A coworker of mine has a 2003 ford explorer that has been having issues with the rear diff. Whining noises at all speeds. It is about 5,000 miles out of warranty. The local Ford dealer will not fix it for free, insisting he must pay all costs to repair. My friend believes (and so do I) that this is not a normal wear item, typically rear axle components last well over 100 k with no more than the normal rear gear lube change.

He hasn't been able to get anywhere with this dealer, apparently the dealership won't give him contact info to talk with someone a little higher up within Ford. He has tried the 800 service number and they won't give out this info either, saying he will have to get this info from the dealer. He was told by one of the mechanics at the dealership that this isn't an abnormal item and not to be suprised if it happens again after another 40K. My friend is ****ed off and considering trading his explorer in on the new Honda truck.

Does he have any recourse, other than buying Foreign, in the future?

 

It's not an abnormal item- the Expedition forum is full of posts about this issue. While we've replaced quite a few at our dealership, the noise often comes back. The good news is I've yet seen one actually fail, so this may be more of a nuisance thing than an actual durability/reliability issue.

Two thoughts here: 1) when the truck is close to coming out of warranty, make sure that there's a service ticket documenting any problems or potential problems as a CYA. 2) Extended warranties aren't always such a bad idea. 3) If Hondas were perfect, they wouldn't need warranties, and their dealerships wouldn't have service departments.

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