More problems with my EX

[aaronajb1981]

For being one of my first ford products i am starting to get a little pissed. To go along with my window sticking, now there is an antifreeze leak. there is corrsion around the thermostat housing and the upper radiator hose. Good thing its all still under warranty. looks like the extended warranty will be purchased just before the factory one is up.

What a piece of SH*T

Never again buy a ford.

 

[UKExploder]

You can get a 'lemon' in any brand mate, I've had similar problems with all sorts of vehicles, GM,Chrysler,Ford, AMC, Jeep........

 

[stuntman]

Sounds like someone's got a case of the Munday's...

 

[shaker1]

A minor AF leak and a warranty window repair don't exactly qualify as a BFD.

 

[nfntruth]

I disagree, I think it is a big deal. If you spend 35,000 dollars, you shouldn't have problems like this. I have had mine in the shop enough times that my service manager knows me by name when I drive up. I had a problem not too long ago, when I tried to pull out of a parking spot, I thought I had run over a cone. I got out and checked, nothing. Put it in drive again, same bouncing sensation, and I realized that my front left tire was just bouncing. The check engine light and transmission light came on. I couldn't go over idle speed!! Luckily there was a Ford dealership about 2 miles from where I was, took almost 40 minutes to get there at idle speed in rush hour afternoon traffic. When I did get there, it was about 1645 and their techs were gone. They wouldn't give me a ride home (I was about 30 miles from home with my 2yr old) and they wouldn't give me a loaner. They were nice enough to offer to call a cab. I tried the roadside assistance to get it towed to my home dealership, but they wouldn't help me. So when I started the truck again, the lights cleared. I discovered that it only happened when I made right turns, it was a pain to get to the freeway with only left turns. Long story short, got to my dealership, the ABS sensor in the rear driver's side broke loose, causing the ABS system to lock up the front brake, which gouged my rotors, and they refused to fix that. It was fixed by the next afternoon, but they still weren't able to fix my antenna. (I only get 3 stations in San Diego, they have replaced the antenna and the head unit, they say its fine and there is nothing they can do) So b*tch away about your problems, it is completely justified.

 

[UKExploder]

I know of a lady who bought a new Pontiac & had the locking steering wheel lock up on her while going around a corner at 70 mph, so consider yourself lucky none of your problems caused you or any1 else any harm....(she unfortunately didn't make the corner)

 

[UKExploder]

I disagree, I think it is a big deal. If you spend 35,000 dollars, you shouldn't have problems like this. I have had mine in the shop enough times that my service manager knows me by name when I drive up. I had a problem not too long ago, when I tried to pull out of a parking spot, I thought I had run over a cone. I got out and checked, nothing. Put it in drive again, same bouncing sensation, and I realized that my front left tire was just bouncing. The check engine light and transmission light came on. I couldn't go over idle speed!! Luckily there was a Ford dealership about 2 miles from where I was, took almost 40 minutes to get there at idle speed in rush hour afternoon traffic. When I did get there, it was about 1645 and their techs were gone. They wouldn't give me a ride home (I was about 30 miles from home with my 2yr old) and they wouldn't give me a loaner. They were nice enough to offer to call a cab. I tried the roadside assistance to get it towed to my home dealership, but they wouldn't help me. So when I started the truck again, the lights cleared. I discovered that it only happened when I made right turns, it was a pain to get to the freeway with only left turns. Long story short, got to my dealership, the ABS sensor in the rear driver's side broke loose, causing the ABS system to lock up the front brake, which gouged my rotors, and they refused to fix that. It was fixed by the next afternoon, but they still weren't able to fix my antenna. (I only get 3 stations in San Diego, they have replaced the antenna and the head unit, they say its fine and there is nothing they can do) So b*tch away about your problems, it is completely justified.

I believe you endangered many lives driving a car that you weren't even sure what was wrong with personally. You didn't know, maybe the damned wheel was ready 2 fall off , & u drove 30 miles with it and your child in it with you!!
Read your own signature and think hard what it might mean!!

 

[shaker1]

I believe you endangered many lives driving a car that you weren't even sure what was wrong with personally. You didn't know, maybe the damned wheel was ready 2 fall off , & u drove 30 miles with it and your child in it with you!!
Read your own signature and think hard what it might mean!!

Yup, that is the same thing I posted before I deleted it! That is probably why the dealer refused to replace the front rotors too. Driving on the highway at rush hour at idle speed? An accident waiting to happen.

 

[nfntruth]

It was obviously not the wheel about to fall off, there was nothing visibly mechanically wrong with the vehicle, wheels falling off do not result in check engine lights and transmission lights, and the service guy looked it over at the dealership. Probably wasn't the best idea, I was extremely p*ssed at the time, 30 mile cab ride in So Cal equals over a hundred bucks. I did take actions to mitigate the risk as well, I rode the slow slow lane at reduced speeds, and didn't take it on the road until it stopped acting up (no more lights or peculiar bouncing, tech wouldn't have believed me if it hadn't done it when I drove in). Not a justification for what I did, but you do bring up a good point about the signature, I was tempting natural selection at the extreme. Maybe I should just trade it in, who knows, if it happened to one side, it could happen to the other side at anytime? And according to my service manager, its happened more than once on the newer Explorers. And if anyone is wondering, it has never been offroad or any other abusive driving, it only has 11k miles on it.
Fact of the matter is, I bought it for the airbags, RSC and safety features for my family. I feel guilty everytime I see kids in the back seat of a yaris or other tiny car and I think, if they get in an accident with a truck or SUV, those kids don't have a chance. I didn't help their chances with my actions, but that is the point of my signature, as long as you learn from your mistakes, then they were worth making. Thank you for pointing out what I did was stupid, but back to the original subject of the post, Ford has some problems with the new model explorers, and I hope that no one has the poor fortune to experience what I did in a more dangerous scenario.

 

[midiout]

I had the same problem with my 06 EB - upper radiator was leaking at the hose - replaced the radiator. Also, the ABS and traction control came on when stopping. It was the ABS wheel sensor on the left side, which broke. The excuse was,"you must have ran over something". The local Ford dealer who sold me this EB, was included in the Ford buyback program - today is his last day in business. He had quite a few complaints with the attorney general about business practices.

 

[2006_MM_FYRE41]

I have to chime in here too. Any problem with a vehicle that your spending $35,000 and more on, or any amount of money for that matter, is a big deal. I had a 2004 Mountaineer Premier, $40,000 sticker, that I filed a lemon law on because it was nothing but a piece of crap, tons of electrical probs, AC, ABS, 4 drivers seat frames. I'd have to go back to the file to look up the rest. all in all I had 28 pages of warranty repairs on that car. I have now filed a lemon law on the 2006 Montaineer Premier, $41,000 sticker, that replaced the 2004 because of unrepairable transmission problems. Do you wonder why there are so many foreign cars on the road today? I'm keeping an eye on the new GMC Yukon Hybrid that will be making its debut this fall. Obviously GM has confidence in their product when they are offering 100,000 mile warranties on each vehicle and have a full size SUV that is capable of achieving 25 - 27 M.P.G. Any company can make a bad product, it happens, we all know that but when it happens to two vehicles in a row and each one has major problems, there is an obvious problem that needs to be addressed. When I get rid of this crap box it is good bye Ford. I can see why this company is barely hanging on by a thread.

 

[nfntruth]

Yup, that is the same thing I posted before I deleted it! That is probably why the dealer refused to replace the front rotors too. Driving on the highway at rush hour at idle speed? An accident waiting to happen.

Yes, at rush hour speed, I think you are misunderstanding what "rush hour" means in the San Diego area, that means that the speeds drop from 70-80 mph down to 15-40 mph on the freeway, and block to block stop lights in town, which is where I was. I realize that its an oxymoron, "rush hour", everyone just rushes to pull forward 100 feet to the next light and then stop again...lol. That means you pictured me creeping at idle on the freeway with everyone zipping by at 70 mph, no as I said in my second post, after I went to the shop, one of the techs came out to look at the truck (not their brake expert), there were no more symptoms of the occurence, it was only the full right turn, which may have been linked with the RSC system, based on perceived potential for vehicle roll over, but I don't know enough about how the system works. When we shut off the truck and started it again and drove it in their lot the brakes were acting normal again, so I wasn't at idle speed, it only did when I made the tight turn (hence pulling out of a parking spot with full turn of the steering wheel set it off, who knows how long it had actually been broken, it didn't just break in the parking lot, it just had to lean the right way to block the sensor or trigger the program in the computer which locked in the fault and the continuing problem, lesson learned, if you get a light or something crazy, shut the truck off, wait and see if the computer resets upon restart, damned computers). SO, once again, what I did was not the safest, but I evaluated the situation, and it was safe enough for me to get home, and just remember, it definitely dind't just break in the parking lot, it was just waiting to be noticed, it's happened to other new explorers, it could happen to any of you, and not somewhere safe like a parking lot.
As far as the rotor in the front, they said since the problem was in the rear, there was nothing they could do for the front, and that is just part of normal wear and tear from braking, I couldn't prove thats what caused it, even though it was the only one with gouging. Furthermore, my home area dealer didn't even know I took it to a different dealer first. Another indication of Ford's standards if they consider that. "normal".:roll:

 

[shaker1]

Any problem with a vehicle that your spending $35,000 and more on, or any amount of money for that matter, is a big deal...Obviously GM has confidence in their product when they are offering 100,000 mile warranties on each vehicle and have a full size SUV that is capable of achieving 25 - 27 M.P.G.

EVERY vehicle on the road will have some degree of warranty repair. It IS a big deal when you have MAJOR problems and the dealer is unable to address them. It is not a big deal to have a minor leak and a window switch/motor repair. Certainly not an "I'll never buy another Ford" big deal!

I have had 2 Explorers with few problems (none whatsoever on my 06), using the same logic as you are, I could say Ford makes the best vehicles in the world. The truth lies somewhere in between.

When Hyundai and Chrysler were having problems with quality they both offered 100K mile warranties. It was to sooth customer's fears, not because they had so much confidence in their product. If you think you are going to buy a GM product and have no reason to use the warranty, you are going to be in for a big disappointment. All automakers offer warranties and have service departments for a reason. Complex mechanical things break!

During the time I have owned (and repaired my own) Fords, I have had many friends who are loyal GM buyer's. I have seen them endure peeling paint, faulty rack and pinion steering, transmission failures, warped brake rotors, engine failures and so on. My friend with a 1999 BMW is on his third complete front end rebuild. I have had Honda's with an equal number of problems as my 98 Explorer.

 

[shaker1]

That means you pictured me creeping at idle on the freeway with everyone zipping by at 70 mph...

No actually, I pictured you spending 40 minutes going 2 miles in heavy traffic as you yourself posted! Then deciding to travel another 30 miles unsure if your vehicle might act up again. Basically on the word of an unknown mechanic in a parking lot. And you already said "I was tempting natural selection at the extreme", so why are you still trying to convince me it was a good idea?

Not trying to judge you here, but on the one hand you are acting like Ford put your life in jeopardy and on the other hand wouldn't spend $100 for a cab and call it a day. Seems a bit inconsistent. I look at that mod list in your sig and it looks like you might've held back a few bucks for such an emergency.

 

[briwayjones]

A minor AF leak and a warranty window repair don't exactly qualify as a BFD.

You shouldn't have any problems with a brand new vehicle for at least a year if not longer. Especially if you pay $35,000+ for one. There is definitely a quality difference between the 2nd explorers and the new ones.

 

[nfntruth]

Not trying to judge you here, but on the one hand you are acting like Ford put your life in jeopardy and on the other hand wouldn't spend $100 for a cab and call it a day. Seems a bit inconsistent. I look at that mod list in your sig and it looks like you might've held back a few bucks for such an emergency.[/QUOTE]

I admitted I made a careless decision, this horse is dead and thoroughly beaten.

Lets discuss your new position as my financial adviser. If it makes you feel better, I already have enough saved to pay for my child's college education. As far as saving money for repairs, you seem to have ample funds available if you think it is OK to have a brand new vehicle and have to foot the bill for a VERY expensive cab ride due to Ford not providing ample Customer Support. So if you would like to send some money my way, I accept Paypal and money orders.

I think others have caught the point of this thread, and for one more good horse spankin, no new vehicle should have any major warranty repairs, nor should it have any small ones, especially more than one. I understand that it is a complex piece of machinery, so are airplanes, nuclear reactors, subways, trains..when one of those fails, the public is in an uproar. As a society, we have been forced to accept that problems in a new car are OK, thats bull, its just an indication of the lowering of our standards. That includes myself, since I did give Ford almost 35,000 dollars. Warranty claims just drive up the manufacturer's operating costs, and thus the cost is absorbed by the consumer as indicated by inflated vehicle prices. So for other car manufacturers to have a 100,000 miles warranty and still keep prices competitive, that is a tell-tale of the status of a company's confidence in their product, not my confidence in them. A business cannot take a sustained loss and remain in operation to make its customers feel better, so we are paying for that 100,000 mile warranty somewhere in the sticker price.

 

[shaker1]

I understand that it is a complex piece of machinery, so are airplanes, nuclear reactors, subways, trains..when one of those fails, the public is in an uproar.

Actually, all of the products you mentioned have backup systems and redundancies, precisely because they do experience failures.

It is simply unrealistic to expect perfection from a new vehicle no matter what the price. It seems people expect perfection from everything around them , but take offense when it is expected of them.

Vehicle repair data simply does not support the idea that longer warranties correlate with fewer needs for repairs. I have owned Honda's along side Ford's for almost 30 years. My personal experience is that Honda's have remained somewhat consistent and the Ford's have improved greatly. Last I checked Honda, Toyota and all the quality leaders still had service departments and on any day you will find brand new vehicles occupying the service bays.

Something broke on your vehicle, you had it repaired under warranty. Time to move on. Trade it in on a new Pilot. Maybe you'll have a better experience.

 

[nfntruth]

I agree that all new cars may have problems, but as the spokesperson for AT&T and Apple said today about the problems with the I-phones, its not the fact that new things have problems that drives customers away, its how they treat their customers when they do have problems. That will keep customers coming back. The Ford dealerships here in San Diego do not even provide loaner cars for warranty repair work.
I bought the truck from a dealership in Ohio, a special order before they even released pictures of the 2006 Explorer, when my parents went to pick it up (I was stationed overseas) the dealership personnel were not even cordial, wouldn't even wash it before they turned it over, since it wasn't their sale, they only received a 200 dollar prep credit or something like that, and thus treated as such, liek they were just storing it for me. Thats different dealerships in different areas of the US. I took it to another dealer in Ohio to have the Ford remote start and alarm installed, and as I posted in a different thread, they didn't bother to tell me that the remote start and alarm did not communicate with the key pad on the door, so if you use the door key pad, it sets off the alarm. Thats after they charged me for it of course.
These dealerships are representatives of the Ford Motor Company, and thats how they are allowed to do business.
As far as the Pilot, if it could at least tow another Pilot, I would have considered it. Honda just isn't in competitive in the truck field, (the Ridgeline is not a truck) and I am sure that there are jsut as many problems with those. The entire market is being flooded with substandard products not just cars and trucks.
My parents had the same washer and dryer since I was a little kid, just regular old Maytags, since I moved out 10 years, ago, they have gone through 2 sets and they weren't cheap ones either. Nothing is built to last, manufacturers don't make money if their product lasts a long time.

 

[nfntruth]

I forgot to mention that I love my Explorer, I won't be trading it in anytime soon, hence the long list of mods, I just understand when people b*tch about it when it has problems. Although, I haven't had to post any complaints about my other car yet in my other forum. Its a 2007 Nissan Versa, if you want a good work car that gets good gas mileage, it actually has more legroom in front and back than my Explorer

 

[2006_MM_FYRE41]

EVERY vehicle on the road will have some degree of warranty repair. It IS a big deal when you have MAJOR problems and the dealer is unable to address them. It is not a big deal to have a minor leak and a window switch/motor repair. Certainly not an "I'll never buy another Ford" big deal!

I respectfully have to disagree with you sir. EVERY car will not have some degree of warranty repairs. I owned a 1998 Explorer XLT 5.0 AWD that I ordered the very day Ford announced that they were available. Needless to say I was very leery about this purchase because the Explorer never before had a V8 nor did they have AWD. With the exception of routine service it never saw one single line of warranty repairs on the work order, not one. I kept that vehicle for 126,000 miles until 2004 when I bought the Mountaineer nightmare. In 2000 I purchased a Crown Victoria LX. Once again this car never had to go in for warranty work, just routine upkeep. I traded the Vic in on a 2003 Mercury Marauder. The Marauder had a complete repaint, some electrical problems, and had to be towed when the fuel pump crapped out on it. Sticker price $35,000. All I can say about the 2004 Mountaineer is that it had 28 pages of warranty repairs on it and left me stranded twice. I am now up to ten pages of warranty repairs on the 2006 Mountaineer and it too has had to be towed leaving me stranded. I guess what amazes me is that the stickers on both the 1998 Ex and the 2000 Vic were less than $30,000 where as the stickers on the 2003, 2004 and 2006 were $35,000, $40,000 and $41,000 respectively. One would expect that if you spend more money you should have better quality.