Three problems related to transfer case have been reported for the 1999 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
4- wheel drive sticks, causing vehicle to be malfunction.
While driving on 2 lane road (puddles of water, a little hilly) both the 4 wd low and 4 wd high indicator lights flash together three times for a second or two at two separate times. Shortly after, the front end dipped down and the back end came forward and I almost lost control of the vehicle. Almost had a head on collision and took a bit of maneuvering to get the truck straight due to the wet areas of the road. I called Ford that night and they agreed that if the 4 wd "kicked" in it would have caused the loss of control. Took it to the towson Ford the following morning. They did a test drive and check for codes - nothing showed up. This has not occurred since - but I am still hesitant because of the safety issue. Not sure what to do now.
On 17 February 2003, my husband left our residence in the Ford Explorer. After about 10 minutes on the highway, he started to hear strange noises. The automobile started to slow down and when my husband attempted to accelerate the gas pedal, the automobile just stopped. The car was then pushed to the side of the road and was towed to express auto service on 18 February 2003 due to the snow conditions. Express auto service checked the transmission for proper operation and it was determined after a second visit to express auto that the 'transfer case" needed to be replaced. We were told that we could not drive the automobile unless this gets repaired because this is what made the car drive! the problem occurred after we engaged the 4wd from low to high due to driving in the snow. This should not have happened with this automobile being fairly new and purchase from purvis Ford in fredericksburg, virginia. A new transfer case would have costs approximately $2100. 00. Due to budget constraints we received a used transfer case for approximately $1439. 00. I am requesting a full investigation regarding this major malfunction with my automobile and a full reimbursement of the costs to repair the services done to the automobile.