Rear Lift Gate (upper one) Plastic broke in half

[joselito]

nothing! lol! i drive a 02 explorer in the salty road of canada and it's cracked for a long time.... no water inboard and all is working perfectly, just not esthetical failure

 

[joselito]

an esthetical failure

 

[Fox Fader]

I'm hoping using the gate and not the window will keep mine in tact.

 

[Curtis]

This spring I'm going to try some marine filler in mine

Fill wont do it...
The reason it cracks is because the plastic has a huge amount of expansion and contraction due to hot and cold.
The glue used by ford to hold it in place holds it too good and as a result something has to give and the plastic breaks first.
You've probably noticed that the crack opens on some days and is almost invisible on others. You fill it with filler and now the expansion has no where to go again and will pop your filler out again.

For those that are putting on a new one, use the 3M double sided foam tape to attach it. This will provide some "give" for the expansion and contraction.

To give you an idea of how much this thing expands... here is a picture of mine on a 90° day. On a 70° day it lays perfectly flat. I guess due to this lifting, mine has yet to crack.

 

[wesleydma]

Mine cracked and was repaired several years ago. Recently I went through a car wash and the drying air jets knocked the right half of the panel off again!. I just siliconed it back on.

 

[Rockpick]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

BODY—LIFTGATE GLASS APPLIQUE Article No. 04-8-5
DAMAGED/CRACKED—SERVICE PROCEDURE (FORD Repair publication)

http://fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/supplier/tsb/0485.pdf

Does anyone have this service procedure available via PDF or similar? Thanks!!!

-RP-

 

[Rockpick]

Does anyone have this service procedure available via PDF or similar? Thanks!!!

-RP-

Scratch that... I found it...

Here it is so the next guy may have some guidance...

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/eppic60/2008-05-31_165319_tsb05-24-02_cracked_applique.pdf

 

[jakedrew]

lots of good info here.

Seems the TSB said 02-03.

I honestly havent seen a cracked one in my area ( wisonsin). It gets cold here. I will have to look.

I have a 04 and i am very carful closing the hatch. I am convince some of the reasons these things crack is people slamming them. It is easy to do.

Mine has been in 90 degree temps, down to -20 and through car washes. still good (knock on wood)

 

[Rockpick]

Yep... mine is a 2004. We have been religious about being careful while closing the rear glass... unfortunately, that wasn't enough for us. It's only recently started getting 'cooler' around here (50 degrees or so as a minimum thusfar for the season). Our crack developed TODAY.

Incredibly disappointing to read across the web of multiples upon multiples of folks reporting this problem. Unfortunately, it's several hundred dollars of unnecessary expenditures for Ford's customers for something that was designed poorly and/or mounted poorly with an incorrect adhesive for the project.

While I understand the importance of mass production and further understand that we - as the crackers - are the minority of Explorer owners, it's still an unnecessary item to have to fix when we did absolutely NOTHING destructive to have caused such a failure.

Lou Assembly Plant, you guys around? What was originally used to mount this part?

-RP- (In La Grange, KY)

 

[DenverExp]

Hey, I'm now part of this club too with my 65k 2002 based on my discovery this morning.

I have owned this Explorer for about a year now and so far I have spent almost 20% of the purchase price on parts/labor with some of the work done by me.

Now with this, and knowing that I have the rear end noise with a diagnosed need to replace some of the internals, I'm very frustrated with this purchase and with Ford in general.

 

[DenverExp]

Now that I got that off my chest, it sounds like this crack is purely cosmetic?

 

[1tufgt]

Yep... mine is a 2004. We have been religious about being careful while closing the rear glass... unfortunately, that wasn't enough for us. It's only recently started getting 'cooler' around here (50 degrees or so as a minimum thusfar for the season). Our crack developed TODAY.

Incredibly disappointing to read across the web of multiples upon multiples of folks reporting this problem. Unfortunately, it's several hundred dollars of unnecessary expenditures for Ford's customers for something that was designed poorly and/or mounted poorly with an incorrect adhesive for the project.

While I understand the importance of mass production and further understand that we - as the crackers - are the minority of Explorer owners, it's still an unnecessary item to have to fix when we did absolutely NOTHING destructive to have caused such a failure.

Lou Assembly Plant, you guys around? What was originally used to mount this part?

-RP- (In La Grange, KY)

Hello neighbor.............. I live about 30 mins from you.

Now that I got that off my chest, it sounds like this crack is purely cosmetic?

Yeah, all it does is cover the glass. If you can live with it then don't worry about replacing it. I got quoted $95 for the part and $27 for the glue. Then add in the $ to get it painted.

 

[RickM]

My '02 cracked a few years ago and was replaced under warranty. It happened when the truck was exiting a warm car wash into a 20 degree day. POP!

I haven't had an issue but do notice that after a rain, when I lift the rear gate, the water captured around this fascia drains for about 5 minutes.

 

[cyoung2203]

Hi all.. I am in Australia and also a member of this less than unique club.

I have had nothing but issues with this 2003 Explorer. Never again will I purchase another Ford.

 

[blovell]

I know this has been talked over to death, and that most of what CAN be said HAS been said, but does anyone know of a cheap fix for this problem?

 

[Curtis]

I know this has been talked over to death, and that most of what CAN be said HAS been said, but does anyone know of a cheap fix for this problem?

The only "fix" is a new panel put on with double sided foam tape.
If you fill it and paint it... it will crack again.
You could also try to fit a rear hatch off an 05+ I think... they did not have the longer upper glass with this panel on it.

 

[2003vstrom]

actually I just did this today, I removed the old last night, and put the new one on this moring, I bought a new one and I order matching paint in a spray can and I clear coated, and put 3m double sided tape on it and attached that way, the old one is made from abs plastic and the new one is made from PBT+PV seemed to be more flexible then the older one, no ugly crack no more

 

[blovell]

How difficult was it to get the old panel off? What did you pay for the new panel? A lot of posts on here have people saying that they spent around $60 for a new panel, but all the quotes I'm getting are for upwards of $100 just for the primed panel. Any online dealers that will sell it cheap?

 

[2003vstrom]

it took a little time to get it off I used a hammer and a putt knife here is a link to a video I found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huPRBzqF1zc that shows how they removed it and installed the new one I payed 96.00 for the panel primed thats the only was to get it from the dealer,

 

[ramm]

You could also try to fit a rear hatch off an 05+ I think... they did not have the longer upper glass with this panel on it.

Actually I have an '05 and it cracked over a year and a half ago. I live in Dallas area and every model Explorer that I see with that flawed design has a crack in it, and that has been in the 100's.