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WARNING, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. DO NOT TRY THIS ON JACKASS, THE MOVIE, EITHER. WHAT THE HELL I WAS THINKING, I DON'T KNOW. even though this was a high-clearance 'burb, it's a stupid, idiot idea. get a hair-aisle hand mirror, a roll of duct tape, and tape the thing to a garden hoe for inspection like you were working at the emissions inspection station.
anyway, the exhaust pipe was whacking directly back into the transmission crossbrace. still the OEM. once this was discovered, it was easy to show the shop guys that the little hickey on the pipe matched the edge of the crossbrace. finally fixed.
You are welcome! I don't wish these problems on anyone else. Which is why I do not feel that I can sell it to an individual.
Operahouse-Thank you for the information on the rear door locks.
I currently have transmission problems, a/c problems(twice in shop, still not fixed),suspension is terrible, need to have that checked for an "official report", a roaring noise which occurs even when vehicle is sitting still, and I hear a noise(with a/c turned off as it is still messed up) which sounds to me like an air noise. I do not know squat about cars, but it sounds like vacuum or compression to me.
With all that I have read at this site, I am afraid of this engine-and will not drive the thing except to get to and from work.
Currently have an old (14 yr.) car in shop to get driveable so that I can put Explorer back in transmission shop. Guess after that I will get all other problems investigated. I do not want to take to Ford Dealership, as the codes will come up-but then again, I really do not want to sell this car to an individual.
Right now I feel like I have an expensive piece of scrap metal parked in my garage.
Does anyone know if we have any rights under Lemon-Laws? How many miles can they have on them?
Does all work perfomed have to be done by Ford to qualify?
I had no intention of trading this car for my typical 7+ years. Can not wait to get rid of it.
Thanks!
When I had the car inspected a couple of months ago, the shop said the front brakes would be good until about 30K and then need to be replaced. Now, 3K miles later, they do not feel safe (vibration and rumbling noise/feeling when braking). Probably needs front rotor work and new pads.
What are the rest of you all experiencing in terms of brake life?
Other than that and the worthless rear wiper, no new problems.
If you feel pulsing in the pedal then chances are you need your rotors turned.
"vibration and rumbling noise/feeling when braking"
That sounds more like a poor quality pad. You can always put new pads on first and if that dosnt solve your problem then you can look at having the rotors turned. Just dont be cheap on the breaks....you get what you pay for in my experience.
My brake work will be the first trip back to the Ford dealer for any kind of work in quite some time (6 months, actually). That's not bad.
The original OEM pads are still good.
When I had my car at the dealer on Friday, I looked at the new '02 Explorer. I was very impressed with the comfort and build quality and plan to give it serious consideration as a replacement for my '00 Explorer. This was a new dealer for me in terms of service and they were absolutely wonderful. It was very refreshing to find a competent dealer for a change.
No car is perfect, it is just a matter of finding something that you like and can be comfortable with owning for many years.
Interesting you should mention your Goodyear problem. I am glad that no one was hurt when the tire failed.
I recently had a front-end alignment done on my '00 Explorer. The dealer performed the alignment, but advised me it was their opinion one of my tires has a "thrown" steel belt and I should be conscious of the fact I may have a tire issue. My truck has Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires that were on the truck when I bought it new 18 months ago (23,500 miles ago).
I have already had one of the tires repaired (by a Goodyear dealer) as it picked up 2 nails in the tread. I wonder if the repair helped contribute to the "thrown" steel belt, or if the tire is simply defective (I think it is the same tire). I have never been all that pleased with their perfomance as it is.
It may be time to take the plunge and simply get 4 new tires (I will keep the Goodyear on the spare; not a big deal). The Continental ContiTrac SUV tires are very affordable and supposedly pretty good. Yokohama Geolandar AT's are supposed to be decent as well.
I don't think the dealer wanted to deal with the tire issue, and not being a factory Goodyear "store" I guess I can't blame them. I would like to think if it was an urgent isuue they wouldn't have let me drive away on that tire.
The tire seems fine to me for now and I am not exhibiting the drift to the left they claim the tire is causing. When the truck nears the 30K mile point in the next 4 months or so I am definitely getting new tires all around. The Goodyears aren't going to make it through another winter, they were barely adequate on a dusting of snow a few months ago.
Any recommendations as to the "best tire" for this vehicle? If I go ahead and replace the tires, I will be planning on keeping this vehicle for the extra-long run. Therefore, price will not a huge consideration when I buy the new set.
during the "owner satisfaction adjustment" period, my service advisor told me that they got a lot of "eight-ounce" Goodyears... that's how much weight they had to use to balance them. it's a lot of wheel weights. the tires will probably not ever cause any trouble, but it means a lot of semi-retired molds and long shifts were used to meet the tire demand.
my General 550 replacements have a fair amount of weight on one side, too, but no issues so far.
I think the dealer just wanted to try and make a buck that month in chassis, not break even on delayed warranty payments.
and yeah, I might go along with it, but I would also have the spare mounted up right away, or do it myself in the parking lot. I had the Firestone GM-TPC 500s with belt wires sticking out all over the edges of the tread area, way back when michelin made radials and everybody else made mistakes, and don't believe in God protecting fools any more when tires are concerned.
Know what to expect with the Accord as this is what I currently drive and would expect it to make the 180-200k mile mark without a problem. Need some feedback from you 02 Explorer owners on comfort, reliability, MPG, and if you feel this SUV can make it to 200k miles without becoming a money pit.
Need to make a decision next week and would really appreciate your feedback. I am posting on all the Explorer boards for max exposure so sorry if you run across this more than once.
Larry
40,000 miles a year! It will cost almost twice as much in gas to run the Explorer than a car.
If you don't care about running costs, get what floats your boat.
Has anyone else had this problem? Has Ford issued a TSB or a hidden warranty for this problem? I have an extended warranty that would cover the fix, but it has a deductible.
The servos were replaced, as well as the TPS-Throttle Position Sensor. Is this the same as the throttle kickdown?
I am getting all service work done to prepare to sell this thing. I had a tune-up at 72K with platinum plugs, then I can not find it listed in the manual until 100,000. Isn't this a long time to go without a tune-up?
Also, even though I have had this work done, the idling is rough. I am taking it in tomorrow to have this checked. Any ideas what the cause could be? Fuel filter has been replaced also at 72K (currently has 89K on it).
I had the intake gaskets replaced prior to the recall. When I took it to Ford for the camshaft chain pretensioner recall they listed -replaced intake kit and c shaft. Does this mean that they again replaced the intake gaskets? Well, if so, THAT shouldn't be the problem! I am very nervous about this engine 4.0 SOHC v-6. I am trying to do everything I can to get this vehicle in shape to sell.
(still have to go back to a/c shop)!~
Thanks!
At around 18K I had the tranny replaced because of a vibration that would occur during heavy acceleration between 50-60. The tranny also started having problems shifting from 1-2 occasionally. This seemed to fix the problem for a while and again the vibration returned. I had it in a few months ago for the 30K service and they suggested that the problem wasn't the tranny, but somewhere in the drive line, they thought re-indexing the driveshaft would solve the problem, so I gave them the go-ahead. Of course they told me it was fixed, but it wasn't. I also feel a strange bumping at around 30 during heavy acceleration, feels like its also in the drive line, its not a slamming, like when the hubs lock during slippage, just a mild bump???
Its going back again, but I'm not sure its going back to the same dealer. I should also mention that I've had numerous other problems to date: paint (twice), door sqeaks (passenger), leaking water pump, stale odor from the defroster/AC, brake squeal and the front end clunk that only happens when I'm in the car, same as the door squeak.
I'm now contemplating an extended warranty, Ford's or Warranty Gold. My dealer offered me a 'deal' on the Ford, $100 off....so generous, that should cover the frustration of not having had my car for almost 3 weeks since I've owned it due to these problems. Anyone else out there used the Warranty Gold? I hate to spend more on it, but I'll lose too much money selling it now, need to run it for a while, so the warranty route seems to make sense.
I'll also admit that I bought Ford's top plan on the 02 Explorer I bought back in October. It was close to the cost of Warranty Gold and they would roll it into the 0% financing so I took it. Haven't had to use it yet but I'm sure it will be fine when I do.
Good luck!
SERIOUSLY, you've got to have been burning the old boat and lawnmower gas of everybody in town to have gooped up valves so soon, assuming you are 30,000 or less miles.
my v8 AWD has plenty of zip, albeit I have noticed a little stumble at idle, a/c on, humid days, with the wheels crabbed and slowly backing into a parking spot. since I have a tow coming up into the middle of no-goldarned-where, MN, at the end of the logging trail, I am going to replace plugs and any wires that arc when hit with a refreshing mist in a dark garage (so I can see where they are damaged inside.) you can also go hunting for bad plug wires by taping a neon bulb to the end of a dry yardstick and passing that over the wires.
and yes, the cost of factory wiring harnesses and double-platinum plugs is obscene and repulsive, thank you for asking. my dealer is routinely taking advantage of new flexibility from Motorcraft by whacking the list prices down 30 to 50%.
it is also a big help to clean the wires first with a wet rag to get salts and dust off them.
is your air filter clean? 90%-plus of what enters the cylinder through the valves is air. if that isn't flowing freely, you will have issues.
is your oil clean and the right grade? it helps.
all this stuff about 120,000 miles between plug changes and 30,000 between air filters and so on is frankly sales nonsense. yes, the car will run within normal standards. no, it won't run like new.
as for the valves, if you really want to do something about them, pour in a can of Chevron Techron cleaner and follow the cleanup routine on the bottle.
the cabin air filter, where availiable, is an inner filter in the ductwork that traps material down to dust and pollen that would otherwise be blowing out the bezels into your face. taurus has 'em, exploder doesn't, I think the escape may also have them. wish I had one.
however, it appears to me from descriptions that this actually is placed between the evaporator and the cabin. real dumb move. you are still going to plug the a/c evap fins with tree seeds, cottonwood fluff, bird feathers, random dirt and guck, and the usual mess that costs hundreds and hundreds to have the a/c disassembled and the yuck blown out.
in fact, damn dumb move. it should be the basic minimum of design engineering that there should be at least a paper filter between the air intakes for the body and all coils. trap all the crap before it gets anywhere.
sometimes the collective herd instinct of car engineers causes me to boil over. times like this, I could take two or three of those pretty little pills and an extra beta blocker, and have an unscheduled nap.
grrrr grrrr grrrrrrrrrrrr.
anyway, that's what a cabin air filter is... half a loaf, and the cheaper cut, but it cuts the dust down where you sneeze. isn't worth thinking about cutting holes to try and retrofit one, you'll just whack off some damper doors and be hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
I am desperately looking to get rid of this truck, but can't really find anything that I like out there right now. As soon as I do, though, bye-bye Explorer.
Best of luck to you in getting your issue resolved. I would have gone for the lemon law way before letting the dealer work on it 8 times.
Also, other than edmunds.com are there any other good sites with info. on explorers (used ones)?
Thanks for your input mates!