Faults:

Front Brakes done twice, due to putting metalliac pads on and not ceramic as called for by Ford. Passenger side seat broke, $400 to fix. Drivers side seat fixed under recall. Alternator tensor pulley blew too pieces, $375.00 to fix. Tires replaced, no charge. Dash lights and steering wheel lights replaced, due to burning out. $200.00 to fix. Otherwise very reliable and enjoyable ride. Great for weekends away.

General Comments:

Truck has a lot of power to spare, and no problem commuting to and from work, even though expensive on fuel, being all wheel drive. Very happy with the truck and money well spent.

Faults:

Brakes squeal bad at half way wore out, had to replace from aggravation.

Front fog light got broke, had to replace at a scary 125 dollars.

General Comments:

In my opinion a real nice suv for the first time buyer, impressed with comfort and dependability and power.

Doesn't handle well at high speeds though.

Only other aggravation is when passing someone engine goes from 2500 rpm to 5000 in a instant motor sounds like its gonna blow up.

Faults:

Transmission Replaced. (After I had attempted to pull a tree stump...shhh) Fully-Covered by my 3rd-Party 100,000mi Extended Warranty.

Tie-Rods 2x. Covered by my 3rd-Party 100,000mi Extended Warranty, had to pay for a dealership's alignment each time.

Power Steering Pump. What Ford DOESN'T have a noisy PS? Replaced, but PSP still whines from time to time. My Taurus had the same problem. Ford characteristic?

Firestone Tires (Recalled RIGHT at the time I was about to purchase a new set, so, Woo-HOO!) Goodyear Eagle 255's on now. More tread on the road, better traction, 'nuff-said.

Front Center Armrest replaced 1x, then ran out of original Ford warranty. $200 US is tough to justify for a stupid armrest, if you ask me, so we deal with it.

General Comments:

We've had this Explorer as our primary family vehicle (Wife, two kids 9/5, and myself) since 1999. In 2004, we find ourselves ~92K miles, and this bad boy just won't quit.

We've run NOTHING except Mobil 1 10W30 Synthetic Oil (Except for the original oil it was sold to us with) and are religious in changing our fluids on time/mileage. We run Chevron & Texaco "Plus" unleaded fuel and periodically run some Chevron Techron fuel additive quarterly, and have zero engine knock and smooth operation nearly 100% of the time.

The transmission replacement was a result of a *ahem* grossly-mis-calculated guess that enough of the roots had been uprooted prior to attempting to remove the stump. For all I know, the transmission would have been fine to date.

The tie-rod replacements I write-off to wear & tear from some of the not-so-nice roads I frequent.

Overall, it's a sturdy SUV/Grocery-Getter, and I see no immediate need to replace it, short of an accident. The engine is well-maintained, the chassis is in top condition inside and out. I love this truck.

My only REAL gripe: That darn front center armrest.

Faults:

My 1999 Ford Explorer I purchased a week ago and I am already having major problems.

At 100000 miles I am in need of new valves and lifters. BIG DOLLARS!

I also need to replace the power lock switches.

The engine in this explorer is very sluggish for a large v-6.

Other than all these problems I love the space, styling, and comfort.

It just seems like an awful lot of work for a five year old vehicle.

Considering I have a 1996 Mercury Sable with well over 225,000 miles and no serious problems.