Well, my wife's explorer, that drives her to and from work only, went out on me last friday night. Brought it into Dewey Ford Ankeny Iowa. Transmission made no noise but wouldn't shift properly. Was rebuilt in 09 now 40000 miles later it's broke again. Ford sucks bad and needs to recall this issue. From either 2000 or 2001 to 2005 or 06 explorers suck. The rearend went completely out two times. I or anyone that has driven it has never towed anything with it. We have never 4 wheeled with it, its like driving a big eggshell that might have a problem so you baby it as much as possible. I bought it with 19000 miles and a year old. Also it had a bad strut and the front axle assembly was ruined, but when the dealer had just done an inspection on it, it all of the sudden has the axle twist underneath it there was 1800 and change. God I am so stupid for spending the money on ford and never want to again.

I hate you Ford. Your transmissions suck.

A few hundred miles ago, there began a constant "whining noise" coming from under the hood. Then the O/D light blinked on and off. Then came the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT occasionally (always when I was out of reach of my code reader).

Followed by the difficult shifting from 20mph to 30mph. Then came the big BANG when going into reverse. Who can forget the TRANSMISSION OVERHEATING message on the freeway? Or the smoke coming out from under the hood? Or the difficulty going up the hill. How about the 3500 rpms just to get to 20mph?

What is the problem they say? Maybe it's the solenoid, maybe it's the torque converter, maybe you need a tranny rebuild, or a new one altogether? Who knows, but the cheapest part of the solution is paying $75 just to get it checked and told they really can't know what it is, until they open up the trans. Nice! The second cheapest solution is to replace the solenoid block for $800. Yummy!! If that doesn't work, I could always then get the tranny rebuilt for $2500. Yay!!!! And if I really want to get screwed, I could do ALL of the above, only for the trans to conk out on me 10K miles later and start the entire process over again.

Thank you Ford, for my $40,000 truck that I love, but just sits in my driveway.

I purchased a 2005 explorer eddie baour new and just turned 57.000 miles and in mint condition.One week ago i felt the transmission slipping and when accelarating a loud grinding noise.Took it to the shop and it was diagnosed as having broken teeth on tte gears which meant it will need a complete rebuild.At 57,00 miles this should of never happend this is not an isolated event it occures in many of the ford explorers so why isint ford owning up to this.I would like to be compansated for this problem!

I bought this vehicle brand new at Jordan Ford from Skip Vershoyle. I should have learned the first time when this old piece of s***sold my wife a suv when i was out of town.

Well, we had a shifting problem when it was still under warranty and the service rep said it was nothing. I took his word for it and since i do not drive the vehicle and my wife never said anything i thought he was right.

I had to use the vehicle one day and it dam near gave me whip lash when i put it in reverse. My wife said it had been doing this for about a year.

I took it into a reputable mechanic not Jordan Ford and with out saying a word the owner of the shop told me exactly what it was doing and what it would take to repair it. I was just about to tell him that he was the greatest mind reader that i have ever met, when he told me he gets a 04 or 05 explorer with the same problem 2 to 3 times a month.

So like others my transmission went in my 2005 Ford Explorer. It happened one month after my vehicle was paid off (typical). The vehicle ended up not moving on the middle of a busy highway and I had to wait there to get a tow truck. Someone could have plowed into me while I sat on the highway and killed me. Is it a death that Ford is waiting for before they issue a recall? because it could very well happen soon. Of course, I called the Ford customer number and of course, there was nothing they could do for me. Ford doesn't need anymore bad press in the future now that they are trying to get their reputation back so why don't they take care of these problems for their customers so that maybe theses customers will stay with Ford. I'll be looking for transmission stats on my next SUV that I buy so I guess it's not looking good for another Ford Explorer.

I am really pissed at Ford! In fact they made me look like crap for even getting my Ford Explorer. We have always owned Chevy's and I decided to buy a Ford and my husband was soooo mad at me! Then the transmission went out at 86,000 miles!!!!! That is crap for what I paid for it! It cost me over 3000.00 to fix it and it still feels funny like it is going to happen again!!! They should be paying me back for this. I would love to get a class action law suit going on this! Please let me know if anything is being done about this!!! Email address: mountainnotary@aol.com

I am writing to communicate to you regarding a very poor experience that I am experiencing with Ford and Mossy Ford service in San Diego, CA.

I took my 2005 Ford explorer to Mossy in April of 2008 to get a diagnosis of a "delayed and harsh reverse" when I put the automatic transmission from park to reverse. And also, there was a delay when the transmission shifted from 2nd to 3rd gear.

My truck was under warranty in April of 2008 and the dealership took it for a day and road tested it only to come back at the end of day and say there was nothing wrong.

I thought that they were telling the truth as they should know more about the history of this vehicle than I.

A year and a half later, the transmission shift delay from 2nd to 3rd gear seemed to be getting worse as was the harsh reverse condition.

I brought my Explorer which is now out of warranty to Mossy in January of 2010. They tell me that they'll have to charge me a $100 computer diagnostic fee. I disagreed with this because this was an existing problem that they already knew the truck was having back in April of 2008. They told me its Ford's policy to charge the diagnostic fee. I asked them why they didn't do a computer diagnostic in April 2008, they said they did a road test. This is starting to smell fishy! I also get an oil change that day and that's probably the only reason why you wanted my opinion on the attached survey.

I proceed with the diagnostic grudgingly and when I go to pick my truck up at the end of the day they tell me that the Solenoid in the tranny is defective and it's going to cost me about $1100 to fix it. The SAD part about this story is that my Explorer had less than 33,000 miles on it and the tranny is BAD! (I work from home so I don't drive that much).

If it weren't for the 3 years expiring my Ford would still be under warranty and this should be covered.

Considering that the truck has very few miles on it and I always drove the truck in a safe and Adult manner as I am 38 yrs old with a 7 month old daughter, I thought there must be a defect with Ford's transmissions.

I search online on Craigslist.com and some Ford forums and a few mechanics say that the Ford 2004 and 2005 tranny solenoids are bad. So, I take my truck to Midas for a second opinion and they proceed to print out a Technical Service bulletin, which I have enclosed and it states that the Explorers built between 2004 and 2005 have bad transmission Solenoids. My truck was built august of 2004.

I'm feeling like I've been deceived now, considering that this bulletin is quite OLD and was sent out to the dealerships in October of 2005. Wouldn't you feel the same way?

Took my Ford Explorer 2005 to the dealer in San Diego, Ca with a slipping tranny in April 2008 - it was still under warranty. It also had delayed and harsh reverse when putting it from park to reverse. they road tested and said nothing is wrong.

It got worse over the next year and a half so i bring it in again in january 2010 (its now out of warranty) and they put it under computer diagnostics and say the tranny Solenoid is bad and it'll cost me 1100$. I told them they should cover this under warranty and there was a TSB from Ford 2004/2005 that said the tranny fluid they put in was causing problems. I call the dealer again to complain - they say too bad. Then i called Ford Corporate and they said too bad - its out of warranty.

I find more TSB;s online about this tranny and call corporate again and they say too bad. i even wrote a letter to corporate in Detroit and got no reply!

So - luckily i see an ad in the newspaper that the state of CA is hiring for Auto claims specialists for the Dept of Consumer Affairs. ahh - let me send the complaint to them... I typed up my complaint online at the Consumer affairs website and sent it into them and they get back to me in about a month and tell me that the Ford dealer will put the repair under some type of warranty program and just charge me $100 bucks to replace the solenoid.

I'm good with that and got it done.

My brother has worked for Toyota for over 15 years in another state and said the best thing i can do is to keep at it and call and complain and ask for help - it worked!

Had the transmission rebuilt a little over a year ago. Now, 19000 miles later (18000 mile warranty), it is doing the same thing. This vehicle has been serviced exactly as stated in the owner's manual. Took it into the shop this morning, because transmission was slipping, and was told the Mass Air Sensor was bad. On the way back home, the O/D light started flashing, and the Check Transmission light came on. The problem is between 2nd and 3rd gears. After reading all the complaints, it sounds to me like there is a real PROBLEM here. I cannot even imagine having to pay another $2500.00 to have this vehicle fixed, again. What do we need to do AS A GROUP to get a class action suit going regarding this problem? I have had other annoying problems with the vehicle, but all in all, I really like it. I actually drove it up to a Toyota dealer today with the intention of trading it in, but I just can't make myself buy a Japanese vehicle-trying to keep Americans working-but DAMN-the vehicle should be running better than this with less than 100000 on it, and maintaining it properly.

Having the same problem as the others...3-5 second delay when shifting from D to R then it "slams in". Shuddering and delay on the 2-3 shift, like it's "thinking about it". Took it in to Freedom Lincoln/Mercury and they said "no error codes so we can't fix it". Of course, I only have 8,000 miles left on extended warranty. Are they waiting for it to run out then they will sock it to me??? I've been a loyal Ford customer for years, but rethinking that position now...maybe Honda or Toyota look better. And, I can't in good conscience buy anything made in Mexico.

I had my transmission rebuilt at 13,000 miles under warranty. It was jerking into reverse and then slipping into 3rd. It lasted about 50,000 more miles and it is going out again. I took it into the dealer and they said my computer needed to be updated. That was about $200. Well of course it is still jerking and slipping. When asked if they were aware of a problem with explorer transmissions they said they hadn't heard anything. Which I find hard to believe. I know 1 other person who has an 04 explorer and they have had theirs worked on 3 separate times. How could Ford not know there is a problem? I thought ford was built with quality but sadly I was mistaken. We have contacted ford but have not heard anything back from them...Imagine that!