1998 Ford Explorer Limited from North America - Comments

Within the first week of purchase the automatic door locks broke.

Within the first month, the moon-roof began to leak.

The check engine light has come on over 7 times since I bought the car due to various emissions problems with sensors and valves.

The spark plugs/harness assembly has had chronic problems. Sputtering, backfiring and refusal to accelerate occurs regularly.

The rear wiper has broken three times.

The tie-rods and ball joints broke at 30,000 miles.

The catalytic converter had to be replaced at 50,000 miles.

The fuel pump went bad at 60,000 miles.

The Wilderness tires were recalled.

The cruise control system was recalled.

The stereo player lights fade in and out and the volume raises on it's own. The antenna will not descend.

The truck has been in the shop approximately 26 times since I bought it brand new.

Don't buy this truck unless you have lots of extra money laying around and lots of free time on your hands for the numerous repairs it will need. You can expect it to be in the shop at least once every 3 months. Complaining to Ford will not help either. Once you buy it, they don't care. I complained to them and they admitted that my repairs were excessive, but they did nothing to help me.

I happen to disagree. I bought a 1998 Ford Explorer Limited in 2001 with 25,000 miles on it. It now has 99,000 and I have only had to have it in the shop once. Everything still works perfectly and I have had barely any problems with it, except for the horrible gas mileage. It has been a great car, so I don't know what you are talking about.

I agree that Ford is a comfortable car, but with much unexpected problems. My 1998 Eddie Explorer Eddie Bauer had the engine split in 2004, and now it's in need of a transmission replacement.

Are you trying to say, that a vehicle you buy brand new with only 20 miles on it, had that many problems, and Ford and the dealership both refused to to a buy back, or repairs under warranty even though all brand new vehicles come with at least a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty? If that is the case than that means they broke a contract, and you need to take them to court. Also I have never seen a vehicle brand new with that many problems, so either you didn't buy it new with only 20 miles on it, you were stupid and didn't use the warranty, the problems didn't happen, and your making it a lot worse than what it is, or you drive the vehicle doing 150MPH on a race track and never do any maintenance to it.

My aunt just got rid of her 1998 Explorer and has never been happier. She has had the transmission rebuilt, pretty much the entire front end replaced, numerous tune-ups, and a host of other major mechanical repairs in 3 years. The cruise never worked, and the airbag light was perpetually on. With the 4.0L V6, it averaged 13mpg with granny style driving and simply could not accelerate to save its life. It had about 152,000 miles and she was able to trade it in for $1800. She would have taken $1000 for it because she just wanted it gone.

On the plus side, it had good cargo capacity and did very well in the snow with its 4WD. Not worth the gas and $7000 worth of repairs, though.

To solve your problems, try buying a GM vehicle, especially GMC now that they are professional grade, they really did their homework. Ford is still laggin. I believe a GM vehicle uses less gas and less maintenance, better lasting product.

My 98 explorer has been very reliable. No major problems. It has over 200,000 miles on it. I am expecting to start having problems since the truck has so many miles on it, but none yet. The front seat assembly has broken, this I found out was a problem that ford actually issued a recall for. Other than that, I've been happy with this purchase.

I'm considering buying a 98 Explorer 4.0 from a co worker. The car is spotless and I know it really has been taken well care off and he bought it brand new. It's got 110K on it and price is $3000 which should be somewhat below market price. It's got a full service history and everything should be in order.

But I'm getting cold feets here even if I really like this car. My co worker showed me all his receipt for works done on this car. He probably did this to prove how good the condition of this car is, but this pile of receipts really scared the s*** out of me! And many of those repairs was done when the car had less than 60K on it. Also, major work has been done to this vehicle like transmission replacement less than one year ago. On this site I've read about all kinds of work being done on cars with less than 100K on them.

$3000 for a SUV is little money, but if I have to spend huge sums for repairs it's simply not worth it, better to buy new or maybe japanese. I'm really lost here, I was thinking I was doing a steal here, but I start to maybe understand why he is selling. He says he is really satisfied with this car but I don't know.

To 28th Feb 2007, 03:43:

Look at it this way: the previous owner has already fixed the problems for you, so you should be okay. You're right, $3,000 is a good deal for this SUV. What's the worst thing that could happen, like if the engine or transmission outright blew? Say you had to spend $2,000 on something --- so what? It's still $5,000 spread out over a few years as opposed to getting a loan for $15,000 for a 2-year-old SUV. Just take care of it and follow the maintenance schedule.

Hi, thanks for your response. If repairs is limited to $2000/year owning this Explorer should be no problem. I was actually thinking about repairs in the $5000-$6000 region like replacing the engine. But I've checked various sources and these engines should be very solid although head gaskets may blow.

Paying $28000 or more for a new Explorer is somewhat over my budget and the warranties I get for 3 year old SUV's are a joke. What IS a "6 month limited warranty" or a "50/50 one year power train warranty". I mean they only cover a little part of the vehicle and you have to pay a fee every time you use the warranty. That's useless for me.

So I think I'll take my chances and buy this old SUV for little money. I'll try to set aside at least $2000/year for repairs. If I spend less I'll be glad and if the engine blows or something I can probably sell it off for parts.

Just think of all the money you'd have for repairs if you bought a vehicle that didn't guzzle gas.

I think that's the right way to go. It's not for everyone, but for somebody who is more comfortable with machines and can keep repair costs in perspective, it can save you a lot of money. I was just about ready to write a check ($20,000) for a new Wrangler, but then I found a 2002 Explorer with 78,000 miles for $3,750 at a repo auction. How can you go wrong there?? When you save that much money, you can afford to absorb a lot of repair costs and still be very far ahead, and if you baby a vehicle like I do, those repair costs may never come up.