2002 ford explorer o/d light goes off and then the check engine light is activated. The transmission shortly thereafter, starts slipping. The o/d light, is blinking out of control. Excessive complaints from other ford consumers who bought a ford explorer.
2002 Ford Explorer transmission complaints
Page 26 of 51: complaints 731 to 760 of 1,502, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The od light on my 2002 eddie bauer ford explorer began blinking accompanied by check transmission light. We traveled slowly home amidst whirring and crunching sounds. The car is parked in the driveway and obviously the transmission is shot. The ford mechanic told me it would close $2800 to fix the transmission and in response to my questions regarding power train, suggested that we fix the rear power train for $1600. Just a week ago, on the way to my daughter's wedding, 4 hours from home, the low oil pressure light began blinking with warning sounds. The car was towed to a ford dealer and repaired. We picked it up a week later driving 4 hours on busy through ways and highways, when the transmission lights, as noted above, started blinking. About 3 weeks ago, we had the wheel bearings replaced as well as other repairs. However, the transmission failure and upcoming power train failure make the car unreliable and dangerous to drive.
My wife drives a 2002 ford explorer which as already had extensive rear end repair. It makes a roaring sound whenever the car is moving and it is leaking what I believe is transmission fluid from the rear end. Ford denies having problems with that particular car though I have found hundreds of complains on line about transmission and drive train failures in this particular model. A reliable mechanic has told me that the drive train can seize up an any time. If this happens on an interstate doesn't this qualify as a safety concern?
When attempting to shift from drive to park, the gear shift lever broke from the steering column, making it impossible to change gears. The engine remained running with it in drive. I turned the ignition off & it could not be restarted (ie, ignition/interlock system). The steering wheel wouldn't turn either. The entire steering column (not just small broken piece) had to be replaced (cost=$1372, $897 for parts). As of 7/2/08, 61 exactly the same incidents have been reported via complaints filed with the federal safety agency website. Some vehicles complained about have experienced this part failure twice. These complaints have been filed under the components - steering: column, power train: automatic transmission, power train: automatic transmission: gear position indication (prndl), power train: automatic transmission: lever and linkage: column shift, steering: gear box (other than rack and pinion), steering: gear box: shaft sector, steering: wheel and handle bar, other or unknown this is an obvious design and/or mfg/material defect & it correlates (in many other complaints) with another defect - very difficult shifting of gear lever to or from ?park? & ?reverse?. 61 reported incidents of the parts failure are significant, but there are obviously far more than have been reported via the federal safety agency complaints. The defective gear shift part poses serious safety concerns. If the gear shift lever breaks while the vehicle is on a street or expressway (but stopped momentarily by necessity), the driver would be unable to change gears or push and/or steer it to safety, thereby creating a dangerous traffic situation with a high potential for bodily injury. The federal safety agency has more than adequate data to initiate a defect investigation & should immediately require ford to provide a full disclosure of the number of steering columns that it has sold as a result of this defect. I have the old steering column (and the broken piece) as well as several pictures of them.
The gearshift lever broke off while shifting into park. No excessive pressure was exerted at this time or any other to my knowledge. Fortunately this occurred in my driveway but I fear this failure could have happened during a gear change on the road (from reverse to drive, or vice versa in a traffic situation). My repair shop said the parts to repair this were back ordered, apparently due to frequent failures.
Noise and fluid leakage in rear diagnosed by local mechanic as failing wheel bearing and differential seal. Replaced differential seal and one rear wheel bearing at 57,000 miles. At 69,000 replaced one front wheel bearing because of noise. At 80,000 mechanic reported that both rear springs had corroded at their upper ends and cracked through. Both these issues are common on 2002 models based on the number of complaints in the data base.
O/d light came on in car,,, acording to fords drivers with the same problem,,,nothing is bring done about this,, which leaves on big problem for the cosumers like my self ! And ford is full aware of this problem !
I bought a 2002 ford explorer in july of 2007 in jan of the next year our o/d light started flashing and we lost 3rd gear. So we need a new transmission. After getting online and seeing hundreds of other problems that are almost exactly the same its hard to understand why ford won't issue a recall, this is our only vehicle to drive 3 kids around in and we are still making payments on something that just sits because we can't afford to fix it.
2002 ford explorer limited, 4wd, 4.6l - 84,000 miles: rear differential unit whining/roaring for a few months and getting progressively worse. I have mechanical background and looked at the vehicle on rack with mechanic. Rear differential is obviously very bad and I am lucky I did not take my family on vacation with this problem as if the wheels would have locked at highway speed it could cause serious accident/injury. I have not heard of problems such as these with regular/easy use at such low miles and with proper maintenance (as I have done). I have also replaced left front wheel bearing and am suspicious of right rear wheel bearing, which will be evaluated after repair of rear differential.
Transmission failure.
March '07: rear gate split under window december '07 through jan '08: rear differential rebuilt twice, rear axel hubs and bearings replaced; differential noise still loud june '08: torque converter replaced.
2002 ford explorer, o/d light is blinking, check engine soon light stays on continuously. Rear end makes noise, ABS light stays on. Truck shifts hard from reverse to forward. Shifts hard and makes cluncking sound from 2nd to 3rd gear and will not go in to over-drive at all.
Transmission failure on 2002 ford explorer with 36,000 miles.
Transmission failed without warning at 128,000 miles. Car would not shift out of first gear properly. $3500 to replace at dealer.
Transmission in 2002 ford explorer failed w/o warning. Directly (3 days) after getting it back from transmission shop, both rear hub assemblies went. Again, seemingly overnight. My wife said, "it feels like the wheels are going to fall off." service shop said, "it's a wonder the wheels didn't fall off." did this thing just self-destruct or what? Ford needs to be held accountable for these untimely failures. I have three small children. Updated 06/25/08
Transmission slipped while shifting from 2nd to 3rd. At next light, would not shift from 2nd to 3rd until I took my foot off the gas. Vehicle felt like it left the ground as it attempted to shift from 2nd to 3rd. Noticed od/off light flashing. Check engine light came on. I have been quoted new tranny for 3,814.18, rear brakes, rear end noise, egr system code a 5,000.00 repair and the SUV is only worth 7 grand.
Driving when the over drive light started flashing. The car wouldn't go into 3rd gear, causing the car to rev real high and slow down. Total repair for a rebuilt transmission $2,500.00.
2002 ford explorer- a nightmare of problems that keep getting worse. It has 56k miles on it and I am about to replace the transmission. Fuel pump , 2 rear springs, 2 wheel bearings and the drivers side window motor have already been replaced. Neither of the 2 rear windows roll down and the back hatch lift replace on recall is broken yet again. This is the biggest hunk of junk on 4 wheels. Ford needs to do something. Thank god I didn't buy it new because that really would have been a rip off.
Indicator lights flashing on and off ,transmission rattling noise and failure at 99,000 miles.
Wheel bearings and rear differential.
Ford explorer rear differential - replaced 3 x's over 6 years.
My wife and I own a 2002 ford explorer xlt. The vehicle o/d lights started blinking and the check engine light as well. The SUV then just quit. Took the vehicle to a mechanic and it has been diagnosed with complete transmission failure. After reading many other web sites this appears to be a very common problem with this particular vehicle and model year. Ford is aware of the problem, even going so far as issuing a technical service bulletin about it. If it has become standard practice for these transmissions to fail then ford needs to be held accountable for the cost of the repairs.
We own a 2002 ford explorer xlt with a v6 engine. It has approximately 149,000 miles but has been well-maintained. On 5/24/08 we experienced a sudden catastrophic failure of our transmission when driving in downtown seattle. The o/d light would blink and the vehicle would not move. Attempts to resolve this found that first gear was available if we would only go for about 100 yards at best. We ended up having it towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed it as a total failure and required a full rebuild. He also found that the vehicle had been maintained to spec and there were no service-related issues. If this had happened when we were on I-5 or going up a steep hill (of which there are many in seattle) this could have been a very serious problem. As it was, a family of 5 was left stranded on a long holiday weekend by a problem that should not have occurred.
Had to have torque converter replaced and now or still have a whine that I fear is coming from the rear end.
At 75,000 miles, the vehicle started to make an extreme grinding noise in the rear. Took to a car repair shop and they indicated the rear differential was shot. All the bearings in all four wheels were shot. The car repairman indicated that he has seen many of explorers come in with this exact same problem. To make matters even worse, the parts are not engineered to repair economically. You must buy all new assemblies just to repair bearings. The total cost of the repair is $2,500.
With in the first year of having my vehicle I had to have 2 transmission repairs. Within the next year it was done again and then I started to complain about noises and a thumping coming from the rear during acceleration. I now know that the thumping is due to the rear differential and axle needing repairs. Now the vehicle is out of warranty and this is going to cost me about $1,000.00 not to mention that I have had to have the transmission done also at a cost of $400.00 there are many other people with this same complaint that I have noticed on the internet and I think that something should be done.
Transmission failed in my 2002 ford explorer..I wish I would have researched the 2002 before I purchased the car. If I knew then what I know now I would have never bought this truck. This is the second issue I've had with ford, my 1996 ford explorer had the issues with the tires and it took people losing their lives before ford and federal government finally recalled the tires on the trucks. I gave ford another chance and purchased my second ford explorer..never again will I ever purchase another ford explorer or any other ford products. I will not even get the trans fixed , I traded the truck in for a chevy and will never purchase ford again. If you look all the complaints about the trans , why would ford and feds wait to recall these cars?
Transmission started to slip with no warning and completely went out on my wife's way to work. This happened at 98,000 miles. Now there is a issue with the wheel bearings and also had to replace the four wheel drive module two years earlier.
2002 ford explorer, I was driving about 65 MPH on the interstate when the truck just started stalling and the o/d light started blinking. I almost was hit from behind, and the vehicle almost lost control. After pulling over, and putting the vehicle in park, and turning the o/d back on, the truck hesitated to go into 1st gear. Now it won't drive normal, and I keep getting the staggered shifting. This is a major safety failure I believe, as it may easily cause a crash.
I bought my ford explorer xls on feb 5 2005. Complained about the transmission at time of purchase and they said that nothing was wrong. About 6 months later I had it checked at another dealership and they said the shifter solenoid was bad. I had it replaced for a price of 2100.00 to go 50 miles down the road and same thing started again. They then said it was the transmission itself. Nothing but problems from day one and no one at ford cares. Now I am paying for something that I cant drive cause I cant afford to have it fixed. Please help me.
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