Thinking of buying....

[BrandonH13]

We use to own a 03 limited and never had a problem with it in the year we had it. My wife got shifted to as needed at her job so we ended up selling it.

Well she has found a new job and we are now looking at getting another explorer. I was searching and ran across this....

2004 limited. Silver with black leather. 4.6 v8, third row seating, power everything and has dual dvd headrest. It has 115500 miles and the dealer is wanting $9K for it. What should I look for with this? Our old one made the whining rear end, so there is of course on our list. I asked and the owner said that he "thought" it had the crack on the rear hatch like most do. Does that affect anything like water coming in or road noise?

What else should I be looking for with this? I will see about service records, but I doubt they have them as most dealerships don't.

 

[Exproblems]

2004 limited. Silver with black leather. 4.6 v8, third row seating, power everything and has dual dvd headrest. It has 115500 miles and the dealer is wanting $9K for it. What should I look for with this? Our old one made the whining rear end, so there is of course on our list. I asked and the owner said that he "thought" it had the crack on the rear hatch like most do. Does that affect anything like water coming in or road noise?

What else should I be looking for with this? I will see about service records, but I doubt they have them as most dealerships don't.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

You should check out everything you possibly can on the vehicle top to bottom, inside and out. Check the engine, tranny, suspension, 4x4, electronics, check for leaks, make sure front and rear heat and AC work etc. Condition of the tires and test drive it good.
On the crack in the rear tailgate panel, as far as I know, the crack doesn't leak water into the vehicle and from a picture I saw posted here by another person with that cracked rear panel removed on his Ex, there is another panel right behind the cracked one. He said he removed the cracked panel and peeled off the old sealant used to hold it on. From his picture, the underneath panel appears to be painted already and it was just as shiney as the rest of his Ex. . I wrote to him with some questions on it, never heard back from him yet. The one on my Ex cracked a few months ago. Also, make the dealership print you up a copy of the car fax report on it, verify the report to the VIN number, then you can see who owned it prior or how many owners it had to date and what part of the country the vehicle was driven in.

 

[Hbrichman]

Like you said, many members do have the crack on the rear hitch and is isn't a huge issue.

Things to look for before buying are
- Transmission issues
- Wheel bearings ( which is the whining noise )
- Head gaskets
- Coil springs
- Suspension
- 4x4
- any sensor issues
- air flow

Other than that, just normal things before you purchase a used car. Be careful though, 3rd gen's do have a lot of problems so be ready down the road for anything. If you want to know more about 3rd gen issues, read the stickys on the top of this page.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=101

 

[Exproblems]

I asked and the owner said that he "thought" it had the crack on the rear hatch like most do. Does that affect anything like water coming in or road noise?

QUOTE]>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Update to my other post to you on the rear tailgate panel crack issue. I just went and double checked that post where a guy named "Not8taxi" posted a picture of his Explorer with the cracked rear panel removed. It appears to me after having looked at his picture again is that the rear tailgate window pane/glass goes farther down the tailgate than I originally thought it did. Behind the cracked applique panel is glass, not another panel. Unless my eyes are completely shot or the graphics on my older computer are bad, this appears to be the case. The cracked rear applique is glued to the rear window itself. Go to the web link below and look at his picture and you decide for yourself. It is post #7 by "not8taxi".

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2879292#post2879292

 

[94Eddie]

The things listed above are what I would say to check. Also, look at the rubber boots on the upper ball joints. They are easy to see over the top of the tires. I would try to find a mechanic you can trust and take it to him for a thorough inspection. It is at the mileage point where many things can start going wrong. For $9k it would have to be in outstanding condition mechanically with little wear and tear showing on the body and interior.

I bought a 2002 XLT 4X4 V-8 leather etc. with towing package (3.73LS) with 49k miles last summer for $9k. It is in pristine condition and I made them install four new Bridgestone tires for the the $9k price. I would probably be more in the $7,000-$7,500 range because the odds are you will have to repair something before long.

One other way to go is to find one with a transmission problem and buy it. The reason for this is you can usually buy them for $3k-$4k and since you are having the transmission rebuilt yourself you know it will be reliable in that aspect. This also leaves money on the table to do other repairs, if needed.

 

[BrandonH13]

That is the price they are going for around here in Kansas. It's actually priced under most and also under kbb and nada. We bought our other one with 130k for the same price a year ago. We never had any problems with it either. For another 1300, we can get a qarranty for 3 years 36k miles which with sales tax would bump the price to 11200, which is still under nada.