Axle Assembly Problems of Ford Explorer - part 1

See attached document for complaint.

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The contact leases a 2022 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 75 mph, the vehicle started shuddering uncontrollably and was making an abnormal grinding sound. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the front driver's side axle was fractured. The dealer informed the contact that the failure was unprecedented. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 15,629.

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The contact owns a 2022 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at 60 mph, the tires began to make a thumping and the steering wheel began to vibrate. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the axle seal needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle was vibrating while the brake pedal was depressed. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the water pump was leaking causing a mixture of the engine oil and coolant. The contact was also notified of a front axle failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 109,000.

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The contact owned a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 2 - 25 mph, there was an abnormal grinding sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed the failure as a rear axle failure. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 39,000.

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The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer XLT. The contact stated that while driving 5 mph the right and left front rings on the axle fractured and locked up the brakes. The vehicle was inspected by a independent mechanic who repaired the left front axle ring. The front right ring has not been repaired. The failure mileage was 57,000.

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The contact owns a 2003 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the seals on 3 axles were leaking and needed to be repaired; therefore, the right front axle and both rear axles were repaired. The axles were improperly installed and were repaired again four weeks later. The manufacturer stated that they were unable to provide any assistance regarding the repairs. The contact is aware of the safety risk since the axles could fail while driving and potentially cause a crash. The current mileage was 60,828 and the failure mileage was 55,294.

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The contact owns a 1997 Ford Explorer. While driving approximately 10 mph on normal road conditions, the vehicle began to jerk excessively. The driver pulled over to the side of the road and inspected the vehicle. He noticed that the rear driver's side axle was split in half. The failure occurred without warning. Roadside assistance was called to the scene and the vehicle was towed to his residence. The vehicle has not been repaired. The VIN was unknown. The failure and current mileages were 130,000.

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Exciter ring damage. Replaced rear axle.

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2004 Ford Explorer with seals leaking. Consumer states that the front axle seal and pinion seal were replaced. The rear axle seal was leaking and also was replaced. Consumer would like to be reimbursed for the charges. The consumer stated on March 31, 2008 the rear axle seal on the passenger side was found to be leaking, after having the front axle seal and pinion seal replaced 2 weeks prior.

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One of my customers came to me with 53,000 on her 2002 Ford Explorer. The complaint was a mile long. Engine light is on, abs light is on, speed sensor,a/c probs, rear axle seals are leaking on the irs, poor excuse for a rear axle system in my opinion. A person cant tell if it is the differential or the rear bearings are bad, reading on here I think that they are both bad. Diff is full of metal shavings. I am sorry but if Ford don't start standing behind such a poor excuse for a vehicle, that one one gentlemen on here is going to be right someone is going to get hurt first. Thanks for all the great input on here as a mechanic it means a lot. I am going to loose a big job granted. Unlike other certain places hmmmmmmmmm dealers I care about my customers and value their lives. You should do like I am going to strongly encourage my customer to get rid of this piece of crap. This is why the foreign car manufacturer are kicken our butts because we cant build anything decent and the stand behind it. What's that. That's how we are, we always wait till its too late to do anything until someone gets hurt, like our children. What really pains me is that Ford motor CO use to be an american icon along with all there competitors in the american market and use to care about keeping a customer for life and keep up on things like customer service and quality, ins CO (don't even get me started). The worst part about it is you cant tell me that you should not be able to 100,000 miles without major defects other that normal maintenance. Ok im done. Signed: a guy worried that people cant find us honest mechanics kurt from green bay WI.

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Ford Explorer 2002 clutch pack in rear diff went out causing rack and pinion to go out. Ford dealer states this is a common problem with this year. Had rear diff rebuilt by dealership with Ford parts and 24,000 miles later the dealership says it needs replaced again. At $1300 to over $1500 each time this is crazy and neither Ford nor the dealership will assist in the cost. After calling Ford customer service my aggravation increased because they refused to acknowledge that this is a problem. Now same problem on our 03 expedition. If the diff locks up I can only imagine what will happen.

The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. While driving 50 mph, the contact heard a loud noise from what she believed to be the middle of the vehicle. She parked the vehicle for a while and then restarted the engine. The noise went from a loud humming noise to a loud whistling noise. The vehicle became difficult to steer, and began to pull. The contact pulled over and realized that the rear axle on the passenger side failed. The vehicle was towed to her residence because she could not afford the repair. Ford was not notified. There were no recalls available and the vehicle has not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 80,000.

I first noticed a grinding when I would turn sharply with my 2002 Ford Explorer. I took it in and it was noted that I needed to have my rear differential rebuilt to replace to ring and pinion gears and clutch packs. After 1 day of having the vehicle I was notified that a bearing had fused to the axle assembly and could result in my rear axle seizing up while driving. The total repair is going to cost $1500.

Rear axle noise/whining.

The contact owns a 2003 Ford Explorer. The contact heard a loud whining sound coming from the rear of the vehicle while accelerating and decelerating. The service manager stated that he could not find anything in his computer that was related to the failure. There are currently ten NHTSA service bulletins related to the failure. The current mileage was 76,000 and failure mileage was 55,000. Update 09/10/08 the consumer was told the rear axle may have to be replaced. Updated 09/11/08.

Constant rubbing/grinding sound from rear axle sounding like very loud road noise. Initially had spring kits , but on rear emergency brakes which did not help. Finally, had to have the rear axle assembly rebuilt by a kit that the manufacturer made available through a technical service bulletin, showing they were aware of the problem.

Noise at rear end of vehicle. Diagnosis rear axle and rear end. Replace rear axle and rear end kit (rebuild). The noise was noticeable for sometime and became worse. I have reviewed numerous similar complaints and this appears to be an issue that the manufacturer should address. There were service bulletins that referenced improper fluid use by manufacturer.

My 2003 Ford Explorer was serviced at dick edwards Ford in junction city , KS to replace a left hand rear axle shaft seal on the 12th of febuary 2007. Vehicle was picked up at the dealership by my wife. On the 13th of febuary she was driving home from work (about 3-5 miles) she called me on her cell phone and said she could hear noises, smelled something burning and the rear of the car was moving around and the brake pedal was low. I told her to proceed home with caution. When she arrived home I looked at the vehicle, and noted the lh rear wheel assembly was at a 30 deg angle. I called dick edward Ford and they informed me to have it towed to the dealership. Today they implied it was a bearing failure. I looked at the vehicle, spoke to the mechanic and I noted it was a rear axle shaft retention nut malfunction. The nut had backed out on the axle to the point that the assembly was about depart from the vehicle. The mechanic wanted to blame the axle bearing, which was destroyed. This nut if improperly torqued, or the assembly is not installed properly prior to torquing the nut, the nut can become loose and back off, especially since it is rh thread, there is not a cotter pin or anything holding this thing together, only a torqued nut. They then told me that they would not pay for it as it was a coincidence this happened. I refuse to pay. I have pictures of the vehicle setting in my driveway. I should have taken pictures at the dealership when it was taken apart. If my loved one had been on the interstate doing 70 mph this would have probably have allowed the wheel assembly to depart from the vehicle resulting in a catastrophic accident. And possible death to her as well as others. How many other vehicles out there with the same poor engineering design ?.

Rear pinion gear on 2003 Ford Explorer causes high pitched whining sound, and is well known to Ford dealerships in the area. The stated cost to repair (replace pinion ring, pinion gear, seals) is in excess of $1,100.

Vehicle makes a whinning sound from the rear drive shaft when accellarating over 35 mpg.

Rear axle was making a loud noise, was told that it was due to the seal was broken and needed to be replaced. This was replaced and the noise still continues. Other consumers have had this same problem and nothing has ever happened with this issue. It cost a lot of money to have the axle worked on and it is still not fixed!.

On the back liftgate, the middle body piece has cracked again after being replaced around the Ford symbol. Dealer has replaced once and will not replace again. The axle housing is leaking next to the differential.

: the contact stated that there was a roaring noise coming from the vehicle's rear axle. The dealership determined the differential was leaking and there were also metal flakes in the differential.

2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4wd rear end troubles, third time having work done on the rear axle and assembly, troubled started at about 40000 and now at 72000 miles. Seals, bearings, rear axle. Humming and whining noise from rear end at both highway speed and city driving. Dealer quoted over the phone could run in excess of $2000 for parts and labor, took it to a local garage spent $1032 dollars for repairs. Replaced with dealer only parts, no savings there. Ford claims no problems with rear end. All indications is the problem will return. I'm not convinced the problem is fixed.

2003 Ford Explorer rear axle failure at 66,266 miles. Rear end was grinding when taking off from a stop and during a left turn. Dealer had to replace complete interior parts of the axle assembly. Replaced ring and pinion gears, replaced bearings due to pitting, replaced differential clutch pack.

Severe vibration in rear end of vehicle between 65 and 70 mph tire rebalancing and rotation did not improve situation at all seems worse after approx. 20 minutes of highway driving. Not sure if its a tire or differential problem but it 'feels' like it is about once per rev. Of the axle. Vehicle has original Ford rsc and goodrich 17" tires.

Three instances of whining noise at 50+ mph and fluid leakage from rear axle seal 2002 Ford Explorer. The first one caused loss of control when accelerating on highway. Difficult to determine since rear transaxle fluid leaks down drive shaft to brake assembly. I noticed significant corrosion of brake assembly where fluid is running into the wheel assembly. Only when leak is significant will fluid drip onto surface below rear axle. Dealer noted Ford engineers are aware of problem but expect the consumer to pay for repairs. First replacement of rear axle seals at 30000 miles; second at 460000 miles and the third at 62000 miles. These seals should last longer. Second instance had vibration when engaging the vehicle in reverse and loud whining noise/ vibration from rear; then fluid leakage. My dealer acknowledges that many Explorers (2002-2005) have this problem and Ford motor company engineers are evaluating; as a dealer there is nothing they can do. Ford has not indicated a fix other than to check fluid level, replace rear axle seals, and/or the rear unit. This is a significant hazard since in most cases the vehicle owner will not know there is a pending failure due to the fluid leaking down the rear axle drive shaft toward the brake/wheel assembly. The whining noise will increase as fluid level decreases with risk failure and loss of control. This problem is far more common than reported due to the difficult nature of observation of leakage. One has to crawl under the rear transaxle and carefully inspect the two axle seals to look for signs of corrosion and fluid leakage.

There is a loud howl/whine coming from the rear axle area of our 2002 Ford Explorer. We understand that this has been a common complaint with these vehicles. Our Explorer is out of warranty but since this seems to be an inherent problem with this vehicle we would like for Ford to at least share the cost of repair with us.

The rear end on my car was causing a loud humming noise above 40 miles per hour.

Rear axle noise, replaced at a price of 1200 dollars.

Have had mechanical problems with my 2003 Ford Explorer which should not have occurred with the least amount of miles on it. Have had rear brake sensor replaced 2 times under warranty, front axle seal replaced under warranty and rear axle bearing replaced with 44000 miles and now the rear axle seal is leaking on the right side. The mechanic who does my repairs stated the axle seals are on backorder due to the amount of Explorers the seals are defective on. I have not received any recall information on the seals as I believe this is a safety concern. Could you please check into this defect. I believe there were several defective parts used on the 2003 Ford Explorers that have not been recalled or reported. Thank you.

Loud tire roar when I reach speeds over 45 mph. Took it in for service. Dealer noticed the noise but didn't acknowledge how to fix it. Very loud, almost makes you not want drive. The problem is with the engineering of the vehicle.

Repeated failure of rear axle, drive train noise from rear of vehicle between45-65mph.

My 2002 Ford Explorer is making a howling sound from the rear end and is leaking fluid, sometimes this fluid reaches the tires and makes contact with the brakes. . . Could this cause them to fail? crash? many people have this same problem, I went to a large parking lot and looked under several Ford Explorers 2002-up 6 out of about 10 had this problem, what is it going to take before Ford fixes the problem, does someone have to die?.