Tommaso
New Member
- Joined
- April 21, 2006
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Hamilton Ontario CN
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2002 Explorer Sport
I bought my Explorer Sport about three years ago and since then I have put on about 100,000 km. Now she has a total of 171,000 km and I have had no trouble up until about a week ago. Actually, for the last couple months I noticed a strange vibration in the front end while driving. It was very slight, but still noticable. Other than that she has been a great reliable family car that has never let us down.
Just a few days ago my power steering started going. When I turned the wheel the steering would skip and vibrate almost like the power steering belt was skipping. It got especially bad on the highway while going around a tight turn at high speed shaking the car violently. It was after I got home I noticed it was leaking power steering fluid. I brought her into the Ford dealership and had them check it out and give me the vedict.
They found out my power steering rack had popped its seal and had to be replaced. Also they said both the outer tie rods were gone also and that they would replace them with the rack and I would save on the labour as it was easy to do with the rack removed. Then they told me the wheel bearings were gone and I then realized this was probably the strange noise I have been noticing while driving. Unfortunately, that isn't the worst of the trouble. My lower ball joints and upper control arms are gone too and they can't do an allignment because of these warn parts. Then to make matters worse they said they stripped my plug when removing it and now they have to have it professionally extracted which will cost me an additional $100.00. They said the reason this happened is because they have been in there so long. It is true I have not changed my plugs ever and they very well could be the original ones that came with the car. The last things wrong are my breaks and rotors. They say the rotors are too thin, but they never have been turned and they look like new to me. These I am not going to replace as they are not warped and do the job just fine. I don't think this is nessisary, but obviously the pads need to be done.
What I decided to do was fix the major things by replacing the power steering rack. They did this and the both outer tie rods and only charged me for parts on the tie rods. They also changed my spark plugs, extracting the one and did my oil and filter change. This came to a total of $1511.62 with tax. The parts alone were $602.26 and the labour was $543.45 the rest tax. Now I still have the wheel bearings, lower ball joints and upper control arm to fix! Also I forgot to mention a peg and bolt (name?) on my stabilizer bar is totally missing on the drivers side, so I am going to replace this myself as it seems fairly easy to do.
The reason I didn't get everything done is because it would have cost me an additional $2500.00 for the rest and I figured I might be able to do some of the work myself. Now that I am back from the shop and looking at things, I think I might have just been better off getting all the work done at once. Oh well, at least this way I can ask you guys/gals advice before I do any more work that's going to cost me. At least I got the leak fixed.
When I got home from the repairs I jacked up the car to see all the work they had done. They did what they said and I also tried to see if I could tell if the other parts were bad like they stated. I rocked the front wheels and I could feel play which probably means yes indeed the wheel bearings are gone. Actually they move in and out quite a bit - probably pretty dangerous. I can't tell myself if the lower ball joints and upper control arms are worn. Any way to do this easily?
Anyways, sorry for such a long post. I just wanted to ask some of your advice and what I should look out for when getting these things repaired. I don't want to be ripped off and it would be very easy to do as I don't know much about these things. Anything to look out for or any good advice? Also, the guy at the shop said it is normal for SUV's to have these things go as they take a lot of punishment unlike a car. Is there any truth to this? If so I can see why all this went as I rarely slow down for train tracks and only slow down a little for speed bumps. My other cars could handle it, but may be SUV's are different? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance!
Tommaso
Just a few days ago my power steering started going. When I turned the wheel the steering would skip and vibrate almost like the power steering belt was skipping. It got especially bad on the highway while going around a tight turn at high speed shaking the car violently. It was after I got home I noticed it was leaking power steering fluid. I brought her into the Ford dealership and had them check it out and give me the vedict.
They found out my power steering rack had popped its seal and had to be replaced. Also they said both the outer tie rods were gone also and that they would replace them with the rack and I would save on the labour as it was easy to do with the rack removed. Then they told me the wheel bearings were gone and I then realized this was probably the strange noise I have been noticing while driving. Unfortunately, that isn't the worst of the trouble. My lower ball joints and upper control arms are gone too and they can't do an allignment because of these warn parts. Then to make matters worse they said they stripped my plug when removing it and now they have to have it professionally extracted which will cost me an additional $100.00. They said the reason this happened is because they have been in there so long. It is true I have not changed my plugs ever and they very well could be the original ones that came with the car. The last things wrong are my breaks and rotors. They say the rotors are too thin, but they never have been turned and they look like new to me. These I am not going to replace as they are not warped and do the job just fine. I don't think this is nessisary, but obviously the pads need to be done.
What I decided to do was fix the major things by replacing the power steering rack. They did this and the both outer tie rods and only charged me for parts on the tie rods. They also changed my spark plugs, extracting the one and did my oil and filter change. This came to a total of $1511.62 with tax. The parts alone were $602.26 and the labour was $543.45 the rest tax. Now I still have the wheel bearings, lower ball joints and upper control arm to fix! Also I forgot to mention a peg and bolt (name?) on my stabilizer bar is totally missing on the drivers side, so I am going to replace this myself as it seems fairly easy to do.
The reason I didn't get everything done is because it would have cost me an additional $2500.00 for the rest and I figured I might be able to do some of the work myself. Now that I am back from the shop and looking at things, I think I might have just been better off getting all the work done at once. Oh well, at least this way I can ask you guys/gals advice before I do any more work that's going to cost me. At least I got the leak fixed.
When I got home from the repairs I jacked up the car to see all the work they had done. They did what they said and I also tried to see if I could tell if the other parts were bad like they stated. I rocked the front wheels and I could feel play which probably means yes indeed the wheel bearings are gone. Actually they move in and out quite a bit - probably pretty dangerous. I can't tell myself if the lower ball joints and upper control arms are worn. Any way to do this easily?
Anyways, sorry for such a long post. I just wanted to ask some of your advice and what I should look out for when getting these things repaired. I don't want to be ripped off and it would be very easy to do as I don't know much about these things. Anything to look out for or any good advice? Also, the guy at the shop said it is normal for SUV's to have these things go as they take a lot of punishment unlike a car. Is there any truth to this? If so I can see why all this went as I rarely slow down for train tracks and only slow down a little for speed bumps. My other cars could handle it, but may be SUV's are different? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance!
Tommaso
Keep in mind it takes time for posts this detailed to be responded to - My vote is to go with another vehicle, like a strong 2nd gen - pay cash and done.
