Any Transmission Problems?

Question:

I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very much. Chuck Reaney

Response:

I’ve got a ‘96 with the V6/Auto, and have had no transmission problems in almost 100k miles. I’ve changed the fluid a couple of times, but that’s it. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

Response:

I own a 92 Explorer with 200,000 Kms ( 120, 000 Miles) on it only flushed the Transmission once last year. But you can get good and Bad in anything ! Maureen

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

Response:

> I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

I think your friend is exaggerating. We have owned three Rangers and one Explorer with the same basic transmission. We never had one fail while we owned it. One of the Rangers did have the transmission fail after we sold it when it had around 120,000 miles on the odometer. There are a lot of Explorers running around. If 1% of the Explorer transmissions fail in the first 100,000 miles of use, that means well over 10,000 Explorers have needed transmission repairs. This has provided a lot of work for shops, but doesn’t mean the transmissions are particularly failure prone. If the previous owner of the Explorer has taken care of the vehicle then I would not worry. If the previous owner abused the transmission, then I might worry. Consumer Reports reliability history for the Explorer transmission is good. The newer the Explorer, the better the rating (94 and 95 average, 96 – 99 above average, 00 and 01 much better than average). Regards, Ed White

Response:

Change Trany oil & Filter every couple of years and DONT TOW IN OVERDRIVE and you should be 200,000 Km+ free of transmission problems

Response:

Just had the transmission replaced on my 2000 Explorer 5.0L. Had only 40k miles on it. Ford worked with me on it so it didn’t cost me full price to repair though. We all get the good with the bad sometimes. Good luck. J Pete

Response:

> Just had the transmission replaced on my 2000 Explorer 5.0L. Had only 40k > miles on it. Ford worked with me on it so it didn’t cost me full price to > repair though. We all get the good with the bad sometimes. Good luck.

Just to show a bit more of the "good" side: ‘93XLT V6 4X4, 148K miles, tranny is starting to leak a bit (as is the rear engine seal!). Tranny flushed and filters changed at 50K and 110K miles. Has towed coast to coast and back twice, and tows a PWC regularly for the past 5 years. ‘97XLT V6 4X4, 87K miles, tranny excellent. Flushed and filters changed at 50K miles. Tows our ski boat regularly. ‘2KXLT V6 4X4, 42K miles, tranny excellent. Flushed and filters changed at 40K miles. Tows my small fishkiller regularly. I won’t bother with our ‘02 XLT, it only has 5K miles on it. I consider a 150K service life for a tranny in a Detroit iron to be acceptable, but certainly nothing to write home about, and there are many who will argue that 100K miles should be considered the normal lifespan nowadays. The relatively early demise of trannies in late model cars is directly attributable to CAFE regulations and the constant search for the "Golden Pound" of weight saving in lieu of longevity. Glad to hear Ford worked with you on the new tranny J Pete. Regards, James

Response:

I put 125k miles on my first Explorer XLT (a 1991 model) and both the engine and transmission were working well when I sold it last year. 35k of the 125k miles were towing a 1900 lb. tent trailer, so I put some strain on the machine from time to time. I had the transmission fluids and filter changed about every 30k miles. Dave

Response:

If you want a totally subjective opinion, if it’s transmission problems you want to avoid, then don’t buy any Ford product. I’ve admittedly owned only 1 Ford in my life. It was a ‘68 Mustang and as cars went at that time, I got reasonable service from it although I hated working on that car. But I have tons of friends who have owned them over the years. I would say that easily 80% of the times a friend reported a transmission problem, it was in a Ford. Before you buy a Ford product, insist on reading the maintenance schedule and note how often Ford requires the trannie fluid to be replaced. And then compare that to maintenance schedules for other cars. What amazes me is that Ford has managed to keep this such a secret all these years. I have no sympathy for Ford and their current problems. They’ve been putting junk (even unsafe junk) on the road for years and they’re finally getting caught. On a side note, my next door neighbor drove by in his Explorer this past weekend as I was working in the front yard. I could hear a low pitched whistle as he went by. I asked him later how long the vehicle had been making the noise. He said a few months but had not had it checked. (dumb! especially in a Ford) The very next day his car broke down with trannie problems. A while back a friend picked me up for lunch in his van. As we’re driving along, for no apparent reason, the winddhield wiper make a swipe. A little while later is take a few swipes. Then I look at his dash and various lights are going on and off. Then I look to see what kind of van it is. Guess. A Ford Winstar. I’ll admit that I’m biased against Ford products. But not because I’ve owned many. It’s because I’ve seen so many friends and associates have to deal with the lousy quality. Another associate at work has a Taurus wagon with c. 100K miles on it and 2 trannie rebuilds. I could go on and on. Could it be that I just happen to know people with lousy luck with Ford products? Well, if that’s what you want to believe, then, by all means, go buy another Ford. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

Response:

We had 190,000 miles in our ‘92 before we sold it. My Brother in law has it now (over 200,000 miles) and it works fine. Like anything mechanical… You’ll find both good and bad examples. YMMV of course Kevin – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

Response:

Ok, points well taken. So here’s another "good" story, with my Jeep Wrangler. Sorry, know this is a Ford message board, but since I initiated this thread, here’s the kind of reliability I get with my maintenance schedules: 1990 Jeep Wrangler, bought new 10/89, currently has 248k miles: Rebuilt engine at 193k miles. Has original 5 spd manual trans. Clutch replaced once. Incidental info – Was almost totaled 2/00. Only other repairs that involved significant expense were replacing an axle bearing & replacing a timing sensor on the flywheel over the almost 13 years I’ve had it. Still runs great. Achilles Heel is that I’m on about the 5th or 6th Catalytic Converter…after the first three in the first three years, I got AWAY from "genuine Jeep parts". I know the Explorer is a heavier vehicle, but given that I obviously pay attention to maintence, I would hope for proportionate performance for replacement/repair of major components. So to refine my goals here with acquiring an Explorer and the feedback I’m requesting from this board: Is this a pipe-dream, or a possibility? Thanks again to all for your responses!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Just had the transmission replaced on my 2000 Explorer 5.0L. Had only 40k > miles on it. Ford worked with me on it so it didn’t cost me full price to > repair though. We all get the good with the bad sometimes. Good luck. > Just to show a bit more of the "good" side: > ‘93XLT V6 4X4, 148K miles, tranny is starting to leak a bit (as is the rear > engine seal!). Tranny flushed and filters changed at 50K and 110K miles. Has > towed coast to coast and back twice, and tows a PWC regularly for the past 5 > years. > ‘97XLT V6 4X4, 87K miles, tranny excellent. Flushed and filters changed at > 50K miles. Tows our ski boat regularly. > ‘2KXLT V6 4X4, 42K miles, tranny excellent. Flushed and filters changed at > 40K miles. Tows my small fishkiller regularly. > I won’t bother with our ‘02 XLT, it only has 5K miles on it. > I consider a 150K service life for a tranny in a Detroit iron to be > acceptable, but certainly nothing to write home about, and there are many > who will argue that 100K miles should be considered the normal lifespan > nowadays. > The relatively early demise of trannies in late model cars is directly > attributable to CAFE regulations and the constant search for the "Golden > Pound" of weight saving in lieu of longevity. > Glad to hear Ford worked with you on the new tranny J Pete. > Regards, > James

Response:

93 Explorer 95,000 miles, no tranny problems. 96 Explorer 120,000 miles, no tranny problems. 02 Explorer 750 miles, no tranny problems. Paul

Response:

98 SOHC with 86000 miles pulling a bass boat and some very hard miles. No problems and it runs better than when new. I change my T- fluid every year with a drill pump, pan has never been off trany. Just like a women, take care of her and she will be with you a lifetime. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

Response:

> I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop,

Umm… he is a mechanic, so he sees the worst of them. There are many more Explorers on the road than any other SUV, so he sees more of them than the others. Makes sense, huh? Two Explorers, no tranny problems. Jack

Response:

The trans on my 94 busted, so they are all junk. I have empirical data, even though n=1. — mike

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Ok, points well taken. So here’s another "good" story, with my Jeep > Wrangler. Sorry, know this is a Ford message board, but since I initiated > this thread, here’s the kind of reliability I get with my maintenance > schedules: > 1990 Jeep Wrangler, bought new 10/89, currently has 248k miles: > Rebuilt engine at 193k miles. > Has original 5 spd manual trans. > Clutch replaced once. > Incidental info – Was almost totaled 2/00. > Only other repairs that involved significant expense were replacing an axle > bearing & replacing a timing sensor on the flywheel over the almost 13 years > I’ve had it. > Still runs great. > Achilles Heel is that I’m on about the 5th or 6th Catalytic > Converter…after the first three in the first three years, I got AWAY from > "genuine Jeep parts". > I know the Explorer is a heavier vehicle, but given that I obviously pay > attention to maintence, I would hope for proportionate performance for > replacement/repair of major components. So to refine my goals here with > acquiring an Explorer and the feedback I’m requesting from this board: Is > this a pipe-dream, or a possibility? > Thanks again to all for your responses! > > Just had the transmission replaced on my 2000 Explorer 5.0L. Had only > 40k > > miles on it. Ford worked with me on it so it didn’t cost me full price > to > > repair though. We all get the good with the bad sometimes. Good luck. > Just to show a bit more of the "good" side: > ‘93XLT V6 4X4, 148K miles, tranny is starting to leak a bit (as is the > rear > engine seal!). Tranny flushed and filters changed at 50K and 110K miles. > Has > towed coast to coast and back twice, and tows a PWC regularly for the past > 5 > years. > ‘97XLT V6 4X4, 87K miles, tranny excellent. Flushed and filters changed at > 50K miles. Tows our ski boat regularly. > ‘2KXLT V6 4X4, 42K miles, tranny excellent. Flushed and filters changed at > 40K miles. Tows my small fishkiller regularly. > I won’t bother with our ‘02 XLT, it only has 5K miles on it. > I consider a 150K service life for a tranny in a Detroit iron to be > acceptable, but certainly nothing to write home about, and there are many > who will argue that 100K miles should be considered the normal lifespan > nowadays. > The relatively early demise of trannies in late model cars is directly > attributable to CAFE regulations and the constant search for the "Golden > Pound" of weight saving in lieu of longevity. > Glad to hear Ford worked with you on the new tranny J Pete. > Regards, > James

Response:

Unless you have a REAL statistical base you are just posting Total and complete nonsense. We’ve got thousands of fords in our fleet and as a general observation have no more problems with Fords then anything else. Every brand has one or two clinkers over the years. I’ve got 3 ford trucks in daily use at work all with over 170,000 miles on them and all running the original engines and transmissions. The only work or personal vehicles I’ve ever had to replace a transmission on have been Chevies. But I’d not call that statistically meaningful. I’ve also got a chevy with 145,000 on it’s original transmission. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->If you want a totally subjective opinion, if it’s transmission >problems you want to avoid, then don’t buy any Ford product. I’ve >admittedly owned only 1 Ford in my life. It was a ‘68 Mustang and as >cars went at that time, I got reasonable service from it although I >hated working on that car. But I have tons of friends who have owned >them over the years. I would say that easily 80% of the times a >friend reported a transmission problem, it was in a Ford. Before you >buy a Ford product, insist on reading the maintenance schedule and >note how often Ford requires the trannie fluid to be replaced. And >then compare that to maintenance schedules for other cars. What >amazes me is that Ford has managed to keep this such a secret all >these years. I have no sympathy for Ford and their current problems. >They’ve been putting junk (even unsafe junk) on the road for years and >they’re finally getting caught. On a side note, my next door neighbor >drove by in his Explorer this past weekend as I was working in the >front yard. I could hear a low pitched whistle as he went by. I >asked him later how long the vehicle had been making the noise. He >said a few months but had not had it checked. (dumb! especially in a >Ford) The very next day his car broke down with trannie problems. A >while back a friend picked me up for lunch in his van. As we’re >driving along, for no apparent reason, the winddhield wiper make a >swipe. A little while later is take a few swipes. Then I look at his >dash and various lights are going on and off. Then I look to see what >kind of van it is. Guess. A Ford Winstar. I’ll admit that I’m >biased against Ford products. But not because I’ve owned many. It’s >because I’ve seen so many friends and associates have to deal with the >lousy quality. Another associate at work has a Taurus wagon with c. >100K miles on it and 2 trannie rebuilds. I could go on and on. Could >it be that I just happen to know people with lousy luck with Ford >products? Well, if that’s what you want to believe, then, by all >means, go buy another Ford. > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > much. > Chuck Reaney

Response:

you are correct. What people talk about are the problems, not the millions of Explorers that have a normal life expectancy. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Unless you have a REAL statistical base you are just posting Total > and complete nonsense. We’ve got thousands of fords in our fleet and > as a general observation have no more problems with Fords then > anything else. Every brand has one or two clinkers over the years. > I’ve got 3 ford trucks in daily use at work all with over 170,000 > miles on them and all running the original engines and transmissions. > The only work or personal vehicles I’ve ever had to replace a > transmission on have been Chevies. But I’d not call that > statistically meaningful. I’ve also got a chevy with 145,000 on it’s > original transmission. >If you want a totally subjective opinion, if it’s transmission >problems you want to avoid, then don’t buy any Ford product. I’ve >admittedly owned only 1 Ford in my life. It was a ‘68 Mustang and as >cars went at that time, I got reasonable service from it although I >hated working on that car. But I have tons of friends who have owned >them over the years. I would say that easily 80% of the times a >friend reported a transmission problem, it was in a Ford. Before you >buy a Ford product, insist on reading the maintenance schedule and >note how often Ford requires the trannie fluid to be replaced. And >then compare that to maintenance schedules for other cars. What >amazes me is that Ford has managed to keep this such a secret all >these years. I have no sympathy for Ford and their current problems. >They’ve been putting junk (even unsafe junk) on the road for years and >they’re finally getting caught. On a side note, my next door neighbor >drove by in his Explorer this past weekend as I was working in the >front yard. I could hear a low pitched whistle as he went by. I >asked him later how long the vehicle had been making the noise. He >said a few months but had not had it checked. (dumb! especially in a >Ford) The very next day his car broke down with trannie problems. A >while back a friend picked me up for lunch in his van. As we’re >driving along, for no apparent reason, the winddhield wiper make a >swipe. A little while later is take a few swipes. Then I look at his >dash and various lights are going on and off. Then I look to see what >kind of van it is. Guess. A Ford Winstar. I’ll admit that I’m >biased against Ford products. But not because I’ve owned many. It’s >because I’ve seen so many friends and associates have to deal with the >lousy quality. Another associate at work has a Taurus wagon with c. >100K miles on it and 2 trannie rebuilds. I could go on and on. Could >it be that I just happen to know people with lousy luck with Ford >products? Well, if that’s what you want to believe, then, by all >means, go buy another Ford. >>I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A >>friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the >>Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He >>also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the >>transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their >>popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. >>I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend >>gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very >>much. >>Chuck Reaney

Response:

As I said, it was just my subjective (and yes, unscientific, statistically unsupported) opinion. But I bet there are lots of other folks out there with the same opinion. As one person suggested, go read the NGs for Honda, Toyota and Subaru for a while to get a feel for what folks think about those products. And then go back to the Ford NGs. See the difference yet? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Unless you have a REAL statistical base you are just posting Total > and complete nonsense. We’ve got thousands of fords in our fleet and > as a general observation have no more problems with Fords then > anything else. Every brand has one or two clinkers over the years. > I’ve got 3 ford trucks in daily use at work all with over 170,000 > miles on them and all running the original engines and transmissions. > The only work or personal vehicles I’ve ever had to replace a > transmission on have been Chevies. But I’d not call that > statistically meaningful. I’ve also got a chevy with 145,000 on it’s > original transmission. >If you want a totally subjective opinion, if it’s transmission >problems you want to avoid, then don’t buy any Ford product. I’ve >admittedly owned only 1 Ford in my life. It was a ‘68 Mustang and as >cars went at that time, I got reasonable service from it although I >hated working on that car. But I have tons of friends who have owned >them over the years. I would say that easily 80% of the times a >friend reported a transmission problem, it was in a Ford. Before you >buy a Ford product, insist on reading the maintenance schedule and >note how often Ford requires the trannie fluid to be replaced. And >then compare that to maintenance schedules for other cars. What >amazes me is that Ford has managed to keep this such a secret all >these years. I have no sympathy for Ford and their current problems. >They’ve been putting junk (even unsafe junk) on the road for years and >they’re finally getting caught. On a side note, my next door neighbor >drove by in his Explorer this past weekend as I was working in the >front yard. I could hear a low pitched whistle as he went by. I >asked him later how long the vehicle had been making the noise. He >said a few months but had not had it checked. (dumb! especially in a >Ford) The very next day his car broke down with trannie problems. A >while back a friend picked me up for lunch in his van. As we’re >driving along, for no apparent reason, the winddhield wiper make a >swipe. A little while later is take a few swipes. Then I look at his >dash and various lights are going on and off. Then I look to see what >kind of van it is. Guess. A Ford Winstar. I’ll admit that I’m >biased against Ford products. But not because I’ve owned many. It’s >because I’ve seen so many friends and associates have to deal with the >lousy quality. Another associate at work has a Taurus wagon with c. >100K miles on it and 2 trannie rebuilds. I could go on and on. Could >it be that I just happen to know people with lousy luck with Ford >products? Well, if that’s what you want to believe, then, by all >means, go buy another Ford. >> I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A >> friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the >> Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He >> also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the >> transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their >> popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. >> I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend >> gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very >> much. >> Chuck Reaney

Response:

I’ve read the Toyota newsgroups. My observations are… – They consider blown head gaskets normal maintance. – In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary they hide their heads in the sand and pretend certain v6 engines that have major sludge problems have no problems at all. – they think it’s only Toyotas that have vehicles that go 250,000 plus miles even thought there are thousands and thousands of fleet domestic vehicles in taxi and shuttle service that do so with regularity. and on and on. It’s 95% perception by them and maybe 5% reality. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->As I said, it was just my subjective (and yes, unscientific, >statistically unsupported) opinion. But I bet there are lots of other >folks out there with the same opinion. As one person suggested, go >read the NGs for Honda, Toyota and Subaru for a while to get a feel >for what folks think about those products. And then go back to the >Ford NGs. See the difference yet? > Unless you have a REAL statistical base you are just posting Total > and complete nonsense. We’ve got thousands of fords in our fleet and > as a general observation have no more problems with Fords then > anything else. Every brand has one or two clinkers over the years. > I’ve got 3 ford trucks in daily use at work all with over 170,000 > miles on them and all running the original engines and transmissions. > The only work or personal vehicles I’ve ever had to replace a > transmission on have been Chevies. But I’d not call that > statistically meaningful. I’ve also got a chevy with 145,000 on it’s > original transmission. > >If you want a totally subjective opinion, if it’s transmission > >problems you want to avoid, then don’t buy any Ford product. I’ve > >admittedly owned only 1 Ford in my life. It was a ‘68 Mustang and as > >cars went at that time, I got reasonable service from it although I > >hated working on that car. But I have tons of friends who have owned > >them over the years. I would say that easily 80% of the times a > >friend reported a transmission problem, it was in a Ford. Before you > >buy a Ford product, insist on reading the maintenance schedule and > >note how often Ford requires the trannie fluid to be replaced. And > >then compare that to maintenance schedules for other cars. What > >amazes me is that Ford has managed to keep this such a secret all > >these years. I have no sympathy for Ford and their current problems. > >They’ve been putting junk (even unsafe junk) on the road for years and > >they’re finally getting caught. On a side note, my next door neighbor > >drove by in his Explorer this past weekend as I was working in the > >front yard. I could hear a low pitched whistle as he went by. I > >asked him later how long the vehicle had been making the noise. He > >said a few months but had not had it checked. (dumb! especially in a > >Ford) The very next day his car broke down with trannie problems. A > >while back a friend picked me up for lunch in his van. As we’re > >driving along, for no apparent reason, the winddhield wiper make a > >swipe. A little while later is take a few swipes. Then I look at his > >dash and various lights are going on and off. Then I look to see what > >kind of van it is. Guess. A Ford Winstar. I’ll admit that I’m > >biased against Ford products. But not because I’ve owned many. It’s > >because I’ve seen so many friends and associates have to deal with the > >lousy quality. Another associate at work has a Taurus wagon with c. > >100K miles on it and 2 trannie rebuilds. I could go on and on. Could > >it be that I just happen to know people with lousy luck with Ford > >products? Well, if that’s what you want to believe, then, by all > >means, go buy another Ford. > >> I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > >> friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > >> Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > >> also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > >> transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > >> popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > >> I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > >> gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks very > >> much. > >> Chuck Reaney

Response:

2000 V8 with 30K miles. One new transmission so far. — Paul L Fisher ‘93 Ford Taurus SHO Crimson Clearcoat ATX 165K Build date 11/18/1992 – K&N Panel filter, Tokico Struts, Eibach Springs, Dynomax cat-back, Holley 190lph fuel pump, FPS rebuilt ATX, 26mm rear sway bar, Performance-Plus Stainless Steel Y-pipe, Delrin sub-frame bushings, Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30 oil, Amsoil Synthetic ATF. ‘00 Ford Explorer XLT 5.0L V8 AWD Oxford White Clearcoat 30K Build date 11/19/1999 – Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30 oil, K&N Fuel Injection Performance Kit ‘96 Saturn SL2 Silver Plum 5 spd 117K – Amsoil Synthetic ATF, K&N Panel Filter SHO Club member http://www.shoclub.com/ Check out my web site http://www.geocities.com/paullfisher/ Amsoil dealer http://www.geocities.com/paullfisher/oil.htm

Response:

>Can anyone verify or refute his claims?

The people with bad experiences will generally complain loud and long while the people with good experiences will generally go about their business with little fanfare. It’s a fact of life. What if all of these experiences were separated into V6 vs. V8, trailer-towing vs. non-trailer-towing, and seviced regularly vs. never serviced? Would any patterns develop? Bob…

Response:

I bought my ‘94 (AT) used w/ 31,000 miles on it. Never towed a trailer over 1,000 lbs. Changed the fluid & flushed it every 40,000 miles or so. Lost second gear at 130,000 miles. $1800 for a rebuildt tranny, torque converter, and aftermarket tranny cooler. I still like the Exploder over the ‘02 Outback I bought Mike

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Alan I have a ‘94 XLT with 104K on it and my transmission has been fine so far (have had two broken flex plates though). However I wanted to ask you about your ‘don’t tow in overdirve’ comment. I have a Tent trailer that weighs about 2000 lbs when loaded for camping. I shift out of OD when going up hills, but on flat ground & down the mountain I put it back in OD. What’s your reasoning for not using OD in ma situation like mine? Thanks in advance, Larry

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Change Trany oil & Filter every couple of years and DONT TOW IN OVERDRIVE > and you should be 200,000 Km+ free of transmission problems > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. A > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to their > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this friend > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks > very > much. > Chuck Reaney

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Larry, Do a quick read of the owner’s manual, and you will find that Ford recommends that you do NOT use the overdrive when towing. While a tent trailer may not be a big strain (I owned a Jayco Eagle once, miss that thing, but you can’t tow a boat AND a tent trailer at the same time!) it will still put an extra strain on the transmission. You need that extra grunt that you get when you’re not using the overdrive. As for my 91 Exploder’s reliablility, I had to have my transmission rebuilt…at 234,000 miles. My transmission mechanic beefed up the internals with heavy duty parts, says this one should last until the wheels fall off. Richard – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Alan > I have a ‘94 XLT with 104K on it and my transmission has been fine so > far (have had two broken flex plates though). However I wanted to ask you > about your ‘don’t tow in overdirve’ comment. I have a Tent trailer that > weighs about 2000 lbs when loaded for camping. I shift out of OD when going > up hills, but on flat ground & down the mountain I put it back in OD. What’s > your reasoning for not using OD in ma situation like mine? > Thanks in advance, > Larry > Change Trany oil & Filter every couple of years and DONT TOW IN OVERDRIVE > and you should be 200,000 Km+ free of transmission problems > > I’m considering buying a used Ford Explorer, 6 cyl with an auto trans. > A > > friend of mine who is an auto mechanic told me that they refer to the > > Explorer as the "Exploder" at his shop, as they are a piece of junk. He > > also said that I should have an extra $2k in the bank to rebuild the > > transmission every 60,000 miles. I find this hard to fathom, due to > their > > popularity and to the long-lived popularity of Ford trucks in general. > > I like the Explorer very much, and was very disappointed when this > friend > > gave me this opinion. Can anyone verify or refute his claims? Thanks > very > > much. > > Chuck Reaney

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> Larry, > Do a quick read of the owner’s manual, and you will find that Ford > recommends that you do NOT use the overdrive when towing.

No it doesn’t. It recommends that you DO tow in overdrive, unless the transmission is frequently shifting in and out of overdrive. Mark

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