Transmission Solenoid problems of the 2002 Ford Explorer - part 2

2002 Explorer, started to notice a bit of a lag from 2nd to 3rd gear, then a big lag and lurch, followed by o/d light flashing followed by check engine light. Had solenoid pack replaced for $320 lasted five weeks and failed again, with o/d flashing and car lurching and grabbing hard between 2nd and 3rd shift on an automatic transmission. Also noticed after first repair , hard to shift from drive to park, would hang up trying to get in park.

I have received only one recall notice on my 2002 Ford Explorer relating to problems with the tailgate window. Tonight, after experiencing problems that caused the automatic transmission to jump to a higher rate of a markedly higher rate of revolution, I was informed by the dealership that I had transmission problems. These problems cost over $815 to repair. The dealership also had to replace a solenoid switch on two different occasions in the automatic transmission. I quickly looked at the vehicle recall database to see if others had experienced the problems I experienced. I was surprised to see a large number of recalls that I failed to receive any notification for. I am filing this to request: (I) Ford to require dealerships to notify consumers personally in writing of recalls. . . If NHTSA or the manufacturer deems an issue important enough to issue a recall notice, shouldn't the dealer be required to deliver written notification to the consumer? it is an unfair and deceptive trade practice to do less than this, especially after the consumer has failed to receive the benefit of his or her purchase and may be risking of danger to himself or others; and ii. Nhtsa to investigate the automatic transmission failures described above. The car literally "jumps" into a much higher rate of revolution and acceleration requiring the driver to immediately hit the brakes. It's too dangerous, especially in city traffic or in areas where small children are playing.

1. Transmission began slipping, banging in reverse, problems getting the vehicle to shift from park to reverse. . Vehicle became unable to shift out of 2nd, trans light and overdrive light came on and flickering. . Taken to miller Ford, where it was diagnosed as having no 3rd gear at all, both bands, servos and solenoid need replace. 4. Spent 2 days in service, rented a vehicle at a cost of $50. Work was completed at a cost of $1523. 28.

I bought my Ford Explorer xls on Feb 5 2005. Complained about the transmission at time of purchase and they said that nothing was wrong. About 6 months later I had it checked at another dealership and they said the shifter solenoid was bad. I had it replaced for a price of 2100. 00 to go 50 miles down the road and same thing started again. They then said it was the transmission itself. Nothing but problems from day one and no one at Ford cares. Now I am paying for something that I cant drive cause I cant afford to have it fixed. Please help me.

Vehicle goes into neutral when braking hard and when turning vehicle off, outside under driver seat a winding down noise is heard 9 times out of ten when turning vehicle off. Transmission pan replaced, solenoid assembly replaced, no longer goes into neutral and nothing was found at dealership regarding winding down noise, problem still exists.

1. Events leading up to the failure -on more than one occasion while having my car at the dealer while in warranty I made note to the service individual,that some thing felt wrong when my car would shift in to another gear while moving . Nothing was ever found wrong or any documentation was made. 2. Failure and its consequences-as my vehicle reached 43,900 miles my transmission started to shift even more harder and sometimes would not go in to gear. The rear would vibrate to the point where it shook the vehicle hard. 3. What was done to correct the failure-when vehicle was taken to the dealer it was quickly brought to my attention that my vehicle was out of waranty and after diagonosing the problem that the trans assy solenoid had to be replaced. I had no choice but to fix this problem because the vehicle was up on a lift . This cost me a total of $976. 91. I feel that I was led on until my warranty expired and that Ford should covered the cost of this problem because this is a fairly new vehicle and it was not my fault that this part went bad. This part should be recalled.

Recurring problems with transmission. Every now an then, the overdrive off light blinks, occasionally causing the check engine light to come on. 14854 miles the transmission was overhauled by the dealer. From about 50,000 miles the overdrive light would occasional flash but as long as I shut off the engine and restarted it, the problem wouldn't pop up for a few months. There didn't seem to be any consistent reason for it to flash. The dealer said the only thing they could do is to test it when the light was flashing so they could diagnose the problem. Since the problem was so intermittent it was difficult to get to a dealer at the particular time the light would flash. The truck seemed to be operating as it always did. Eventually the check engine light came on as a result of the o/d off light being on and at 63,329 the dealer replaced the solenoid body and serviced the transmission. The light still came on occasional, but only on long trips, more than 75 miles one way. At 66,274 miles the dealer took the truck and tried to duplicate the problem but was unable to. At about 73299 miles, like before, the service engine light finally kicked and the dealer replaced the o/d piston and rod. At 73,564 miles the transmission need to be completely overhauled. Now at 80,800 the service engine light is on again because of the o/d off light blinking and the dealer will be looking at it again on Monday, January 20, 2006. For number of failures I'm guessing that 20 or more times the o/d light has come on. 5 times the check engine light activated and the dealer tried to fix the problem. Monday will be the 6th attempt to fix the problem.

We have 2002 Ford Explorer SUV with only 68k miles and we had to have an entirely new transmission put in it,just a year and a half earlier with less than 59k miles we had a new shift solenoid replaced. A year and a half later the transmission started doing the same thing again which prompted the new transmission . At the transmission shop we were informed that they have done numerous complete transmission overhauls on these Explorers and jags, with very low miles, just in the last six months. This Explorer has been well maintained and not driven that much that it would have needed such a major undertaking with such low miles. We have been checking around and transmission shops have told us they have seen alot of the Explorers like ours with low mileage needing complete replacements don't know what it takes to get a recall into effect but I am hoping this might be a step that needs to be taken by individuals. We have spent over $3500 in the last year and a half on our eddie bauer and regret the day we purchased it. Our 1986 chevy wagon with 133k never has given us any problem this big.