10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
12 / 0
Average Mileage:
19,267 miles

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« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #149

Mar 222022

Explorer

  • miles
continuous highway cruise speed shudder in 6th gear between 50 and 60 MPH

- Dunbar, WI, USA

problem #148

Aug 082023

Explorer

  • 132,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while parked with the engine idling the message "Engine Too Hot to Operate" was displayed and the engine temperature gauge indicated that the engine had overheated. The vehicle was towed to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the water pump and timing chain were faulty and needed to be replaced. The water pump and timing chain were replaced, and the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 132,000.

- Green Bay, WI, USA

problem #147

Aug 202023

Explorer

  • 80,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle jerked. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the coil and the water pump needed to be replaced. The coil was replaced; however, the water pump was not replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

- Hull, MA, USA

problem #146

Apr 222023

Explorer 6-cyl

  • miles
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

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #145

Aug 052023

Explorer

  • miles
I noticed that I had to refill the coolant/water on my car because it was low. When I got out of my work I noticed there was water on the floor, but I didn't think of anything because my car was doing fine. When I was almost home I noticed the car fans were like trying to compensate for the heat, but when I look at my dash. My car was overheating with the engine light. I parked it and noticed the water I put this morning was all gone and the car was still leaking. Come to find out it was the water pump and the engine.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #144

Aug 112023

Explorer

  • miles
2017 Ford Explorer with 114,000 miles. Engine coolant light came on while driving. The car was taken to a Ford Dealer and diagnosed with a failed water pump. As the water pump is installed inside of the engine this is now a major repair and if not caught early, can cause permanent damage to the engine. This failure can cause the engine to stop leaving you stranded. Currently having the engine repaired at Ford Auto Nation in Tustin Ca.

- Yorba Linda, CA, USA

problem #143

Aug 072023

Explorer

  • 60,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact took the vehicle to a dealer for routine maintenance and was informed by the service technician that the water pump was leaking coolant into an engine cylinder. The contact was provided an estimate for the repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

- Los Gatos, CA, USA

problem #142

Jun 262023

Explorer

  • miles
Coolant was found to be infiltrating cylinders 2 & 3 of the engine. The engine was idling roughly and just about died before the check engine light came on. The service center did a pressure check and used a bore scope to confirm that there was coolant in the cylinders. My understanding of this problem is that the engine begins to misfire as coolant and oil mix and the cylinder walls start and other components deteriorate. When deterioration is bad enough the engine can quit. This can happen at any time including at high speeds on the highway. I'm not totally sure how long the rough idling had been going on, but the incident where the engine almost died and the check engine light came on was at about 80,000 miles. My guess is that the rough idling started around 70,000 miles -- give or take. Ford has not yet done a diagnostic teardown to determine how the coolant is infiltrating the cylinders, but it is a known problem for other sizes of the Ecoboost engine. I have the 2.3L Ecoboost. There was a recall on the 1.6L Ecoboost and there is a class action lawsuit for the 1.5L, 1.6L, and 2.0L versions of the engine.

- Glen Ellyn, IL, USA

problem #141

Jul 162023

Explorer

  • miles
The water pump went bad which cost me 1500 dollars and the shop whom done it had replaced 15 water pumps on the exact make and model car as mine this year!

- Dyersburg, TN, USA

problem #140

Jul 042023

Explorer

  • 141,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 65-70 MPH, the engine seized. The contact was able to veer to the side of the roadway. The contact stated that upon attempting to restart the vehicle, the message "No Oil Pressure" was displayed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the head gasket was blown, causing coolant and oil to mix. The dealer diagnosed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 141,000.

- Silverhill, AL, USA

problem #139

Jul 242023

Explorer

  • miles
Overheating warning illuminated, resulted in vehicle shutting down while briefly pulling over in a parking lot to get directions to a specific hospital entrance. Stop to shut down, about 1 min. This has occurred a total of 7 other times over the course of the last 12 months, beginning with the first one in July of 2022. My wife was idling while awaiting to pick up the kids from a gymnastics class. Overheating warning illuminated, resulting in the vehicle shutting down. A mechanic we know was also there awaiting his children and discovered very low coolant level. It was filled & things seemed fine until this spring, where it is a bi-weekly occurrence. Coolant bottles are on stand-by as we have no other option. Even if the water pump is failing, this is all we have to work with. Our other vehicle just shut down mid-drive in March. It was towed to the mechanic. Here we are nearly 5 months later and he doesn-??T have a guess at what the problem might actually be. That vehicle, a 2012 Ford Focus SE.

- St. Louis, MO, USA

problem #138

Jul 032023

Explorer

  • miles
When driving the vehicle, it displayed a dashboard message "Engine Coolant Over Temperature". The vehicle was brought to the local Ford dealer where it is routinely serviced. Grapevine Ford identified that the water pump needed replacing. The part was $419 but it required 14 hours of labor to install it for a labor charge of $3,425. While the part failure isn't common but it can happen, 14 hours of labor to replace it is the real issue This is clearly an extremely serious design issue. What can the consumer do? A vehicle is needed & the repair was authorized. Reviewing the NHTSA website, multiple similar complaints were found. However, none of them referenced the extremely high labor charge to replace the water pump, which is the real issue.

- Trophy Club, TX, USA

problem #137

Jun 232023

Explorer

  • miles
For the third time in six months I had an unintended acceleration when stopped and shifting from drive to reverse or the other way. The rpm-??s go way up, if I didn-??t have my foot on the brake the vehicle may have crashed, injured someone, etc. Ford dealer was not helpful at all, saying they had no prior reports. I had same problem on previous Explorer but traded it in.

- West Milford , NJ, USA

problem #136

Jun 072023

Explorer 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 95,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic, where the vehicle was diagnosed, and it was determined that the head gasket had blown/failed coolant leaked into cylinder # 4. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. Ford Corporate was contacted and informed of the problem as dealership did not manufacture the vehicle. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with TSB: 19-2346; however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000.

- Denver, NC, USA

problem #135

Jun 062023

Explorer

  • miles
Car overheating, coolant holder looks empty, I added coolant and it overflowed. Once I opened the air tank all the coolant came up from below and over flowed. Took to Ford of West Covina and they said I have a water pump leak. Yet I see no leaking ever in my garage or driveway. Car is fairly new and I always take it to get serviced on time and I am very caring to my cars. I took my car for service on 2/23/2023 to Ford of West Covina where I have always gone to and they didn-??t tell me anything was wrong with my vehicle, but now looking at the after visit summary paper work it says coolant leak. The service team told me my vehicle was in good condition when I picked my car up.

- West Covina , CA, USA

problem #134

May 292023

Explorer

  • miles
2017 Ford Explorer 92,361 miles. Car started over heating going 45 miles per hour. Pulled over and then had car towed to the mechanic. Mechanic said water pump was done and coolant had leaked in to the engine and engine was destroyed. Car needs a whole new engine replacement. This is happening with many Ford Explorers and Ford refuses to recall them or do anything about it!

- Glendale, AZ, USA

problem #133

Jun 062023

Explorer

  • miles
1 week ago the check engine light came on as the car was very heated. Coolant was used and the warning went off. A few days later the car was taken to have an oil change and we realized the coolant level was low and there was old coolant fluid dried onto the underneath of the car and a bead of coolant seen. The car was taken to the garage and a leak was found in the water pump, with coolant leaking from the seep whole. The water pump is located underneath the engine which requires an expensive long process to remove the engine and other parts to fix. The car is only 6 years old with 83K miles and a major component has failed which can not be easily accessed. The water pump has now been moved to another location in more recent models. There is a class law suit in process involving many people to address this design flaw and safety hazard. One website alone has over 100 people complaining about this issue with many cars seizing completely on roads whilst in use. There is no recall currently for this problem but dealerships, auto shops are aware of the problem.

- Woodland Hills, CA, USA

problem #132

May 302023

Explorer

  • 80,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the engine overheating message was displayed on the instrument panel. Upon inspection, the contact discovered that the coolant level was low, and added coolant to the reservoir. The vehicle was taken to two independent mechanics and was informed that the water pump had failed, causing a coolant leak. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer for assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

- Woodland Hills, CA, USA

problem #131

May 122023

Explorer

  • 35,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced unintended surging and engine revving. During the failure the driver had difficulty stopping the vehicle while depressing the brake pedal. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while driving at various speeds, and also while the vehicle was stationary and idling. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 35,000.

- Warwick, RI, USA

problem #130

May 012023

Explorer

  • miles
Own a 2017 Ford Explorer, bought new. Took into Ford today for routine maintenance, rotate tires, Oil & Filter. Vehicle has approximately 85,000 miles on it. Upon completion tech advised me they found a radiator leak towards the front of the car. When asked if it was radiator or something else, tech advised they wouldn't know until vehicle was broken down to find where leak was from. Took to independent mechanic to check the issue. Faulty water pump was found to be causing the problem. Reservoir was found empty. No warning lights ever came on. Repairs are being done and am notifying Ford.

- Houston, TX, USA

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