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Explorer Carbon Monoxide CO Detector Install

Let me start and say by no means am I defending Ford. There clearly is an issue here and has been for 6 years on the exhaust fumes. But turning to your video, you maxed out at 11PPM (and I'm sure higher if you kept flooring it like you were) with I believe 7 WOT accelerations in a matter of 5 minutes (give or take which is not normal every day driving).

From what I have found is that low/no risk CO is under 40PPM for over 10 hours of exposure and 40-50PPM for 8 hours of constant exposure.

With 6 or 7 WOT runs (again, not normal) in such a short period of time and only hitting 11PPM.. I don't really see any issue for concern. I would be curious to see a few different tests.

1) 1 or 2 WOT (to duplicate a WOT merging onto a highway) and then normal driving on if you maintain a 1-2PPM.

2) Doing 6-7 WOT runs like you did and then driving normal to see if and when it decides to drop down without opening the windows.

I'm also curious on the whole police passing out articles. Every article mentions CO but doesn't say that's what caused it. Even the Doctor's never confirmed that it was indeed a CO issue that caused the cop to pass out and crash. Playing a little devil's advocate but I see all the time how media loves to spin stories on a daily basis (click bait).

I'm kind of on the same page as you. I thought I read somewhere that CO levels in the bloodstream will take 4-6 to drop in 1/2 with normal breathing. Since CO replaces O2 in blood cells(or something like that), wouldn't it show up when paramedics took blood oxygen levels of the officer that crashed? I would think oxygen levels would remain quite low(or CO levels to be high) for a while, even if the person was receiving oxygen.

I'd wonder what other cars show for CO levels when set on recirculation and multiple WOT runs.

I also agree that more tests should be run to see how long of normal driving it takes to drop levels back down.

I would think a few hours in a wind tunnel and some smoke would give an answer pretty quick. Get a vehicle that is suspect and test it.

Knock on wood, but I've never been able to get any exhaust smell under any conditions with my Ex. Also, I have 2 kids under 6 years( and a dog in the back many times) and if there was a CO issue, I would expect them to show signs before I would. Never had an issue.
 



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Knock on wood, but I've never been able to get any exhaust smell under any conditions with my Ex. Also, I have 2 kids under 6 years( and a dog in the back many times) and if there was a CO issue, I would expect them to show signs before I would. Never had an issue.

This is my wife's primary vehicle and we've had it for over 6 years now. We did have the initial TSB done where they take the bumper off, replace a few things and seal some others because I had a smell once really bad to the point that I was coughing and had to open the windows. But it was so long ago I'm thinking it was more of the rotten egg smell that caused it because it was disgusting.

After that, I've never experienced it again. I have a 3 and 6 year old and this is the vehicle we take all the time with the kids and never experienced any signs with them or us, headaches, light headedness or anything else that would create a concern.

I'd also expect them to be able to test and say.. yup, CO poisoning.. but Doctors could never confirm anything.
 






Having owned our Explorer Sport for the last 6 months I am certain of one thing, the rear hatch and window gets dirtier than any other SUV that I have owned. I have owned 2 previous Explorers, 4Runner, Mazda CX-9, Dodge Caravan, Range Rover and none of them get/got as dirty as this new Explorer does. I bought and installed factory mud flaps after the first month because of it and got very little improvement. I think that it's pretty obvious that the turbulence created by it's design most likely assists exhaust fumes in getting through that rear hatch. Double up the weather stripping?, vent the exhaust downwards?, I don't know, but something is going on there.
 






Having owned our Explorer Sport for the last 6 months I am certain of one thing, the rear hatch and window gets dirtier than any other SUV that I have owned. I have owned 2 previous Explorers, 4Runner, Mazda CX-9, Dodge Caravan, Range Rover and none of them get/got as dirty as this new Explorer does. I bought and installed factory mud flaps after the first month because of it and got very little improvement. I think that it's pretty obvious that the turbulence created by it's design most likely assists exhaust fumes in getting through that rear hatch. Double up the weather stripping?, vent the exhaust downwards?, I don't know, but something is going on there.
Agreed 100%. When the dealership adjusted the rear hatch on mine the first time, it DID help the issue.
 






The best way to get ford to respond is to force them to.. you have an obvious "condition" that you can create ,and you suspect is hazardous to your health.

you need to get a Carbon Monoxide level meter to get an accurate PPM when it happens. With that you have an actual measurement you can go to various health organizations / vehicle approval agencies and present the factual data as hazardous. Once you do that, and they agree, then it will force Ford's hand to have to fix it..

While there are cheap Arduino sensors, they are not calibrated to an industry sensor. There are however some cheaper meters on places like dx.com ($50 CAD)
 






Here are some levels for CO

CO
9 ppm CO Max prolonged exposure (ASHRAE standard)
35 ppm CO Max exposure for 8 hour work day (OSHA)
800 ppm CO Death within 2 to 3 hours
12,800 ppm CO Death within 1 to 3 minutes
 






BTW: a local news agency is also another source to get action.. just get a reporter to take a drive in your vehicle and show then the CO levels in action.. imagine the headlines.. "your explorer is killing you, and Ford is ignoring you.."
 






Here are some levels for CO

CO
9 ppm CO Max prolonged exposure (ASHRAE standard)
35 ppm CO Max exposure for 8 hour work day (OSHA)
800 ppm CO Death within 2 to 3 hours
12,800 ppm CO Death within 1 to 3 minutes
When posting info like that it is normal practice to link the source.

Peter
 






Does the 2016+ Explorer have this issue as well?

I know CO is odorless, but I have experienced the "rotten egg" exhaust smell after a WOT run on one occasion. My wife drives the Explorer daily and has a light foot and never goes WOT. My concern is that we are preparing to take the Explorer on a 700 miles one-way road trip soon. Thinking I will purchase one of those CO detectors linked above.
 












Regarding CO meters: The type used in a house is slow to respond and averages levels over time. It's fine to keep you safe at home, but not the ideal choice for this sort of measurement in a car. You need something like a Sensorcon CO inspector. It'll show you whether you have momentary levels of CO in the vehicle, which will disappear too quickly for the home-type meter.

Now, if you have a home-type alarm in your car and it goes off, you definitely have a problem. But you won't be able to see small temporary levels.

As an example, after a car has been started in a garage and pulled out, I can go out there with the Sensorcon and detect low levels of CO, which dissipate pretty quickly. I keep the garage door open. (Please don't do something like this with the car still in the garage). I can put a home alarm out there and it won't register anything, but that's the way they are designed to work.

In summary, a home-type detector will warn when the level has been high enough for long enough to be a danger, and I imagine it would serve that function in a car, too. But if you want to see whether there are low, temporary levels, like after full acceleration in your Explorer, you need a fast-response meter.

My personal experience with my 2016 Platinum is that even when I get the smell in the cabin after flooring it, I didn't measure any CO.
 






The information on CO levels being quoted here from
https://www.kane.co.uk/knowledge-centre/what-are-safe-levels-of-co-and-co2-in-rooms
is incorrect.

The OSHA CO limit is 50ppm average over 8 hours, not 35ppm.
And 9ppm is both ASHRAE max and EPA average.

35ppm is the level at which most fire departments in USA order the immediate evacuation of any building and also the level above which they put on their self-contained breathing apparatus.

But there is no scientific basis for these limits. As a toxicologist, the bottom line is that people start absorbing CO into their blood and tissues whenever the CO level they inhale is higher than the level they are already exhaling (which for non-smokers is usually just 1-2 ppm).

The inside of a vehicle should be 0ppm unless in heavy traffic, an unventilated garage, or a tunnel. To measure this accurately, you need a professional CO detector that displays from 1ppm. Home CO alarms with UL2034 or UL2075 seal are worthless, even if they have a digital display, because the display does not show levels below 30ppm and it will not alarm unless continuously over 70ppm for 1-4 hours at the low end, or 4-15 minutes over 400ppm at the high end.
 






Is anyone out there using a meter to detect carbon monoxide in the cabin of their Explorer?

If so, what brand? How do you find it works? Do you think it is reasonably accurate? How fast does it respond?

I am trying to find a reasonably priced accurate carbon monoxide meter and I just wonder what others might be using considering this service bulletin.

Anyone have suggestions?

I was thinking of a cheap one off e-bay, but then I'm not sure it would be fast/accurate enough to capture the real readings. Pyle also makes a reasonably priced meter, but again I am just not sure. I was hoping others might be already doing this with results.

Martin
 






Is anyone out there using a meter to detect carbon monoxide in the cabin of their Explorer?

If so, what brand? How do you find it works? Do you think it is reasonably accurate? How fast does it respond?

I am trying to find a reasonably priced accurate carbon monoxide meter and I just wonder what others might be using considering this service bulletin.

Anyone have suggestions?

I was thinking of a cheap one off e-bay, but then I'm not sure it would be fast/accurate enough to capture the real readings. Pyle also makes a reasonably priced meter, but again I am just not sure. I was hoping others might be already doing this with results.

Martin
Your thread was moved to this existing thread found using the Forum's handy 'Search' feature. You'll find lots of info here.

Peter
 






We have not smelled exhaust in the car but with all this talk of CO I wanted to know if it was present so I bought a SensorCon 'Inspector' Portable Carbon Monoxide Detector to evaluate the car.
With the Sensor clipped to my shirt pocket I took the car out and tried the HVAC on & off, WOT, recirculation on & off, windows open & closed in 85F weather.
The highest reading was 3ppm.

I'll check all the HVAC settings and in the 2nd and 3rd rows in the next few days.
 






I'd say that 3 ppm is fine, studies reflect it is normal to see some CO2 in a vehicle, see below. I have never had an issue with my vehicle, fact is the complaints about smells etc. is from .03% of Explorers on the road, the other 99.7% no complaints filed. I can see why the police vehicles have issues when you start drilling holes in vehicles and don't seal them you are going to create issues. I have seen the pictures of those holes, really negligent by third party installers, lazy. Police vehicles often sit and idle for long periods, writing out tickets etc.., if you recirculate the air, don't seal the holes well no wonder you have problems.

I have driven back and forth to Florida twice in my vehicle, 12-14 hrs a day of driving , two days in a row and had no issues, no smell. I don't use re-circulate on A/C , perhaps that is why. I am sure there are some with issues, in the bigger picture not sure it is a big problem but for a small group.



This NIH (National Institutes of Health) Study monitoring CO inside the cabin of a vehicle during commutes over an extended period has some pretty interesting data. This vehicle was tested prior and no CO intrusion was found so it was all about being in traffic etc...


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7921891

Carbon monoxide exposures inside an automobile traveling on an urban arterial highway.
Ott W1, Switzer P, Willits N.
Author information
Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) exposures were measured inside a motor vehicle during 88 standardized drives on a major urban arterial highway, El Camino Real (traffic volume of 30,500-45,000 vehicles per day), over a 13-1/2 month period. On each trip (lasting between 31 and 61 minutes), the test vehicle drove the same 5.9-mile segment of roadway in both directions, for a total of 11.8 miles, passing through 20 intersections with traffic lights (10 in each direction) in three California cities (Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Los Altos). Earlier tests showed that the test vehicle was free of CO intrusion. For the 88 trips, the mean CO concentration was 9.8 ppm, with a standard deviation of 5.8 ppm. Of nine covariates that were examined to explain the variability in the mean CO exposures observed on the 88 trips (ambient CO at two fixed stations, atmospheric stability, seasonal trend function, time of day, average surrounding vehicle count, trip duration, proportion of time stopped at lights, and instrument type), a fairly strong seasonal trend was found. A model consisting of only a single measure of traffic volume and a seasonal trend component had substantial predictive power (R2 = 0.68); by contrast, the ambient CO levels, although partially correlated with average exposures, contributed comparatively little predictive power to the model. The CO exposures experienced while drivers waited at the red lights at an intersection ranged from 6.8 to 14.9 ppm and differed considerably from intersection to intersection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 






Hi everyone,

I reviewed the first handful of pages about the recall (but not officially a recall) regarding the co issue. I just bought a 2016 Ford Explorer XLT and the customer satisfaction program for this came up on the Carfax. I'm not sure if I want to take the car in for them to take it all apart or just get a co detector. I'm kinda worry wart so I think that I'll need to have something in place for reassurance. Can anyone recommend a co detector or anything other advice?

Thanks!
 






Hi everyone,

I reviewed the first handful of pages about the recall (but not officially a recall) regarding the CO issue. I just bought a 2016 Ford Explorer XLT and the customer satisfaction program for this came up on the Carfax. I'm not sure if I want to take the car in for them to take it all apart or just get a CO detector. I'm kinda worry wart so I think that I'll need to have something in place for reassurance. Can anyone recommend a co detector or anything other advice?

Thanks!
I have moved your thread to this existing one. The first couple posts on this page should be an interesting read. I have received a letter abut the issue and have it showing on my Ford account as well but do not plan to take it in for the associated work. I haven't experienced any exhaust smells. Although I realize that CO is odourless, I have not felt any adverse effects while driving the Explorer.

Peter
 






Should the inside CO level be at 0 when testing with a CO meter? What is a normal CO level inside a vehicle?
 



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I think a small amount is possible under certain conditions. Say standing still with the car idling and the wind blowing in a specific way to send exhaust into the windows or climate control air intake. Going down the road there shouldn't be any reading. There is a known problem with 5th gen Explorers having issues with exhaust going into the cabin. There is a lot of information about this on the internet. IMO, if you are getting any carbon monoxide reading at all it should be of concern and looked into.

Link to Google search here
 






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