2017 Explorer Platinum Purchase Report

[613GT500]

Can't complain about smelling it with you modifying the vehicle (blow off valves).. It was not designed that way. And I don't believe it is really any different then all the diesels with their EGR valves and recirculating all the black soot through the intake to be burned a 2nd time.

We can argue all day long and I fully understand your postion to defend Ford, but you cannot deny the facts.
Carbon build up is not only an issue with Ford, if you want to research further.
With that I will end with this...Ford's redesigned EB now has dual direct and port fuel injection.HMMMM???

 

[613GT500]

I'm not sure why we have a dedicated group of alarmist people around here for some reason. Given that the Explorer is SO popular, there is absolutely no proof that longevity will be an issue at all. It's not like the engines being used in the Explorer are a new design or anything. They are time tested and have lasted in explorers and in other vehicles across for Ford and Mazda lines. Although the Turbo engines are a little newer, they have been around for quite a while now too and there is no significant issues that I am hearing about that are beyond a little maintenance.

ANY car can have issues. ANY can can break down. ANY car needs maintenance. Those are facts of life. If you don't like it, buy a bicycle (oh wait.. that might need maintenance too!) Ford is the victim of it's own success in these cases because they sell so many of these Explorers, there are bound to statistically be numbers that have various faults(and people that whine about them). BUT, I don't think this is a high number compared to the number of Explorers out there on the road.

When is the last time you saw an Explorer broken down on the side of the road? I just don't think they statistically have very high numbers of breakdowns in comparison to how many are on the road.

To the Original Poster! Enjoy the Explorer! I just got mine too and I love it.

The Ecoboost engines are new...

 

[613GT500]

The time period of ownership in the majority of cases has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not the vehicle has been problematic. I leas my vehicles so I have them for only 3 or 4 years. No issues with the ones I've had, so your observation is totally flawed.

Peter

Pete, you only drive 1km a day...time is one factor, but so is usage!

 

[StevenC56]

The one thing I would do that has been discussed on here is to change the PTU fluid every year. Some say up to 30k but then have already said it's black. I'd just do a 1 year fluid change or every other oil change.

Is this a fairly straight forward procedure? Drain plug/fill plug? What fluid does this require?

 

[peterk9]

Pete, you only drive 1km a day...time is one factor, but so is usage!

I agree with what you say but the quote was not about that. It was in response to a member saying that they don't last long and replacing them every 1.5 years which is absurd.

Peter

 

[613GT500]

I agree with what you say but the quote was not about that. It was in response to a member saying that they don't last long and replacing them every 1.5 years which is absurd.

Peter

Yeah, let's not beat a dead horse.
I am 100% satisfied with my purchase and if I went back in time I would still buy the EX, as it meets all of my needs and kept me within my budget.
At the same time, I also beleive in being transparent that there are underlying issues, especially the first gen EB engine.

 

[Pete6114]

Is this a fairly straight forward procedure? Drain plug/fill plug? What fluid does this require?

If the PTU has a drainplug, it's much easier. Our MKX dont, and they had to siphon the fluid out the fill hole 3 times to get most of it out. I have no clue if the PTU on our 2017 EX has a drain or not. About 120 bucks with drain or 160 without, if you pay to have it done.

 

[peterk9]

Is this a fairly straight forward procedure? Drain plug/fill plug? What fluid does this require?

According to the following thread, PTU units on Explorers with the 3.5L Ecoboost engine have a drain plug. Others do not.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...r-diff-fluid-change-2011-explorer-xlt.446413/

Peter

 

[MartinF]

The Ecoboost engines are new...

If you call in production since 2009 new(and in prototype even earlier), then I guess they are new. But, they are still built on the Duratec engine, which isn't new. They just changed a few things and the intake to make the ecoboost. So, I would still argue they are pretty well tested out there in the field and there aren't significant problems. Are they perfect? Of course not. Find a car out there that doesn't have some issues! Fact is, there are likely hundreds of thousands of the ecoboost engines out there, and millions of the duratec engines out there and they don't seem to have significant issues with reliability or breakdowns. I don't think even Ford engineers would argue that there couldn't be some improvements, but I don't think that means its not a good engine. Every engine can be tweaked to be that much better, in some way or another.

 

[Macnerd]

The one thing I would do that has been discussed on here is to change the PTU fluid every year. Some say up to 30k but then have already said it's black. I'd just do a 1 year fluid change or every other oil change.

Every year? Interesting. I'd like to know more about this.

 

[blwnsmoke]

If you search PTU on here, you will see some posts about their PTU leaking or failing all together. Others have posted pictures of their fluid and it is a black sludge. Although the PTU has been redesigned a few times to last longer, the fact that it only holds about 18oz of fluid and is supposed to be "lifetime" seems rather impossible.

I'm only saying that it would be my recommendation to just change it once a year to keep fresh fluid in such a valuable part. You are talking just a hair over 1 quart of gear oil to change out.

My $0.02..

 

[613GT500]

If you call in production since 2009 new(and in prototype even earlier), then I guess they are new. But, they are still built on the Duratec engine, which isn't new. They just changed a few things and the intake to make the ecoboost. So, I would still argue they are pretty well tested out there in the field and there aren't significant problems. Are they perfect? Of course not. Find a car out there that doesn't have some issues! Fact is, there are likely hundreds of thousands of the ecoboost engines out there, and millions of the duratec engines out there and they don't seem to have significant issues with reliability or breakdowns. I don't think even Ford engineers would argue that there couldn't be some improvements, but I don't think that means its not a good engine. Every engine can be tweaked to be that much better, in some way or another.

They just changed a few things?
How about adding forced induction with direct injection?
The underlying issue is the carbon build up and if you search that you will see it is the most common issue with DI engines affecting longetivity and on certain makes and models becoming an issue early on.

As I posted earlier, there's a reason why Ford redesigned Gen2 with dual port and direct injection.

 

[StevenC56]

We've had something odd happen 3-4 times now on take offs very light throttle like in a parking lot. A surge are something holding back and releasing every foot of travel or so. Possibly when the steering wheel is at full lock. Goes away if you give more throttle. Happened after we fueled up tonight and exiting the pumps while turning to the right. Anybody else had this happen? Any ideas? A search revealed nothing.

 

[4havnfun]

Mine does the same. I've found that it only happens for me when the vehicle is at operating temperature and you shut it off for a few minutes. Steering at full lock makes no difference. Recreated it for dealer in Florida where I was at the time and they were able to get a new vehicle on their lot to do the same thing. They contacted Ford and put a note on my service history about it and that it would take a week or so to hear back. When I went back a couple of weeks later they had not heard anything back.

My takeaway is that this is not an uncommon problem but is unlikely to ever get resolved. I'll mention it the next time I'm in for the recurring ABS/4WD/Stability control/Adaptive Cruise Control failure that intermittently lights up my dash without leaving any codes for them to read.

 

[Exit32]

Mine does the same. I've found that it only happens for me when the vehicle is at operating temperature and you shut it off for a few minutes. Steering at full lock makes no difference. Recreated it for dealer in Florida where I was at the time and they were able to get a new vehicle on their lot to do the same thing. They contacted Ford and put a note on my service history about it and that it would take a week or so to hear back. When I went back a couple of weeks later they had not heard anything back.

My takeaway is that this is not an uncommon problem but is unlikely to ever get resolved. I'll mention it the next time I'm in for the recurring ABS/4WD/Stability control/Adaptive Cruise Control failure that intermittently lights up my dash without leaving any codes for them to read.

The behavior you describe is called "surging" and it happens when the engine is warm, just restarted, and driven at low speed (partial throttle). It happens to my Explorer while I'm running errands. For example, if I stop, turn off the engine, run into a store, then return and pull out of the parking lot.

I believe this surging is an Ecoboost characteristic and has to do with a temporary build-up of condensation inside the air intake tube caused by an efficient Charge Air Cooler (CAC). Once the condensation is purged, everything returns to normal.

This has been discussed here: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/clunky-acceleration.452171/#post-3570486

 

[StevenC56]

The behavior you describe is called "surging" and it happens when the engine is warm, just restarted, and driven at low speed (partial throttle). It happens to my Explorer while I'm running errands. For example, if I stop, turn off the engine, run into a store, then return and pull out of the parking lot.

I believe this surging is an Ecoboost characteristic and has to do with a temporary build-up of condensation inside the air intake tube caused by an efficient Charge Air Cooler (CAC). Once the condensation is purged, everything returns to normal.

This has been discussed here: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/clunky-acceleration.452171/#post-3570486

Makes sense, although it's been happening more frequently and is a bit annoying. I'd like to know if Ford is aware of this and has any plans to correct it.

 

[peterk9]

Makes sense, although it's been happening more frequently and is a bit annoying. I'd like to know if Ford is aware of this and has any plans to correct it.

Hi Steven. I haven't had this issue under the circumstances that have been described here. I also did not have it with my previous MKT which has the same engine, so I doubt it is normal.

Peter

 

[Pete6114]

Makes sense, although it's been happening more frequently and is a bit annoying. I'd like to know if Ford is aware of this and has any plans to correct it.

Nothing mentioned on Oasis in regards to this. No TSB either. Looks like there's not enough complaints rolling in or they really don't think it's a issue to bother with at this point and time.

 

[StevenC56]

Anybody figure out what color touch up paint works for the silver front and rear facia on a Platinum? Got a rock chip in the front facia our first trip out of town last week.

 

[Summers22]

Anybody figure out what color touch up paint works for the silver front and rear facia on a Platinum? Got a rock chip in the front facia our first trip out of town last week.

Should probably do a search as there is another thread on this. I used silver ingot and its very close.