Five problems related to battery have been reported for the 1998 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
At about 6:00 pm on Saturday 13 Aug 2005 I went into my garage to get something and noticed it was full of smoke. I saw smoke coming from under the hood of my 1998 Ford Explorer. When I raised the hood, flames rolled from beneath it. I immediately extinguished the fire and then disconnected the negative battery terminal. My wife had already called 911 by this time. The fire fighters determined the source of the electrical fire to be a connector on the brake master cylinder. I was very lucky to have caught the fire in time. If this had happened when we were sleeping we might not be alive now. I have not received a notice of recall for this. I am sending the vehicle to the dealership on Monday, if this is not a recall part I will have to pay for the repairs. I think that people should know about this problem and probably not park their Ford in the garage.
The vehicle caught on fire. The fire department checked it and concluded fire came from driver's front side around the battery. This happened on June 30, 2005. The vehicle was parked about 6 or 7 hours before it caught in fire. Contacted Ford, they sent a letter saying sorry, but they didn't have any recalls on this type of vehicle.
5-5-05 3:30 a. M. Licking county fire department was called due to fire 0f my 1998 Ford exployer. It had set for two days before the fire. Its not clear what caused the fire. Co-counsel, lieff cabraser representing owners of Ford vechicles claims Ford speed control deactivation switches. Also known as "brake pressure switch," powered by the battery and is mounted above flamable flammable reservoires of brake fluid. If certain conditions occur, a fire can break out, even when the engine had been turned off and, in some cases, idle for days.
1998 Ford Explorer eddie bauer model, caught on fire while parked in my garage at 4:00 am. Vehicle had not been driven since 5:30 pm previous evening. We were alerted by a smoke detector. Vehicle was total loss, garage & attic above garage badly damaged resulting in complete loss of our personal property stored there. Fire department report states that they think the fire started with the battery, which was original to the vehicle.
There is a problem with the battery discharging . Also the engine was stalling . I had to take the vehicle to the shop 4 times , and finally they changed the thermostat . The battery has started discharging again.