Good Bye my silver Bullet (03 Explorer) | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Good Bye my silver Bullet (03 Explorer)

bizzs

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 28, 2010
Messages
164
Reaction score
9
City, State
Gibsonia Pennsylvania
Year, Model & Trim Level
2018 Ford Explorer XLT
Well, it was hard for me to part with my 2003 Ford Explorer (Silver Bullet), but I did. I bought her brand new in 2003 and maintained it properly throughout the years. This was the best vehicle that I have ever owned. It was a tank!! It would plow through the rain and snow like no tomorrow. I have many fond sentimental memories of my explorer. including watching my children grow up and learning to drive her. But additionally, the good goes with the bad like every vehicle does.

I had the typical Explorer problems, but because of this forum and the help from the members, I fixed the problems. Some of these typical problems included normal maintenance, the good old transmission servos, front-rear wheel bearings, parking brake shoes, steering parts, suspension parts, thermostat housing, rocker panels, dog legs, axle seals, and the discovery of forscan. These were just some of the typical repairs that are part of the norm for this generation. I kept all of the receipts and most of the parts were bought from Rockauto. The grand total was about 1700 dollars, and this figure included the servo kit from Aj1E Superior Solutions.

A lot of people knocked the Aj1E servo kit calling it a band aid, but it was a savior for me. The transmission started to act up around 52,000 miles just after the warranty expired. As you all know these transmission can cost up to 3500 for a rebuild. I found Aj1E when searching google and decided to try their product. I am glad that I did because it was the best 200 investment that I had ever made. I am happy that I got over 60,000 miles with this fix and today, the transmission is still running smooth and strong. Spending $1700 in parts is not bad for 15 years of great service. I was fortunate to be able to do the labor myself because I was blessed to have learned from my father who was an auto body and mechanic technician for 50 years.

All of my kids are grown up and the youngest will be starting college soon so my wife and I decided to treat myself to a new 2018 Explorer XLT. I traded the silver bullet in and the dealership gave me 2800 for her. It was hard for me to part with her but I know it was time. I am going to miss her but one thing that I can say is that that the next owner will have a good strong truck with only 109,000 miles on it . I hope she serves the new owner well as she did for me and that person should be able to get another 100,000 miles of good service from her.

Thanks again everybody for the years of help and now I will be tuning into the 2018 Explorer topics on this forum.
 






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