This vehicle started to downshift with a THUNK!. The thunk got so severe that you felt it could knock dentures out of your mouth! Took it to two transmission shops. They tried replacing a sensor but that didn't work. Had to have the transmission completely redone. It's now 18 months later and we're starting to get an occasional thunk when it downshifts. Also, it has started to flash the O/D Off warning light and message "Check Transmission." The transmission shop has been unable to determine what the problem is because those lights don't stay on for longer than 5 minutes.

On my way to work today,"CHECK TRANSMISSION" pops up on the digital display. Lucky for me I was less than a mile from a ford dealership. I checked into service and waited for what I hoped would be good news. NOT THE CASE!!! The service tech takes a seat next to me on a recliner and says "Its gone from bad to worse." At least she was comfortable. To make a long story short I am now looking at a $3000.00+ job. The more I read complaint after complaint I had to write one of my own. THE TRANSMISSIONS IN YOUR EXPLORERS ARE CRAP!!!! I have never bought into the whole "Found On Road Dead" comments,or the "Fix Or Repair Daily"s. I just expect a safe,reliable vehicle. I am now in the position of paying the overpriced estimate so I don't lose my job or riding public transit the 2hr route it takes to get me to my shop. The people are not made of money. When manufactures knowingly allow garbage to hit the streets it puts our pocketbooks,livelihoods and even our safety at risk. ACCOUNTABILITY!!!!

Our Ford broke down on the way to work. My wife and I take very good care of this vehicle in maintenance as it is our only vehicle at the time. The transmission slipped and a message appeared telling me to check transmission. I assumed that, as with past vehicles, I would pull up to a gas station and check the level and fill the fluid. We have our fluids checked regularly when we get the oil changed, so I was a little surprised at the level being low. I look under the hood, No dipstick, no access to tranny. I looked it up on my phone. A special syringe and adapter is needed to squirt fluid into the case from the bottom. Brilliant design! so we tow it into a shop down the road and I start researching 05' Ford Explorers and transmissions. Now I am here, with the rest of you. Informed of the apparent flaw after the fact with a $3,000 repair bill. It seems I am preaching to the choir. It's like telling a room full of patients with terminal cancer not to smoke. I will say this. I've never heard of a transmission going out like a switch unless the design itself is flawed. After this repair, and the warranty on it of 3 years expires, it's gone. And Ford has lost a customer for good. I agree this should be class action material!

I cant explain the anger that this problem caused, the inconvenience of not having a car i depend on to get to work. the truck had only 80,000 miles i never expected a transmission problem with this mileage. i feel that all owners of these vehicles should file a class action lawsuit against The ford Motor Corporation. We bailed them out when they were going under and this is how they treat us. I had to pay 5,000 to fix this problem and i will never buy a Ford again. Trading this Junk in to years for a foreign made truck!

after reading all of the numerous transmission complaints, I guess I don't feel that bad. mine failed @ 138,000 miles. 2005 ford explorer xlt V6, bought it used in 2007 w/ around 40,000 on it. great truck/car, whatever. leather seats, BFG tires, nice smooth ride. In the last few months it started skipping a bit, not too much, but enough to notice. a few times the truck lurched when in reverse, and I slammed on the brake. I found this site after some internet searching and became aware that I had purchased a ford exploder. 3000 bucks later I have a rebuilt trans. these American cars and trucks are designed to blow @ 100,000 miles. that's when they, the big auto industry, want you to buy another one. this logic has served them well. to the people that had these and other problems w/ a lot less mileage, I hear ya. a buddy told me, that once detroit started "puttin those dang computers in the cars" everything went south. ever seen a 70's muscle car restored to its original glory, ahhhhh. now thats a car. no computer on board there. too bad big oil has dominated and controlled us for so long. getting back to the exploder. solenoid block becomes stuck and fails , Ive heard because of the quality of the oil used in the sealed transmission. another great idea. torque converter, bands, planetary gear, and all sorts of other stuff that I dont know anything about. basically this vehicle between 2002 and 2006 is really a problem, but a great money maker for ford. they sold a record number of these and have a record number of complaints and repairs. I have owned mazda trucks w/ less problems, but now they are just about the same as the ranger. So,I will have to continue driving it and hope I can get some more miles, as well as some enjoyment, just as soon as my credit card bill gets paid off. I figure 2015.

Update from Jun 3, 2019: ok, here we go... since my original post sometime ago its now 2019 & Ive managed to keep the exploder on the road, but just barely. wheel hubs need to be replaced, all of em. they are all defective. never had a vehicle with so many problems. check them. front and rear. Im on my 3rd engine and 2nd transmission. thats right, the 2nd engine was a dud and blew the timing chain just like the first one. took it back to the mechanic, the one with the 90 day warranty, and he looked it up. 107 days. thats 17 days past warranty. he basically said go fishing. so Im on # 3. thermostat housing leaks constantly, keep your eye on that too. AC needs freon and harmonic balancer in front along with idler arm, pulley and serpentine belt.. keep your wallet open. good luck.

I've notice that there are a large number having transmission problems in their Ford Explorer. Well, I'm being added to that group also, and I'm wondering how many other Ford customers are having the same problems but haven't reported them. I purchased my Ford Explorer in October of 2005, just a couple of weeks before my son was born (who is now six years old). In fact, I bought the Explorer because I needed lots of room for a family of six and a dog. Well, it suited our needs and we had no problems out of it until recently (first week of January 2012) when my wife could not put it into Reverse or Drive (it didn't move at all!!!). We had to have it towed to our personal mechanic to have it checked out. Now, as one would expect, our warranty had already expired on the vehicle, which was fine because any problems (electrical, brakes, etc.) could be covered out of pocket. We've kept our routine maintenance on the vehicle. When our mechanic looked at the vehicle, he said that it was low on transmission fluid and he topped it, drove it a couple of miles and said that it worked fine. He also stated that it we shouldn't be having transmission problems on our vehicle so soon or even at all (it's only 6 1/2 years old). Well, just recently the Explorer gave out on my wife and she couldn't get it to go any faster than 20 mph. I told her to take it straight over to the Ford dealer to have them look at it. Once there, they told her there would be a charge of $149 to diagnose the problem. The next day they called her a said she would need a brand new transmission which would run her $3500. She gave me a call right away and told me the news. I yelled, "BS!!!, on a 6 1/2 year old vehicle! BS!!!". I called the dealer and spoke with a service rep and she said that we would need a new transmission. They didn't ever tell us what the problem was with the transmission. I asked about the problem with the transmission and she said that in order to find out what really went wrong they would have to remove the transmission altogether and that would cost $600 (remember the $149 diagnose charge). So, all in all, it will cost us $4249 (including tax) to have our transmission fixed. I'm still saying BS!!! on this. A transmission should never ever go out on a vehicle unless you're dogging it so bad that the entire vehicle will fall apart. Under normal driving conditions, a transmission will last for some 15 to 20 years before you will see and problems. My wife uses the vehicle to drive to and from work and pick the children up from school! That's it, nothing else! I have my own vehicle to get to work. She shouldn't be having transmission problems at all. She is one of the most safest, law abiding drivers out on the road. I am not accepting this from Ford as I am sure they know about their piece of "CRAP" transmission. To add to this, I received a call several months ago from an individual that works directly for Ford asking me to purchase an Extended Warranty for the Explorer. I told her no because the "$3200" cost for the Warranty would not be used within the life of the Warranty. She kept urging us to get it and then followed up with "Well, what are you going to do if let's say, your transmission fails on you?". I told her that I don't expect any transmission problems because we hardly use the vehicle for anything but driving to work and picking up our children from school. Hmm, I wonder why she made mention of such a specific part on the vehicle and not something like "what if your timing goes out, or you cooling system goes bad?". Go figure. If you read this complaint and would like to contact me about your problems with your Explorer or Ford product, please feel free to email me: atkinsonlamont@yahoo.com

We were on the interstate and the o/d started flashing and transmission failure was displayed then transmission overheating was displayed so we pulled over and fliud was leaking and the vehicle was smoking .We took the vehicle to have it checked the service guy told us we needed a transmission.

I really hate to say this but as for me and my family We will NEVER buy anything that comes from ford. Its hard enough to make the payments each month along with all the repairs .we have had to replace all wheel bearings ,replace both rear axle seals, shaft repair and now a transmission. I stated before we own a 1992 chevrolet truck with 289,000 miles on it and guess what we will be driving while our ford is being repaired! I think ford should step up and fix this problem from what I've seen on this site and others like this one there is a problem. We hear all the time about buying American made products here is what I think about that MAKE IT WORTH IT !

I wanted to buy American. I bought a 2005 Ford Explorer. I changed the transmission fluid on a regular basis. You cannot check the transmission fluid because it is an internal self-contained system, which is a problem to start with. The OD light would come on, but because it is self contained, you can not check the tranny fluid. I never towed or pulled anything with this SUV. It is hard to believe that when you look online, that this has not been a recall for Ford. There has been numerous complaints, but nothing has been done. I have always done regular service on this truck and it has never been driven hard. I was driving to work when I had stop at a light. When I tried to accelerate, I was not able to go over 20mph. I do not make it through the light before it changed to red. I am grateful that I was not hit in the intersection. I finally was able to pull off the side of the road, but I was stranded. Late for work, no other vehicle to drive, and out of money for rental and repair fees, I will never buy another Ford and will advise anyone else looking at buying a car to avoid a Ford at all cost. I hope that Found On Road Dead will be held liable, because my Explorer lived up to it's name of Found On Road Dead. It is a terrible feeling of being stranded on the side of the road where you are just trying to get to work.

Judi in Ocala Florida

I was driving on the freeway about 60mph and I just saw the rpm is at 5000 and when vehicle goes on to get on ramp speed drops and I pull the vehicle onto the side of the road. Then the vehicle won't move. I turn the engine off and restart the vehicle and speed wont go above 30 mph. Again, the rpm goes up and message says check the tranny and OD light keeps flashing. There is no dip stick to check the tranny fluid on this vehicle. Sounds come from the tranny and has no leak with all the mileage I have on this vehicle. %80 in freeway driving. And when I trade my Toyota 2005 Matrix to this vehicle because of economy of USA and they were talking on TV that buy American car to help and now possible have to spend $3000.00 for tranny... that's why all Asian Companies took the market from first vehicle maker in the world.

Freshman in college who previously owned a 300, after accident, father gave me his 05 Explorer tha was bought new, as of last week, the Service Engine Soon comes up oon the screen, & then a day later the O/D light flashes and the Message Center says CHECK TRANSMISSION, next thing you know it starts shifting funny as usual, then the RPM hand revs up and down when driving, when backing up, sometimes it kicks, but now it doesnt back up at all and I had to get random peope to push me out the parking lot. It will cost almost 2,000 to rebuild the transmission. Im going to get my own car soon, not an explorer