Bought my 2003 ford explorer in june 2005. After lengthy trip home I noticed a loud buzzing sound up front. When we finally had it diagnosed about 6 months later, we had to replace the passenger front side wheel bearing. Now the driver's side front bearing is buzzing even worse so we will need to replace that one as well. We have 66,000 miles on the vehicle.
2003 Ford Explorer suspension complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 63 of 63, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The shocks and the wheel bearings on the back left passenger side tires on my 2003 ford explorer are shot. My explorer has 87,000 miles on it!!!
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. While driving 25 MPH, the rear end of the vehicle suddenly slumped and the rear driver side tire detached from the vehicle. The wheel, brake, rotor, lower control arm, and axle were damaged. Repairs were made. The current and failure mileages were 50,000. Updated 01/09/08.*lj the dealer replaced brake pads and rear end vibrating. Updated 12/12/07
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. As a mechanic was repairing the emissions module on the vehicle, he noticed that the coil springs failed. The failure was repaired. The current and failure mileages were 52,000. Eq-10203418-4200, received 12/12/07 (2 doc). Updated 12/12/07
My 2003 ford explorer limited, with 59k miles, developed a loud roaring road noise that seemed to be coming from the tires. Inspection by the ford dealer identified 3 defective wheel bearings. The right front and both rears. I know that wheel bearings should not fail with such low mileage so I instructed the dealer to replace the 4th bearing which they said was not making noise because I wouldn't risk a failure while driving. I kept the old bearings and it is not possible to determine which one they thought was good. They are all extremely difficult to rotate and there is very obvious roughness during rotation. My extended warranty covered the cost of the first three. My primary concern is the short lifespan of bearings. The front bearings were so bad that I feel sure an extended trip would have caused catastrophic failure. My second concern is that ford has not acknowledged this problem. On-line research has confirmed that I am not the first to have bearing failure before 60k on a 2003 explorer.
I was advised by the dealer investigating a "squeeking" complaint that my left wheel bearing needed replacing at a cost of over $300.00. At the time, it had around 38,000 miles and was "out of warranty". My regular non-dealer mechanic told me that it was a very common problem with explorers, and the cost was about right. I purchased 2 bearing assemblies and replaced the left one. Now, only a few thousand miles later, the right one is making so much noise I can't hear the radio, so I will have to replace it. I hate to think about spending $500.00+ every couple of years replacing these bearings when every other vehicle I have ever owned, all gm by the way, went over 100,000 miles with no problems. The dealer never mentioned, and actually denied, any tsb's or problems with the bearings.
Catastrophic failure of the front hub/wheel bearing assembly.
The vehicle shakes or vibrates when turning the wheel right or left at low speeds.
My 2003 ford explorer was serviced at dick edwards ford in junction city , ks to replace a left hand rear axle shaft seal on the 12th of febuary 2007. Vehicle was picked up at the dealership by my wife. On the 13th of febuary she was driving home from work (about 3-5 miles) she called me on her cell phone and said she could hear noises, smelled something burning and the rear of the car was moving around and the brake pedal was low. I told her to proceed home with caution. When she arrived home I looked at the vehicle, and noted the lh rear wheel assembly was at a 30 deg angle. I called dick edward ford and they informed me to have it towed to the dealership. Today they implied it was a bearing failure. I looked at the vehicle, spoke to the mechanic and I noted it was a rear axle shaft retention nut malfunction. The nut had backed out on the axle to the point that the assembly was about depart from the vehicle. The mechanic wanted to blame the axle bearing, which was destroyed. This nut if improperly torqued, or the assembly is not installed properly prior to torquing the nut, the nut can become loose and back off, especially since it is rh thread, there is not a cotter pin or anything holding this thing together, only a torqued nut. They then told me that they would not pay for it as it was a coincidence this happened. I refuse to pay. I have pictures of the vehicle setting in my driveway. I should have taken pictures at the dealership when it was taken apart. If my loved one had been on the interstate doing 70 MPH this would have probably have allowed the wheel assembly to depart from the vehicle resulting in a catastrophic accident. And possible death to her as well as others. How many other vehicles out there with the same poor engineering design ?
Ford has defective hub assemblies on the 2003 explorers. Leading up to the defective hubs going out, there is a very loud roaring noise coming from what ever wheel the bearing is going out on. No accident was involved but it was defective and waiting to happen. Wheels do come off of vehicles when the bearings go bad. Ford is aware of this problem they have. I replaced both front hubs 9-15-05 with 41,000 miles on them. Have just had to replace the left front hub again this week with unfortunately 15,000 miles on it which they only warrant it to 12,000 miles. I have corrected the problem at a big expense to me. At this time, I just cringe waiting to hear another one start roaring and going out. I do have all three wheel hubs that the bearing has gone out.
Have had mechanical problems with my 2003 ford explorer which should not have occurred with the least amount of miles on it. Have had rear brake sensor replaced 2 times under warranty, front axle seal replaced under warranty and rear axle bearing replaced with 44000 miles and now the rear axle seal is leaking on the right side. The mechanic who does my repairs stated the axle seals are on backorder due to the amount of explorers the seals are defective on. I have not received any recall information on the seals as I believe this is a safety concern. Could you please check into this defect. I believe there were several defective parts used on the 2003 ford explorers that have not been recalled or reported. Thank you.
I was having a roaring noise in the front end of my vehicle. I rotated my tires, purchased a new set of tires and the noise was still there. I took it back to the dealer and they inspected it and said that I needed both , left and right front wheel bearings replaced. I had them repaired and I kept the old parts and they are available. This corrected my problem. It is faulty parts that ford should have recalled. My car was out of warranty, so the expense was all on me. Cost me $572. If both had to be replaced, its obvious they were defective. I had 41704 miles at the time I had them replaced. I contacted ford , they took my information, but said they could not help me, there had been no other complaints.
2003 ford explorer rear end noise started at about 30000 miles.
Dt: while driving on 8-24-05 the ball joint on the driver's side broke. The vehicle just pulled to the right. The consumer was able to pull to the side of the road without any accident. The vehicle is currently being repaired at a dealership. The vehicle is company owned. The company is aware that the consumer has filed this complaint.
Dt: consumer states he took his car to candy ford because he heard a noise coming from the front of the vehicle. Another dealer had mentioned to him that it might be a wheel bearing. He asked candy ford to check out the car before putting a wheel bearing on the car. The dealer replaced the right front wheel bearing on the car without first checking the car to be sure that was what it needed. A man that works at candy ford told him that on the work order it was listed that they had changed the right front wheel bearing without checking the car out. He was charged $280.00 for something that is not fixed. He is still having the same problem; and it is getting worse. The dealer asked him to leave their premises. The manufacturer said that they would file a complaint against them.
There's a loud roaring noise in the rear end when the gas pedal is depressed. Dealership indicated that this is due to a glitch in the redesigned rear end, but there is no solution at this time for it.
I purchased a 2003 ford explorer 2wd , I recently found out that both front wheel bearing need to be replaced on this vehicle. There is possibly a defect with these parts.
A roaring noise was coming from the front of my 2003 explorer and an inspection at the dealer came up as poor tire wear. The tires were rotated but the noise never went away, it was just slightly quieted then became progressively louder over the past eight months. I had it into an oil change station and a tire dealer before taking it back to another ford dealer and was told on november 22,2004 that the problem was a front wheel bearing gone bad. I now need that part repaired and my vehicle is out of warranty. I have not had the work done yet but the estimated repair cost is $400. I do not feel this part should be in need of replacement at this time. The vehicle is less than two years old.
The rear-end of the vehicle made a humming noise when traveling between 30 MPH and 45 MPH. The owner has taken the vehicle to the dealer, as well as contacted the manufacturer who was not doing anything to assist the consumer. Provide further details.
Various complaints involving the 2003 ford explorer xlt.*mr consumer believed that noise on vehicle was coming from rear. Repairs and/or replacements were made on: front and rear suspensions, transfer case, and seals in the rear axle due to leak. Now, consumer is waiting for a new axle assembly to be replaced on the vehicle. Also, a cooling system noise on vehicle but dealer coudn't find the source of the problem.
While driving at low speed consumer heard a noise coming from rear of vehicle. Dealership serviced vehicle, but could not duplicate the problem.
There's a loud and severe vibration when the truck reached speeds between 59 - 63 MPH. The dealership, in attempts to correct the problem, has replaced the tires 3 times, rotated the drive shaft several times and neutralized the engine motor mount yet the problem still exists.
Consumer stated that while driving at high speeds vehicle will vibrate heavily. Dealer notified.
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