Are the 4th Generation Explorers any better than 3rd ?

[Pyzon]

My '04 4.0 4X4 XLT bit the dust violently at 165,000 in a crash, so I am shopping for a replacement.

I am not happy about all the expenses incurred after the factory warranty expired on the 04, like tranny rebuild at 150k, rear hub bearings at 115k, rear differential noise/rebuild at 115k, front hub bearings at 115k and again at 165k, blend door issues at 90k that I just blocked closed and drove cold and fogged up for 3 more years.

Are the 4th generation any better ? I think just about any vehicle will make it to 100k with good maintenance and lubricants, but I am the rare guy that wants to make it to 200k without the constant investment of major repairs.

I also think Ford gave the bird to a lot of 3 gen owners with refusing to help on the well documented weaknesses I listed that just about all of us suffered from.

I wish I felt more like buying an American made SUV this time around.

 

[Flag Gibby]

What you list sounds about right for typical repairs on the 4th gen for the 4.0, plus the thermostat housing and radiator and don't forget the regular replacement of the fuel filter that is typically overlooked by most owners (a pain but a part of regular preventative maintenance). As far as the blend door issues, it typically requires a $30 part and not much time to swap out the offending door so while it is a pain to have to replace, it is fairly simple and straightforward to do. The 4.0 in the 4th gen has had all the major issues from the previous generation tweaked so that it can comfortably go to 125 k miles before things like the transmission and hub bearings need work and there are now kits out there that take care of the major issues with the 5 speed to stretch them to 150k or more before a complete rebuild is needed but in my mind if you are doing the tranny at 125k then you should be replacing all the timing chain guides too since those are still known to be a weak point on the 4.0 even thought they do have a revised timing chain cassette on them.
Remember, in this day and age of lightweight plastic parts everywhere and tons of electric wiring every manufacturer is going to have their share of issues and not likely that you will be able to find a SUV that will make it 200k without some major investment on your part.