prometheus - Ford's official position is the tensioner problem will not cause any problems to the engine (if you can believe the letter they sent out to the customers and to the dealers). I drove mine 20K miles with the noisy tensioners (from 30K to 50K) before I had my tensioners replaced the last time. It didn't seem to cause any problems. I have 85K on it now and so far the noise hasn't reappeared.
yob_yeknom - Just because it is a recall does not mean you will get a rental car. Unless your dealer is one of the few that provide a rental car free of charge or it was a stipulation of the actual recall, you won't get one unless you have a Ford Extended Warranty which would provide for a free rental car. Ford SVT vehicle owner's do get a free loaner whenever their vehicle will be at Ford for more than 24 hours starting with the 2001 model year, but the Explorer certainly isn't an SVT vehicle. Besides that, 00M12 is not a recall. It is only an Owner Notification Program meaning that Ford has voluntarily extended the warranty on the tensioners due to a higher than usual amount of failures. It will only get replaced if the dealer can verify the problem exists. A recall on the other hand is something the NHTSA mandates for things that are safety or emissions related. The item must be replaced by the manufacturer at no charge whether it has failed or not.
SWLathrop - The actual work only takes a few hours, but the time to get it in can take several days. I know the two dealers near me are horendous when it comes to getting something done. It spends several days sitting (even with an appointment) to get a two hour job completed. A lot of it has to do with a dealer's unwillingness to stock the parts. Frequently they will diagnose the problem and then your vehicle will sit for several days waiting for the parts to come in, extending a 2 hour job to a 3 day job.
