Found On Roadside Dead = Driver Returned On Foot.

2008 Escape drop a transmission at 70k this winter.

2013 Explorer - Complete loss of power, just shutdown completely today on the "Family Road Trip". Worst possible place on the interstate as well, 3 lanes to 2, rigs rolling past at 80mph.

Frigging thing has been meticulously maintained and just serviced for this trip.

Vehicle just shut off. POFS.

Sincerely,
Stuck in BFE.

Those type of situations are not only dangerous but you feel helpless at the same time.

My C2500 truck had the throw out bearing go bad so you couldn't shift the transmission. Lucky, a person at BJ's, helped me out and called AAA or I would still be there.

Then the shop in Waynesboro re-promised on three different times. Several wires are loose under the dash and the brake fault light is on which is probably due to the loose wire.

At least it is cheaper to fix then buy a new truck. Plus it has character...Carol Browner paint job, 208K miles, 21 MPG on the highway, survived a hit by a cellphone driver, never driven in the winter time so salt free, 117K miles on the original mufflers, Flow-Fit bucket seats that recline.....

Got stuck behind some club of Ford Model A mother*ckers on the way home on Route 81 today. They were doing 40 MPH, in both lanes. Glad you have the money for your stupid hobby a$$holes but I need to get home! Use the sideroads for your stupid club activities.

This was on the interstate? Some people do not have good sense or consideration of others.

You need a truck horn!

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
This was on the interstate? Some people do not have good sense or consideration of others.

You need a truck horn!

Man I needed flares, seriously given the location I had the kids out of the vehicle and off the road.

Not sure about current version of the Escape but the last boxy model must've been given a complete junk transmission. I know three people that had one with a blown transmission before 80k miles.

I have a 2008 Explorer that is a piece of garbage. It has under 100k and already I have replaced the radiator, the thermometer housing and am in the process of replacing the harmonic balancer. There is an electrical problem somewhere that I have read is not uncommon so I am already on my fourth battery and the transmission is having issues. All of these are known issues and most seem to be issues with more Ford models than just the Explorer.

I usually hate when people say they won't ever own a brand again because of one vehicle they owned but I have a hard time believing that I will ever buy another Ford after discovering so many problems that seem to be because of poor design or parts.

Meanwhile my 1998 GMC Sonoma and 1999 Isuzu Trooper run great and have had only minimal issues. I haven't had to replace anything other than normal consumables in either.

Huh.

I had a Ford Focus when I met my wife back in 2011, she had a Honda Civic.

That Focus was SOLID. Never a problem in the 3-4 years I had it! We decided to keep her Civic for me to drive and get rid of the Focus.

Since then the Civic has had:

cracked engine block
bad airbags
gone through 3 starters
AC issues

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Huh.

I had a Ford Focus when I met my wife back in 2011, she had a Honda Civic.

That Focus was SOLID. Never a problem in the 3-4 years I had it! We decided to keep her Civic for me to drive and get rid of the Focus.

Since then the Civic has had:

cracked engine block
bad airbags
gone through 3 starters
AC issues

How many miles did you have on it? 3-4 years isn't all that long in the life of a car.

Up until 65k and about 6 years I would have said that the Explorer had been solid too. My issues have all popped up in the last 3 years and 30,000 miles. And I know I am not alone and I didn't just get a lemon. I have spent a lot of time on ford truck forums and all the issues I have had are common. I don't know about the Focus, maybe that is a great car. But I recommend staying away from the SUVs.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
I have a 2008 Explorer that is a piece of garbage. It has under 100k and already I have replaced the radiator, the thermometer housing and am in the process of replacing the harmonic balancer. There is an electrical problem somewhere that I have read is not uncommon so I am already on my fourth battery and the transmission is having issues. All of these are known issues and most seem to be issues with more Ford models than just the Explorer.

I usually hate when people say they won't ever own a brand again because of one vehicle they owned but I have a hard time believing that I will ever buy another Ford after discovering so many problems that seem to be because of poor design or parts.

Meanwhile my 1998 GMC Sonoma and 1999 Isuzu Trooper run great and have had only minimal issues. I haven't had to replace anything other than normal consumables in either.

.

Interesting. I have an 08 Expedition and has been trouble free other than a recent issue with the transmission. Sort of a scraping noise when accelerating, usually while going slow. Happens infrequently so a mechanic never can hear it.

What sort of transmission problems are you having?

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:

What sort of transmission problems are you having?

It has started to shift hard, especially going into reverse after starting it. Then my wife told me that she hit the brakes hard one time and it seemed to slip into neutral as well. But before I could put too much time into looking into the problems the harmonic balancer tore itself apart, which is a known issue I found.

I did do some looking on some Ford truck forums and transmission problems seem to be common as well. Of course they removed the dipstick for checking transmission fluid but I checked it and it seems perfect. That is as far as I got before the balancer problem. I am hoping to get that replaced this weekend. Then it will be on to the next problem!

Well while we are at it...

Called Ford to get a special bolt I need to repair the Explorer. It is a torque to yeild so I can't reuse the old one. They don't hae it in stock but can get one overnight. I say go ahead but the guy says he needs payment up front. Okay, it's less than 6 bucks so I say I will gioe him my card. Nope, can't take cards over the phone. So I go on fords website. I can order it there and get it overnighted for an extra 10 bucks, but they don't actually promise that they will ship for 2-3 business days. So I can pay 10 bucks and might still not get it until Monday.

The assholes are going to make me drive 15 minutes to put down a credit card of a 6 dollar part because they can't accept cards over the phone and won't front the 6 bucks for the part. Thank God I own two cars not built by Ford so that I can actually make the trip.

We have had two Ford Edges for 3 years each, no problems.
We currently have had an Explorer for 3 years and no problems. My daughter has an Explorer and it is 4 years old, no problems. Sons each have one.
One of those is brand new and his did quit while driving. Ford fixed it. The other sons Explorer is about 1.5 y.o. and he had a minor intake problem, they put a new part on and no problems. It was done under warranty.

We had an Explorer years ago that we never had any problems with at all.

I have not one single problem with my 2013 Focus ST closing in on 70,000 miles.

Well I hope you all continue to have good luck, I really do. But again I would have said mine was great until it was 6 years old and had over 60,000 miles on it. All the cars mentioned so far are babies. Good luck as they age

FWIW I am not a Ford hater. I had a 1991 Ford Ranger that was amazing. It had over 300K when I got it and my dad finally got rid of it after it went over 400k. It still ran fine and he only sold it to help a family member out who desperately needed a car. I also had a 2001 Mustang that I never had trouble with. Although it when I sold it it had just under 60k on it so I don't know what would have happened as it aged.

Ford redesigned the Explorer back in 2011 or so IIRC so your newer Explorers might not have a lot in common with mine. Either way I hope your 3-4 year old Fords run as good as they do now when they are 8-9 years old. Just don't be surprised if they don't.

At least they circled the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
This was on the interstate? Some people do not have good sense or consideration of others.

You need a truck horn!

No!!!

He needs a diesel locomotive horn!

And I discovered more than 20 years ago that the words Found On Road Dead were especially applicable to that particular brand of automobile.

Remember when they thought it was a good idea to burn the people who bought certain models alive?

All makes and models have cars/trucks with problems, it's not exclusive to Ford, or GM, Toyota, or any make so take a drive over to these dealerships, including Mercedes, BMW, Lexus you'll find service lanes with lots of cars in every one of them.

My grandfather had a trucking company, all Fords and one GMC, the GMC gave him fits, so he never bought another one, Fords all worked fine, what he didn't know was my Uncles would take the GMC out and beat the snot out of it racing it, overloading, joy riding, picking up girls because he got the GMC about the time 4 boys were becoming of age.

GMC didn't build them for 4 teen boys in heat... They built them to haul stuff, apparently ass wasn't one of the specifications...

Get the Part number, go to Amazon, bet you find a dealer that has it and will ship it Prime for free.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:


Get the Part number, go to Amazon, bet you find a dealer that has it and will ship it Prime for free.

Amazon doesn't have it. That was the first place I looked. I could buy it online from some other auto parts retailers but nobody would ship faster than Ford. My complaint is not about how hard it is to find the part, it is that Fords service department is setup to be so inefficient as to be a pain in the ass to the customer since they can't take a credit card number over the phone or let me place the order online and get the same shipping speed I can in person or just order the damn six dollar bolt without my payment up front.

And yeah I know other manufacturers have issues. Everything mechanical will break eventually so I don't care that shit breaks down from time to time. And as I already said I am not a Ford hater. What has pissed me off about this particular vehicle is that it seems to be put together using several inferior parts that were never designed to last 100,000 miles.

I've bought FoMoCo parts here, good dealer about 50 miles from me, after shipping it was stil cheaper than I could find at any of the 5 dealers in the area at full price.

https://parts.lakelandford.com/

What is the part number...