Comments: 1-15, 16
The hood latches rusted to a major degree, dealer said no problem.
Seat brackets rusty. Seat moves under braking.
Brakes catch. Brakes don't work very well.
Windshield wipers not working/working all the time.
CD quit working.
Other rust/exhaust things.
Not even 2 years on the road.
The dealer wasn't friendly after I bought the Explorer - rude, foul language.
I had problems immediately after the purchase. It is very unstable, pulls to the right. The brakes are weird, they pull, and it's unstable.
The smell from the air ducts is unbearable.
Problem after problem. Ford are not much help at all!!!
I have a 99 Explorer and I haven't had any problems. There was a recall a year ago about the wiper problem. My dealership is like yours. World Ford of Pembroke Pines is a model of incompetency. The personel are rude. They can't even rotate the tires properly.
I own a 1999 Ford Explorer Sport, and have had nothing but problems with it since the day I pulled out of the dealer.
The day I left the dealer, it had to go in for a catalytic converter. Since then I have had replaced: 2 fuel pumps, a fuel pump in the gas tank, a fuel line (it was leaking), multi-function switch (wipers, lights, and radio had a mind of their own), a power steering pump, 2 cam shaft crank cases and intake manifold kits, a tensioner belt, a new motor for my front and rear wipers, the back window was not sealed properly and rattled.
I have had my brakes done 3 times with 35,000 miles on the car. Numerous times I took my car to the dealer and was told nothing was wrong with it. I now need to have my stabilizer bar, and suspension fixed. AND THE BEST YET, I took my car to a body shop to have it checked because it was not driving right, and I was told that my frame was once damaged, and fixed with bondo, BUT it was brand new, and when the vin # was ran nothing about it showed up, which meant the dealer fixed it and didn't record it. I have not received any help from the dealer (6 of them), I will never buy a Ford again and I am in the process of getting rid of this one.
I have a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport that I purchased last August. From day one, I have complained about the instability of the vehicle while on the freeway. As soon as I reach 60-65mph, the vehicle begins to shimmy and shake until I reach at least 75mph to make it stop. I have brought it back to the dealer twice. They say that the wheels need to round themselves out after sitting all night. My car has 14,000 miles on it and has had numerous tire rotations and balances but there is no difference. Is this the Firestone tires or is it a suspension problem? Ford has basically told me that this is the way an Explorer Sport rides because it has a short wheel base. I think that's not true.
Thank you for the comments from your experience with your ford explorers I was looking at getting a explorer sport used from your comments and some other reviews I don't think I will. bye the way whats with dealers these days I have heard so many people complain about crappy experiences with dealers costumer service is no longer a part of training these days I guess.
Thanks Kevin.
I'm not surprised to find other people that have had similar problems with their Explorers. I have had my 1993 Sport for about 15 months. In the past 6 it has been in the shop 3 times. It seems like once they start to fall apart there is no stopping it. Of course any vehicle that is used every day wears out faster, but some of the things mentioned must be common manufacturing mistakes. Like the front end shaking around 60 mph and back window not being sealed. Now mine has a squeaky belt and a radiator leak we haven't pin pointed yet. Next generation of nice beaters.
My 1998 Ford Explorer Sport has taught me that domestic vehicles are still miles behind their foreign counterparts. I too have had nothing but problems with my Explorer.
One of the most aggravating problems occurred during the Firestone tire recall "adventure". You see, my Firestone tires were badly cracking (at around 30,000 miles) and I rushed to find replacements when Ford agreed to replace them. Unfortunately, there were few replacements to be found and after receiving little assistance from anyone concerning this issue I was forced to buy whatever tires I could get my hands on. Since that day I have been plagued with a low speed shake and a high speed shimmy that I have not been able to get rid of, even after returning the tires for an entirely different brand. I now am suffering through intolerable road noise at low speeds.
And now, my personal favorite problem of all is the intermittent flashing of both my Check Engine Light and O/D Off light, which both turn on and off at their leisure. I contacted my local Ford dealer concerning the Overdrive Off light and was told that they could do nothing for me unless I drove the vehicle directly to the Service shop while the light was on. That's fairly difficult to do when you are four hours from home on a camping or ski trip.
So now I drive my expensive Explorer down the road (never too far from home anymore) while marveling at the free light show emanating from my dash board and delighting in the amusement park ride of shimmies and shakes. At least the stereo works, which drowns out the road noises.
As a final comment, those of you who mentioned problems with Ford Service are right on. I am absolutely disgusted with every Ford Dealer that I have visited to date and they are the second good reason as to why I will never purchase another Ford product.
Thanks all! Bob.
I am having shifting problems with my 1999 explorer
can anyone help.
I have the same problem with the Check Engine light and the O/D light flashing. For those of you who've experienced this problem, what type of things have been diagnosed by Ford or your mechanics?
1999 Explorer (Exploder) XLS.
What a joke. I have had this truck for 10 months, 14,000 miles. I'll just list the problems, there are too many to try and write sentences for.
1.Transmission Replaced
2.Vacuum Leak
3.Air Bag Sensor Module Replaced
4.Front Wheel Bearings Replaced
5.Wiper Motor Replaced
6.Fuel Pump Replaced
7.Catalytic Converter Replaced
8.Door Locks Replaced (couldn't get into my own truck!)
9.Windshield Washer Fluid Leak
10.No coolant in the thing when I bought it.
11.Console Replaced
12.Front Brakes/Rotors Replaced (was told they were just replaced prior to purchase)
I looks great and rides great, that is the 3 out of 7 days a week it's working. If one person doesn't buy this truck after reading this I will be content. If no one ever buys another one of these trucks I will be thrilled.
I too have the same vehicle and the problems are awful. I have had the brakes repaired 4 times. Called Ford they said that this was usual wear for brakes. They only wanted $1000.00 each time to fix them. I am now in the market for a new truck and I promise I will never buy Ford again.
Does anyone have problems with the washer motor, mine hasn't worked for about 3 years???
Also the new tires I got after the recall make some much noise that I can't really talk to people in the truck without saying "what" a couple of times. Karen.
Hi. I was thinking about buying a used Ford Sport model. I have changed my mind. Thanks a million for this site. Just a note to add. I was a Ford Parts and Service person, and this was BEFORE they used only the machine to diagnose problems. The problem I see now in dealerships is this. They rely on a machine to tell them and diagnose a problem instead of knowing about vehicles or how they work. They hook up a little wire to another wire in your car and turn on a switch. The trouble codes appear and they say that is the problem. I disagree with that. I had a Ford truck and it had a short in it. I was charged 75.00 to hook it up to the Ford computer. I insisted that no... the machine will not find a short, you have to go look. The short will only tell you codes that are not right. Sure enough. about 15 codes appeared on this computer and I was told that the computer is never wrong. I found the short myself. Too technical for me anymore. I am used to the olden days where you actually found out what was wrong and did not rely on a computer. Where are those cars anymore by the way? Oh yeah... they are prior to 1978 before unleaded fuels.
I also have a 99 explorer and the transmission has gone out the rear wiper motor has been replaced, the rear brakes have been replaced once, the front brakes twice, the internal brake system (fluid, lines, master cylinder), the spare tire was missing when I bought it. Any suggestions on whether I should bother getting the transmission fixed?
I have a 1999 Ford Explorer Sport 4x2 with a manual transmission and 130,000 miles on it. I have had no problems. None. I replaced the front brakes at 85,000 miles and the rears at 120,000 miles. (The exceptional brake wear is due to the way that I drive, I push the clutch in and coast up to a stoplight). This is my second Explorer Sport and I had the same good luck with the other one. How many miles are on the Explorers that the owners are complaining about reliability issues? Were they purchased new or used? For the people that complain about bad transmissions, have you ever had the trans flushed??
My truck is maintained by meticulous Ford Master Technician. All of the fluids, trans, radiator, brakes, rear end, engine oil, power steering etc. are changed regularly. It's called maintenance, try it your car will last longer.
I have to agree with a lot of the complaints on this forum. I have a 2001 ford explorer and have found several problems . For example The brakes, When I break the front brakes seem to catch well, but there is a delayed vibrating sound just seconds before the vehicle stops. I have changed the brake pads on the front and back wheels which fixes the problem for a while. Then problem started again. I did some resource and found out that the wheel drums have to be changed out along with the brake pads. My second problem was with the front end suspension. The wheels in the front had a very bad wear pattern, and I could not keep the vehicle straight on the road. Finally 50,000 miles later I changed the tires and had them do a front wheel alignment. They had to replace some brackets and washers to over compensate for the adjustment limits of the front alignment assembly. The brake and front wheel alignment people know to well what the problems are with this vehicle, they are the third party mechanics that work on a higher volume of vehicles than the dealers. They seem to have an insight to the problems in there field, funny thing is that they order these repair kits front the dealership. Seems to me every one knows the problem problems with these vehicles except the consumer, until you start throwing money at the dealers or the mechanics does the problem get fixed. They should sell a book of all the repair kits they have on every vehicle and when they will need to schedule there repair. Don't get me wrong I like my vehicle,but I do not appreciate the fact that I have to solve puzzle to come to find out that there is a fix for a price$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
I have a 99' Explorer Sport with 118,000 miles.
The clutch went out twice, and just recently the master cylinder went out as well. The rear wiper works intermittently and it shakes over 60mph. I like the car though, it has been pretty reliable since I got it at 107,000 miles (my brother had the car since new.) Its got a lot of room and is reliable as far as I've experienced.