1991 Ford Explorer: engine overheating

Filed Aug 30, 2005 · Electrical · 138,000 miles · AK · fire

Dt: the consumer smell smoke, and then some smoke started coming out of the left side of the hood. All of the gauges looked okay and the consumer thought it was overheating. Then the car caught on fire fast with smoke on the left and fire on the right of the hood and burned all the way to the back of my car, and the two cars on either side. This happened in a denny's parking lot in fairbanks on 6/30/05. Fire department case number: 051947. Towed vehicle to the mechanic. *nm

Filed Aug 16, 2002 · Transmission · OK

Transmission leaked out all of its oil while in high gear (5th) at 65 MPH resulting in overheating and complete failure of the main drive shaft assembly. After a $1200 repair of the transmission, the exact occurence happened again, this time at 70 MPH with only about 3500 miles on the, rebuilt transmission. Another $1200 repair was accomplished but this time the rubber plugs at the top of the transmission case (which was explained as the point of the leak) were sealed. I traded the car about a year later and was told by the dealer that the transmission failed a third time during a test drive by a perspective buyer.

Filed Jun 4, 2001 · Engine · NY

The faulty aluminium heads cracked causing the vehicle to overheat resulting in the number one piston melting and damage to the cylinders.

Filed Mar 5, 2001 · Electrical, Engine · FL · fire

The thermostat failed causing the vehicle to overheat. Nlm

Filed Apr 10, 1999 · Engine · WA

I was having problems with the vehicle missing when going up hills and also rough idle at start up. I took the vehicle to napa, a aaa approved shop, with ase mechanics. There was a leaking head gasket which allowed antifreeze to get in the number 3 cyclinder and plug. When they took the head off to make sure it wasn't cracked they found the rocker arm assemblies and push rods had to be replaced. The push rod ends were worn to the shape of footballs and had worn indentations in the assemblies. This vehicle has never used oil. I change the oil/filter every 3 months. It has never been low on oil or overheated. The shop owner and the mechanic both said they think it is a design flaw and I should report it. Parts had to be ordered from chicago because they were unable to find any in wa or or. The reason they were given was that these parts couldn't be kept in stock because of the high demand for them. I baby my vehicles and required service work is done on time. I do not feel that this problem is one of normal wear and tear. This cost me $1,493.41 to repair something which I don't think should have gone wrong. In this case an accident did not happen but could have if the rods had gone through the head while I was driving.

Filed Feb 27, 1999 · Transmission · GA

Apparently the mazda std 5 spd sold in these trucks is destined to fail. It has so I'm told (recently saw when I was forced to get rebuilt do to dealer refusing to act on my complaint)three rubber plugs that are designed to fail. Why they are there is beyond me. After a time they start to seep and cause transmission fliud to slowly leak out only when vehicle is running ie in gear. As the fluid drips out moving down road you don't notice it. Once it gets low enough it causes tranny to overheat. I brought vehicle in the first time this tell tale sign of no clutch occurred. Transmission shop told me that dealer should have at least test drove vehicle when I brought it in. Of course when I got there it was working properly because it had cooled down, both outside temp & vehicle since it was parked while in lawyers office. I pointed out it looked like it was leaking something & they shrugged it off as probaly an oil leak. Since they wouldn't even make an appointment for me to bring in @ a later date I took it to mean, since they're the experts that I didn't have a serious problem. Well apparently I did because after about a month the input shaft was severed while I was driving on highway driving beside a 18 wheeler. Luckily nothing happened to vehicle but woody anderson put my life in danger unnecessarily by ignoring my problem. I found out later the service mgr was aware of the problem w/ these transmissions but neglected to train his staff on it. Their general mgr ki. Harris said to me on 12/15 that he was in business to service vehicles & he would do what would make me happy. Well now it's me against the big dealership, for he has gone ack on his word. I need additional data to support my position from your data banks to show this is one a poor desigh & two a known problem was not conveyed to customer which could have resulted in serious injury if I lost power passing on a one lane road or similar situation where I could not avoid an accident .

Filed Feb 23, 1999 · Engine · CA · fire

Engine began to overheat. By the time I pulled over steam and smoke was pouring from the engine compartment. Within 2 minutes it caught fire. We were unable to extinguish the fire. The truck was a total loss. Ford was unable to provide us with any information about a reason.

Filed Aug 17, 1995 · Brakes · GA

Upon driving down mountain road, brake pedal soft and began to descend upon application. Brakes overheated w/driver pulling off road. Please describe details.

Filed Jul 6, 1995 · Transmission · FL

Hubs on 4 wheel drive overheat and locks up while driving; no warning.