I have 3 outstanding issues on my Explorer, can you give me some insight?

1) The driver's seat moves back and forth about 1/2" on the left side. It is not in the recline mechanism, it is in the rails. You notice it when you stop and start, it slide forward, then back, extremely annoying.

2) The ventilation system does not work properly, IMHO. If you set the blend to defrost, I still get about 30% of the air coming out of the floor vents. On any setting, there is always air coming from the floor vents, large amounts. In the summer, you freeze your feet, in the winter, you roast them, and the defrost does not work very good, windows are a bear to defrost!!

3) The rear lift gate glass strut (shock) on the passenger side has failed twice. First the dealer told me that Ford was replacing the entire glass lift gate as it was a poor design. I had to wait for 6 weeks for the new lift gate to come in and go thru body and paint. Then I took it in for the repair and they just put a new shock on it, said that would take care of it! So, used it twice and the shock popped off again.

This is my first Ford, and I have been happy with it, but my dealer service center is the worst! I have been dealing with these issues for 5-9 months and they have now just said they are all normal and cannot do anything about them . I am very frustrated, can I just go to another dealer, or is there something else I should do?? Any advice?

When I was in arguing with the sevice manager about these things, I had two other people stop me and ask to exchange phone numbers, they were having the same issues. The dealer is O'Meara Ford in Northglenn, CO. I have others I can go to, but is this the normal service I can expect?

Sorry for the long post...

 

Hey there. I know I don't have a 2002 but I'll try my best to answer them.

1.) It's definitely a fault with the seat tracks. Make them replace it since it's under warrenty.

2.) My '96 Eddie Bauer has automatic temp control. Well...mine does the same thing you're describing and it's perfectly normal. In fact, it's stated in your owner's manual. I have a 2002 manual and it's located on either P.37 for manual air or P. 47 for automatic temp control.

3.) You should get that replaced also. It shouldn't do that. It's a design flaw and you need to get to the bottom of this.

Are there any other Ford dealerships around you?? If so, go there and get a second opinion.

Here're some alternatives from the Ford website:

Sill - Terhar Motors Inc
1551 U.S. Hwy 287
Broomfield, CO 80020
Distance: 6.6 miles

Mountain State Truck Center
5025 Vasquez Blvd.
Denver, CO 80216
Distance: 8.4 miles

Brighton Ford
190 W. Bromley Ln.
Brighton, CO 80601
Distance: 9.2 miles

I wish you luck and update your situation.

 

Thanks for the info, I looked in my manual too, and although not clearly saying it will always come out on the floor, it does reference that on full defrost, some air is deverted to the floor, to improve overall performance. Yeah, whatever! Why can't it work like any other vehicle?

Any other input on the seat movement?

 

Please check with either NHSTB or your local dealer regarding item #3. These vehicles were recalled for that problem.

Good luck

 

hey Scooter, as far as the seat rail goes...i had the same problem, and my dealer replaced them immediately. no problems since.

as for the a/c, yeah that is normal.

i also had my strut/shock "popping" out of place, (mine was on driver's side though), the first dealer i took it to, tried lock tight on it...1 month later, out it came again...so i took it to a different dealer, and sorry but i don't know what they did, but here we are one year later and it hasn't moved one bit.

i thought i read something about proper torquing when tightening the bolt that holds the part to the window of the liftgate. good luck, and i would recommend another dealer...even if you have to drive a ways.

robert

 

Open the glove box and drop it down so you can see inside the dash. At the center of the dash from that view you can see the vent control lever. They had a problem with them popping out of place and need to be reseated to get correct door operation. If its under warranty just take it to the dealer and have them correct it.

 

Scooter,

My 2002 Explorer had ventilation problems. Let's say I switched the air from the floor to the defrosters. Half the air would come out of each. Occasionally it wouldn't switch at all. I turned the fan speed down and tried it again and it sometimes it switched and sometimes one of the above happened.
I took it to the dealer, since at times the air wouldn't switch at all. They replaced (I believe) the solenoid that drives the air diverter. Sorry, I don't know the technical names. It works great now, even with the fan speed on full.