4 years old, and only 50k miles and the O/D light starts flashing. I also had been having problems of when I stepped hard on the gas, it felt like nothing would happen for a few seconds - very scary in busy traffic situations. And occasionally I would hear/feel a big clunk when slowing down and stopping. Called my local dealership, and they wanted $125 just to diagnose! Since it wouldn't be covered under warranty, I took it to a reputable transmission shop, got a free diagnosis. They were hoping it was just a solenoid problem. Wound up having to pull the transmission, and found that the clutches were basically falling apart in there! They also told me that they work on a lot of Ford Explorers, usually around 70K. I thought this transmission wasn't supposed to need service until 125K!?!?! And get this - you put in the transmission fluid in the same hole you take it out from - you have to pump it in - what a pain! I love my Explorer, but this is my first ever experience with having to dump this kind of money into a car. This had better be the last of my troubles. BTW - seems to be working great now. Runs better than ever! I think this car had transmission problems from the get go! I've owned it 4 years now, but got it used. This is the best it ever ran - I'm wondering if this is the reason why the previous owner got rid of it soo quickly.

I'm a loyal Ford fan, but it seems America only makes parts designed to fail. We wonder why Toyota and Honda are always high on customer satisfaction and sales every year, this is why. My 2003 Explorer is in excellent condition, garaged and meticulously cared for. The transmission light came on with only 33,600 miles on it. Had it looked at and said it was the solenoid body and cervo overdrive unit. Pissed. Plus Ford is going to help me with the cost as its just out of the yearly warranty but not the mileage. It's still going to lump me for over $600.00.!! Toyotas are looking better every time I see one, so this may be my last Ford product.

First of all lets just say that I love my Explorer. Its my Second one. My first was a 96 xlt and it worked great. I just bought a 2003 eddie bauer explorer and baby it. I always do the maintenance required use synthetic oil, etc. then with no warning at 29,002 miles, my O/D light begins to flash rapidly and my message console says check transmission. I turn my car off, then back on and the light goes away. Then next day the light returns and I immediately take it to a automatic transmission specialist. They say the problem has to do with the clutch slipping at high speeds and I must replace the Valve body and possible the Torque converter. The valve body is 700 bucks installed and the torgue converter is 23000 bucks. The car is over 3 years old so I'm off Ford's warranty and I'm pretty frustrated with major repairs at only 29K miles. Also, when the light went off, I though it was just a sensor because the thing drove PERFECTLY. But they say work must be done and I trust the place that I brought the car to for repairs. After reading all of theses posts it seems like there are a TON of problem with 2002 and later explorer transmissions. I'd like to fix the car and keep driving for a long time but I'm not willing to pay a ton of money again when it hits 60,000 miles. I only hope that the parts that are going into my vehicle now are better than the original ones that came with it. I'm not saying I hate Ford just yet but I'm pretty upset at this problem so far.