Automatic Transmission problems of the 2004 Ford Explorer - part 1

2004 Ford Explorer. Consumer writes in regards to transmission problem the consumer stated there was a delay in the transmission when he attempted to put the gear in reverse. There was also a hard shift when the vehicle was warm and on several occasions, it would slam into gear.

It seems that my transmission is starting to slip and shift hard.

I have a 2004 Ford Explorer with less than 75,000 miles on it. I am a very conservative driver and do not put a lot of miles on my cars. The transmission went out and the guy at aamco said the inside of it was a mess, everything was chewed up. It cost me $3,550 to have it fixed. At the time it failed I was going down the highway at 55 mph and it suddenly dropped to about 25mph.

The transmission on my 2004 Ford Explorer has started slipping. It does not want to go into gear correctly. It only has 107,600 miles on it. I live just outside birmingham, al and the traffic is very heavy and dangerous here. Not a place I want my vehicle breaking down. I just hung up the phone with Ford motor CO and they have nothing to offer in the way of help. They said to hold on to receipts in case of recall. :-( you bet your life I will! my sister's 2005 did the same thing at just over 100,000 miles.

Transmission slams hard into gear upon acceleration and when braking. Does this all the time. When shifting into reverse, it does not engage immediately and then engages hard with a sudden and unexpected lurch backwards. This happens 8 of 10 times when shifting to reverse. No attempt to correct as it appears there is no fix short of a new transmission = $$$ I don't have.

The od light is flashing and the trans is slipping. You can not excelerate in a hurry because it wont go making this truck a accident waiting to happen.

Transmission went out on my 2004 Ford Explorer only a day after I bought it from a dealership. The replacement transmission will cost me $3400 plus the $10550 that I paid for the vehicle the day before. What a big mess this is.

The contact owns a 2004 Ford Explorer. The contact observed a long hair line fracture along the panel below the rear windshield. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they informed the contact that the rear windshield panel would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 44,000. The consumer also stated he had difficulty shifting the gear into reverse. Updated 01/06/11 updated 01/24/11 updated 02/03/11.

I have 2004 awd limited edition Ford Explorer with 69,000 miles. I am now faced with replacing the transmission at a cost of $5,000. This car is far too new, with far too few miles to be in need of a new transmission.

Vehicles exhibit an axle whine or hum during acceleration, deceleration and/or cruise.

Purchased a 2004 Ford Explorer in 2007. Shortly after I started to feel two things, a hesitation in the gears as they shift from one to the next, and the more pressing issue, a stall followed by a jerk when put into reverse. I took it in three times concerning this issue and was told each time that it was normal and was a hesitation in the gas relaying the information to the "computer". The warranty has run out and I once again took it back for these same issues only this time they did find something wrong with it and I am stuck footing the bill on something that should have been fixed under warranty. I've also read several complaints on this issue on this site and on Fords website and am wondering. . . Why hasn't anything been done? Ford knows about this, and it is apparent the office of defects investigation knows about this, but it is still an issue!!! if Ford isn't going to be a respectable company and fix this problem on their own, then why hasn't an investigation started to force them to fix this problem? this needs to be investigated, it obviously isn't a fluke problem and is a major safety issue!!!.

While leaving for work, shifted column gear shift from park to reverse and it snapped off at base. No force used other than normal.

The transmission has a delayed shift and causes the engine to rev before shifting. This causes a hesitation espicially when pulling out into trafffic from a stop. This ocurs every time and the 0/d light falshes as well. The service engine light is now because of the tranmission problem. This is situation dangerous.

While driving normally, 'o/d off' light on dashboard comes on. Unable to accelerate and/or vehicle shuts off; the remedy: having transmission rebuilt or repaired. This has occurred three times in 3 years. Saw on a 6page forum of other Ford owners having the same problem. Repairing a transmission is costly and its not one repair it's multiple over the life of owning the vehicle.

Gear shift lever on the steering wheel column broke off when tried to take it out of park, on my 2004 Ford Explorer. Checking the internet for this problem I see it has happened to hundreds of people with Ford Explorers, no help through Ford, a recall needs to be done. To many people with the same problem.

2004 Ford Explorer v8 120000 miles driving down road at 45mph no warning over drive light started flashing, check transmission light came on & lost all gears. Pulled over turned car off restarted it drove 5 feet same problem. Towed to repair shop the pulled codes & said the solinoid pack internally needed to be replaced. They did that problem is still occuring. Now looks like needs a trani. I took it in several times under warrenty but they could never duplicate it. Now its not under warrenty & Ford wont take care of it.

Purchased a 2004 Ford Explorer in 2006, noticed after a couple of months that when put the car in reverse would delay a few seconds and then it would make a clunk sound and then speed into reverse, that was at about 50,000 miles when purchased. In April of 2009 car would not go into reverse, had a transmission rebuild. It is now less then a year since rebuild and it is starting to shift hard again and while at a stop light today when I had my on the brake it made a clunk sound and jumped forward? good thing no other car was in front of me, I checked my rear view mirror and there was no car behind me, so I was not hit. Also car is starting to delay when at a stopped position to start driving the car hesitates to go into gear. Does it take someone to get seriously injured or die before this problem is going to be resolved by an obvious manufacturer error???? I have two children that get driven around on a regular basis and I am now worried that something is going to happen. I am taking my Ford back in to have the transmission guy that repaired it look at the vehicle. Uhaul will not let any Ford Explorers tow their products.

When shifting into reverse there is a hard shift also hard shifts up and down while going forward.

2004/Ford Explorer fire while parked in parking deck,there was no previous warnings ,of any kind. Truck was running well ,no service lights ever came on. Truck only has 40,000 miles on it. Never had any sings or symptoms,that anything was going to happen. I have a police report. Fire dept. Report. Also valet parking managers report from 11/6/09. Now truck is at toms Ford ,hazlet NJ. We need to know what went wrong , there was no prior warning to this event. Thank god I wasn't on the hwy when this occurred with my granddaughter 27 mths . Please help!.

I left my vehicle running in park to drop off a gift to a friend. I ended up staying longer than intended, and was taken outside by a loud noise. After idling in parked for 20-30 minutes, my Explorer had smashed into my friends garage door causing nearly $500 in damages to the door and scratches to the vehicle. Nothing has been done about the problem, except we will not let the Explorer idle in park.

2004 Ford Explorer xls with v6, bought new. Incorrect transmission fluid put in all 2004 Explorers at factory. Recalled and put in additive around 40,000 miles. Transmission problems started one year ago, around 50,000 miles. Takes several seconds to engage and then shifts hard (clunks) into reverse. Happens 75% of the time. Have been told we need a new (or rebuilt) transmission.

2004 Ford Explorer with, less than 75,000 miles. Needs to have the transmission repaired or replaced. My wife and two children were out driving in traffic when failure began to occur. Unable to accelerate past 30-35mph. This is all after the dealership repeatedly told us no problems, overfilled trans fluid, and added the recall additive from Ford. My wife reported. We informed Ford multiple times about hard shifting or slipping feeling when accelerating, and very hard and loud engagements into reverse. There is an obvious problem, I guess it will just take a tragic event to admit the problem.

2004 Ford Explorer nbx. Owner put car in park and gear shift lever came off in hand. Car transmission stuck between park and reverse. Had to get car towed to dealership. Dealer states they have fixed numerous Explorers with same issue in the recent past. In my opinion, this is a design flaw with the material used (appears to be aluminum) for the "donut" shaped ring that connects the gear shift to the steering column. Contacted Ford and they were unwilling help with expense ($1,500) of fixing this manufacturer defect.

My 2004 Ford Explorer has a bad transmission problem !!! jerks very hard in reverse , slips between 2nd & 3rd gears, sometimes slips while in traffic !! I feel this is very dangerous !!.

My 2004 Ford Explorer awd has a transmission issue. When the transmission is placed in reverse or into drive, the transmission will often shift into gear very hard and cause the car to suddenly move backwards or forwards in a violent manner. The car will move while the brake is applied and I fear this transmission issue will cause some type of failure in the future causing the car to go forward or backward with no control. It shifts so hard from park into gear it feels as if another car has ran into the back of my car. I have read identical reports online from numerous other people involving Ford Explorers around this model year timeframe.

When I shift from drive or neutral into reverse, there is a long hesitation before the car then leaps backward hard. Delay then hard reverse. When I am parallel parking, I have sometimes hit the car behind me hard because of this. This problem has been extented since I purchased the car new in 2004. I have brought the car into the dealer at least ten times when it was new. They made many changes, including an entirely new "box" of a sort I don't recall, all to no avail, finally telling me the problem was caused by installing the wrong trans fluid at manufacturing. Recall necessary.

I was dropping my son off at his friend's house. I pulled into the driveway and put the truck in park. I opened my door, got out, walked around the front of my vehicle and accompanied my son up to the front door. All of a sudden, the truck started to roll forward on the driveway and crash into the homeowners fence. When I got into the truck, it was still in park. There was damage to my front bumper as well as the fence that it crashed into. Thank god it didn't happen while I was walking in front of it! this transmission on this vehicle has been a problem since the beginning. I too experienced the "thump" as it slammed into reverse, only for Ford to deny there was a problem and finally put the additive into the tranny. What a way to fix the problem! . . . Never again will I buy a Ford. I just hope no one has to lose their life for Ford to do something about this.

2004 Ford Explorer has extreme engagement into reverse. Have had multiple trips to dealership for repair prior to this final repair by independent repair shop. If driver doesn't anticipate this condition personal injury and/or property damage could occur.

My 2004 Ford Explorer has a transmission problem. I never know if and when it will go into reverse or park. It hesitates and I then find out what gear it is in. This Explorer is a one-owner car. 32,000+- miles on it. Weekends only. Yes, I went through the earlier recall, but it did little if anything to correct the problem,. At the time, I figured that I had been screwed into buying a defective car whose transmissions wouldn't last after the warranty ran out. Sometimes, the transmission doesn't engage right away and then jumps hard into reverse. Other times, it hesitates before going into drive and/or park. I never know. I am 57 years old. Please tell Ford for me ----not to pee on my leg and tell me that it is raining. They didn't fix the problem. And I believe it to be dangerous. And since bush isn't president anymore, maybe your agency can stand up again for american consumers. Or will you? feel free to contact me or for Ford to contact me. The truth is the truth.

The contact owns a 2004 Ford Explorer. While driving in reverse approximately 2 mph, the transmission exhibited a delay response and would slip violently into gear. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they informed her that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. One year and six months later, after the new transmission was installed, the vehicle failed to accelerate over 30 mph. The failure was diagnosed by the dealer who stated that the transmission needed to be replaced for the second time. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 27,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Transmission shifts very hard and when put into reverse it violently shifts to reverse. Have had the vehicle in for multiple repairs on the transmission and now the local Ford dealership tells me I have to replace the transmission with the mileage on the vehicle a little over 70,000 miles.

Purchased a used 2004 Ford Explorer on July 3, 2006 with 53823 miles. The car was maintained as required and low and behold, to my recollection, around 2008-2009 it started driving a little strange, it started vibrating hesitating. Then during the beginning of 2009, check engine light came on, od light started flashing, gears started sticking, hard to brake and I was told that it IA a transmission problem and that I was not alone with the problem. A new or rebuilt transmission was necessary at a price of $3-4,000. If you would go on the web site at autobeef. Com, you will see all the complaints consumers are having about the same problem. I am urging you to please investigate this matter. Ford needs to step up to the plate and recall all Explorers. I still owe $9000 on this car and can not drive it. I bailed them out and they need to take responsibility for their faulty transmissions. Disappointed and concerned consumer. Thank you.

Shifting into reverse, the vehicle will not move, when you give it more gas, then suddenly surge. This latest incident, I almost hit a pedestrian. I thought this was a throttle response issue, but now I think it maybe a transmission issue. This has been an issue since the day I bought it. . . . The dealer put some fluid in the transmission and re-calibrated the throttle. Dealer said this is the first year Ford used an electronic throttle. (no cable from gas pedal to throttle body. ) after reading the newspaper article, seems that many owners have had similar complaints.

Automatic transmission hesitate when going into gear then shifts hard into gear while accelerating,Ford is well aware there is a problem with these transmissions and should be recalled for repairs. Have done research on this and its a common safety problems with the Ford Explorer.

Trans in 2002 to 2005 Ford Explorers are bad. They slip in and out of gear. Sometime you have to wait 5 to 10 seconds before it will move and this almost got me hit in mine by a 18 wheeler more than once. Talked with Ford dealers they all clam its a Ford mess up but there is no recalls yet. And this is with them beginning with in 20,000 to 90,000 miles on the Explorers. I know of over 900 cases of this first hand and someone needs to get Ford off their butt and do something. Noone can keep putting out 3500. 00 for a rebuilt trans while their still paying on the vehicles. All of them go bad right after the warranty runs out. Being in law enforcement I see this every day and its not sage for family's in these vehicles. If something isn't done ASAP someone going to get hurt or die. They slip all the time when you back up your sitting in the road for 10 seconds waiting for it to go in drive then drive slips until you get to 35 miles an hour then their fine until you stop again. Call Ford motor company and they just say sorry cant help you should have got the extra warranty on the vehicle. Me personally if it happens again im going to Ford motor company and drive it right through the front doors and leave it there.