1996 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer from North America - Comments

In the spring of 2000, the left rear window began to make a horrible screeching sounds. Not long after, the rear child-safety lock on the left rear door malfunctioned so that you couldn't open the door from the inside (I had never engaged the child lock, so I don't know exactly how this happened). I had to have the whole locking mechanism replaced.

In the fall of 2001, the rear left speaker began to make funny noises. Then, one day in mid-November, I started up the car after my morning class to find that the stereo (radio, CD player, clock, etc.) was completely kaput (non-operational). The Ford Authorized Dealer/Mechanic in my town said it was not a bad fuse, but after keeping my truck for two days, he scratched his head and said I should buy a new one and we would see if that solved the problem. I still have not had this problem corrected (Nov 2002).

In January of 2002, I was back at the dealer with a problem in the four-wheel drive system. Again, the Ford Authorized Mechanic could not diagnose the problem -- even after keeping my car for over a week! So I took it to a four-wheel drive specialty shop in town, and they diagnosed the problem in two days. I had to have both the speed sensor and the T-case shift motor replaced (the parts cost about $480, and the labor was another $400).

Beyond that, all other problems have been rather minor. The lights on the steering column (the cruise control buttons) have a sporadic illumination history -- sometimes they all light up, sometimes a few of them do, and sometimes they are all dark. It's not too bothersome since you only need the lights at night (and even then you pretty much have their locations memorized). But if you let someone else drive your truck it can be a problem. I had a mechanic look at it, but nothing was ever done to fix it.

Sometimes the rear seats can be stubborn about folding down -- the release mechanism doesn't seem all that well designed.

The directional air vents do not hold their positions on bumpy roads, which leaves your upper body out in the cold (or heat, depending on the weather extreme) when driving off-road.

I would not recommend the leather interior -- it does not stand up well to regular use.

Besides the above mentioned problems, I can honestly say that I LOVE this truck! This is a pretty amazing thing to say when you consider I have driven this truck across the country several times and throughout the remote wild regions of Colorado in all kins of weather (and, for the past year, without a radio)!!!

My truck handles snow and mud with ease, and it has tackled some pretty tough four-wheel drive roads for a stock vehicle. I can't say I have babied this truck -- I rarely get to clean it and I am always carelessly tossing my toys on top (kayak, skis, snowboard) and all my gear in the back. I also use it to carry around 500+ pounds of birdseed on short trips from the storage shed to work almost every day.

The gas mileage isn't nearly as nice as my Ford Probe that I drove for ten years before getting my Explorer (the Probe got between 30-36 miles per gallon while the Exploder only gets between 14-22 MPG). But the Probe would never have been able to carry me to all the places that my Explorer has carried me.

If I had $500 to put into this truck right now (to fix the radio and give it a professional, detailed cleaning) I think that it would be pretty much as good as new. And I would see $500 as a solid investment in a solid, hard-working truck. Despite anything you may have heard about the Explorer, I can tell you that my 1996 Explorer was a good buy that will be with me for a long time to come.

I have had the same child lock issues with both my 97' Mountaineer and my 96' Explorer. I never used the locks and the rear passenger side door on the Mountaineer will not open from the inside and now both rear doors on my Explorer will not open from the inside. I have yet to get them fixed and was hoping to find some insight as far as doing it myself. My dealer claims to have never heard of such a problem, but offered to show me how the child locks worked. Duh!!!

I have a 1996 eddie bauer as well. My driver side rear door will not open from the inside. Its quite a hassle to get out and open the door for all of my passengers. If anyone has been able to fix this or knows what it is... please reply.

Had a '96 Eddie Bauer, bought with 98,000 miles on it. With a 5.0 liter engine, the gas mileage was 12 to 15 miles per gallon. Although my '96 was a little thirsty, I can say that I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we lost it in a collision. Being in the EB as opposed to our Honda, our Explorer probably saved my wife and her friend's life. We replaced it with a '98 EB and problems started...Radio, AC, Power antennae cold start surging.

How 'bout that?! Both my back doors won't open from the inside. I thought my 6 year old did something to them, cuz they both stopped working within a week of each other. If anyone knows the how to fix it, that would be great. Sometimes my wife sits in the back and can't get out. Which doesn't really bother me too much since she goes on and on about how great her Camry is. '96 Explorer, good machine. Expect for the doors and my trailer lights not working, my beast has been good to me. 200,000 miles and it's only been to the shop for that tire recall. I just recently replaced my spark plugs, ya should have seen 'em! No prongs left.

HI there I just, but a 96 explorer, unbelievable , extremely bad gas mileage,

The left passenger door cannot be open from the inside, the lo beam lights will not work at all I changed my bulbs my switch, checked everything I could including my fuse as well, but they just won't work. Anyone out there has any tips to help me fix this issue. You know it's kind of dark on a long country road. Thanks srac29@hotmail.com.

Hi guys I have a '95 Explorer XLT that I just recieved about a week ago, so far the only thing I've had to do was replace the thermostat and clean the MAF sensor. For those of you who are having problems with your doors sticking I had the problem to, but remedied it by spraying some white lithium grease onto the door hinges, now they open smoothly and easily. So just go to Wal-Mart or some auto store, and pick up a can of lithium grease and go spray it on your door locks and hinges, it should help, now my doors open very easily!

Low beam head lights... yeah mine went out on my 96 eddie bauer. for a simple fix and only spending about $15 rather then the mechanics cost of $300 I wired in my own switch on the left center consel. on the back of the headlights are 3 wires. cut the middle wire (positive) and run to new switch (autozone $1.99 for toggle switch)