2005 Ford Explorer: sudden loss of power

Filed Aug 13, 2015 · Acceleration, Electrical · 124,000 miles · MA

The vehicle shuts off while driving causing loss of power steering, power brakes with a complete loss of power. This is an ongoing problem and has happend during highway high speed driving. It happens on cars built 11/24/04 and prior. The codes are p2106 and p2135. It's caused by a faulty throttle position sensor and requires a powertrain control module reset b36.11, b37.2 or higher. This has been an ongoing problem thar ford readily ackowledges. They have ugraded the throttle position sensor twice without solving the problem.

Filed Jan 31, 2012 · Transmission · 109,000 miles · IA · crash

Brought the car to the dealer for the transmission lurching. My wife was parking her car and when she shifted in reverse to back into her parking spot, it lunged backwards and rammed the exhaust into bumper, literally crumpling the exhaust, into a concrete barricade, with no warning. This was at 75000 miles in march of 2009. Anytime she put it in gear it would just jump, like something would make it hesitate, and then all of the sudden full power almost uncontrollably. Brought to ford dealer and instead of replacing they had rebuilt it. The case for the transmission was cracked, the first sign it needed a new one. Fast forward january 20th 2012. Now the transmission failed on me, and with no warning with cars coming from behind me, it now has 40000 on the rebuild so now the car has 109000+ miles on it. Now the transmission has aluminum filings inside of it from the parts inside coming loose and shredding the case on the inside. For will not take care of it and it should still have a warranty. It is a dangerous car, if she would have drove to work and it lost power on a busier interstate she would have been in a major wreck. I can't replace a loved one because ford will not remedy the problem. I am getting rid of it so that my wife and kids are safe.

Filed Nov 23, 2011 · Engine · 92,318 miles · GA

Started to feel a loss of power and hear knocking from under the hood of the vehicle so took it to the nearest garage to have it checked out and I was told us that it was the timing chain and that the timing chain on a lot of the new fords have been going bad. No warning, no warning. It is recommended by everyone to replace the engine.

Filed Sep 26, 2011 · 71,000 miles · KY

The car stalls while driving at various speeds from 25 MPH to 55 MPH without warning. The loss of power brakes and steering at these higher speeds is extremely dangerous especially in close traffic. After coasting to a stop the car restarts easily. This stalling occurs with the cruise control on and off and does not appear to be a factor. Weather in all cases was dry and warm. The stalling has occurred several times ,weeks and months apart. Two ford dealers have looked at the car but cannot find a computer code problem, they also haven't been able to recreate the problem thus they say they cannot fix the problem. A web search divulges that others have reported this similar problem to ford for the 2002,2004 and 2005 explorer. Please look into this before someone gets injured or killed!

Filed Oct 5, 2010 · Acceleration · 75,000 miles · NY

I have a problem with the cruise control on my 2005 ford explorer. My son first discovered it back in july-august 2010. While he was adjusting his speed for the cruise control while on the highway, the car completely stalled out and he lost all power steering and brakes. Thank goodness, he had the peace of mind to put the car in neutral and turn the key to start it again. I would not have thought to do that while traveling at a high speed trying to control the vehicle without power brakes or steering. Since that initial episode, both my son and my husband have tested it at slower speeds and have had the same results. So we brought it to a ford dealer in our area to have it checked out. They eventually determined that it was a problem with the electronic throttle box and that it would cost in the range of $800-850 to fix. I asked the dealer if there was a recall regarding this problem and he said there wasn't. I questioned why there wasn't since this was clearly a safety issue, stalling at high speeds. I realize it is only when I use the cruise control but that still doesn't take away the safety concern. He assured me that it would not happen if the cruise control was not used. So I opted to contact their customer service center to see what they could do. $800-850 is a lot of money. I got feedback on the issue a couple of days later that basically said there was no recall so they couldn't help me. Then I was asked to fill out a customer service survey where I reiterated that my concerns about the safety issue were not answered. I have not gotten a response from them and that was back on 8-10-10. So I am now writing to you. Just how does a safety recall get started? Are there other people out there that have had the same problem?

Filed Jul 1, 2010 · Transmission · 48,244 miles · CA

While traveling on vacation from california to oregon on I-5, the vehicle began to shake, shutter, then clunk. "od off" light came on, along with a warning indicating check transmission. Loud whirling noise coming from transmission. It felt like there was no power, and the vehicle was going to stop. I was able to get over to the offramp, to get off the freeway. I did not feel it was safe to try to get back up to freeway speeds, as there seemed to be little power. Due to the sudden loss of power, I had the vehicles behind me, right on my bumper. Vehicle was purchased new, and has been serviced at all required intervals. Vehicle has 48,000 miles. Made it into a ford dealer in oregon, and was told after placed on a diagnostic machine, and all warning codes cleared it may be safe to drive back to california. Went about 300' from the dealership and "od off" light came on, "service vehicle soon" light came on, and check transmission warning came on. Drove it back into the dealership, and they removed the transmission pan, and diagnosed the problem as internal transmission failure. Found metal, and clutch material. Cost to replace transmission $3,657.

Filed Apr 30, 2010 · Acceleration, Steering · 47,000 miles · NC · fire

I was driving on 77 north in fancy gap, va, when suddenly I lost power steering and acceleration. I noticed smoke coming from car and in fact the car in front of me said he noticed black smoke and flames underneath the car. I pulled over to the shoulder and the car was immediately in flames. I exited through driver side door. My passenger had to exit through driver door as well because flames were spreading across the passenger side of the car. We distanced ourselves from the vehicle as the entire thing became engulfed in flames. Carroll county fire department and va state police arrived. It took over 45 minutes for the fire to be extinguished; the car kept re-igniting, even after several applications of water and anti-flame chemicals. The entire vehicle melted, including tires. Nothing was salvageable. The vehicle was a 2005 ford explorer with only 47,000 miles. It was meticulously maintained and recently serviced.

Filed May 25, 2009 · Electrical · 37,007 miles · PA

On three occasions within the past three weeks, my car has lost all power. On two of these occasions, I was slowing down to make a turn in the road and on the third time, I was driving on a straight-away. Each time I was doing less than 40 MPH. Only one time was anyone else in the vehicle but it was still very scary and very upsetting, considering I have only had the vehicle for 8 months. I am just afraid that this is going to happen when I am going faster or in heavy traffic. So far, I have been lucky and have not been in any traffic when this has occurred.

Filed Dec 1, 2008 · Electrical, Engine · 78,000 miles · NC

On several occasions (about 6 times total) and without any warning, my 2005 ford explorer has lost all power. All incidents have occurred within the past 6 months with the most recent occurrence on november 26, 2008. Each incident has occurred at speeds below 45 MPH and while coasting on a slight downgrade. My concern is that I will lose power in a crucial situation and not be able to steer or stop effectively since these features function most effectively with full power. In all instances I moved the gear to neutral and restarted the engine without any trouble. I did catch it one time before it lost power, again while coasting I noticed the tachometer drop to almost 0. At seeing this I tapped the accelerator, the RPM went back to a normal range and I drove on as normal.

Filed Jun 7, 2006 · Electrical · 28,000 miles · FL

On two separate occasions my 2005 ford explorer xlt has completely died while the vehicle was in motion. Both instances happened at speeds of less than 45 MPH. The vehicle goes dead, as if the key has been turned from "run" to the next position back. There are no symptoms prior to the vehicle shutting off. The vehicle experiences a total loss of power, all gauges go dead and all dash warning lights illuminate, so I know that the vehicle still has electrical power. Something is causing the engine to turn off while the vehicle is in motion. This has happened on the 13th of may and again on the 2nd of june. On both occasions I took the vehicle to garry smith ford, in ft walton beach fl for service, and on both occasions I was told that they could not duplicate the fault and that there was no record of a fault in the vehicle system. I am not satisfied with their answer. They have replaced no parts on my vehicle and recommended that I simply keep driving it, until I can get it to die, then call them on the phone.