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Don't know what might be happening in back.
Steve, I'm glad I've found the correct forums.
We are very impressed with this '02 Explorer.Previous SUVs: 89 Isuzu Trooper, 91 Toyota Landcruiser, 94 Toyota Landcruiser, '00 Eddie Bauer Expedition, '01 Isuzu Trooper. We did a ton of research, and Explorer really fit the bill for us. It's the perfect size, and the fold-flat rear seat really sold us.
As for the odor, I've been through this with other cars before, and just wanted to know if this was common. If so, it'll make it a little easier to try to get it deodorized under warranty.
See ya' around the forums.
Anyone know of any alternatives other than the (gulp) dealer?
we had to get a new one back when we had a taurus, a few years ago. the story goes, my wife had to visit the facilities at a park. when she sat down, the keys fell out of her sweathshirt into the toilet. she stood up up retrieve them, but it was an automatic toilet. Whoosh they were gone!
My truck has about 2500 miles on it, so far the only real quirk it has besides the transmission forgets what its doing sometimes and hesitates or slips a little.
I just hope that the vibration isn't the dreaded driveline vibration I keep hearing about from 02 Explorer owners.
BTW, I really do like my truck, very nice to drive, just wish that loud vibration would quit it, thankfully its more intermittant than anything.
I would say that if it gets worse, take to the dealer (I know, what a pain) and have them look things over. If your rear axle is making the noise, then have them hold off for a month as there is a new revised part to fix that problem about a month away. What a bummer though, it frustrates me when loyal Ford owners get their loyalty tested by such events/issues. Heres hoping that they are able to fix it and get you back on the road for 100,000+ trouble free miles:)
It didn't do it when I bought it, started this about 1000 miles ago. Its doing it more frequently these days. I'm ignoring it for the moment to see if it keeps getting worse.
I still like my truck, its just a quirk like a lot of new vehicles have.
If the tech at the dealer knows what he's doing, it's a pretty easy job to use the stick-on weights to balance it out.
Also, if you take it to the dealer, be SURE it can be reproduced easily. Nothing worse than the dreaded "could not reproduce" on the service ticket at the end of the day!
Nope, been there, done that, even a couple times when I *KNEW* they were lying and I showed them the problem, they still pretended not to notice. How the heck do you not notice a major brake pull?? Read: Step on the brakes, steering wheel yanked out of hands and truck makes a mad left. (this was on a 94 Mazda Navajo) I'll never know, but I still glare at the service manager from the Mazda dealer whenever I see him.
My Explorer pulled its first trailer today and did pretty good, the trailer was horrible though, borrowed snowmobile trailer. Normally we use our big flatbed trailer to haul snowmobiles on, BUT, hubby wrecked his V10 Ram yesterday and the Explorer cannot pull that big flatbed trailer.
NO ONE every apologized for selling me a lemmon. No one apologized when they REFUSED to try and fix my car a fourth time. Ford Corporate mishandled the reutrn of the vehicle and displayed ZERO professionalism during the whole process.
My wife and I tried to do the right thing by buying the lesser expensive American made car. Ford let us down on all fronts.
If your '03 or '04 Explorer is humming or whining, make them fix it and don't believe the fix carrot. OR make them buy it back. We did.
DO NOT BUY FORD PRODUCTS.
I'm not expecting the Pilot to be perfect, I've scoured the forums. The leather appears to sag prematurely, it's got some other defects that appear to be consistent, but it like the new Explorer is a second year model.
My frustration with what happened with our Explorer comes from two sources; one, the quality of the car and two, the complete mishandling of the entire situation by the dealership and corporate.
Thanks for asking.
Disclaimer: Grammar and spelling not checked. It's a forum about cars. Not an essay submitted for grading.
I traded in a 1997 Explorer Limited V8/AWD, it was a gas hog, seemed to lack power, handled horribly, I was never really thrilled with it. It was a pretty good truck until it hit 55k or so, then it decided to start falling apart, then again, I think age hurt it more than anything.
Don't want to rewrite my novels :-) Please read my posts 2396 and 2320. Then buy anything but the Ford.
The enticing thing about the Ford's right now is the extremely low price that you can get one for. When we added our employee discounts, the Ford was $10K less than the Pilot. Today it would be more like $13K less. That's hard not to take into consideration. I admit that everyone will not have the same experience that I did, but MANY will.
IMHO, you are taking two risks. One, vehicle quality and two trying to work with Ford in the event there is a serious problem.
Within the last 24 hours, I had a cubemate ask me for the "how to return a lemon in North Carolina" synopsis. Three guesses for what kind of car?
As I've stated before, the '03 Explorer was my 3rd FMC vehicle. All related experiences to my first FMC vehicle were apathetic at best. It only got worse from there. I kinda feel stupid buying three cars from them, but my patriotism and former allegiance to the blue oval was hard to say goodbye to.
it just has some many great features and is so practical, that i think it is the best out there, overall. i have an '02 loaded eddie bauer version.
not to dis the pilot, but i have noticed, just from my own observations, on snowy days, if the pilot drivers show up at all, they leave early.
could be coincidence, maybe your experience is too.
Sure is depressing that they can't get their you-know-what together.
Would definatly buy another Explorer, this one is #3, well, more or less, had a 1994 Mazda Navajo (Explorer Sport), a 1997 Explorer Limited, and now this 2004 Explorer XLS Sport.
1996 Explorer Sport
*Needed Fuel Pump @ 90,000 miles
*91,000 miles needed new front shocks
2000 Explorer XLT (was lease, tuned in @ 30,000)
*Timing chain tensioner (covered under recall)
2000 Explorer Limited ((Currently Own)@ 61,000 Mi)
No rattles, and even slightly more quiet than my Expy.
*Timing chain tensioner @31,000 (covered/recall)
*Thermostat @ 40,000
*Brakes (all 4) @45,000
*Ball Joints (Lower) @ 51,000
*2 Front Edelbrock shocks @ 48,000(just to soften up the ride)
Thats is, not to bad of a list.
My Expedition on the other hand has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned (incl. 5 Honda Accords), knock on plood)
Currently has 96,000 miles on it and these are the repairs that have been done.
*@65,000 Battery and Alternator (Shorted Bat= Melted Alt)
*@90,000 first brake job
Incredible!
So my Ford Experiences have been more like First On Race Day than Fix Or Repair Daily. Surely 4 good vehicles in a row has to be more than just luck?
outside of the normal wear and tear items (oil, filters, lube, one set of front brake pads, wipers, fluids, outside bulbs were shotgunned when a marker light went out) I have not had one issue with it. this HAS been a year for fuel-line icing up here, so I've had some four-crank no-starts that cleared up right now with a bottle of isopropyl fuel de-icer. the AWD has been awesome, and the replacement General tires from the "customer satisfaction initiative" have a real good grip, whereas the original => KILLER TIRES! tm <= Ford decided to get off the road on their own dime were not real good in any category of performance.
I liked the way the 2002s all handled and rode as well when I went to a No Boundaries Expedition day a couple years ago and drove 'em all on an imitation backcountry course.
good truck. tows real well up to the 3000 pounds I have had on it. would get a new exploder or mountie at the drop of an insurance check if somebody slid through an intersection and totalled me out.
I'm trying to find the words to say this nicely but I can't. Your proposing that the driver alters his or her driving to accommodate (sp?) a defect in the vehicle that one has plunked down tens of thousands of dollars for? Not trying to be adversarial here, but c'mon.
Can you help me understand the context of Pilot owners showing up and leaving early:? I might have missed something.
PS - Got the Pilot on Friday. It now has 500 vibration free, silent miles on it.
If you choose to replace them there are several good brands out there: Edelbrock, Bilstein, KYB, etc.
Good Luck
what i meant about the pilots i see at work is that i guess their owners don't have much confidence when the weather gets bad. i think you figured that one out on your own. might not be the vehicle. we have plenty of people that don't come to work when it snows, but then if driving in a snow storm bothers you that much, why buy a pilot? buy an accord.
hhaddock - check your tire pressures. a tire with tall sidwalls and low pressure can flex a lot.
I just put in a K&N hi-flow panel air filter, the idle is about 750-800, just want to check if this is normal, I forgot to check it before replacement.
Immediate impression is the throttle response is better, although I did not get on the highway yet.....thanks.
First 2 were the early models a 91 and a 93, I bought them when they were 6 years old, in those years their was no choice of engine or automatic transmission. Engine was 4.0L V6 OHV and transmission was either A4LD 4 Speed Automatic or Manual trans. The engines were reliable, but underpowered at 160 HP. The automatic transmissions were nightmares, as they are basicly a C3 LIGHT DUTY transmission, I had to replace those twice in each vehicle. They can't take any abuse or hard driving, that's why mine went out, I'm a hard driver and need a strong transmission.
The other Explorer is a 97 with the 5.0L V8 , a VERY excellent vehicle, I bought when 5 years old, with 100K Miles, has good strong reliable engine with 215 HP and a good strong automatic transmission, a 4R70W. I had to put new bearings in the rear end, but it has been fine since then. This vehicle is a dream to drive, I really love it. Too bad it is my wifes vehicle, as I drive a 99 Blazer, which is ok, but not quite as nice as the 97 Explorer.
I buy them about 6 years old and drive them for 6 years. That's about the best you can do when you only have 9K to buy a vehicle with.
I've ridden in a four-by over mixed stuff that "went wild" and barely came back to control before the ditch due to being pushed too hard (accidentally) and having a patch of road appear in the ice under a front wheel. I'll pay five bucks at the amusement park if I want to go there again.
the newest versions of the explorer/mountaineer feature the drive system option I would have paid $5000 extra for in 2000. base system is AWD, and you have the option to lock diffs for traditional 4x4 high and low.
AWD is not all that useful in extreme conditions... a mud bog, snow up to the door handles, rocks as big as toasters all over the road... and that is where 4x4 shines. when there is only occasional traction at any wheel, locking all four together is the best idea. of course, if you use that to get into a total impasse way back in nowhere land, you had better have put a winch on your system as well and carry extra wire rope and some U-splice bolt sets.
so that's the way I'd go if I got T-boned and had to replace mine today... with the explorer or mounty having the AWD/4x4 drive option. and I'd search dealers or special order to get it, driving a pig rental if I had to, until mine came in. I'd also insist on the V8 and towing packages no matter what, but that's just me and my life.
1. Hard starting
2. Reduced engine power after engine warm-up.
3. Lugging or surging while driving, or stalling while at stoplights/signs
OR
4. Erratic idle.
They can do a fuel line pressure test to see if the fuel pump is the actual culprit of your lean comp. reading. I am dissapointed that the service dept. didn't to this already. Then what would they do if the new fuel pump didn't solve the problem? Sounds like gross inexperience to me.
If your truck is high on mileage then the O2 (Oxygen) sensors might be getting lazy. For your Cat. converters to operate efficently the engine has to opperate in constant fluctuations between rich and lean fuel mixtures. When these sensors become lazy, they just indicate that your truck is running lean all of the time triggering the Check Engine light. I actually had a lean reading cause the check engine light on my Explorer to come on (@50,000Mi). Though I started with cleaning the Mass Air Flow sensor and that has done the trick for about 10,000 miles now (no check engine light). Though replacing that should have solved the problem if that was the problem on your truck.
Another problem that could be causing your Check Engine light is a vacuum leak somewhere in your intake. If you have the 4.0L SOHC V6, there have been numerous cases of intake manifold gasket failure do to warpage of the plastic intake. This will cause a lean reading as well. I think that this issue if covered under a Ford Extended warranty until 100,000miles. There is a recall on this part, but only if the part(s) go bad.
I know not every garage has a Genesis OBD II computer reader, that can pretty much tell you anything you want about your cars performance actively, but any Ford garage that is farmiliar with Explorers, should know more than to just say "Fuel Pump." There is nothing worse than just throwing parts at cars, hoping to fix it.
All of this gobbldy [non-permissible content removed] I just wrote you aside, your problem may very well be your fuel pump, but it seems like more tests should be run before making that final deduction. Can you try another dealer, or is there any independent shop in town that you trust that might be able to help. If so, try those places next. Or, I guess you could just live with the Check Engine light. But if you are like me, that little bugger distracts me more than a cell phone would. Goodluck! Hope this helps.
I have high expectations for the performance of the Pilot in snow/rain/ice. I'll let you know how she does when I get my "chance". (I'll also go read the forum de Pilot.)
<<<ON THE TOPIC OF AWD/FWD>>>
I think we should separate the people that are looking better traction on the road during adverse weather versus off-road capabilities; the two are different fishes if you will. After having several 4WD and AWD vehicles my opinion is that AWD does quite well for the driver seeking extra confidence in slick conditions and snow. The 4WD can kinda do double duty with 4WH and 4WL, BUT (I was the model fool for this next sentence) most people that buy 4WD vehicles never come close to either using them at all or to any significant percent of their capability.
I learned this by buying a $40K LandRover because of the awe I had for its off-road abilities. I used those abilities, uh, almost 3 times in 3 years ;-) Ahhh the lessons of youth.
Bye
again in 20K more miles. In other words, is there some more permanent fix...like using a better grade of material or something? Or is this a "live with it" problem? Shouldn't be this way on a $38K vehicle.