Fire488
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- September 7, 2010
- Messages
- 196
- Reaction score
- 4
- City, State
- Monroe Township, New Jersey
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2007 Explorer Limited V8
I have already weighed the cost options...repair vs new purchase. In the last 3 years I had to do some very strange repairs on this vehicle. The first started with the transmission bumping when slowing to a stop. A new flash with updated firmware took care of that and that cost me $275.00 just to be hooked up. The second was the A/C and the problem was that the air was blowing out cold on the passenger side and warm on the driver's side. The Ford mechanic told me that the blender doors were malfunctioning and replaced them for $1200.00. This repair was completed in Oct and the weather turned cool and I could never really check the system. They told me that i had a 90 day warranty of the repair and I said that there would be no way to check the repair without warm temps. Checked it in the spring and it was doing the same thing. Hot on drivers side and cool on passenger side. The mechanic after having the truck for 3 days finally summized that it is the refrigerant that is low. I asked if that was checked when he did the original repair and he said no because low refrigerant has nothing to do with that problem...I was dumbfounded because now he is saying it is the problem. The repair was to a leaking A/C line that ran to the rear unit. It was fixed after that and works fine now. That repair was $2700.00. Soon after that I developed an anti freeze leak near the firewall. It was a manifold with heater hoses attached to it.It was aluminum and was cracked. I decided to have the trans flushed and refilled along with that repair. To my shock the repair cast $1100.00 and that did not include the service. Keep in mind that normal services were being completed in the interim. I guess it was about 6 months later that i had a new issue and that was an engine miss. I changed the spark plugs and the problem was gone. About 10k miles later and the engine was missing again. I took it to the dealer and he hooked it up and there were no codes. They changed the plugs and said that everything checked out ok. That cost me $600.00 for plugs and time. About 9k later the engine started missing again. This time I did my own tests. The compression on all cylinders was fine. I decided to do Ohm meter checks on all coils and to my surprise i found one slightly out of specs. I changed them all and added new plugs once again. That was about 6 months ago and the engine runs fine to date.
Recently my engine light came on with the code saying that my catalytic converter was failing. i know that code id being generated due to the manifold leak so no probs there. The other issue is that the ABS and stability control lights are on now and there is no codes for them. The light initially started coming on only when it rained and would go out when things dried up. Now the lights are on all the time. I think it may be an ABS sensor, but i am not sure how to diagnose them. anyway...
The biggest of all problems is my current problem with the engine. It was mentioned during one of the services at the Ford dealer that i may have a radiator leak. I could never find it and that was a few years ago. I looked up new radiators (aftermarket) and they are relatively cheap so i decided to purchase a new one with the summer coming and all. But first I pressure checked the cooling system to pinpoint the leak. I pumped the system up to about 10psi and watched the gauge drop slowly. There was no leak anywhere?! Where was the anti freeze going? The oil was clean. The cylinders dry. No anti freeze on the ground. For some reason i went to the rear of the car and that is when i saw the anti freeze running out the tail pipe. All the worst thoughts came to mind...headgasket, intake manifold, or even worse a crack somewhere. I pulled the plugs again and checked the cylinders and they were all dry. The oil is clean and the anti freeze is clean. No cross contamination anywhere. I started the engine up and took a drive to reach operating temp and then did the pressure check again with a hot engine. No leak now.
This one has me baffled and this problem may be something silly. Two of my local Ford dealers will not touch it and turned me away. One even suggested that I junk the truck. I have been looking into a new engine, but with 139k on the truck how long do I have on the tranny and transfer case. etc? Maybe a junk yard? I don't know what to do.
So as you can see i have made considerable investment on this truck in the last few years and have been a very loyal Ford customer as well. I just feel that for what i payed for this vehicle when it was new that It should not be in this condition now and especially all the little problems I had that were not covered under warranty at all. Pay, pay , pay. That's all I do now So I am very disappointed in the this vehicle as I expected more out of it and ford. This vehicle was meticulously maintained and I cannot blame myself for this. The miles are almost all highway as well.
I am 49 years and a professional firefighter for 25 of them. I have been a mechanic as well for almost 35 years professionally. I have worked on almost every engine there is in the marine industry as well as diesel. I have dealt with issues like this before, but I have never had one quite like this. Usually there would be exhaust entering the water jackets causing isolated overheats were pressures equalized. This is not happening here. One of my friends who is an independent auto mechanic says that these engines have defective intake manifolds and that is where I will find the problem. How is the anti freeze only getting in the exhaust from the intake?
I gave y 1997 Nissan Pathfinder to my brother recently and it had 550k on it. The only problem I ever had was the A/C compressor failed. Other than that I did normal maintenance and it never failed and is still going strong right now at 620k. I thought for sure that ford could beat that, but I guess I was wrong.
Sorry about the long reply and I understand if you don't want to read it. I don't like to rant and still love Ford as I have an old Mustang fastback 428 SCJ (1967)...I am just very upset.
Recently my engine light came on with the code saying that my catalytic converter was failing. i know that code id being generated due to the manifold leak so no probs there. The other issue is that the ABS and stability control lights are on now and there is no codes for them. The light initially started coming on only when it rained and would go out when things dried up. Now the lights are on all the time. I think it may be an ABS sensor, but i am not sure how to diagnose them. anyway...
The biggest of all problems is my current problem with the engine. It was mentioned during one of the services at the Ford dealer that i may have a radiator leak. I could never find it and that was a few years ago. I looked up new radiators (aftermarket) and they are relatively cheap so i decided to purchase a new one with the summer coming and all. But first I pressure checked the cooling system to pinpoint the leak. I pumped the system up to about 10psi and watched the gauge drop slowly. There was no leak anywhere?! Where was the anti freeze going? The oil was clean. The cylinders dry. No anti freeze on the ground. For some reason i went to the rear of the car and that is when i saw the anti freeze running out the tail pipe. All the worst thoughts came to mind...headgasket, intake manifold, or even worse a crack somewhere. I pulled the plugs again and checked the cylinders and they were all dry. The oil is clean and the anti freeze is clean. No cross contamination anywhere. I started the engine up and took a drive to reach operating temp and then did the pressure check again with a hot engine. No leak now.
This one has me baffled and this problem may be something silly. Two of my local Ford dealers will not touch it and turned me away. One even suggested that I junk the truck. I have been looking into a new engine, but with 139k on the truck how long do I have on the tranny and transfer case. etc? Maybe a junk yard? I don't know what to do.
So as you can see i have made considerable investment on this truck in the last few years and have been a very loyal Ford customer as well. I just feel that for what i payed for this vehicle when it was new that It should not be in this condition now and especially all the little problems I had that were not covered under warranty at all. Pay, pay , pay. That's all I do now So I am very disappointed in the this vehicle as I expected more out of it and ford. This vehicle was meticulously maintained and I cannot blame myself for this. The miles are almost all highway as well.
I am 49 years and a professional firefighter for 25 of them. I have been a mechanic as well for almost 35 years professionally. I have worked on almost every engine there is in the marine industry as well as diesel. I have dealt with issues like this before, but I have never had one quite like this. Usually there would be exhaust entering the water jackets causing isolated overheats were pressures equalized. This is not happening here. One of my friends who is an independent auto mechanic says that these engines have defective intake manifolds and that is where I will find the problem. How is the anti freeze only getting in the exhaust from the intake?
I gave y 1997 Nissan Pathfinder to my brother recently and it had 550k on it. The only problem I ever had was the A/C compressor failed. Other than that I did normal maintenance and it never failed and is still going strong right now at 620k. I thought for sure that ford could beat that, but I guess I was wrong.
Sorry about the long reply and I understand if you don't want to read it. I don't like to rant and still love Ford as I have an old Mustang fastback 428 SCJ (1967)...I am just very upset.
