My husband and I bought this Explorer with a little over 68,000 miles and thought this was pretty good for a used vehicle. About 6 months later we transmission problems and it would rev up really hard before shifting into 2nd gear. I had my dad look at it (since it knows a lot about cars and he always took care of cars growing up. He couldn't figure it out. Basically told me to just drive it (thanks Dad).

Took it to a local Ford dealership and they wanted to drop the tranny for $400 but they could not guarantee anything. I said "no thanks" we were young, married couple with not a lot of money.

This went off and on for a while. It would not always do it and then it got worse. A couple years later we just took it to a local transmission shop and they said it was something to do with the reverse action. About $1200.

Then again we had to put in over $1000 in transmission when it would not shift

The finally thing came (I will add this as a separate complaint) at around 130,000 our catalytic convertor went out and we just didn't feel like sinking anymore money into it. If we had done it ourselves it would have been worth it but we just didn't have the money at the time and we didn't trust the thing. Loved the car for the comfort and size and it is a beast in the snow and I drove it all over California, but the transmission stuff was ridiculous and stressful.

Not very safe I felt with little kids. So we sold it for super cheap to my brother (he knows lots about cars) and he can't figure it out. It has other issues. Money pit.

Well we too are a victim times 2 of the Ford phantom transmission scam!! Last season I wanted to buy our daughter something safe to migrate back and forth to college but could not afford a new Ford so they said we'll hook you up! We were charged way too much for a 98 Exploder but it was beautiful and had relatively low miles. I own a scan meter so I plugged it in right in front of the salesperson and boy did I get a funny look! The 98 with the 5R55E trans has a dip stick so of course I checked the level and sniffed the fluid and all seemed fine. A couple months later my daughter said there was an O/D light blinking so I took it back to the dealership and they just blew me off and said sorry AS IS!! The computer showed no codes so I reset the light myself and told my daughter to watch for it. All this time the fluid level was fine! Then we took it on a road trip and over 100 miles from home the trans just threw a fit and left us stranded. I trailered it home and did some research then had it inspected. They said it was a torque converter lock up solenoid so I purchased on for $100 less than Ford wanted to charge me and did the work myself. Later that week the light was back and the fluid was cooked so it is parked and I am still making payments. But wait it gets better!! We also have a 1999 Ranger which we purchased new and we seldom use it and it only has 80,000 miles on it but one of the same type transmissions. I hopped in it the other day and went to back out of the driveway and no reverse! All forward gears were fine and no codes but it has since dominoed to forward gears also. I meticulously maintained that truck and it still looks and smells new as it sits there next to the Exploder!! Now we have no vehicles that roll without Flintstone power and Ford just turned their head and said basically sucks to be you!! As for a class action suit I just read that on Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 against us ganging up on the big guys and decided we are going to have to go it alone as individual cases!! Well good luck out spending Corporate to make a difference!!

I financed this car and after 5 years of payments the car gets all these problems. It all started when i first got it, when i would come to a stop it would clunk and jerk. Then a couple years later it started banging when it would shift. Later it would not engage into the gear i want it in eg: reverse, drive. Then sometimes when i would go to leave from a light it wouldn't go anywhere so i would have to put it in second. Now this just happened a couple days ago it wont go into reverse at all it just locks up like its in park. So i have to push it out of parking spots and i can drive away with it in Neutral, drive, and first doesn't work at all. If anyone has any ideas as to what it might be please email me at marcusdesilva@crawler.com. thanks

It has a shifting problem from 1st to 2nd. I took the Explorer to a transmission repair shop and they drained the fluid and replaced the filter. I was told there was a significant amount of metal in the fluid and on the magnet. More than what should be considering the amount of miles on the vehicle. I was informed that a major expense was coming up in the future but without taking the transmission out and tearing down we don't know where the excessive wear would be coming from. Clutches, Torque Converter, Washers. ?

Anybody have this problem and what was it? How long did you have the problem before you needed to have it fixed. The new fluid and an additive has stopped the shift problem for now. The valve bodies are clean from the sh*t but for how long?