The transmission was slipping and finally one day I put the car in reverse and the car did not even move. I had to get my transmission rebuilt at 60,000 miles. I also am having a big problem with the paint peeling off the roof of the car near which was not covered under any warranty which is crazy especially when the service dept at my local ford dealership says that my year and make has paint problems and they have seen it happen many times but no recall was ever issued.
2004 Ford Explorer transmission complaints
Page 7 of 16: complaints 161 to 190 of 460, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The back hatch has a crack underneath the window in the middle around the ford emblem. Just appeared....as I've noticed several ford 2004 explorers in this area have the exact same defect. Recall is very much necessary. As well as the car jolting into drive and reverse....I still owe several thousand dollars on this loan and refuse to pay for any repairs....ford should do a recall on both...they need to hire some japanese workers since their cars seem not to have these types of issues.....I bought this car in feb of 2008 and had the transmission problems right after that.....car only had 48k miles on it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. While driving the transmission will slip from second to third gear. The vehicle shifts very roughly into the reverse gear. Also the glass from the rear window has loosened from the frame due to the clips. The manufacturer was notified, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 99,240.
When shifting into reverse, the car jerks (shifts hard) backwards every time. Eventually, transmission had to be rebuilt. The problem no longer exists.
When shifting into reverse there is a hard shift also hard shifts up and down while going forward.
Explorer jerking and bucking when put into reverse. Problem eventually worsened with bucking once put into drive. Bought used at 31,000 miles. Symptom evidenced at just over 33,000 miles. Transmission replaced at cost of nearly $4,000. Addressed this issue with ford . Response- sympathetic but nothing they can do? Or is there? Design or manufacturer error. Either way accountability should not be an issue. Last ford I will own.
2004 ford explorer-serious transmission issues with gears slipping/failing. Huge delay in reverse then a large jolt back is very dangerous.
Have a 2004 ford explorer with bad transmission. Delay in shifting in reverse and a jolt into gear caused be to slam into items in my garage. Although no one was hurt, it can happen. Ford has know of this issue as well as 2-3 gears slipping which can cause a slowing of the vehicle in traffic.
2004/ford explorer fire while parked in parking deck,there was no previous warnings ,of any kind. Truck was running well ,no service lights ever came on. Truck only has 40,000 miles on it. Never had any sings or symptoms,that anything was going to happen. I have a police report. Fire dept. Report. Also valet parking managers report from 11/6/09.now truck is at toms ford ,hazlet nj. We need to know what went wrong , there was no prior warning to this event. Thank god I wasn't on the hwy when this occurred with my granddaughter 27 mths . Please help!
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. When he activated the cruise control while driving, it deactivated itself without warning. He had to restart the vehicle to re-set the error code. The failure occurred intermittently, and mostly on the interstate. Also when he would turn on the turn signals, the automatic warning system would make an alarm noise and blink until the turn signal would cut off. The automatic transmission appeared to lose fluid, when he shifted into reverse. He heard a roaring noise near the tire area. He was told by the dealer that the hubs needed to be replaced. Lastly, the aesthetic piece on the lower half of the hatch-back had cracked and separated from the vehicle. He took the vehicle back to the dealership and was advised that there was an electrical failure. No repairs were made. The manufacturer referred him to the federal safety agency. The current mileage was approximately 68,000. The failure mileage was approximately 52,000.
My 2004 ford explorer awd has a transmission issue. When the transmission is placed in reverse or into drive, the transmission will often shift into gear very hard and cause the car to suddenly move backwards or forwards in a violent manner. The car will move while the brake is applied and I fear this transmission issue will cause some type of failure in the future causing the car to go forward or backward with no control. It shifts so hard from park into gear it feels as if another car has ran into the back of my car. I have read identical reports online from numerous other people involving ford explorers around this model year timeframe.
About 75,000 miles on vehicle, purchased new, regularly serviced. Accelerating, the o/d light came on and the transmission went "thunk" as it tried to shift from 2nd to 3rd. Restarting the car the o/d light went off and the car shifted normally except occasionally the car shifts rough. The ford dealer wants $1800 to $4200 to repair.
My 2004 ford explorer has a bad transmission problem !!! Jerks very hard in reverse , slips between 2nd & 3rd gears, sometimes slips while in traffic !! I feel this is very dangerous !!
2004 ford explorer (solenoid pack) repair 2nd time.
2004 ford explorer nbx. Owner put car in park and gear shift lever came off in hand. Car transmission stuck between park and reverse. Had to get car towed to dealership. Dealer states they have fixed numerous explorers with same issue in the recent past. In my opinion, this is a design flaw with the material used (appears to be aluminum) for the "donut" shaped ring that connects the gear shift to the steering column. Contacted ford and they were unwilling help with expense ($1,500) of fixing this manufacturer defect.
2004 ford explorer with, less than 75,000 miles. Needs to have the transmission repaired or replaced. My wife and two children were out driving in traffic when failure began to occur. Unable to accelerate past 30-35mph. This is all after the dealership repeatedly told us no problems, overfilled trans fluid, and added the recall additive from ford. My wife reported. We informed ford multiple times about hard shifting or slipping feeling when accelerating, and very hard and loud engagements into reverse. There is an obvious problem, I guess it will just take a tragic event to admit the problem.
2004 ford explorer with 49,000 miles. Howling noise from rear. Took it to ford; they rebuilt the rear differential at a cost of $1600.00. Car has always been serviced at ford for routine maintenance. Don't understand how this vehicle with such low mileage had to have rear differential replaced. In looking at service bulletins; this sounds like a defect that ford has not acknowledged.
Abrupt shifting from park to reverse. Took vehicle in four times for repair. Solenoid was replaced twice, transmission fluid additive, then transmission fluid flush. Unintended shifting by transmission resulting in vehicle to swerve at 50 plus miles per hour. Occurs daily on highway after letting off accelerator and coasting.
The transmission in my '04 ford explorer shifts incredibly hard, will stall in mid shift, and can slip into reverse from park at anytime. I am one of thousands of owners in the 2002-2005 years in which ford/mercury put these transmissions into explorers and mountaineers and they are junk. Something needs to be done by ford being they've fixed the problem in their 2006 models. The dealers don't know how to fix the problems.
I am handicapped and live on social security, this is important because of the bill I had to pay. I am making payments on a used 04 explorer, they are quite high so I got the extended service plan. The rear axle has whined ever since I got it. When it was drowning out the radio and finally started leaking the dealer, don jenkins ford finally agreed to look at it. I was reduced to laying on the floor while I waited because if I brought my wheelchair I would have no way to get it home. The dealer replaced the ring and pinion under the warranty company even though it was a factory defect, the car only has 65k miles. The parking brake fell apart when they removed the axles but they couldn't get the warranty company to pay for another factory defect so I had to give them almost $400 to get my car back. It was okay for the warranty company to pay for shoddy parts and questionable workmanship but not ford. I am disgusted with this modern morality, in my day they called these people by their proper name, thieves. No wonder the car companies are in trouble, cars cost almost one third the price of a starter home and are made with second rate chinese parts just to support the unions. It will be a cold day in '!@#$% and the devil will come upstairs selling snowcones before I will buy another car made in the last ten years.
There is no failure yet for our vehicle but there are many out there that has. Do a internet search for the 2004 ford explorer complaints and see for yourself the complaints for wheel bearing failure and rear differential failure that will eventually get someone killed. This is a very common problem and ford will not acknowledge or do anything about it.
Transmission failure on ford explorer 2004... The transmission failed on my explorer, 3 of the 4 gears were gone!.... This cost $7,000 to be replaced... I believe this is unacceptable for a 3 year old car to have this type of problem at this cost. Not to mention I worked with a guy who had an explorer and a mountaineer and the transmission went on both of those vehicles.. They were an 02 and 04. Then this past week I had to have my brakes done. And the repair shop said I needed a few other minor things done... But I told them I had already spent $8,000 (all ball bearings replaced $1000 + 7000 for transmission)on the vehicle recently and can't get it done right now. And they asked if the problem was the transmission... I said, "yes why", they told me they had 5 explorers from the around the same age as mine that had transmission failures. Now that's a total of 8 explorers in my area and I have heard of others from other people. Ford needs to make good on this and offer some discount on a fix for this or have all the explorers from this time period recalled. I bought a new transmission even though is was $4000 more than a rebuilt one, because it came with a life-time warranty.... I would appreciate it if there was an investigation made into ford's explorer so, that past and future problems can be rectified.
I purchased a 2004 ford explorer 30jun08, in march 2009, in less than a year I have had to replace the module/engine control, the battery and the alternator at the willowbrook ford dealership. I paid a total of 2033.60 in repairs. When I got home last friday night and was parking my car, as I went into reverse I felt a jolt in shifting from the transmission. Yesterday driving to work again I felt the transmission slipping and hard shifting. The o/d light begin to flash and I couldn't accelerate over 40mph. On my way home from work, again I could not accelerate over 30mph but now its making a horrible noise and the service engine and o/d lights are flashing. This is a well known problem as I have read numerous complaints about it online. Why hasn't ford recalled these faulty transmission? I have until jul10 before this car is paid off and still owe over 6000.00. This is the fifth ford I've owned and I am totally disgusted by this whole situation. As a single mom of 3, I don't have any thousands of dollars sitting around waiting to throw it away in ford repairs. Someone has to step in for us consumers who are being ripped off. Please help us.
I was dropping my son off at his friend's house. I pulled into the driveway and put the truck in park. I opened my door, got out, walked around the front of my vehicle and accompanied my son up to the front door. All of a sudden, the truck started to roll forward on the driveway and crash into the homeowners fence. When I got into the truck, it was still in park. There was damage to my front bumper as well as the fence that it crashed into. Thank god it didn't happen while I was walking in front of it! This transmission on this vehicle has been a problem since the beginning. I too experienced the "thump" as it slammed into reverse, only for ford to deny there was a problem and finally put the additive into the tranny. What a way to fix the problem! ...never again will I buy a ford. I just hope no one has to lose their life for ford to do something about this.
We own a 2004 ford explorer. The ford recall to remedy factory transmission fluid problem was a band-aid to fix liver cancer. The transmission jumps into reverse a few seconds after shifting, and the shifts when going forward are "jerky". Ford has tried to placate owners with an additive. The problem is ongoing. Nothing has been done to correct the problem.
2004 ford explorer with 54k miles has slip in transmission when shifted from park to reverse and will slip when the transmission shifts automatically. It catches and will produce a loud bump. It takes several seconds to catch when shifted to reverse.
2004 ford explorer has extreme engagement into reverse. Have had multiple trips to dealership for repair prior to this final repair by independent repair shop. If driver doesn't anticipate this condition personal injury and/or property damage could occur.
I own a 2004 ford explorer eddie bauer with v-8. Have taken to the dealer numerous times about abrupt and delayed shifting with transmission. Dealer re-programmed transmission with no luck, no recall from ford but have heard hundreds of complaints on-line about same problem. Truck now has over 90,000 miles and still has same problem. Replaced leaking transmission pump last decembe08 and still hard shifting. Will not return to ford for repairs when transmission or other drive train parts fail due to the hard up and down shifts, please help!
2004 ford explorer required new transmission in first year. Later, a loud whine developed from the rear of the car on acceleration. Annoying, but I didn't know if meant trouble. Abs and 4x4 high lights later began to come on intermittently. Mechanic found no cause. Just recently, at 79,000 miles, the vehicle began to feel like it was about to fall apart. Ford dealer has had it for over a week, they say, after doing $1000 worth of useless work on it, that the entire rear differential has gone bad, and must be replaced. Apparently this was not caught up till now, but must have been responsible for the whine, the errant lights, and a ka-chunk that the brakes have been making for years, also never able to be diagnosed. (note: I didn't know where to categorize this, so I entered it in the other category because I didn't want to misclassify; also do not have VIN as the vehicle is at the dealership).
I have a 2004 ford explorer. I have two complaints with this vehicle. The first is that the back gate cracked from the window. The second complaint is that my truck is making a loud thump in reverse, and after I put it in drive after being in reverse, the transmission is slipping making it dangerous to pull out into traffic. I was almost hit twice pulling into traffic from the engine slipping.
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