Problems with 2002 Ford Explorer POWER TRAIN

Hi i have a 2002 ford explorer that i have only had for 7 months and approximately 1 week ago my car started to have problems shifting gears while driving. not long after that my check engine light came on and my o/d light came on, so i took it to autozone to get the code read and they told me it was a pressure control solenoid b (code-p0775). i went home and started searching on the internet about the code and found what it was and i also saw thousands of people complaining about the same problem. ford knows about this issue about their faulty transmissions and they refuse to issue any recalls to fix the problem. i think its outrageous that we, the owners, have to pay for this expensive repair when its not our fault. i feel like since the transmissions for this car is faulty and is known to fail at various times and miles, which are too low for a transmission to fail, ford should be held responsible for this problem because it is definitely a safety issue because the transmission can fail at anytime which have caused many accidents and will cause more accidents and deaths until ford take responsibility for their actions and recall the transmissions. i have two small kids that are in the car with me on a daily basis and i travel on the highways all the time and this is going to be very dangerous for me to do now. i don't know what to do because i don't have any money to repair or replace the transmission and this car is the only car that we have for transportation. we all need help to get ford to do a recall. *tr

4x4 module now the transmission is shifting into 2 gear hard. *tt

This transmission isn't due for it's first service until 150,000 miles. with no way to check fluid levels there is no way for the owner to prevent failure. there has never been any indication of leaks ( no oil spots on driveway). transmission just quit. *tr

In my 2002 ford explorer, the cel came on, along with the o/d off light blinking. it started to make a whining noise, and the next day, the car would not shift into second gear. it would only stay in 1st gear and would only go about 20 mph. i now have to replace the transmission or have it rebuilt. *tr

When shifting into park the shift linkage coupler snapped and the shifter came off in my hand. upon inspection the coupler is a cheap resin and should not snap with normal wear usage. this is a link to a forum with 129 complaints of similar issues. http://www.carcomplaints.com/ford/explorer/2002/accessories-interior/gear_shift_lever_prndl_fell_off.shtml. *tr

Transmission (5r55) solenoid pack and servo both went out at same time servo is terrible design. there should be a recall from ford on these problems on this transmission. *tt

Transmission failed for the second time. failed originally at 65,000 miles and had to be replaced. failed again 3 years later at 130,000 miles and had a rebuilt transmission installed. 10 months later at 140,000 miles the transmission is leaking and starting to slip. i don't anticipate paying for a 4th transmission on this vehicle. obviously there is something wrong with the design. *tr

Purchased this vehicle today and on way home the transmission "od off" light started flashing. research shows this is a major common problem with a failed transmission in this model. i am on social security disability and cannot afford the $3,000 plus to fix. *tr

While shifting from drive into park, the gear shift broke off in my hand and was stuck in reverse. i had to have my car towed as we couldn't get the car to go into park. *kb

The transmission started to slip in may of 2011. i had the transmission serviced and it did not correct the problem. i am unable to check the transmission fluid as it is a sealed unit no dip stick. we drove the vehicle until it no longer moves. the cost to replace the transmission is 2800.00 plus... there was no reason why this should have happened. *tt

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the overdrive warning light illuminated as the vehicle began to loose power. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer for inspection where they stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. the vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred three times. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 114,000. *tr

I was driving in town when i accelerated from a stop light and the transmission would not engage into 3rd gear. the engine revved highly and then suddenly the transmission kicked into gear with a sudden jolt forward. *tr

[xxx] got behind the wheel of her 2002 ford explorer, intending to pick up her son from school. when she tried to shift the car into reverse, she says the entire gear selector broke off and fell in her lap. it turns out she's not alone. team 4 investigator jim parsons reported that the national highway transportation safety administration has been investigating similar complaints around the country -- some of which involved vehicles slipping into gear and crashing -- for more than two years. nhtsa's office of defects investigation says it has identified 200 alleged incidents of unintended vehicle movement after consumers believed they had shifted the suvs into park, resulting in 85 alleged crashes and 32 alleged injuries. earlier this year, nhtsa upgraded its investigation to an engineering analysis for 2002-2005 ford explorers and mercury mountaineers. [xxx] says ford told her she would need to replace her entire steering column to fix the broken gear selector at a cost of more than $1,500. instead, she worked with her local mechanic to find an after-market replacement part that retails for $30. so far, ford motor company has not issued a recall on the gear selector. more information: nhtsa website details on explorer investigation (type in action number ea09013) read more: http://www.wtae.com/news/29353127/detail.html#ixzz1zyubpjeg information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. while the contact shifted into reverse the gear shift lever completely disengaged from the housing area. the vehicle was towed to the dealer and currently being repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the defect. the approximate failure mileage was 130,000. the vin was unavailable.

Gear shift broke off in my hands. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact was driving 50 mph uphill when the vehicle began to stall. the contact pulled over to the side of the road and was unable to shift into park. the vehicle was towed to a local mechanic where it was diagnosed that the transmission would need replacing. the contact called the manufacturer and was told that a possible brake fluid leak caused the transmission to malfunction. the contact did not have the transmission replaced. the failure mileage was 129,000.

Transmission failure. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated that she was unable to shift the vehicle into reverse. the dealer inspected the vehicle and informed the contact that she needed to replace the transmission. the manufacturer was aware of the failure. no repairs were performed. the current and failure mileages were 131,000.

The transmission is junk. ford knows this. rebuilding or replacing the transmission is inevitable...and not just once, because there are known design and manufacturing issues that will only cause the failures to repeat themselves. unless these failures are dealt with, there are many people on the roads who are at the mercy of luck that the car they are driving or the cars that others are driving near them wont stop dead, stopping them dead. how is this known problem not a public safety issue? have you counted the number of ford explorers on the road?? its scary. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated while driving 55 mph she noticed smoking in the rear of the vehicle. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic who stated there was a minor defect in the transmission. the mechanic repaired the defect and within two weeks the transmission failed. the contact towed the vehicle to her home and notified the manufacturer regarding the transmission failure. the manufacturer stated there was nothing they could since there were no related recalls. the contact stated if the transmission failed while driving on the highway, a crash could occur. the failure mileage was 150,000.

I have a 2002 ford explorer that has 120,000 miles on it. i was recently driving back home from a trip in san francisco, california to sacramento, california. two days after having my car fully serviced and my over drive light came on and as soon as that happened my car started telling me i need to get my transmission checked. i sat there thinking to myself how can this be happening i just spent 800 dollars to have all of my fluids flushed, brakes checked, everything. i took my car back to the auto repair store and they told me i needed a new transmission and after labor it would be around 5000 (i think i was quoted that price because i'm a young female, i was looking online and most people were quoted around 3000). i'm a full time college student paying for my classes with student loans and grants. i don't have a few thousand dollars sitting around at my disposal to fix my car. i also can't have my car in the shop for a long period of time due to the fact if i miss more than 3 classes most of my professors will drop me. i have researched this issue and many other consumers not just myself have had this incident happen to them, i believe ford is in the wrong for having faulty manufacturing, they have made it so any transmission work has to be done by the dealer, you can't even check your own transmission fluid. i feel as if ford needs to issue a recall on their transmissions or offer some kind of help to pay for these unacceptable incidents. *tr

Was driving home from getting groceries and the car failed to accelerate. was at a intersection so it was a unpleasant situation as their was oncoming cars. pulled the car over and shut off.. checked for transmission fluid.. there was none. started car and it would only drive about 15 mph the remainder of the trip. the overdrive control on the transmission had failed. 2200 repair.. checked the recalls and there currently is not one even though this specific transmission has thousands of complains (not over exaggerating) this is a dangerous situations considering i could have been on the interstate or a on ramp. this vehicle is sitting in my garage awaiting a recall of when my family gets the financial stability to repair it in a non ford dealership/repair shop. this suv gets regular fluid fills/changes at the correct intervals with documentation.. this transmission is "sealed" which means it cannot be checked for fluid loss or bad fluid. "bad engineering" which should require a repair at fords expense. *tr

2002 ford explorer-transmission failure-130,000 miles-july 12, 2011 transmission rebuilt at 119,000 miles on jan. 13, 2010 by a local ford dealer- both failures consisted of the transmission slipping in and out of gear during normal driving. in heavy traffic this is a very dangerous situation. the vehicle suddenly loses speed and passengers are subject to rear end impact or sudden surges of speed when the transmission slips back into gear, causing a possible rear end impact with another vehicle. in addition, the transmission sticks in one gear and will not shift. ford motor company has been aware of the problems with this type of transmission since 2002. my local dealer says that fmc figures revealed that 30% of vehicles equipped with this transmission experienced failure of some type. however fmc offered very little relief to its customers. i believe that it is time for an immediate forced recall of this transmission. *kb

I have a 2002 ford explorer xlt, my transmission just recently went out. it has about 142,000 miles. i took it to a transmission specialist, to get it fixed, they took it apart, and told me it was costing $3,786.60 to get it fixed/rebuilt! as of right now my truck is still in the shop, it has been there for 2 weeks now. there is no way can afford to pay that, i"m just a student. i did some research online and it turns out that there is thousands of people with the same problem; transmissions go out and the majority on the 2002 model. they rebuild the transmission, only for it to go out again. some people have replaced/rebuilt their transmissions 4 or 5 times. i also read that these trucks can stop at any moment; anywhere. this is very dangerous, especially if on the freeway. i don't see why ford, didn't recall this truck or this transmission. they need to take responsibility and fix the problem. i have no idea, what i am going to do to get my truck fixed.. or maybe even replaced. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated that while driving, the vehicle would not accelerate more than 20 mph, and the over drive warning light remained illuminated. due to the type of warning light, the vehicle would not shift into gear, causing the transmission to fail. the dealer was not notified. the manufacturer stated that there were no recalls or warranties, and offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 68,000.

I own a 2002 xplorer, recently the o.d light began blinking and the truck started jerking violently. i did some research and found out there are thousands of people with the same transmission problem.i have an eight year old who was in the truck with me at the time.this is a major safety issue with ford and should definately be looked into. *tt

Transmission has gone out at 85,300 miles, must have it rebuilt. *kb

My gear shift broke as i was putting into gear and it just fell into my hands it broke into two half a piece that should not broke and as i was going somewhere the truck just starting going crazy the lights was flashing on and off the alarms was going of the lights flashin,sometimes in the middle of the night the alarm just goes off on it on we see all this happen and no one is by the truck no cats dogs nothing. *tr

When shifting from reverse to park the shift lever broke off in my hand. to research this problem please look at www.carcomplaints.com and look under the 2002 explorer and under the sub heading interior accessories problems. of the 180 complaints under this sub heading, 126 are for the broken shift lever problem and these were all reported since 2008. please issue a recall for this safety problem. the problem is clearly due to faulty design and faulty parts. *tr

My 2002 ford explorer's transmission completely stopped working while stopped at a traffic light. that is a major safety hazard and could have caused a major accident. i have read numerous complaints about the transmission in these model and year vehicles. there needs to be some recall for this. *tr

While my wife was backing up in my son's driveway, the gear shift broke on my 2002 ford explorer. the charge to repair by a ford dealer was roughly $2,000.00 (including tow charges). after doing research on this issue, it apparently is way too common, however ford refuses to acknowledge responsibility or issue a recall. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated that the odometer began to flash and the vehicle began to jerk abnormally. the vehicle was taken home and parked. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure, but offered no assistance. the failure and current mileages were 84,000.

Today i drove my 2002 ford explorer out and upon returning home i could not shift it into park. i switched it off thinking that if i crank it up and turn the wheels it would go into park but i couldn't even crank it up because i was not in the park gear. i played with it for 20 minutes and it finally went into park. i let it sit for a couple hours and went back out and cranked it, it went into gear. i drove it around the block came back and parked. cranked it up about 10 minutes later to go out and it would not come out of park gear. i have no idea what the problem but if it's something serious the dealer can have it back. something should be done to make ford repair their malfunctions, we are talking some serious money on these repairs and a lot of people like myself is looking for work now. people we need to start protesting out side these dealerships. they are getting rich and we are suffering at their mishaps. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated the gear selector lever fractured when shifting from park into drive. there was no prior warning. the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer for diagnosis and repair. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 108,000.

This requested recall involves a 2002 ford explorer having an automatic transmission. during normal use, the shift lever breaks off at a cast rotating cylinder that transmits the torque from the gear shifter to push and pull the cable that puts the vehicle in park, drive, neutral, and reverse. the vehicle also had a tendency to jump out of park even before the part broke which caused the vehicle to roll back and almost pinned me between another vehicle when the vehicle rolled back and crashed into a vehicle parked downhill. this was a near miss accident. ford wants to charge $1500 to replace the entire steering column. we elected to junk the vehicle at this time until another solution can be found. vehicle still drives if you reach your hand and push/pull the transmission cable to shift the automatic transmission into gear. we can send the broke off section of the part if you will return it. on the internet, there are many reports of the same failure for years 2002 through 2005 ford explorers. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated that while shifting into park, the gear shifter fractured. the contact was unable to maneuver the shifter so the contact towed the vehicle to the dealer where the dealer replaced the entire steering column. the failure mileage was 151,957. updated 11/03/11 *bf the consumer stated the shift lever broke off. the dealer stated the steering column where the shifter attached and ignition lock cylinder came apart. the steering column had to be replaced. updated 03/08/12

Transmission failed. *tr

Transmission has had problems since car was bought. have had work down on it and finall y had to replace it in may 2011, cost $5000. *tr

Transmission gear shift broke off steering column as the vehicle was put in park. could have been a major safety issue had i been anywhere other than my home and shifting into any other gear than park. thought this was an isolated incident only to find information online that this is a common occurrence with the 2002 explorers (over 100 reported on one website alone). other issues i've experienced since day 1 of purchasing the vehicle new are transmission lunging, vehicle rocking when put in park, and difficulty shifting into park.

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact was driving approximately 45 mph when the overdrive warning indicator illuminated until the engine was turned off. the transmission also exhibited severe hesitation. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for inspection where the technician detected that the failure was related to the transmission. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 114,071.

My wife was preparing to take our 3 children to school. she put our 2002 ford explorer in reverse and backed out of our driveway. after stopping, she attempted to shift into drive. the gear shift lever broke, leaving her with a car stuck in neutral. the keys are locked in the ignition and cannot be removed. after researching this online, i was very surprised to discover this is not a recall item and that ford motor company's recommended fix is changing out the entire steering column. is this really true? *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact was driving 10 mph when the vehicle failed to shift gears properly. the over drive warning light illuminated during the failure. the vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was confirmed that the first and second gears of the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was contacted. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 100,000 and the current mileage was 120,000.

Please do something about this !!!! the explorer gear shifter is defective and unsafe. there is a common thread with gearshift selector breakage on ford explorers which indicates that recall is urgently needed. after parking, i tried to move the gear shifter from drive to park to exit the vehicle. to my absolute astonishment the gear shifter broke like a dangling broken arm in the reverse position. the vehicle was rendered useless and me optionless. i work at a secure gov't facility and it was no picnic trying to get a tow truck driver access. i finally got the truck towed to the nearest dealership at $85. the dealer then informed me that the entire steering column would have to be replaced at $1,690. they didn't have the part and needed a day to get the truck back to me. i had to rent a car which was another $102 bucks. make ford take care of this safety hazard. i asked for the part and can show you what broke inside which is literally a weak metal housing that the gear shift handle fits in.... *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. while the vehicle was parked the contact stated that the gear shift broke off while switching gears from drive to park. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer or a mechanic since the contact was unable to be drive it. the approximate failure mileage was 148,000.

My transmission on my 2002 ford explorer xlt wont shift into 3rd gear. *tr

Driving 2002 ford explorer when o/d light flashed and warning came on to check transmission. will need a new transmission. *tr

I have a 2002 ford explorer eb and this car is a piece of crap after i bought the car the tranny is slipping like crazy and its hard to change from park to drive. i have looked it up and there are many people with the same issue and it is a closed tranny so i cant even check the fluid in it but ford is not doing anything about the issue i will never own a ford again. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. the contact stated that the automatic transmission failed and was replaced at the contacts expense. two years later, the failure recurred. the vehicle was taken to a mechanic shop who advised that the transmission would need to be replaced or rebuilt a second time. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was contacted who offered no assistance and there were no recalls for the failure. the failure mileage was 120,000.

2002 ford explorer transmission died for the second time after i had the dealership replace it, 75,000 miles ago. i am now sitting at 156000 and it is doing the same things again. this gives me such a bad taste toward ford, and i have been a die hard ford guy. *tr

When putting car into park or reverse, car would sometime still be in drive for seconds after putting car in gear. several times now, occasionally car will simply shut off. recently, the car would not go into park and shifter separated from steering column. *tr