general problems of the 2002 Ford Explorer - part 1

Overdrive light flashes after driving a little bit hard shifting doesn't shift into overdrive 4x4 lights indicate that it's working when the buttons are pushed but doesn't go into 4x4.

The issues that I'm having is the exhilaration (picking up speed) on a public street as well as in the expressway it hesitates to do so. When the vehicle is parked and I go to switch gears it does not want to switch. The gauge indicator comes on and the gas idle be stuck on empty when it has a full tank of gas. While the vehicle is in motion the radio volume goes up and down on its own. And the vehicle did not want to start for me one day the very next day it started right on up (like it want to start but didn't catch). All of this started happening at the beginning of October 2020.

The car gets stuck in park and will not into reverse, neutral or drive. It doesn't happen often but has been happening at infrequent periods since 2007. It's a nuisance when it does happen but after multiple attempts, depressing the brake and repeatedly attempting to shift; shutting down the engine and restarting and repeating the process; usually does shift into gear. The last incident was more than 4 years ago. Now since Saturday, 9/28/19; can't shift out of park. I never reported the problem because it was always resolved and I forgot to report it to the dealership because I was always in a rush to get to my destination. My car is in good running condition. Original owner. 93964mi. Always serviced at dealership.

Tl- the contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds the transmission would erroneously switch to 4 wheel drive and the engine would suddenly stall. The failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transfer casing and ignition coils were faulty and needed to be replaced. The ignition coil was replaced and the transfer casing was repaired but the failures continued to occur. The local dealer(unknown) and the manufacturer were notified of the failures but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 80000. Jft.

Tl - the contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that when she parked with the vehicle on, it rolled forward. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 232,160. Jc.

The shift lever literally snapped off at the steering column while putting the car into drive. Car couldn't be shifted into park, still running. Keys couldn't even be removed to turn the car off. Very dangerous. Seems like a fairly common problem among 2002 Ford Explorer owners. . Read more...

The rear stabilizer links just broke out of nowhere not even to latest later the front stabilizer links just broke out of nowhere and I have no steering a whole lot of loose control.

Transmission needs to be rebuilt with only 88000 miles on engine.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. While the vehicle was idling at a stop light, the overdrive warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle stalled several times. In addition, the vehicle was difficult to shift into second and third gear as well as drive, which was when the intermittent stall failure occurred. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The vehicle was parked and unable to be driven due to the intermittent failures. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.

Transmission, jerked, stalled and had difficulty shifting while driving on freeway/ highway. Additionally, the o/d (overdrive) light came on and continually flashed prior to the transmission starting to noisily grind with a burning smell. I've had 5 professional diagnosis all stating it's a different transmission problem. A class action lawsuit and Ford motor company recall is needed on the transmissions, this is a widespread problem and issue for nearly 20 years.

My 2002 Ford Explorer eddie bauer is on its 3rd transmission. It has 78k miles on it. Help.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. While parking the vehicle, the gear shift lever fractured and separated from the steering column. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 144,000.

02 Explorer stop shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear, after 2nd gear when it's time to shift it sounds like it goes in neutral, when I let off it finally shifts (hard) it's very dangerous when driving in front of traffic I'm afraid for myself and my children, this is an issue for alot of people, please help us with this issue, this really needs to be recalled thank you.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. While the gear shifter was shifted into the park position, the four wheel drive shifted. While driving 10 mph, the four wheel gears shifted again. The contact activated the gear buttonm but it did not work. The vehicle managed to place itself back into drive gear. The warning lights did not illuminate. The failure occurred numerous times. The dealer was not notified. The manufacturer was notified. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 145,819.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. While attempting to start the vehicle, the gear shift fractured without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering column failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not at the dealer being repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 153,000.

Both rear coil springs broke. Replaced front and rear wheel bearings replaced ball joints replaced transmission has now failed and is now undependable. May fail with out warning no accidents, any of the above could have resulted in an accident Ford is aware of all of the mentioned problems and refuses to rectify the problems. This is a wide spread problem with all 2002 Ford Explorers.

Gear shifter broke off while putting the car in park.

I was driving along and the over drive light off started flashing and I started experiencing the vehicle starting to shift harder in 1 & 2 gears!.

I financed this vehicle thru 123 auto in homosassa FL citrus county and it has a airbag that is no good and no horn and the transmission was bad the day I bought it and they will not fix so I am currently paying to get it fixed I was told to make a complaint with this office to see if you can help me get something done because it is not right.

Vehicle lunges at red lights or when I put it in park or take it out of park. Rpms go up to 4000 rpms and wont shift. Od light stays on and flashes while driving and shifts up and down while driving. Almost ran through a store front one day as I pulled up because the rpms were so high. If rpms are up sitting at red light it cruises by itself when I let off brake at 30mph but wont go any faster when I give it gas until rpms come down. This has been happening for a year now. I don't have the money to keep replacing transmissions this is the second one now in 4 years.

Transmission will not shift from 2nd to 3rd gear unless you let off gas.

While driving the vehicle made a loud "bump" and then I lost all acceleration. This problem needs to be addressed by Ford, this is very dangerous to all of the sudden lose a transmission while driving. I have seen numerous complaints on the transmission of this year of vehicle, so there is obviously a problem. Transmissions are not cheap by any means, I don't know how I'm going to get the money to fix mine. I currently have no vehicle and have had to resort to bumming rides from people just to get to work. This vehicle needs to be recalled!!!.

Tl-the contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000. Ne.

Bought an Explorer we thought was a private owner on craiglist in chicago, and found out he was a dealer from indiana. He signed the title as first auto inc. 2620 165th in hammond in 46323. The name of seller is jose perez. The dmv file a complaint on our behalf and stated what he did was illegal. We did not know he was a dealer til when we tried to transfer our plates the next day. We took the truck in for service and my mechanic stated that carfax has the miles almost 80,000 more than what is on the odometer. The odometer listed 110,000 and carfax was far past that amount. The dealer rolled back the miles of Explorer.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 5 mph, the gear shift fractured and only operated in reverse. The vehicle was towed to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 250,000.

Was driving on the highway and felt a sharp jerk/pull to the right. At first thought it was a flat tire so got off on next exit. Wasn't a flat tire but could smell something awful. Made grinding sound and still had bad smell, knew we had to drive it back to the place we are staying at. Had hazard lights on and only drove 10-15 mph because of the sound and because of how scary it was. Knew something bad was happening to our car. Brakes at this point practically went out. Would not have to press brakes to stop vehicle at a red light, the car would just stop. Steering wheel was not even, but more or less 90 degrees to the right. Pulled into the neighborhood and into the driveway and a car leaving the street saw that our vehicle at this point was on fire! extinguish fire (since it was a gas fire) and looked at the damage. Looks like the front driver side wasn't even connected to anything. Do not know how or when fire started but the flames when we noticed were about 1 foot tall and wide by the internal driver side wheel.

At first when shifting the transmission wouldn't go into any gear. We had the transmission replaced. When got vehicle back still had same problem took it to transmission specialist put on computer fixed the initial problem. The transmission we had put in had much more problems. Overdrive started blinking then lost 2nd and 5th gear.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while parking, the shift selector fractured while attempting to shift from drive to park. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 140,000.

Driving in rush hour traffic, transmission would not shift into high. I was almost hit by a semi truck on I-94 near I-275.

A part that should never fail, the shifter handle broke off. This appears to be a common and expensive failure.

I was at the school to pick up my kids,I turn on my Ford Explorer 2002 XLT v6 4. 0 to drive and then the shift lever broke on neutral position, that was dangerous because, how will I park my car? if it happened on a downhill, how are we going to park it. Is that possible to make a recall a Ford company to fix the car.

After having driven about 20 miles from home, I noticed several indicator lights flashing on my dash and the car was no longer shifting properly. I managed to return home with the car not wanting to properly up shift. When I took it to a repair shop, about 5 miles from home, I also lost reverse gear. Transmission ended up needing to be replaced.

It is having trouble shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. Engine revs up to and over 4,000rpms and slams into the gears.

Transmission not shifting into overdrive have to let gas to make it shift change screen tired to correct problem another problem Fords good idea to put cheap timeing chains in the 4. 0 v6 engines thank you.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the gear shift lever fractured. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 107,000.