transmission problem
9.2
really awfulTypical Repair Cost:
$2,400.00
Average Mileage:
90,329 miles
Number of complaints:
15 complaints
Most common solutions:
- not sure (9 reports)
- enclosed transmission overhaul (4 reports)
- new tranny (2 reports)
Helpful Websites About 2002 Ford Explorer won't shift into 3rd gear
2008Mar 31
Explorer Eddie Bauer V6
- Automatic transmission
- 116,550 miles
Check Transmission light came on and I drove to my dealer.
Tranny is all messed up -- won't shift to 3rd gear. Judging from this web site, I am not the first to encounter this problem!
Dealer says I can either spend $2025 to overhaul it, and get 12 month warranty or buy a rebuilt tranny for "about" $3,000 and get 5 yrs on a warranty. Car was extremely well maintained and we don't use it to haul anything but the soccer gear. Was intending to drive it another 2 yrs to make the purchase price worth it.
Will be trading it in and informing Ford that that was my last purchase from their company.
Loved my 1995 Explorer and got close to 200,000 miles in six years and a decent trade-in at the end. That's why I bought another. This 2002 model clearly sucks. Will take my lumps and move on to another car company rather than rewarding the dealer with the cost of the repair and rolling the dice with Ford again. Quality is Job 1. Yeah, right. . . .
2007May 07
(reported on)Explorer XLS 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 71,000 miles
MY O/D LIGHT IS FLASHING, SERVICE ENGINE SOON LIGHT ON AND SHIFTS HARD FROM SECOND TO THIRD AND SOMETIMES WONT SHIFT INTO THIRD GEAR. WOW SO MANY COMPLAINTS ON THIS EXACT SAME PROBLEM. IF THERE ARE SO MANY COMPLAINTS ON THIS EXACT SAME PROBLEM WHY DO FORD DEALERSHIP PRETEND THEY ARE IN SHOCK EVERY SINGLE TIME A 2002-2003 EXPLORER COMES IN WITH THIS PROBLEM. RIGHT NOW IM HAVING THAT EXACT SAME PROBLEM WITH MY TRUCK AND THEY ACT LIKE BECAUSE YOU OWN A FORD YOU JUST HAVE 3-4 GRAND JUST LYING AROUND READY FOR YOU TO HAND IT OVER. WELL NEWS FLASH I HAVE A FAMILY LIKE MANY OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY AND IN TO DAYS WORLD PEOPLE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY TO JUST HAND OVER. I WISH I WOULD HAVE LOOKED MORE INTO THIS TRUCK BEFORE I PURCHASED IT. NOW IM STUCK WITHOUT A TRUCK BECAUSE I DONT HAVE MONEY TO FIX THE STUPID THING. I GOT THIS CAR BECAUSE I NEEDED A RELIABLE CAR FOR MY FAMILY, GUESS I WAS WRONG IN THAT DEPARTMENT. WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT. I NEVER THOUGHT I COULD GO WRONG WITH PURCHASING A CAR THAT WAS ACTUALLY MADE IN AMERICA I NOW KNOW WHY WE DEPEND ON FOREIGN COUNTRIES FOR ALL OUR DEPENDABLE NEEDS. DON'T BOTHER TO RESPOND THIS MESSAGE UNLESS FORD CAN GET OFF THERE LAZY ASSES AND FIX THIS PROBLEM THAT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE HAVING. THIS IS RIDICULOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE. THIS IS AMERICA AND WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DEPEND ON OUR OWN COUNTRY. IN ALL REALITY WE WERE BLIND-SIDED BY AMERICAN RIP-OFFS. I JUST CANT BELIEVE THAT FORD WOULD BE SO COLD HEARTED AND WOULDN'T WANT TO FIX THIS PROBLEM BUT I GUESS WHEN YOU MONEY HUNGRY SCANDALS YOU'LL DO ANYTHING TO MAKE THAT DOLLAR. SO NOW IM DEBATING ON DO I NOT PAY RENT AND LOOSE THE ROOF OVER MY FAMILY'S HEAD TO GET MY TRUCK FIXED OR GO WITH OUT MY TRUCK AND DEPEND ON EVERYONE ELSE TO TAKE ME AND MY FAMILY EVERYWHERE WE NEED TO GO. HEY IF I LOOSE MY HOME WE COULD ALWAYS LIVE IN A FORD TRUCK RIGHT.
2007Dec 30
Explorer XLS 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 74,000 miles
tell ya what won't ever buy a ford vehicle again......... and i was a ford junky
2007Dec 14
Explorer XLT 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 76,000 miles
Wont shift into third , o/d light flashing. Ford should offer reimbursement or partial reimbursement on tranny rebuilds as common as they are to stay competitive in todays market.
2007Oct 27
Explorer XLT 4L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 85,000 miles
85,000 miles and the O/D light is flashing. I bought this car three months ago (July 20,2007) and so far I have only consumed 500 miles.It is having a hard time shifting into 3rd gear…actually it goes only to 30 miles/hr and OD light starts blinking… I blame myself for trusting the dealer and I wish I could return it to them.
2007Nov 11
(reported on)Explorer XLT 4L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 79,000 miles
78,000 miles and the O/D light flashing....will not go into 3rd gear easily. I have to drive the car like a manual to get it into 3rd gear. Check engine light is on............I bought this POS little over 2 years ago. ALSO rear axle springs are junk.........the back end is ready to fall off. I owe way more than this POS is worth.............If there is over 200 complaints about the same issue FORD must do something about this............
2007Nov 02
(reported on)Explorer Limited 4.6L V8
- Automatic transmission
- 112,000 miles
The other day I noticed my explorer was having trouble shifting into 3rd gear. It would miss the shift and the engine would rev with the rpm's climbing higher causing the vehicle to show a "check transmission" message on my instrument panel's message center. The vehicle would also come out of O/D. However I did learn to deal with this problem until I got it fixed. I found that if I let off the gas a little bit as the vehicle got to its shift point I could convince it to shift into 3rd albeit sometimes with a little clunk. What a pain in the ass. All this happened only two months after buying the vehicle. Thank God I got the extended warranty!
2007Oct 26
(reported on)Explorer V6
- Automatic transmission
- 61,000 miles
I bought a 2002 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition NEW from Island Ford on Staten Island. This week the truck wouldn't go into 3rd gear so I brought it to my mechanic who said it needed a new transmission AT 61,000 miles!!! I called Island Ford and was told that they have heard of no reports of the 2002 trucks having transmission problems and it would cost $1850 plus to have it repaired by them, my warranty ended 10/2006 so I wasn't covered. I found this web site in a matter of seconds and saw 110 complaints of transmission problems on 2002 Ford trucks. Amazing!!!
2007Oct 25
(reported on)Explorer XLS 3.2L
- Automatic transmission
- 73,000 miles
I THINK FORD WILL NEVER live it down Found on Road Dead paint is shitty clearcoat,back plastic around liftgate cracked,tranny shot,window regulators fixed twice, TRANNY PROBLEMSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED IN RECALL OR OUT OF WARRANTY REPAIR FOR FREE
2007Oct 22
(reported on)Explorer XLT 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 148,380 miles
Originally my 2002 Ford Explorer began with a rattle when accelerating in third gear. Sounded like pebbles shooting thru a small tube. Once it hit 4th gear the noise went away and I was ok. OR SO I THOUGHT. One day (at about 148,000 miles) as I'm pulling away from a traffic light, I get to third gear.... or when I was supposed to hit third, the engine races as if I'm in neutral. I let my foot off of the accelerator and luckily the truck was going fast enough to switch into 4th gear. Shocked and confused, I began driving with caution. Much to my surprise it began happening EVERY TIME I pulled off from a dead stop. If I needed to slow down without stopping it was tourcher. I literally had to drive in second, trying to keep the engine from racing until I reached at least 30 mph. I would then let my foot off of the accelerator and the truck would shift into 4th. I tried to have my trans fluid checked, but there was no dip stick. So I call the Ford dealer and tell them about the problem, THIS GUY tells me....... uhh well we don't have any openings for another week and a half or so. "AM I SUPPOSED TO JUST BREAK DOWN IN THE MEAN TIME"?!?! I just wanted them to look at it and tell me what they thought it was...... NO DICE. So I took it to a trans shop to have them inspect it at least. They quoted me $2,200 for an overhaul. I then called a number of trans shops explaining the problem and everyone seemed to be familiar with my story as if they heard it many times before. I then called the dealer to try and schedule the appointment for the long wait, and he told me because I didn't reserve the spot when I called the first time, it would be a longer wait. FREAKIN AMAZING!!! Eventually I took it to an outside trans shop to get fixed. I ended up paying 2,000 dollars and the MOMENT I pulled off the lot after them telling me I was good to go.... I got to a traffic light.... the truck jumped as if it had hiccups, and once the light turned green I placed my foot on the gas....... the engin races, I DONT MOVE...... It violently jumps into gear and I turn that bad boy around and took it right back. PISSED is such an understatement........ This is just the beginning of the story. HONESTLY!! To be continued....... I'm really still waiting for my car to be repaired.
2007Oct 19
(reported on)Explorer XLT V6
- Automatic transmission
- 50,000 miles
I purchased this 2002 ford explorer new. My husband drove it to work under 5 miles per day for the last 6 years. Purchased oct 31 2001. The car has had many problems over the years. As the Ford service dept had told me there is noting wrong with my car. I took it to a reputable non ford mechanic and he gave me a laundry list of things that were causing these mystery noises. They replaced 80% of the bottom of the car. I figured I was ok. Not true there were still mystery noises and I had that problem with every once in a while the transmission would shift hard into park and reverse. Ford said this is normal and ok. They said they ran tests and the transmission is fine.Life goes on and now we are out of warranty. Trying to trade the car in to the same dealership they now say the car is worth nothing (4500)They say trade it in and all will be better for the future, but they can not help me with the past. I would rather drive the car off a cliff and cook mashmallows at the blaze at the bottom than give it to them to take advantage of someone else while screwing me. My present mechanic is telling me because I went there while under warranty and It is under 8 years and under 80,000 miles I do have recourse for them to fix the problem because the car does not past ny state emissions because of the problem. I am going to ford today so we will see.
2007Aug 06
(reported on)Explorer SKT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 82,000 miles
Just like a lot of other people that already wrote, this was our first Ford vehicle. Approximately 12,000 miles ago the OD light started coming on, and last June the truck wouldn't not go into gear.
Again, luckly, I was at a safe location outside the local YMCA, with my 11 year old daughter and niece. Close to $2,000 already spent and the mechanic working on the transmission, still gets error codes messages from the system. He has rebuilt the trans. and checked everything at least twice now, yet we're getting the same error messages. Not only that. back in 2004 the power window on the rear, driver side, broke. Warranty covered that repair. Nonetheless, driver door -this time- power window broke. My husband ended up repair it it, as warranty no longer covered that one. ... Oh... some more, one of the rear doors "gasket" -plastic part that seals? the door, came unglued and since we did not notice right away, water would leak when it rained... it seems like Ford definitively needs to do something about it. What if we go ahead and start a Class Action Law Suit? Anyone with me....
2007Jul 23
(reported on)Explorer XLS 3.2L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 105,000 miles
After we had already signed the paperwork for this car, we found out about the sealed transmission and were warned that they have a tendency to go around 80,000 miles.. We made it to 105,000.. And 3rd gear is gone.. It will cost us close to 2,000 to fix it.. In the meantime I am paying 300 per month for a beautiful vehicle that I can't drive..
2007Jan 04
(reported on)Explorer LS 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 92,000 miles
Transmission is trying to shift into 3rd gear and it won't do it unless you let off of the accelerator. Ford dealership said it needed a new tranny, but I don't think the problem is that bad. All they want is $3,000 instead of $300. I hope I find out it is something else just to prove them wrong.
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2008May 09
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
I am a used car dealer, and have had lots of older Exploders, my wife wanted a newer one for us to drive, so I got an 02 at auction. seemed good for a few weeks, then I find out all this! Same old !!! Talked to my transmission buddy and this is common, funny how the Ford dealers are all surprised but the repair guys know all about it ( wish I had called him FIRST ). Anyhow, easiest fix , if you can find one, is a used one, WAY cheaper, and the used parts guys say put in a new filter, and an AFTERMARKET COOLER, don't depend on the radiator, or factory cooler, and you shouldn't have another problem. I am doing this now and will let you know if this is the fix. I'll probably use one of the Ford Police car coolers, have lots of them laying around, and they do work. I am going to try to figure out how to check the fluid , or maybe flush it every so often after it's in, and we'll see what we've got.
bo'connellfl
Plant City, FL, USA
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