Engine Problems of Ford Explorer - part 1

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked there was excessive leakage of coolant fluid. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and diagnosed with failure of water pump leakage. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000.

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Car started to accelerate in reverse and struck another vehicle while brake was applied to no avail.

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2002 Ford Explorer spark plug ejection issue on v8 4. 6l engine. This is now the second time that I have had spark plugs eject for the engine. From what I understand Ford reduced the number of threads for the spark plugs to save machining time and costs in the manufacturing of the engine. This is clearly a safety issue. The first time I was lucky enough to get the spark plug threaded back in and was able to drive it somewhere for proper repair. I am not so lucky the second time as the threads in the head are destroyed. Now I have the extra cost of towing the truck for repair. I have read many forums on this issue yet Ford continues to ignore the safety of it's customers. It is time for them to step up to the plate and take responsibilty for their design defects.

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The contact owns a 2003 Ford Explorer. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle was hesitant to pick up speed. All warning lights on the dash board illuminated during the failure. The vehicle was towed to the dealer yet they were unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated the failure had occurred two additional times in the same day. The vehicle was not repaired and the VIN was not available. The failure and current mileages were 40,900.

2002 Ford Explorer limited 4. 6l v8. Spark plug ejected from head upon start-up. Third time this has happened.

I have a 2002 Ford Explorer that ejected a spark plug. The spark plug was original (it came with the vehicle and had never been changed). My wife was driving to church when the spark plug was completely ejected and broke the coil mount. This allows fuel vapor to escape from the cylinder head and could result in an engine fire. Luckily, my wife didn't experience an engine fire since she was pulling into her destination when it happened and shut off the motor. The spark plug ejection stripped the threads from the cylinder head.

Over the last 18 months with my Explorer I have had it die on me 4 times and had to get it towed to the dealer. 4 times they have told me that it was some sort of component in the throttle body that is causing it to die. It has died twice on me on the highway while doing 65 mph. This is not acceptable. The last time it happened was on Thursday April 15th. I brought it to the dealership and yet again they said it was a sensor in there and for the 4th time the replaced a component of this instead of the whole thing. They can not guarantee that this will fix it which is very disconcerting to me. I no longer feel safe driving this vehicle. I do not go above 45 mph because I do not want it to die on my on the highway again. That was extremely scary. Something needs to be done before anyone else has to go thru what I (and based on the online comments many other people have gone thru). Ford has a problem with the 2006 Explorers and something needs to be done.

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Spark plug blown out of cylinder head under normal driving conditions. Threads and spark plug both blown out of top of cylinder head.

Number 8 cylinder spark plug blew out of engine today on 2002 Ford Explorer 4. 6l.

I was driving down the road and then out of no where the engine started to sound extremely loud and spitting smoke I pulled over and after inspection of the motor I found a spark plug laying ontop of the engine block and the coil laying next to it. The spark plug blew out of the threading. This has happened twice to me in the last 1. 5 years the first time it was under my warranty from used car dealer and they replaced the complete motor with a new one. And the current incident happened today and per my mechanic he is going to put in a helicoil to try and resolve the issue.

I want to file a complaint with Ford because I have 1 1999 Ford Explorer XLT and the timing guide is going out again for the third time. I think that Ford should do something about this. . . I know people that never have to replace their timing chain guides and im replacing mine for the third time. . .

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The contact owns a 2002 Ford Explorer. While driving 10 mph, the contact noticed smoke entering into the vehicle from the front windshield. When the contact stopped the vehicle, the smoke became darker. The fire appeared from underneath the hood of the vehicle. The fire department extinguished the fire, but they could not determine the cause. The vehicle was destroyed, but there were no injuries. A police report was filed. The failure mileage was 110,000.

No noise/warning. The car had billowing black smoke coming from under the hood. On inspection oil was gushing from a valve at the back of the engine and burning, it nearly burst into flames. It was towed to a local mechanic, who found the timing chain had broken, slashing a valve cover and cutting into the back of the engine. It can be fixed for $3,000 plus tax estimate, but the Ford dealership recommends against this and says it needs a new engine /refurbished engine $5,000 plus tax. Ford refuse to accept this is a defect, despite multiple complaints I have seen on the internet. The car was a Ford Explorer 2003 with only 60,720 on the clock. I bought it new and maintained it well. I still have payments on it so am selling it for $2000 to cover the payments. It was a $34,000 car.

Spark plug blew out of 2002 Ford Explorer limited. I've had two Ford vehicles blow a spark plug this year.

The contact owns a 1999 Ford Explorer. While driving 45 mph, the accelerator pedal became stuck and the rpm's increased to over 3,000 rpm's. The rpm's would not decrease until he arrived at the dealer. While driving and attempting to control the vehicle, he depressed the brake pedal to reduce the speed of the vehicle. The dealer stated that he needed to replace the iac valve, throttle body assembly, housing, and throttle plate. They also replaced the check engine warning indicator and reset the computer. The failure mileage was 124,554.

The contact owns a 1998 Ford Explorer. While leaving his home, the contact noticed that the hood of the vehicle was on fire. The fire department was called to extinguish the fire and a police report was filed. The contact did not notice any differences beforehand. The vehicle has not been diagnosed for the failure. The current and failure mileages were 110,000.

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On my way to the airport for a business trip, I was driving the vehicle on the interstate when all of a sudden and without any warning, the engine stopped. I had to maneuver onto traffic and stop to try to start the engine without success. I called aaa and they had the vehicle towed to my home. When I came back I sent it to the shop and the mechanic advised me that the timing chain sprocket retainer pin broke, and because of that all valves bent, so I have to replace the engine. For 72900 miles and keeping all maintenance in order I consider this a safety issue and unacceptable in terms of quality. I have spoken to the manufacturer and they refuse to take action because the vehicle is out of warranty.

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Car had died approx. 4 times before leading up to this event. On each prior occasion we were able to restart the car. When we contacted Ford dealer in ok, they said they couldn't diagnose the problem without it happening while the vehicle was in their possession. We attributed it to bad fuel because dealer said there were no recalls with Ford. Then car died for no reason, could not restart, had to have it towed. Ford repair shop thought it was the throttle body unit which they replaced then they still couldn't get it to start. After further research they discovered that the harmonic balancer had separated and damaged the crank shaft sensor and that was why it wouldn't start to a tune of $1100. 0 which was not covered under warranty because it had 40,100 miles and the warranty expired @ 36,000 miles.

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March 08 I was driving my 2005 Ford Explorer when all of a sudden it started knocking and then came to a complete stop. I was never able to start the car again. I call Ford and was told that my warranty had expired and there was nothing they could do to help me. I took the Explorer to the shop and was told that a part in the motor had malfunction which cause damage to the motor. And my only option was to replace the motor. I then call Ford again and was told they could not help me. I was stuck with a car that was not paid for and I still owed for. My only option was to replace the motor. I never had a problem with is truck until this happen.

I have 2002 Ford XLT Explorer. 102k miles now. I had issue with throttle cable sticking back in Feb 2008. Would not decelerate properly driving home in the evening, throttle stuck open. Came close to rear ending another vehicle. Traced the problem to what was that the inner liner of the throttle cable had backed out in the driver compartment apprx 2 inches and not allowing the cable to retract correctly. I removed that section of the liner. After research found that NHTSA action number : pe05037 matched my problem exactly. Please note here that my issue occurred after a longer period of time than what as noted in pe05037, you may have to open new investigation using longer period. I contacted Ford motor customer service about this and they offered no remedy for this issue.

I have a 2003 Ford Explorer and has a flex fuel system 4. 0l 114,000 miles at times not all the time once in awhile I will go to turn and slow down the idle jumps up and down you will be able to see the rps go nuts and the engine shuts itself off I almost hit another car not being prepared for the shut down the brakes the steering all got hard to handle. . . Has anyone been looking into this problem at all? I have changed spark plugs the fuel filter air filter and still does this in warm weather as it does in cold weather. . Any clue as to what I can do? vary unsafe. I have never had a car or truck do this more than once.

Have had numerous problems starting with a lifter stuck in motor at 296 miles, to transmission failure at 15,700 miles. Brakes have squeaked since it was new, overhead console has fallen off twice, satellite radio works when it wants to. Door rubbed on running board, now gas mileage has dropped under 10 miles per gallon. 14 trips to dealership so far and still not all is fixed.

The contact owns a 1997 Ford Explorer. While driving 30 mph, the contact smelled smoke and then noticed smoke rising from the engine compartment. He pulled over approximately two minutes later and discovered flames coming from the engine compartment. There was a small explosion on the driver side of the vehicle. The vehicle was destroyed and a police report was filed. As of November 1, 2007, the dealer and manufacturer had not inspected the vehicle. His VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign id number 07v336000 (vehicle speed control). The contact felt that a leak in the engine compartment caused the fire. The current and failure mileages were 130,000.

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Following a increasingly loudening 'ticking' noise, the engine ejected a spark plug, destroying other components in the engine bay and rendering the entire engine useless. Shrapnel from the exploded plug entered the cylinder causing extensive damage. Force of plug ejection destroyed threads on cylinder head.

The contact owns a 2006 Ford Explorer. While driving 15 mph, the vehicle's engine suddenly shut off when the brakes were depressed. The failure occurred approximately fifteen times. The engine size was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 14,000.

Events leading up to the failure: backing out of a parking space failure and consequences: Ford acknowledges issues internally with the timing cartridges on the 2002 e code 4. 0l v6 sohc engine through several TSB's, however does not notify the public that this issue exists. I found out about the issue after apparently blowing the entire engine on my 2006 Ford Explorer. Now, instead of having a repair done at the dealership that could cost a little, I have to spend a lot of money to have it fixed. I am greatly thankful that this happened as I was backing out of a parking space and not at highway speeds. Apparently, Ford used several plastic guide way parts to tension the chain, and these parts fail easily because they are oil starved at engine startup. Because they are plastic, they can fatigue and break at any time, causing severe valve and piston damage, and leaving the operator of the car with no control of the automobile because of loss of vacuum for breaks, and automatic steering. Correction of failure: Ford refuses to pay anything to help repair or replace parts even with known issues.

My wife was driving our 2005 Explorer and the engine died while coasting. Power steering was lost. My wife was able to coast it to the side of the road since it was late at night and there was no other traffic on the road. To this point there has been nothing done about it. The dealer did not feel a error code was probably logged and to this point we have not been able to find what the problem is.

The contact owns a 2001 Ford Explorer. While driving 35 mph, the vehicle began to ride roughly and backfired when the contact attempted to accelerate. The contact attempted to replace the spark plugs, however, the hex nut snapped when it was removed. Approximately one week later, the dealer inspected the vehicle and stated that the threaded part of the spark plug had failed inside the head. The dealer recommended that a machine shop remove the spark plug. As of July 3, 2007, the vehicle has not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were 54,184.

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We started to hear knocking from under the hood of our vehicle, so we took it to a garage to have it checked out and the dealership told us that it was the timing chain and that the timing chain on a lot of the new Fords has been going up. Now our 2005 Ford Explorer XLT will not start and is sitting in our driveway.

While driving the 2003 Ford Explorer eddie bauer 4. 0l v6 the engine stops running with no warning. This has happened three times randomly. Two times were on a highway coasting to a toll booth. Each of those times I was able to put the vehicle into neutral and restart the engine. The third time was on a residential street. The engine could not be restarted.

SUV hesitates when accelerating. Dealer says can't be repaired. 2006 Ford Explorer with 1909 miles. Sent e-mail to you on 08/05/06 confirmation #10164629 as of this date no reply from you.

Spark plug blew out of cylinder head while driving under normal conditions, could have caused fire had to replace the cylinder head instead of a tap kit to avoid metal shavings ruining the engine.

Persistent quality problems: engine, transmission, power steering, air compressor, and related safety hazards such as defective rear hinge.

I have a 2005 Ford Explorer eddie bauer which looses power steering control and braking ability at random. I have taken this vehicle into service at the dealership for repair but no satisfactory outcome is there. For the first problem of loosing the braking ability, the vehicle when started has no problems but after driving a short distance (few meters to up to a mile) the advance traction loss message is displayed in the message centre and the vehicle looses the ability to stop in the required stop distance. When applying the brakes, the pulsation is felt in the brake paddle and a screeching heard before the vehicle stops. Then once the engine is turned off, and vehicle re-started, the message is reset and vehicle works fine. The second issue is that the vehicle while driving, at random gives the message in the display with an audio signal indicating oil pressure low, service engine soon and other lights in the display and rpm meter showing zero reading with loss of steering ability. There is no power assist to turn the steering whereas the engine is running and also vehicle accelerates if pedal is pushed. I have been into the dealership thrice but the problem is yet to be fixed from last 15 months. The control on the vehicle can be got back once the engine is switched off and restarted. I have resorted to putting the vehicle in neutral and let it roll and turn the engine off and then restart it and get the steering control back. I had left the vehicle at the dealership in oct 2005 for 10 days to diagnose and rectify but I was advised that problem has been reported to the authorities at Ford but I am yet to hear back from the dealer or the oem.

Auto goes into fail safe mode while being driven. Has happened 5 times since Mar. 10, 2006. I have had it in the shop on Mar. 14, April 22, April 27, may 25, and June 12, all for the same concern. The engine bogs down to 4 cylinders and loses power. The first 3 times it happened while driving at around 35 mph the last two times it has happened while merging into traffic on the highway coming off a feeder road. I'm am afraid I will end up in a serious accident. I put it in the shop on June 12, 2006 and just picked it up yesterday on July 17,2006. It was in the shop for over a month. As I was feeding into traffic yesterday evening of July 17, the engine again downshifted into fail safe mode causing me to bog down. I have lost all faith in this vehicle and do not want it anymore. I have owned Fords for the last 35 years and have never had this kind of problem before with a Ford.