Highest Mileage 5th Generation Explorer

[FordShelby]

2016 Sport, 32k enjoyable miles. Replaced A/C pressure switch under warranty but had to pay for a new SIM card for the navigation.
About ready to ditch the worn out Hankooks.

 

[FISHTAIL]

199,800 miles on our 2011 limited. Other than whatever we have going on right now with the gas mileage dipping, it's been all standard maintenance. Fluids, brakes, tires, belts. I recently replaced the front lower control arms and shocks struts as well.

Wife drives 120+ miles per day, often in heavy traffic, plus we tow a camper with it and take it off road on the beach in OBX for a week in the summer.

 

[mcpcartier]

199,800 miles on our 2011 limited. Other than whatever we have going on right now with the gas mileage dipping, it's been all standard maintenance. Fluids, brakes, tires, belts. I recently replaced the front lower control arms and shocks struts as well.

Wife drives 120+ miles per day, often in heavy traffic, plus we tow a camper with it and take it off road on the beach in OBX for a week in the summer.

Not sure if I understand which engines are offered in which models/years etc...So I'm not sure if you have a 3.5NA or the I-4....I think the those were both available in the Limited in certain years. Since you didn't mention PTU or water pump I'm guessing I-4.

Which engine do you have?

 

[peterk9]

Not sure if I understand which engines are offered in which models/years etc...So I'm not sure if you have a 3.5NA or the I-4....I think the those were both available in the Limited in certain years. Since you didn't mention PTU or water pump I'm guessing I-4.

Which engine do you have?

The 2011 Limited only came with the 3.5L NA V6.
Do you have your Window Sticker? It will tell you which engine you have. It may even say it on the engine itself or on the labels on the vehicle. You can also try some of the "VIN Decoders" that can be found on the Internet. My guess is it's the same as the 2011 Limited.

Peter

 

[mcpcartier]

The 2011 Limited only came with the 3.5L NA V6.
Do you have your Window Sticker? It will tell you which engine you have. It may even say it on the engine itself or on the labels on the vehicle.

Peter

Makes sense since he mentioned off road and beach.....didn't pay attention to that comment as much as I should have. Wow....200k on a PTU and water pump...that's awesome.

 

[FISHTAIL]

Not sure if I understand which engines are offered in which models/years etc...So I'm not sure if you have a 3.5NA or the I-4....I think the those were both available in the Limited in certain years. Since you didn't mention PTU or water pump I'm guessing I-4.

Which engine do you have?

We have the 3.5 n/a v6. The ptu is on borrowed time for sure, and has been for a while. I crawled under it a few years back to change the fluid, and it was more like face cream. I extracted what I could and filled it back up, which was about 140k miles ago now. I've been nursing it along ever since, with fluid changes and fills. But it just recently started leaking on the seal against the trans so I'm going to have to be far more active with fluid monitoring now.

Water pump is still original. I did have a belt tensioner fail about 80k back, but that part was all of like 30 bucks and took me an hour to replace. Everything else has been maintenance item stuff. We typically get 75-80k out of a set of brakes, and 70k from tires. I change the oil with Royal Purple every 7-10k, trans is amsoil, ptu is royal royal and the rear diff is redline fluids.

Last year I replaced the shocks, struts and mounts, and this year I did the lcas. The front subframe bushings on the passenger side are worn out now, but I need to buy the tool for that and schedule some lift time for that job. Overall it's been a good truck, and my wife is NOT easy on it. Plus we take it 8-10 miles up the beach on loose sand, over the dunes every now and then, and rowa travel trailer with it.

 

[mcpcartier]

We have the 3.5 n/a v6. The ptu is on borrowed time for sure, and has been for a while. I crawled under it a few years back to change the fluid, and it was more like face cream. I extracted what I could and filled it back up, which was about 140k miles ago now. I've been nursing it along ever since, with fluid changes and fills. But it just recently started leaking on the seal against the trans so I'm going to have to be far more active with fluid monitoring now.

Water pump is still original. I did have a belt tensioner fail about 80k back, but that part was all of like 30 bucks and took me an hour to replace. Everything else has been maintenance item stuff. We typically get 75-80k out of a set of brakes, and 70k from tires. I change the oil with Royal Purple every 7-10k, trans is amsoil, ptu is royal royal and the rear diff is redline fluids.

Last year I replaced the shocks, struts and mounts, and this year I did the lcas. The front subframe bushings on the passenger side are worn out now, but I need to buy the tool for that and schedule some lift time for that job. Overall it's been a good truck, and my wife is NOT easy on it. Plus we take it 8-10 miles up the beach on loose sand, over the dunes every now and then, and rowa travel trailer with it.

Just proves if you take care of your fluids things should go well.

I was going to do the same as you on the PTU.....try to change the fluid frequently to deal with the face cream. Ended up taking it apart and cleaning it out....putting in a drain plug, new seals, and will keep fresh gear oil in it all the time. I thought I had a leak between the PTU and tranny, but the source ended up being the PTU breather (which is one of the reasons I took it apart and cleaned it....face cream everywhere plugging the vent etc...). If the crush seal between the tranny and PTU is leaking....i hope the source is the PTU...then you just need to replace the PTU seals which are pretty straight forward once the PTU is out. If it's tranny fluid I'm not sure how to stop it. There must be seals in the tranny output that the right hand axle goes through leaking. That would be tougher to replace. I'll try to dig up a photo of that so you can see what I'm talking about. I know the right hand axle has a nice smoother surface next to the splines that look to be where the seal rides. I didn't look inside the tranny and check out that seal when I had it apart. Thinking about it now.....I should have replaced that while I had it apart.....hopefully it holds for a long time so i don't regret not thinking it through.

 

[FISHTAIL]

Just proves if you take care of your fluids things should go well.

I was going to do the same as you on the PTU.....try to change the fluid frequently to deal with the face cream. Ended up taking it apart and cleaning it out....putting in a drain plug, new seals, and will keep fresh gear oil in it all the time. I thought I had a leak between the PTU and tranny, but the source ended up being the PTU breather (which is one of the reasons I took it apart and cleaned it....face cream everywhere plugging the vent etc...). If the crush seal between the tranny and PTU is leaking....i hope the source is the PTU...then you just need to replace the PTU seals which are pretty straight forward once the PTU is out. If it's tranny fluid I'm not sure how to stop it. There must be seals in the tranny output that the right hand axle goes through leaking. That would be tougher to replace. I'll try to dig up a photo of that so you can see what I'm talking about. I know the right hand axle has a nice smoother surface next to the splines that look to be where the seal rides. I didn't look inside the tranny and check out that seal when I had it apart. Thinking about it now.....I should have replaced that while I had it apart.....hopefully it holds for a long time so i don't regret not thinking it through.

The top of mine is dry, so I suspect the seal between itself and the trans. It's gear oil, so it's definitely the PTU and not the trans that's leaking.

Otherwise, yeah maintenance helps, but the fact that my wife commutes 120 miles a day in it, and much of that is steady cruise on country back roads or the DC beltway, helps. She does sit in traffic each day often as well, but she drives enough that we never have to worry about any moisture accumulation anywhere in any of the lubricants. We need it to hold out another year or so, so I'm hoping it continues to hold up as well as it has.

 

[hpad06]

@FISHTAIL did you ever change coolant on your explorer? My 2011 explorer is 85K miles , I am not sure if I should change coolant now, or around 100K or never. Some people mentioned coolant change might lead to water pump failure.

 

[FISHTAIL]

@FISHTAIL did you ever change coolant on your explorer? My 2011 explorer is 85K miles , I am not sure if I should change coolant now, or around 100K or never. Some people mentioned coolant change might lead to water pump failure.

Yeah, just did it actually. So we'll find out if there is any truth to that. Doing it has been on my to-do list for a long, long time but I lack the equipment to do that, and wanted it flushed properly. Finally got my friend that owns a shop to knock it out for me a few weeks ago. Old coolant wasn't looking to hot, so I'm hopeful that I didn't get any bad deposit buildup from waiting too long.

 

[hpad06]

So that is 200k miles without changing coolant?

My last 2008 fusion did not change coolant for 150k miles, the cooling system had no issue at all.

So maybe I should never change coolant on this explorer before 200k as well?

 

[FISHTAIL]

So that is 200k miles without changing coolant?

My last 2008 fusion did not change coolant for 150k miles, the cooling system had no issue at all.

So maybe I should never change coolant on this explorer before 200k as well?

About 195k miles, yeah. I wouldn't recommend that though. I'd follow the owners manual's recommendations for coolant flushes personally, and I wouldn't take what I ended up doing as a good idea. I've kept up with all of the maintenance intervals in the manual, except coolant, but that wasn't deliberate so much as it was a set of circumstances that led to me waiting that long. Mostly due to a mix of my wifes availability to drop the car off and the availability of my friends equipment to do it rarely lining up. Eventually I forced my wife to just rent a car so we could get it done.

 

[buck91]

What type of service life are people seeing out of these Explorers? My wife's 2014 ExSport is going to break 100k so its no young buck but its no where near end of life either. Clearly a lot more life left, but I also don't want to get stuck with EPAS, PTU or even turbo/TDI issues. I also have some bubbling and surface rust along the rear door seams (although the rest of the vehicle and underbody is SOLID). Thoughts?

 

[peterk9]

I'd think the water pump issue is one I'd be concerned about as well. Water pump failure leads to dead engine
Also you may be interested in;
Any people with experience with high mileage Explorers
enough doom and gloom, lets hear some high mileage, reliable 5th gen. stories.

Peter

 

[buck91]

Wow, that water pump failure is terrifying! Huge cost, especially on an EB and no warning... But how common is it? I haven't seen any mention on multiple car forums that I surf and it should be a common design across AT LEAST 3.5/3.7L platforms if not the smaller ones also?

 

[Halford1]

My 2014 EXP is in shop oh well has been there for a month. I originally had service done to check the oil leak which had gotten worse but it was not like oil pouring out but slow leak. Then the tech found a water leak... last week they ordered parts and were waiting for someone else's engine off the tech's rack for mine to be put there. As far ask I know, my engine is on a rack, being repaired. i am glad for this so the tech can find anything troublesome. Ah those who are thinking if I have Extended Warranty. Yes I do. whew. My explorer is at 103,000 miles now. I am going to save this explorer for towing popup camper or long trips while I use a cheap old car to work. It would add 24,000 miles a year for commute to work.

 

[JAPeterson]

A lot of times there will be a warning that the internal water pump has a problem. If it is leaking internally then there is going to be coolant in the oil and with a simple oil sample taken during a oil change you should be able to make a informed decision on what to do. But don't get the sample results and expect Ford to do anything because they won't. It is up to you to head off this problem on your own dime, that is unless you have a extended warranty and then you can just wait until it fails and have Ford fix it on their dime.

Blackstone Labs

 

[Halford1]

I wonder if the head cracked. I will find out soon what was done to the engine.

 

[Elfiero]

‘17 Limited, 3.5 n/a. 41,000 miles. I bought it with 37k on the clock, then drove it round trip from Minneapolis to Miami. No problems to report so far! The MPGs around town-17 or so, highway-21 or so.

 

[RonParise]

My 2011 Explorer is in the shop too.for a preemptive water pump replacement. I had no leak on the floor of the garage, no obvious water in the oil and no trouble lights and the Temp gauge held rock steady just below the midpoint

but I had read one to many horror stories and looked at one too many YouTube videos and then there are all those miles

So.... I bit the bullet. By Saturday I should have a new water pump, new timing chain and guides,and because it’s there a new oil pump

and I should be good for another 200000 miles