My dad is looking at buying a used explorer. Its has 88k miles with the 4.0L SOHC v6 and the 5 speed auto. Any issues he should look out for?

He just hopes he can drive it for a while and rack up some miles because his car is on its way out.

Thanks.

12/12/2005 5:28:17 PM

good truck ball joints and idle air control valve is about the only thing of worry

12/12/2005 5:30:40 PM

i wouldnt try to rack up miles on any explorer, period. some around that year had some weird HO motor with a hellacious timing chain setup thats prone to fail and its $$.

rear wheelspeed sensors (in the axle) can fail and cause ABS light to come on, what else... um door lock actuators can loosen and need adjustment or else you wont get the door open from the outside... thats all i remember doing multiples of right off the top of my head.


oh and they tend to flip easy if you dont keep air in the firestones

12/12/2005 5:33:32 PM

^Normally I would agree, but we know this one has been taken care of. He doesn't have expectations of it hitting 300k miles or anything.

Thanks for the heads up. The timing thing seems to be well versed as a big problem, but this one seems to be fine (so far).

I should have asked earlier, because this is pretty much a done deal. Just wanted to get ideas of things I could have missed. Its in really good shape though.

[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 5:47 PM. Reason : .]

12/12/2005 5:43:58 PM

Quote :

"ear wheelspeed sensors (in the axle) can fail and cause ABS light to come on"

is it the same problem in the ranger? im just wondering because a few of the rangers at work have lights on.

12/12/2005 5:54:08 PM

For some reason I read that as "1999 Ford Exploder issues?"

12/12/2005 6:03:46 PM

^^ i dont know, it really ought to be scanned to really tell.

12/12/2005 6:32:28 PM

yes, same problem for rangers and mazda b-series for that matter.

[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 6:37 PM. Reason : .]

12/12/2005 6:37:17 PM

Luckily '99 or later got rid of the evil Vulcan engines that aged very badly. Most Vulcan engines seemed to become very untrustworthy near or past 100K.

I have heard the SOHC age much more graccefully.

[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 7:06 PM. Reason : +]

12/12/2005 7:05:48 PM

so are you sayign they didnt live long

and prosper?

12/12/2005 7:22:24 PM

Everything but.



(pretty good irony really)

12/12/2005 7:28:09 PM

count on a new transmission before 100k, one at 130k, one at 150k, one at 160k, etc. Same tranny they used in the pinto with a few revisions. That was one of the worst mistakes ford ever made. I bought two transmissions before ditching mine. Go ask any transmission shop how many ford explorers with a v-6 and auto transmission they fix every week, you will be surprised at how high the number is.

12/12/2005 8:01:13 PM

^ Ford did begin to fix the problems with the '99 and later models. But you are right - for most of the '90s models you should expect problems from just about anything mechanical.

12/12/2005 8:18:25 PM

5 speed auto is a quite a different animal than the previous 4 speed auto.

12/12/2005 8:29:36 PM

agreed, that aint no pinto trans

12/12/2005 8:39:58 PM

So was the 5 speed auto still a piece?

This is no accord or whatever... and I joke around about calling them exploders as well. Between the price and knowing the original owner helps the decision a lot.



[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 9:33 PM. Reason : .]

12/12/2005 9:29:15 PM

ive got a 2000 with about 55k on it
no major problems
the electrical system is shitty
ive had my front headlight wires melt a little exposing the wires
i had to tape them up and bend them a certain way to get power to the turn signal lights
the rear windshield wiper motor shorted out and had to be replaced 2 times
and the tube giving wiper fluid to the rear wiper ripped and leaked so i had to replace that too
minor problems
and they could be due to my car having a 400w amp running in it all the time
but just things to look out for
other than that no problems at all
i take very good care of it
i recently changed the tranny fluid and filter (decent job on an explorer)
and everything looked great
the fluid wasent that bad looking and everything looked great so i havent had any tranny problems like ppl say in this thread

[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 9:56 PM. Reason : ]

12/12/2005 9:54:19 PM

^^i haven't heard of alot of major issues with them. still a little early to tell though, the majority of them out there haven't gotten enough mileage for there to be any real precedent set.

imo, no manufacturer makes a decent auto anymore in anything less than a 3/4 ton truck.

12/12/2005 10:50:49 PM

oh and they tend to flip easy if you dont keep air in the firestones

this is a serious issue. the roll bar on the front is GINORMOUS, and there's a lateral damper (shock) in the rear to help control side loads in the axle. scary.

[Edited on December 12, 2005 at 11:04 PM. Reason : .]

12/12/2005 11:02:56 PM

^^ I pretty much figured that. Had this not been posted at work I would have never looked at the ad. This one happens to be a limited model so it has all the gadgets (which may be asking to break). The owner said the only option was to step up to the 5.0, but then he would have been forced into the AWD model w/4 speed auto. So he opted out.

Michelins on it. No firestone mess here.

12/12/2005 11:14:17 PM

^^IT'S A DAMN SUV. what the hell do people expect... btw, if you think the swaybar (not roll bar) on an explorer is "ginormous" you haven't seen very many swaybars.

12/12/2005 11:26:05 PM

when did they start doing 5 speed autos? i know the old manual 5 speeds they used to put in rangers was one of the shittiest transmissions i've ever had experience with.

12/13/2005 1:48:26 AM

Quote :

"the 5 speed auto. "

ford had a 5 speed auto in 99?

that's crazy.

12/13/2005 2:45:48 AM

i dont think its a 5 speed auto.

12/13/2005 5:31:12 PM

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=44285/pageNumber=1?synpartner=edmunds&pageurl=www.edmunds.com/new/2006/ford/explorer/100625337/roadtestarticle.html&articleId=44285&tid=edmunds.e.roadtest.content...Ford*

Quote :

"It had two-wheel drive, the 4.0-liter SOHC V6, and a five-speed automatic transmission. "

http://www.internetautoguide.com/car-specifications/09-int/1999/ford/explorer/

Quote :

"Transmissions: 4 Speed Automatic; 5 Speed Automatic; 5 Speed Manual"

http://www.carsdirect.com/research/ford/explorer/1999/limited_4dr_4x4/features

Quote :

"5-speed electronic automatic transmission with overdrive"

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Spec_Glance.aspx?year=1999&make=Ford&model=Explorer&trimid=-1&src=vip

Quote :

"5-Speed Automatic Overdrive"

I dunno... It just MIGHT have a 5 speed auto.

12/13/2005 6:09:20 PM

Firestones may turn it into an "exploder"

12/13/2005 6:31:14 PM

Quote :

"For some reason I read that as '1999 Ford Exploder issues?' "

[Edited on December 13, 2005 at 8:09 PM. Reason : ]

12/13/2005 8:09:29 PM

Hmm, I havent really had any issues out of my 92 sploder. 187k and counting, and I dont baby it. 2wd 5spd 2dr XL with no options. I am religious about my fluids though, especially since I have a leaking rear transmission seal (I can still chirp second)

My folks have a 99 4.0 with a 4spd auto 4wd and the only issue they have had is interior bits evaporating. My brother has a 94 4wd thats had some issues with the cooling, but thats resolved now. All three spent a good bit of time on the farm.

I think it all boils down to who had it before. I know whoever had mine before I bought it (at 121k in '00) really didnt beat it up too bad, but they other two mentioned above in my fam have had harder lives and since arent as troublefree.

12/13/2005 9:07:31 PM

i've fixed two sohc 4.0's fairly recently with cracked intakes, shitting coolant out like crazy on the front passenger side corner. never been a big fan of plastic engine parts. electrical issues always seem to plague explorers, bottom line, it'd be one of the last vehicles i'd ever drive. of coure the 90's blazers arent much better. tried looking for anything asian in the small suv range?

12/13/2005 9:19:43 PM