I just noticed a 5 inch long vertical stress crack in the top section of the lift gate from where the bottom of the window meets the liftgate, on downward. Also there are much smaller stress cracks in the same area. There is no evidence of any impact that may have caused this. Has anyone had this problem? I searched this forum, to no avail. I have had a lot of trouble with this vehicle. I just had the transmission replaced at 53,000 miles! Thank goodness it is under warranty. Does anyone know if there is a recall, or service bulletin about this? I suppose that I'll have to replace the top section of the lift gate. After that, I am getting rid of it.
I have a 1985 F150 that is still going strong after 20 years. I could never see this explorer lasting that long.
As a long time Ford owner, I am very dissapointed in the quality of Ford products as of late. A guy I work with just bought a 2005 Mustang GT. Beautiful car. The mounting bolts for the rear portion of the front seat were missing!
Oh well, just had to vent. Any help, advice, on the lift gate issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Paul -

There were some posts about this around the middle/end of last month. My '02 did the same thing, luckily I had it fixed under warranty. The new trim piece comes unpainted, so it ain't cheap to replace if you're doing the paying!

Steve

 

Steve,
Thanks for getting back to me on this. How many miles did you have on your vehicle when you had this problem? I'll have to check into the warranty. It may not cover this. I know Ford won't. I am still going to the dealer to express my dissatisfaction.

 

Paul -

My '02 had just over 23,000 miles and 2 years when the trim piece cracked. Because it was fixed under warranty, I can't give you an idea on repair cost; I just remember the service writer saying it needed to be painted. I traded the '02 for an '04 in April of last year; no cracks yet (fingers crossed)!

Steve

 

This is clearly a problem due to defective materials. I will be contacting Ford Tomorrow.

 

I had the same thing happen to my 02 explorer about 2 weeks ago. It split completely vertically about 5 inches to the left of the ford emblem.

I saw the dealer the other day on the street and he said he thought it would be covered under a recall????? I have yet to call him or take it to him yet, anyone else seen anything on a recall?

PaulzF150, any luck calling FORD?


thanks!

 

I still haven't called Ford Yet. I couldn't find the time today. In the next day or two, I will probably drive up to the dealer instead of calling. Hey Mizzouguy, how many miles do you have on your explorer? Mine has 54,000. I'll search this site for any recall information.

 

I have a 2003 EB with only 15,000 miles. I brought it to the dealer for a rear window latch recall (which wasn't done) and I got it back with a stress crack just to the right of the Ford emblem. I was told that this is happening to a lot of vehicles and the part is on a national backorder. If your vehicle is out of warranty, try calling Ford to see if you can get it done for free because it is happening to a so may Explorers.

 

I meant to go to Ford today, but my wife took off in the explorer. So, I'll do it tomorrow. I do not expect much from the dealer, but I am going to get them to point me in the right direction at Ford corporate headquarters. I searched the recall notices, and did not find any recall notices for the stress cracks. There were recall notices about the defective liftgate struts and latches.

 

PaulzF150, my Explorer has about 62k miles on it. It was around the week it started getting cold and icey around here in Missouri......not sure if it's related or not? I still need to call my dealer back as well. I luckily know him so I hope he'll take care of me. Please keep the forum updated on this, I'll do the same.

 

Mizzouguy,
I'll keep this thread going so everyone knows what to do with this. How is your transmission holding out? Any problems with it shifting kind of sloppy, banging into gear or anything like that? The reason I ask is, that it seems our explorers are prone to having a problem with the transmission solenoid. my trannie was just replaced because of this. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper when it comes to this vehicle. I'll keep you posted as to what transpires with the liftgate issue.

 

Found another thread with a cracked tailgate....

http://www.autoforumz.com/Ford-Explo...pict97727.html



Regarding the transmission (I'm not sure if you've seen an old thread I was in):
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...78#post2275378

This pretty much fixed all the transmission problems I was having (wouldn't go into reverse on a hill sometimes, rough shifting at low speeds). The only one it didn't really fix is sometimes it's kind of rough starting out (going from park to drive it kind of bangs into gear). I guess part of owning a ford???

 

The Explorer transmissions are crap! There is no other way to put it. The solenoid was bad on mine, and that damaged some internal parts. I saw your post, and I was told at for that when they replaced the transmission, it would have the most current software. This technology is the cause of a lot of the problems with these vehicles. I'll have to try the 4X4 on mine to make sure it is working properly.
I went to Ford today, being it is past the 3/36 warranty, I'll have to pay to fix it. I went to the Ford body shop and for parts, labor, and painting, the price came out to $220.00. Not as bad as I thought. I am still going to call Ford's Customer relations center, write letters etc.

 

Glad I found this post. Just two days ago I found a stress crack about 5" to the left of the Ford emblem on my 2003 Explorer with 27k on it. I'm going to call today and find out if this will be covered by warranty. I hope so. I hardly ever use the rear liftgate as it is, so shouldn't be cracking. Does the rear window washer fluid dripping down on it in extremely cold weather have anything to do with it?

 

Just got my panel fixed a couple of days ago. My EX is off warranty and I was quoted $335 for the repair when I took it in initially. I raised some hell and mentioned this is the third EX I've purchased from them as well as a Taurus before that. They called me back and said the dealership has some kind of repeat customer program and that they would fix it for a $50 deductible payment..and that's what they did...good dealership. They also said this problem is very common and has to do with the areas and amount of glue the factory used on the 02s. Newer models aren't supposed to have the problem.