Three problems related to engine failure have been reported for the 2002 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Ford Explorer based on all problems reported for the 2002 Explorer.
O/d light flashes for a few days then at around 25 mph the gear switches into neutral and runs very rough then the car is thrown forward. Had a rebuilt transmission (we were told we were getting a brand new transmission and paid extra for it!) at 83k miles on oct 15, 2010 then Feb 5, 2011 the same exact thing happens. The dealer cannot take the truck for another 5 days and refused to give me a loner car because it is not under the warrantee. Please note: below I put in the first incident date, Feb 2011 is the second incident date. In may of 2009 I was told my engine failed at about 76,000 miles. We did buy the extended warantee and we were covered. The Ford dealership told us we were not covered. They had our truck for 3 weeks until the warentee people called the dealership and let them know it should be fixed. We also had a rental car or a loner car under the warentee. They refused to pay for a rental car and said they did not have a loaner car available. It took 4 more weeks (in total 7 weeks) to get the truck back and never paid for the rental.
Driving on highway at 63 mph and valve spring broke. Valve dropped into piston causing engine failure. Check engine code called for random engine misfire and code was triggered at around 2600 rpm. Prior to engine failure I have been experiencing a shudder when transmission shifts into overdrive. There is also a problem with the clutch pack in the limited slip differential that is causing a shudder when turning right or left from a dead stop. (dealership called it the parking lot shudder) I have a 02 Ford Explorer XLT with 4. 6 and 4x4 that has bad engine, transmission, and rear differential. (engine replaced).
In January, 2006, my car stopped dead on the highway. After it was towed to the dealership, we were told that a valve had broken and had been sucked into the engine, causing engine failure. Our only alternative was to have the engine replaced - which we did for over $5000. 00. The following January, (2007), after the first measurable snow fall of the year (since our engine had been replaced), the car went into a huge fishtail skid on a snowy road and after the first skid, was caught by the cable guard rail on the side of the road - causing another $5000. 00+ repair. When brought to the dealership after the accident, we were told that the 4 wheel drive electronic monitor had failed and we had no 4 wheel drive. My concern - besides the cost and inconvenience and scare of the accident is that there were no warning lights to let me know that the car's 4 wheel drive had failed. I had gotten into the car assuming that the 4 wheel drive was working (as the car goes into 4 wheel drive automatically and there are no indicator lights normally to let you know that the 4 wheel drive is working). With no indicator lights that the 4 wheel drive is working and no indicator lights that it is not working, Ford put me in a very unsafe situation. Had the cable guard rail not been there to catch the car, we would have gone over the embankment and been more seriously injured.