I purchased this piece of crap 4 years ago. I put 36k miles on it. Changed the oil regularly, had a tune up, took very good care of this car. At only 55,000 miles the transmission started to go. At first we thought it just needed a tune up. Nope. It started to slip while going into third gear and only when going into third gear. We had a tune up. No such luck. So we took it to a local mechanic who knew the second he drove the truck that the transmission was going. Oh... did I mention that he had 4 other Ford Explorers in the lot with the same problem!!! anyone see a pattern? As much as I know that complaining to the source won't do me any good, I did anyway, and you should too!!!! I will never buy or recommend a Ford.

I purchased my first new car ever in 2000, a Ford Explorer. First thing, the tires were recalled and my local dealer kept putting me off on replacing them until the time had expired and then said I had to pay for them. I went elsewhere and bought tires. Next, between 45-48 thousand miles, the Overdrive light would flash on then go off for no reason. Dealer couldn't figure out why. Eventually, the transmission failed. No longer covered by Ford warranty. Luckily I had an extended warranty through my insurance company so the new transmission only cost me $1,000. Next it would stall out or not start, was told it was everything from a gas cap not on tight to a sensor in the engine. Had numerous "repairs" done at a number of places in town, none of them quite got it running right. Next took it to the local high school auto shop, figuring how much damage can teenagers do, it's already a piece of crap vehicle. They replaced tons of stuff under the hood, showed me bare wires where I was on the edge of an engine fire due to crappy parts and using plastic parts against metal parts (supposedly a cheap Ford trick for built-in repairs for the life of the vehicle). The high school only charged me for parts, no labor, good thing, it took them a full week of fixing one thing after another until they got it running right. Ran good for awhile, then the check engine light came on, took it back to the high school, it was the transmission, they don't do transmissions. That was around 120,000 miles and my thought was, this vehicle is already on its second transmission and it's never been worked hard or had to tow anything, this is ridiculous. So I figured I'd just drive it until it died because I wasn't putting another cent into it. Well, it's now over 130,000 miles and it's dying more than it is running, so I have it at Ford now to make sure it's the transmission, before I trade it in for a foreign SUV. I want to make sure I'm able to tell the poor person that gets this, everything that's wrong with it. Class action lawsuit, oh yeah, sign me up, I know there's a paper trail on these transmissions from all the mechanics I've spoken to over the years, we just need someone to get the ball rolling.

I RECENTLY BOUGHT A 2000 FORD, I MADE THE FIRST PAYMENT ON IT WHEN THE TRANSMISSION STARTED SLIPPING, I HAD A POWER TRAIN WARRANTY ON IT, BUT IT HAS BEEN IN THE DEALERSHIP FOR 2 WEEKS, EVERYDAY THEY TELL ME THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE WRONG AND IT WILL BE MORE TIME. THEY HAVE REPLACED SLIP PLATES, MODULE, BODY VALVE, GASKETS, AND IT STILL SLIPS IN FOURTH, I AM NEVER GONNA GET THIS CAR BACK, I THOUGHT I GOT A GOOD DEAL BUT WHAT I GOT WAS A PAIN IN THE @#$. FORD TOUGH, MY @#$. FOUND ON ROAD DEAD MORE LIKE IT, NEXT TIME I WILL BUY A TOYOTA.

yesterday i dropped my child off at day camp and returned home. ten miles tops. garaged the car as usual. left out again 4 hours later to pick my child up. i got off the freeway within a mile of the camp, stopping at a red light. the light turned green, i pressed on the gas pedal and my explorer with 80k miles on it said, "you talkin' to me?!" then lurched forward. then i thought i was hearing noises of the car in the next lane (poor guy), but as i made the final turn toward the parking lot i discovered it was coming from my 2000 explorer xlt. what the......? i rolled in slowly and picked the first spot i could find to back into (i felt a tow coming on). i stopped my car, put 'er in reverse, gave 'er a little gas, and she replied, "no you didn't just try to make me back this thing up!" and refused to budge. i put my ford into park and then back into reverse to try again. this time she went back but not without resistance. a sick feeling came over me. i went inside and made 3 calls: aaa for a tow, a tranny shop for their address and a heads up, and a ride to get us back home. the hurting thing is that i took such good care of this car and like other folks my extended warranty recently expired. no recalls and no recourse with ford or my trusty dealership that did all my maintenance work--up until now. and i just got back a week ago from an 800+ mile road trip in unfamiliar territory. thank the LORD we were in town when this happened! i feel now that i'm caught between a rock and a hard place because i can't afford another car now but i'm sure i won't be able to swing another repair of this magnitude anytime soon. this car was well maintained, garaged, and low miles for a seven year old car. and let's not forget it's supposed to be FORD TOUGH, right? it's more like: got a FORD? TOUGH (LUCK)! this is the third time i've bought "american"--a plymouth, a mercury, and this ford-- and it will probablly be my last. can you say t. o. y. o. t. a.?

Transmission slipping going into 3rd gear. Was hoping for something simple, but my jaw dropped when Ford told me I needed either a factory rebuilt transmission at about $3000 or have my existing transmission rebuilt for about $2800. And they charged me $166 just to tell me this.

The only reason I went to the dealer and agreed to the diagnositic charge was that the "service advisor" told me that sometimes Ford will help with major repairs even if you're out of warranty. Certainly, I thought to myself, if the transmission is shot at this low milage, Ford will kick in. Nope. Even though I bought the vehicle new from this dealership and had most of my maintenance done there (including transmission at 28K miles), they refused any assistance whatsoever.

I haven't had it fixed yet but I definitely will never give Ford another penny.

I noticed the 2002 model year has many many more transmission failure complaints than the 2000 model year. Somehow I suspect its the same (or very similar) transmission.

We bought this 2000 Ford Explorer with 56,000 miles & got a good deal (or so we thought) after pulling a trailer 600 miles the valve body gasket let go. Fortunately our son was taking an automotive technician program at the time so we only had to buy the gaskets and fluid. The labor was free. now at 99,000 miles it is acting up again. I thought that the gasket was letting go for a second time, until my wife found this site. Also I just put almost $1000 worth of repairs into the front end as well!! Found On Road Dead? I think not... more like F**ked Over Road Disaster! I'm trading it in for a Dodge!

It was completely unbelievable for me that the transmission on my shiny, fairly new Ford Explorer would completely give out with just a little over 60,000 miles on it. This car was only three years old (in 2003) when the transmission went out on it.

The first symptom was that the car wouldn't catch into certain gears, but eventually it became all but undriveable. Took it to a national transmission repair shop, and they fixed it for $2,300 with a two year transmission thrown in.

A year and half later (in 2005), the transmission went out a second time, and a local branch of the same national transmission shop rebuilt the transmission again.

The worksmanship and quality of a Ford Explorer transmission is deplorable, truly. After some searching on the internet, and speaking to the mechanics, apparently Ford decided to cut costs and use an undersized transmission in this model. I would have never purchased this car knowing this information.

Transmission start slipping while coming home from a road trip, and by the time I made it home, the tranny was all but gone. I only had 61,000 miles on the clock, and had two transmission services that was by the book since new, and the damn thing failed 3 months after the warranty ran out!!

I went with an aftermarket company that had a 5 year / 60,000 warranty, and not another Ford tranny. The company that installed the new tranny says that they beef up their transmissions better than Ford and that is why they can offer a better warranty.