shipping to Germany / new transmission

[Nils]

Hi, my Name is Nils, I'm from Germany. But since August 2003 I live in Phoenix Arizona. Last summer I got a 1996 Ford Explorer XLT V8 2x4 ... and that truck is just great
I'll probably go back to Germany at the end of July and right now I'm thinking about maybe taking the Explorer with me. So I have two questions:

1. Did anybody already ship a car oversea? How does it work and how much does it cost?

2. Until now (94,000 miles) I don't have any problems with my Explorer, but I heared from several people (in Germany) that the transmission might die at around 90,000 miles. So should I replace the transmission while I'm still here in the US although it works fine? It is of course also possible to change the transmission in Germany but then it might get very expensive as the V8 was never sold in Germany (only the V6) and so it might get difficult or expensive to get a new transmission over there.

Many thanks for your help

Nils

 

[Jason_25]

The transmission is fine, don't touch it. V8 explorers have a much stronger, more reilable transmission.

 

[Nils]

Hey Jason, many thanks for your quick reply.

Nils

 

[Claus]

Wow, I'm supprised you'd consider driving a V8 in Germany. The cost of gas, insurance and tax there would probably kill me.

A thing to consider besides shipping and import tax is that you have to get the car approved with TÃœV. That could mean that some modifications are required to make it street legal there. For example yellow turn signals are required.

If you ever do go ahead and do this let us know of the results. Although I would end up with a VW Lupo if I move back, it still would be interesting.

Viel Glück! Gruß,
Claus

 

[Claus]

Noch ein paar Infos: (Sorry everything is in German)

Verzollung:
http://www.tuev-sued.de/auto_tuev/info/ugwghsislrny.asp

Zulassung:
http://www.tuev-sued.de/auto_tuev/info/xtysnomvnyqx.asp

Algemeine Infos:
http://www.tuev-sued.de/auto_tuev/info/fvzrztbxanbk.asp

Dort gibt es noch mehr Informationen. Stöbere einfach mal herum.

MfG,
Claus

 

[Nils]

Hi Claus,

many thanks for all the links. You're totally right, driving a V8 in Germany is somehow crazy But the V8 4x2 doesn't need necessarily much more gas than the V6 4x4. And on the other hand it is very easy to modify the Explorer to use propane (LPG / AutoGas) instead of gas. Propane is much cheaper in Germany and it's also much better for the environment as the emission can be reduced by upto 80%. And if you don't find a propane gas-station you can still easily switch to normal gas. So the Explorer gets a "Hybrid"

I'm only a bit concerned about the transmission and hope it will make it for the next 40.000 miles.

Nils

P.S. Here are some links if you're interested in LPG (AutoGas). Unfortunately it's all in German

http://www.propan.de/autos_start/autos_start.html
http://www.cargas.de
http://www.gasmobil.de
http://www.gas-tankstellen.info
http://www.autogas-forum.de
http://www.auto-hastenpflug.de

 

[Crankcase]

Welcome to the site..

Is Germany in Metric? There might be a issue with the speedometer being in Miles...

 

[Claus]

Yep, it's metric. A speedometer faceplate change should solve that problem or you can get good and do the conversion in your head. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. However, it could be that the certification to make it street legal a metric faceplate is required.

Good catch, Crankcase. I'm sure there may be a whole bag of little things that one could easely overlook.

 

[Nils]

Yep, it's metric. A speedometer faceplate change should solve that problem

It's actually not neccessary as the speedometer already has miles/hour and km/hour. The mileage is still in miles but I talked to the people at the TUEV and they told me that I don't have to change it.

To get the TUEV certificate you also need orange winkers instead of red ones, but the Explorer 2 (4 door) already has them. All the lights must have a EU or DOT number. The only thing I really need to add are the very bright red fog backlights. The Explorers sold in Germany have them in the rear bumper, but maybe I find a better place to put them on.

Nils

 

[stretch]

Welcome to the site Nils. Don't worry about the transmission, my 96 V8 has 160000 miles on it without any problems, as do almost all other V8's on the site. If you do decide to take your X back with you, you could probably swap out any parts you need to from a donor vehicle over in Germany. Good luck!