yesterday the process is complete!

You have to start by calling customer service. I don't have the number right now, but just call the number in your owner's manual and tell them that you want to escalate the problem and request a buyback.

Start the Ford buyback process right NOW! The sooner the better. Call the Ford customer service line - they will send you paperwork. Even though we haven't had the fourth one go out and were reassured that ours should be fine now, we are going through the process and are supposed to have this completed by Monday or Tuesday. We've agreed on everything and the check was cut today.

Update - they have replaced the transmission for the 3rd time. We have been assured (in writing) that my transmissions with a build date after February 8, 2010 have a modified baffle assemble that should solve the problem. However, we are still required to lower the fluid level and do all the other things (stop every 6 hours or 300 miles - although in our experience, we stop way more frequently than that). Only time will tell. We are still trying to get Ford to buy it back, as we have no confidence in it and are tired of the stress this puts on our trips. If they could really assure us that the problem was fixed, we would be happy, but I can only keep monitoring to see if others are having problems or not.

Update - they have replaced the transmission for the 3rd time. We have been assured (in writing) that my transmissions with a build date after February 8, 2010 have a modified baffle assemble that should solve the problem. However, we are still required to lower the fluid level and do all the other things (stop every 6 hours or 300 miles - although in our experience, we stop way more frequently than that). Only time will tell. We are still trying to get Ford to buy it back, as we have no confidence in it and are tired of the stress this puts on our trips. If they could really assure us that the problem was fixed, we would be happy, but I can only keep monitoring to see if others are having problems or not.

Update - they have replaced the transmission for the 3rd time. We have been assured (in writing) that my transmissions with a build date after February 8, 2010 have a modified baffle assemble that should solve the problem. However, we are still required to lower the fluid level and do all the other things (stop every 6 hours or 300 miles - although in our experience, we stop way more frequently than that). Only time will tell. We are still trying to get Ford to buy it back, as we have no confidence in it and are tired of the stress this puts on our trips. If they could really assure us that the problem was fixed, we would be happy, but I can only keep monitoring to see if others are having problems or not.

The lowered fluid level will not fix the problem. We made it a little further in our 2009 Escape this time, but in the end, the result was the same - transmission number 3 did not make it back from Oregon. It is totally fried and back at the Mesa dealership that we bought it at, waiting for the Ford engineer to come look at it. Which will mean absolutely nothing. At least we had it documented in Oregon that the fluid level was correct for towing prior to starting home. (We did the same thing before we went up to Oregon). The transmission overheated on the way up to Oregon, but did not completely fry the transmission, so the Eugene dealer told us that everything was fine. We had to have some solenoids replaced after the engine light came on, but they insisted that this was unrelated. We are attempting to get Ford to buy back the car, but don't expect much luck, since we bought a certified pre-owned rather than a new car and we have had it for a little over a year now.

The lowered fluid level will not fix the problem. We made it a little further in our 2009 Escape this time, but in the end, the result was the same - transmission number 3 did not make it back from Oregon. It is totally fried and back at the Mesa dealership that we bought it at, waiting for the Ford engineer to come look at it. Which will mean absolutely nothing. At least we had it documented in Oregon that the fluid level was correct for towing prior to starting home. (We did the same thing before we went up to Oregon). The transmission overheated on the way up to Oregon, but did not completely fry the transmission, so the Eugene dealer told us that everything was fine. We had to have some solenoids replaced after the engine light came on, but they insisted that this was unrelated. We are attempting to get Ford to buy back the car, but don't expect much luck, since we bought a certified pre-owned rather than a new car and we have had it for a little over a year now. 2010 and 2011 Escapes still have the same transmissions and same "procedures" to solve the problem.

The lowered fluid level will not fix the problem. We made it a little further in our 2009 Escape this time, but in the end, the result was the same - transmission number 3 did not make it back from Oregon. It is totally fried and back at the Mesa dealership that we bought it at, waiting for the Ford engineer to come look at it. Which will mean absolutely nothing. At least we had it documented in Oregon that the fluid level was correct for towing prior to starting home. (We did the same thing before we went up to Oregon). The transmission overheated on the way up to Oregon, but did not completely fry the transmission, so the Eugene dealer told us that everything was fine. We had to have some solenoids replaced after the engine light came on, but they insisted that this was unrelated. We are attempting to get Ford to buy back the car, but don't expect much luck, since we bought a certified pre-owned rather than a new car and we have had it for a little over a year now.

Eugene dealer originally agreed engine light was related to transmission. Now they have back tracked and said that the solenoids have been a problem and just need to be replaced. Suddenly, the fluid on our back window must have come from the RV, and the transmission fluid always smells like that. Amazingly, it didn't smell like that when we left two days earlier. They say the fluid isn't burnt, but does seem a little dark for the miles - gee, you mean the whole 5,000 miles we've put on the car since the transmission was replaced last year, or the 500 miles since the dealer checked the fluid in Phoenix? They are going to fix the solenoids, but do nothing with the transmission. Since it is running, we are just going to keep going and tow it home and wait for it to burn up the rest of the way again and take it back to our dealer. Tried to go to Ford to buy it back, but were told there were too many miles on it. We bought it last year with 13,000 miles on it as a certified used car and have put only 6,000 miles on it since then. (Who has time to drive it when it is always in the shop?) Will try to get some satisfaction from our dealer, but I think we can all agree that we are just going to lose our butts on this thing. We've decided to give up towing it either way, as two long trips in two years have been destroyed by this car.

I finally have a chance to update more on our issue. We traveled 900 of our 1200 mile trip before having a problem. (This is a record for a transmission that we have owned.) We did not have any problems on day one despite the 115 degree weather. On day 2 we had to travel a long distance in order to make it for a grandson's baseball game. We drove about 550 miles, stopping every 2 hours to start the car and run it thru the gears. We were good until about 350 miles in, then the transmission light came on and we could see the fluid on the back of the car again and smell the burnt transmission fluid. After running for a little while, the light went out. The car has been driving OK, but the transmission fluid is definitely burnt. Now, 5 days later, and engine light came on. No one can get to it in the town we are in, but they did put the computer on it and it came back with some sort of intake manifold cam timing error. We are driving it to Eugene, OR tomorrow to see what can be done and make them check the transmission again as well. I hate this car.....

Well - we didn't make it - transmission number 3 just burned up despite doing everything by the book and then some. We stopped every 200 miles or less, drove 60 or less and had the dealer document the transmission fluid level in writing with my husband present. I hate this car.