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I have maintained the condition of mine with the 3M Refresh leather protector (citrus scent makes the car continue to smell new, btw) and have not had further deterioration of the left side leather strip on the seat.
if they would vary the bubbles in the foam on casting these seat cushions, so the edges were hard like racing seats and kept you in place in the bucket, I suspect this leather issue would go away overnight. the seat edge will actually fold under the abs side panel of the seat, and that I suspect is the real cause of the issues.
Dealer says it has to do it while test driving before he can check it. Problem is, it never happens then!
Anyone know if there is a factory fix for this problem?
I have seen good and bad here and still would like to get an Explore. I have had bad (1990 Ranger) and very good ( 1993 Ranger) luck with Ford. Has anyone pulled campers with these 2002-2003's? How is the gas mileage on highway with/without camper? How does it drive with camper behind it?
After looking at two side by side in the showroom, one with 2 row seats and one with 3 rows, I decided two row ones have a lot more space for storage, and with much flatter folded seats, I can take a 2-3 hour naps during our camping trips.
I am surprised at how little legroom there is in the second row. Our 2001 Lexus RX300 has a lot more leg room, and the second row seat slides and back part tilts. Ford's doesn't do either.
My other question is the paint. How durable is it against chipping.
I did look at Honda Pilot. It is well built vehicle, but you can not get those for 15-18K and Pilot can't pull like Explorer either.
Thanks,
Joe
My 04 seems convinced that the pass side front door is open even though its not. If the door is opened and closed in the cold the dome light comes on, door ajar light comes on and stays on until the next time the door is opened and closed after the truck has warmed up. The dome light usually goes off after I put the truck in drive. Its only the pass side front door and only happens when the truck is cold, once its warmed up and the door is opened and closed again its fine. This started after we washed the truck last weekend. Any ideas?
but there is a sensor, probably a microswitch, that doesn't click over until the latch is fully seated. the important part is that this is worse in cold weather... that tells me there is a gob of lube someplace that is allowing the actuator for the switch to flex instead of push the switch button in.
you are going to want a good white lithium grease on the contact parts of the latch to both insure consistent lubrication and reliable operation... and to keep water out of the latch assembly from road spray and car washes. but most of the rest of that mechanism doesn't want gobs 'o' grease on it. pumping a grease gun full into that latch until the window smears is not proper maintenance of the assembly.
I haven't had this door latch in my hands. but those I have seen with the door liner off, you have an eccentric of some sort that is pulled by a rod to open and locked by a vertical rod that clicks a spring-loaded bar across the eccentric's path. the latch that surrounds the lock bolt on the door frame is also spring-loaded, and is flipped into a "set" mode as the lock bolt pushes against the latch. someplace in that path is going to be either a hall-effect sensor (overkill IMHO), a pin switch like the dome light switch on a 1960s car, or a microswitch to signal door-shut. if it's a pin switch, you need to clean the gob of dirty thick crusty grease off it, and just lube with silicone. if a microswitch, you don't want any grease anywhere in the travel path of the actuator arm or the switch actuator button the actuator pushes against.
that's essentially what you have to resolve by cleaning and relubing to clear the latch's issues. I make no warranties, but likely shooting a bunch of 99% isopropyl alcohol or mineral spirits into the latch assembly in several stages, hitting it with silicone, then edge-greasing the latch with lithium grease should accomplish the task without taking the door inner panel off.
anybody with greater insight, correct whatever fumbles I wrote.
The power window motor for the rear drivers side passenger window won't work. Again, very common problem-MOTOR IS ON NATIONAL BACK ORDER!!
Back to this motor-while this SUV runs very good, this motor is one of the noisiest I have ever encountered. I would not worry about any rattle sounds, etc. If it runs well-go with the flow. If I worried about all the sounds coming from this motor-I could never get any sleep! Most mechanics who know this motor will tell you this is the nature of the beast!
I have an 02 Eddie Bauer - has about 13k. I am starting to notice a shuttering-rubbing-vibration sound only when I go from a stop to an acceleration. More importantly it seems to happen more when I have the steering turned. i noticed this at lower miles but it seems to be happening more often (or I just listen for it more). Does this sound familiar to anyone? I take it that I should get it looked at?
thanks for any input.
if you don't, car makers' recommendations are all over the lot, from 60,000 to never. I have done both those extremes as well, and never got hurt. HOWEVER, if you get into a "this looks bad" situation way down the road and do a change, the sudden shock of the new super-clean high-detergent fluid can and often does knock some petrified crud loose from the valve body, a blind passage, the back of an actuator... and that can plug something very shortly after a transmission change. happens fairly often, from the posts on this site, it would appear.
I would thus personally lean towards fluid/filter changes every 30,000 if you tow more than once or for more than a little bit across town.... and every 60,000 if you don't.
there are all sort, manner, and kind of transmission flush machines and tech sales reps eager to use them on your car. see the second paragraph to understand where I'm coming from when I say... never in Hell on my car. anything is doing any pumping through my tranny, it's going to be the internal pump only.
I don't want any generic backflush situations in my tranny for the same reason I don't want the clerk at the medical insurance company doing my cardiac stent implants. two words: not qualified. and it's for ME, and I deserve BETTER than average.
for me, it's the OEM filter and factory-new grade fluid from a prime manufacturer, not any sort of relabeller, reprocessor, etc. same reason as above. let the other guy discover the cheap stuff that won't hold up.
your mileage/life/results/politics may vary............ there have been some grand hoo-rahs over fluids, flushes and intervals in the 4 years I've been watching this site. really classic backbiting screed kind of things. anybody want to prove me wrong, take 100 identical red cars, 100 identical blue cars of the same model... have 200 professional drivers and three professional mechanics do controlled experiments on them for 120,000 miles or more... and see me when I care :-D
To me it sounds like its doing what my 94 Blazer used to do and that turned out to be the EGR valve, has that been checked?
Also, my check engine light came on last week, at 82,500 miles, V8, AWD, 96 model. It used to lug upon accelerating when cold. Now it does it even when warmed up, at medium acceleration. It could even be pinging. I'm thinking maybe EGR problems? Thanks.
btw, have you changed plugs on that beast any time since manufacture? I had a couple with intermittent issues under reverse with lots of accessory load and started pulling plugs, to find a couple with widened gaps where the platinum buttons had been knocked off or failed during initial installation. a new set of plugs at 27,000 made a big difference, and just in time for my first real tow in the way-outback.
all of which is to say, don't fixate on one part and fight through Hell to get after it just because you can. by mid-80s in mileage, as soon as something starts acting up, you're due for a real good engine analysis IMHO.
-0-
as for tranny flushing machines: yeah, I have my doubts about 'em. if there's enough pressure to kick slop out of hidden passages, there's enough to blow seals. if you change the fluid often enough, you aren't going to build up slop, because the fluid is massively detergent and will carry goo away.
I support the use of pony pumps to run fluid through a tranny when a car/truck is being towed, provided the assembly is approved by the carmaker. there is at least one that is ford approved for the v6 applications, sold by RV outfits for those folks towing an exploder behind their class-A RV so they have a get-around car. these have to be engineered applications, not scaring something up in the surplus bin at World 'O' Rusties and making up a monster with fifteen valves
I had 74,000 miles on the originals and they worked fine, but the front rotors were getting a little warped. So, we decided to change the front (we had the rear machined) and replaced the pads all around. Also put new shocks on at the same time.
Only problem is, now when I am almost stopped, the pedal nearly goes to the floor and it chatters at the same time. Pumping did not make a difference, still the same reaction. High speed stopping is fine, goes straight, pedal feels good and firm, but under 10 MPH, does this chattering thing. Since the rotors are new, I looked at the wear marks on the front and both sides seem to be riding the outside 1/2 to 1 inch of the rotor only. They get hot very quick and smell like they are burning. I am told this is ok, and give it a few days to "break in"?!?!?! I am not comfortable with this at all. I only drive 2 miles to work, but I still need good brakes!
The pads are on straight, they do not seem to be uneven in any way, fluid level is good. Are the calipers bad? Do we need to bleed the line? Does anyone have any suggestions on what else to check, change, adjust? Thank you!
quick, hot stops are supposed to be the way a number of mechanics seat new pads. they can also be cross-buffed with a pad, I suppose.
if you have even wear showing on both sides, the calipers are probably OK. the slides should have been lubed with the appropriate high-temp brake grease. also, the backs of the pads should have been coated with a lube compound that should have been packed with them... I think that gets to the mountings of the pads to insure they don't chatter.
I suspect the issue is the pads are fluttering due to sticky sliders to cause your chatter... and you need to bleed (and preferably replace) your fluid to fix the bottoming out. that sounds like it's getting warm in the caliper and inpurities or air are causing the loss of hydraulic pressure. neither is rocket science; the bleeding is the most critical right now.
What engine? What was the code? What gasket was replaced?
1.Caliper pins and slides for greasing and the entire caliper assembly for binding
2.Check the new pads against the old ones and look for missing or incorrect/improperly installed anti-rattle springs/clips
3.Check the rear drum adjusters for proper position. After making the hand adjustment at the drum, the final adjustment is done by stopping the vehicle a few times while going in reverse. This is normal for all drum brakes and sometimes will alleviate the soft pedal after a brake job. If you have rear discs, did your husband use the proper method? There is a special tool required for rear calipers.
4.Consider bleeding the brake lines. If you have ABS, use the proper methods. Hopefully your husband knew to use a hose-pinch tool and open the calpier bleed screws before depressing the pistons which is required for working on ABS systems.
Have fun.
if it was a master cylinder, it would have been a soft pedal all the way down, not at the end, when there was heat in the wheel cylinder.
I had no ABS issues whatsoever changing out my whole brake fluid load last summer with a mity-vac hand pump.
procedure: insure full fluid resivoir, cap it loosely, slide back under the frame a little, crack the bleeder open again, pull vacuum until the standard mity-vac brake kit's jug is half-full and all fluid entering is clear, spin the bleeder valve wrench a half turn to hold the vacuum, refill fluid resivoir, dump nasty old brake fluid in recycle bucket. repeat until it's all new fluid coming out, then tighten the bleeder back down hard and put the cap on. move on to next wheel.
dump old fluid frequently. never, ever, E V E R reuse it. if you have vacuum being held before opening the bleeder again, you don't need to have any fluid in the bottom of the jug to cover the inlet hose that ends near the bottom to prevent air suck-back in any ham handed mistake you make.
it was a darned good excuse to buy a $44 tool I've been wanting a while. it only took an hour of being clean and fussy to do all four wheels.
save those bleeder caps, and put 'em back on the ends of the valves when you're done.
Well when I turned it on the outside temp was 79.
Could this be relay malfunction or the system needs a charge?? Has anyone had this problem??
email washijl@auburn.edu
learned that one the hard way on my 90 ranger, having dad bleed me by pushing the brake pedal down. screw up once, and you can learn for life :-D
If my assumption is correct, the pads are contacting outter edge of the rotor, and before long since they are NOT applyig pressure to a smooth/machined surface, they will break up.
I have changed a lot of rotors, but that mishap caused me to size up the old rotor against the new one from now on before I do a brake job.
Joe
Does anyone know Ford's official stance on the 5R55W fluid change interval. It has no dipstick.