2017 Ford Explorer: won't start

Filed Jun 9, 2026 · Engine · OK

Car was running fine then went to start and received warning about car being too hot. Checked coolant and it was low. Refilled and drove home. Upon arriving engine light came on. PO301 code. There was coolant intrusion into the cylinders, leading to engine failure. Rough idle when starting. Did not drive after this. Went to start and car will not start at all. Symptoms include: Coolant loss with no visible leaks White exhaust smoke Rough idle or misfires P0300 / P0301 / P0302 codes Hydro-locked or destroyed engines

Filed Jul 31, 2025 · Electrical, Engine · OH · crash

intermittened starting problems, vechile wont start, clicks, then starts and power train light comes on. Waiting at a red light, press the gas and the car does not go, also when speeding up transmission slips.

Filed Apr 18, 2025 · Engine · MD

The engine did not start and had a burning smell coming out. The SUV was towed to a Ford dealer to find out the engine block has to be replace. The SUV has been well maintain through out the years of ownership. It has 84000.00 miles on it. After some research, my SUV is not the only one that this has happened. It seems FORD explorer with an ecoboost engine have this issue. 2017 Ford Explore with an EcoBoost engine-ENGINE LONG BLOCK AND RETESTING (VERIFIED CONCERN AND PERFORMED DIAGNOSIS, FOUND COOLANT BOTTLE EMPTY AND ENGINE TO NOT CRANK BUT WHEN TURNING KEY THE ENGINE ATTEMPTS TO CRANK BUT STOPS, HAND VERIFIED THAT CRANK SHAFT WAS LOCKED AND FOUND HYDRO-LOCKED ENGINE DUE TO COOLANT INTRUSION) Fail $11,690.90

Filed Feb 27, 2025 · CA

the transmission has gone out for a second time 3 years ago the transmission was replaced as part of fords customer satisfaction and after 3 years of driving the car started acting weird stalling or not wanting to go- now it will not start after taking to the ford dealership they informed me it was the same problem they had previously fixed, and it was no longer under warranty I would have to pay for a whole new transmission- to be honest I still owe money on this car and could not afford a repair of over 7000 -It was already fixed just 3 years ago how is the Transmisson faulty for a second time? there needs to be recall on this part/

Filed Dec 27, 2023 · Engine · WA

Car wouldn't start. All the water had run out due to coolent leak near water pump and in finding it they found leak near front engine mount. These are problems that other 2017 explorer owners have also complained about online. In addition, Kirkland Ford stated they are backed up on repairing the toe link and roof repair due to lack of certified mechanics. The 2017 whole vehicle should have been recalled due to the cheap parts used which has caused me to continually go in to have recalls fixed. While there they end up causing more issues causing me thousands in repair bills. I have scheduled with independent car repair shop for them to give me estimate of repairing the above items for January 10 the first date they had available.

Filed Dec 4, 2023 · Acceleration, Electrical · TX

Car dies repeatedly while on the road driving and also while parked. Car has errors on dashboard when attempting to turn on, which I have a video of. First mechanic was able to replicate issue once and got some scan tool codes but he said after that, they all cleared out and he wasn't able to replicate. Car was given back to us, drove to store died and it wouldn't start in parking lot. Mechanic sent tow truck, car started when tow truck arrived. Took car to Ford, tech unable to replicate, car returned to us. Car died once again, which is when I took the error video and took the car back to Ford and showed service rep the video. Ford still unable to figure out the issue. We told Ford to keep the car because it isn't safe to drive until we find and fix the issue. Car has been in mechanic and Ford for about 4 months total.

Filed Aug 18, 2023 · Engine · TX

Water pump failure. Engine light came on. By the time I could pull off the freeway (1 minute) the engine had stalled and the car wouldn't start. Towed to repair shop and learned the pump failure had allowed water and oil to mix throughout the engine. Metal shavings were found in the engine. Engine had to be replaced. Total cost before the vehicle was ready: over $11,000

Filed Mar 16, 2021 · Driver assistance, Steering · 50,519 miles · GA

We bougth the car on august 2019 with 4700 miles. In november 2019 the car started occasionally (3 times during 3 month period) to sound the reverse alarm sensor while driving. Then car didn't start, so we changed the battery. In mid march, after taking my 3 kids (our daughter 6 and the twins were 2) to the park, the car will start but the steering wheel was not turning. It was just stock and hard to move. We are so grateful that this didn't happen while driving. We couldn't take it to the dealer because of the pandemic (we didn't wanted to exposed ourselves to any other people). Finally in september, the car was towed to the dealer. They called the following day and explained that to repair will cost us $ 1790. Plus other regular items that needed to be done for a total of $2098. While I do understand that manufacturing errors do happen, still I can't comprehend the fact that the car is 50519 miles and already needs these expensive repairs that could have cause a very dangerous accident to my family. This is our family car! I drive my kids to school and to the park every day. How come something this serious is not put on a test before putting a car into the market (?). But, more than being very disappointed and shocked from what happened and I find the situation very irritating. New cars simply don't do that. I would like to please help me understand what happened to our family car and I would like for you to ensure this wont happen again, I am scared of driving my family in the car and expose them to something like what happened. Is there a recall for this? Shall we give warning to other car owners? This is very dangerous!

Filed Oct 23, 2017 · Electrical, Engine · 150 miles · TN

My 2017 ford explorer xlt with base 3.5 v6 has been hard to start from the first week of ownership. It has less than 5000 miles on it now and isn't fixed. Ford dealership stated it would have to get worse before they could fix it. Vehicle shows no dtc's or any history! My wife has refused to drive it out of town due to the fear of it not starting at all. We have recorded over 30 videos of it not starting and have sent videos to ford motor co. With the same response, cant fix it if it isn't broke. Apparently it will have to either break something internally and leave my wife and child stranded, before it will be diagnosed. It is a $40000 lemon that takes 3-4 times attempting to start before the engine will run. This weekend it took at least 30-40 seconds before vehicle started, then it would not idle correctly! Still no dtc's! Vehicle does this no matter the length of time engine has run or level of fuel? It does it during remote start or the push button. It does at times have a strong odor of gas after start-up, almost as if it was flooded? As a person in the automotive repair world, the absence of concern from ford is shocking! So instead of trying to correct a issue before it becomes a danger, they would rather it become dangerous and then repair it? If it is a fuel related issue, then this is a potential hazard that needs to be addressed. The vehicle is getting worse, but as said earlier, it will have to completely not start before something is done. Ford motor co has not been very helpful, and now I am proud owner of vehicle that will not start correctly.