I have to be honest - I completely disagree with your feelings that the ride quality is not good. I find my 2004 V8 Explorer to be a VERY smooth riding SUV. I drove a Taurus, Camry (which I was almost killed in because it would lose power randomly including the middle of major intersections - I would not recommend Toyota after that experience - they never found the problem), and a 1994 Explorer. I traded in my 94 Explorer for the 2004 at 150,000 miles only because the oil pan had to be replaced and I didn't want to spend the money on a 10 year old vehicle plus I thought it was time for an upgrade. However, I only looked at the Explorer because of the reliability of my previous model and friend's recommendations. My 2004 is an extremely comfortable vehicle with shifts that are not noticable even when towing my 2500 pound trailer (which I do a lot). Now I did experience the harsh reverse and told the dealer during an oil change and they changed the solenoid that very day. It was really not an inconvenience at all. I also experienced a slight vibration at 70 mph about a year ago which was also addressed by my dealer imediately. I guess after that Camry stalling experience, these minor issues never bothered me SINCE THEY WERE FIXED PROMPTLY which unfortunately, you have not experienced. Maybe you can get better results from a different dealer or ask to speak to a Ford Motor Co. representative.

 

I have heard that to qualify for Lemon Law, it has to be in the first 18 months of ownership and if you are not the original owner, that could complicate things. I forgot to mention, that mine also had a bad fuel gauge. You'd fill up ant drive off and the gauge would go to Zero only to come back later down the road. There was a TSB about that as well. If there is a TSB about something and there are 20-30 of them, my car has had it. Check out that Infotraxx site I told you about..

 

I am sure that the Explorer has the ability to have a smooth ride. A family friend loves the ride. He recently bought a Honda after having only Fords for the last 30 years. He got into mine and said "There is nothing like the ride in a Ford Explorer". If mine did not have so many problems it would probably ride just great. I unfortunatley have not had that experience. Also funny that you mention Toyota with a stalling problem. I have a stalling problem with my Explorer - I am just waiting for the day when it happens in the middle lane of the highway. So far no one can fix it. So from my view and experience I have rather negative feelings regarding my Explorer but had a Toyota for 4 years and only fixed 2 minor problems that were related to my high mileage driving. I am going to pursue the problem if it does not come back fixed this time. Look into other dealers and start the process with Ford Customer Care.

 

I totally understand your fear of the stalling problem. I don't know if you are anywhere near south-eastern NY state because I would give you the name of the dealer I've had a lot of success with. It is about 40 minutes north of NYC but again, I have no idea if you are anywhere near.

 

Not near enough. I am north of Albany. There are at least 3 other Ford dealers in the area to try - it is just so time consuming to drive back and forth - not to mention the price of gas! Thanks though for the offer.

 

Hey - me again. You referred to the lag when you turn the corner and give it gas - did you ever get this fixed? Trying to figure out if this is related to my stalling problem. Originally just a stalling problem. Now I have the lag when turning corners in the morning and then later in the day it stalls.

 

No I haven't taken it back about the lag. Refer to my post of 8/25 and it detaiols the TSB which refers to the lag problem. I am unfamiliar with your stalling problem, unfamiliar but not surprised.

 

I feel for you guys with the newer models and still having tranny problems. I have a 2000 Exploder that my wife drives. We bought it used with 10K on it. I bought the extended warranty on it and lucky I did. Many problems but the biggest was the tranny went at 43K and the dealer repaired it under warranty.
Had more problems with tranny as it was getting closer to the end of the warranty and of course dealer coudn't fine anything. Out of warranty and the tranny goes out completely leaving me holding the money bag. AAMCO fixes the tranny for $2,400 last year in November. Tranny goes again last month but I have 15K more on the odometer so the 12/12 AAMCO warranty does nada. Another $1800 into this dog of a vehicle.

It rattles and rides like an offroad jeep from the 70's. I have a 91 Honda Civic with 213,000 miles on it that runs and sounds better than this POS. My advice for those of you with tranny troubles is dump that vehicle even if your going to take a loss, as once your out of warranty you'll be paying for it down the road.

My next SUV is going to be an Nissan Armada

 

Thanks for the much needed sympathy and the "I know how ya feel". I tried to unload it - I was ok with a loss of a couple thousand. Problem is the value has depreciated significantly with the "Employee Pricing" program. I would take a 6 to 8 thousand dollar loss. Don't know what I'm gonna do but I do know my next SUV will be a Honda or Toyota.

 

Thanks to all who have provided input or shared their experiences with Ford Motor Co. and problems with their 2004-2005 defective Explorer transmision operation. I have turned the other cheek one too many times and am moving forward with the Massachusetts "Lemon Law". I have been thru the "Final Opportunity to Repair" process". The repairs made during the final opportunity was a disaster and only strengthened my position. During the final opportunity period there was slippage in the legal time schedule, which in the spirit of cooperation I did not take issue with and agreed to hoping they would finally fix it. By cooperating and agreeing to slippage, I gave away some advantage; because of the way I have been treated after cooperating as I did there will be no further cooperation from me to FoMOCo. "Fool me once, shame on you(FoMoCo)Fool me twice, shame on me". When I have anything worthwhile to post, will do.

Respectfully, Tickedof2

 

Looks like I started this thread back in May 2004 and it is still going on, which should send a message to Ford, assuming anyone from Ford ever reads this forum, which is doubtful. I believe I have finally come up with a solution, albeit an expensive one. As of the last 72 hours, my side of the garage has been occupied by a 2006 Toyota 4-Runner. Sorry, guys, I just couldn't deal with it anymore, not to mention in another 3000 miles I was going to be out of warranty! For the past 3 days, I have had no throttle lag when turning a corner, no problems shifting from Drive to Reverse, no grinding sound in the rear end, the gas gauge works, the cruise control works, I've forgotten what an ABS light looks like. I am at peace. Thanks to Mr. Ford and his employee pricing, Rita, Katrina, multiple middle-eastern Sheiks and assorted Texas oil mega-millionaires, I took a bath on the Explorer selling it to Carmax for barely half of what I paid for it 22 months ago. On the other hand, you can't put a price on normal blood pressure. For anyone else who can afford it, I highly recommend this solution.

 

Man what did I get into.......????????

With only 26k miles I had the tranny solenoid replaced; which we discovered when wife placed vehicle in reverse and it almost took out my knees while walking behind it to get to pass. side. Now the ABS lite, Wrench light and Service engine light all came on at same time after it went over a bump.

OH and the 2-3-4 gear lag shift is back and at 70mph the rpm is now at 24-2500rpm vice the 2k rpm.

I got a reply in my original post to disconnect the battery and will and also inspect undercarraige.

This is very frustrating when the Amreican made jap vehicles are better than american made american vehicles......!

Our last vehicle was a Mazda 626 in '91 and 7 years later gave it to the kids. Ran like a top and very dependable. I will be looking very soon for another solution and will not put up with this for 100+k miles for sure........

C-man

 

John - I am so jealous!!! I gave up a 4Runner - needed 3rd row seat!!!! Good luck with it- enjoy- and try not to drive around with a smile on your face. You should save some money on gas as my 4Runner got better mileage than the Explorer.
Finally got mine fixed (for now). The throttle control light finally came and it got so bad that it would stall unless you kept foot on gas and brake. They repalced the throttle body. Take care - probably won't see you here again!

 

Thanks, Lisa. I guess you know that you can now get a 4-Runner with 3rd seat or if you are a real glutton for punishment, check out the 2006 Explorer in the November issue of Motor Trend. Get this...there's a new V8 with a new 6 speed transmission. So I guess they'll be lining up a whole new crew of guinea pigs.
P.S. Note to Chinookman-the 4_Runner is made in Japan. Hate to say it but that's good news.

 

Well take a look at this, just brought a 2004 Explorer, automatic,24,ooo miles
front seal blows out coming up a mountion, oil all over the place, pull over to check it out. Can't even find a tyranny dip stick for the transmission to check the oil level.It doesn't have one the service Tec tells me. They replace the front seal a new soleniod , in digging around through repair records this has been done twice in the trucks history,In getting it back from the shop now it rolls backwards on a incline in drive ,the shifter is sloppy in between park neutral and drive, some times I get a 6 to 12 inch roll while its in park before it clicks in park to lock her down. They say this is normal. I don't think so. Snapping noises when i put it in reverse sometimes.Forth time back to the shop now. any of this sound familiar to any one.

Please give me some feedback on this

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Rickda

My 2002 Expedition is a fine piece of work except for the cruise (recall) but parts aren’t available till November