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2004 Mercury Mountaineer Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 210 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 Mercury Mountaineer, most often about the body and structure (38% of complaints, typically around 69,500 miles). It is the 2nd most complained-about Mountaineer model year since 2000.
Most common 2004 Mercury Mountaineer problems
Body and structure
79 complaints · 38%Half of these problems showed up before 69,500 miles. Parts named most often: body.
Rear lift gate on 2004 Mercury Mountaineer would not close. Noticed hinge attachment for glass looked as though it was falling off. Gate would not close and is damaged.
The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. The contact stated that there was a fracture in the panel of the rear liftgate from the bottom of the window to the base of the liftgate. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnosis or repairs. The contact stated that the rear liftgate was inoperable. The failure…
Transmission
64 complaints · 31%Half of these problems showed up before 65,000 miles. Parts named most often: automatic transmission, driveline, axle assembly.
Our vehicle was purchased in june 2008 at dealership nearby. We were driving home and there was a grinding and popping sound in the rearend of the vehicle. It was me , my husband, 3 mth old and 2 yr old occupying the car. My husband got out of the car and stated to get the babies out of the car in a hurry it was on…
2004 Mercury Mountaineer with 64,000 miles, transmission started to make noises, about a week later it would not shift. Shop said some grove in something in the transmission. Had it fixed for $3,000. Later found out the transmission was out at 10,000 miles before we bought it. Also had a 2004 lincoln aviator with…
Speed control
21 complaints · 10%Half of these problems showed up before 80,000 miles. Parts named most often: cruise control, accelerator pedal.
The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the contact deactivated the cruise control when the vehicle suddenly stalled. The failure also recurred when driving at slower speeds or when decelerating with the cruise control activated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic…
I had picked up my kids from daycare and I put my vehicle in reverse and backed up. While backing up I heard a loud pop and I got out to see but there was nothing visible. So I put the vehicle in drive and as I was going down the street my vehicle axle broke and my truck hit the street in the middle of traffic. I took…
Engine
19 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 70,000 miles. Parts named most often: engine, exhaust system.
The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle stalled and there was a sudden loss of power steering. The contact mentioned that the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where the failure was unable to…
I started my 2004 Mercury Mountaineer the other day, and the engine started making a horrible noise, like a lawn mower, right when it started. I shut it off immediately and eventually had to get a tow truck to bring me to the ford dealer. Luckily I wasn't driving this time when it happened. It turns out that the…
Electrical
16 complaints · 8%Half of these problems showed up before 82,500 miles. Parts named most often: ignition, 12v/24v/48v battery.
Just purchased a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer today. Driving home, using cruise/speed control at around 30mph and driving on a slight decline, the vehicle shut down. All indicator lights went on, and I had to coast to the side of the road. I put vehicle in park and restarted it without problem. There were no indicator…
The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. While driving approximately 65 MPH, the contact deactivated the cruise control when the vehicle suddenly stalled. The failure also recurred when driving at slower speeds or when decelerating with the cruise control activated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic…
Air bags
12 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 107,000 miles. Parts named most often: side/window, frontal.
The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH, the driver and passenger's side curtain air bags deployed erroneously. The contact sustained injuries to the back as a result. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where the technician diagnosed that the…
We were driving down the road at about 55mph in a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer and suddenly both side curtain airbags deployed...no accident, no impact, no potholes, no veering off the road...just cruising when this happened. We almost wrecked. Our local ford dealer says we have to pay $80 for a diagnostics test to…
Other or unspecified
9 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 84,000 miles.
While driving our 2004 Mercury Mountaineer, all of the sudden it will stall and a light will come on showing "engine fail safe mode". There is no power at all and the car needs a few minutes before starting up again. This has happened 3 times now and all in traffic. We have had to pray that we would not be hit or…
I opened the window hatch on the back of the vehicle and the window hinge broke and the window started to slip down almost braking my nose.
Visibility and wipers
7 complaints · 3%Half of these problems showed up before 84,000 miles. Parts named most often: glass, side/rear, rear window wiper/washer, power window devices and controls.
I own a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. The hinges holding the rear winsdhield in place broke and my windshield fell out. I understand there was a recall on the ford explorer for the same issue but not for the Mercury Mountaineer. Since there are no recalls for my vehicle I am responsible for paying on the repairs and I…
The contact owns a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. The contact stated that while attempting to change the wheel drive, the vehicle failed to utilize the forward wheel drive. In addition, the vehicle began exhibiting several failures simultaneously. The power steering assist failed, the gear shifter failed, and the…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2004 Mercury Mountaineer recalls
NHTSA lists no recalls for this model year.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Vehicle rollaway allegations
Summary
This investigation is being closed based on several considerations.by the most inclusive counting of all alleged rollaway incidents (I.e., counting all alleged rollaway incidents and assuming a singular failure mechanism), the incident rate is low, however during ea09-013, odi identified a number of different failure mechanisms in 180 incidents related to the alleged defect.the highest rate for any particular failure mechanism, the failure of the automatic transmission parking system, was 4.4/100k.the next-highest failure rate was for the bsi system, at 3.4/100k.for all identified failure mechanisms there has been a drastically declining trend including very few incidents occurring in recent
Rear liftgate glass hatch failure
Summary
This investigation was opened on june 23, 2008, based on 34 complaints involving eight injuries in which the rear liftgate glass hatch on model year 2004 ford explorers or mercury mountaineers broke off and fell, usually while individuals were operating the glass hatch or loading or unloading items from the rear of the vehicle.ford conducted recall 04v-442 in 2004 to address similar problems on model year 2002 and certain model year 2003 ford explorers and mercury mountaineers.the information ford provided in response to odi's information request letter indicated that failures with 2004 vehicles were primarily liftgate glass hatch hinge failures related to corrosion at the hinge pin, whereas
Spark plug ejection from cylinder head
Summary
On september 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or ejected from the engine.as of december 8, 2005, odi is not aware of any allegations where the alleged defect resulted in a loss of vehicle control, a crash, an injury, or a fatality in any of the 10,319,810 subject vehicles.in addition, odi is aware of only two incidents where the vehi
Questions about the 2004 Mercury Mountaineer
- What are the most common problems with the 2004 Mercury Mountaineer?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: body and structure (79 complaints, typically around 69,500 miles); transmission (64 complaints, typically around 65,000 miles); speed control (21 complaints, typically around 80,000 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2004 Mercury Mountaineer have?
- NHTSA lists no recalls for the 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls in case one is issued later.
- Is the 2004 a bad year for the Mercury Mountaineer?
- It is the 2nd most complained-about Mountaineer model year since 2000, with 210 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.