19th Sep 2007, 09:51
Hey my 03' mountaineer does the same clang you are describing from the climate control. The dealer missed this three times, and I finally figured out why --- during their road test they shut off the climate control to listen to the engine.
Any way it's a heater door that gets stuck, and now on top of that my blower motor is "rubbing against something" which makes it noisy.
Neither of which are covered under Ford ESP warranty, nor does nationwide covered it (I checked). They said it would be upwards of $800 to fix it.
It seems the whole climate control system has to explode first before they fix it... I just hope that it happens before my extended warranty is over.
27th Aug 2009, 22:53
I love my Explorer - looks good, is quiet, very comfortable and well appointed inside.
It looks chunky enough, and is still quite understated.
I will, however, never buy another Ford.
I've had three Fords now, this is my second Explorer, and the transmission has gone on all of them.
On my current Explorer, I have paid to have it fixed 3 times, with it being in the shop 5 times.
End result, I've got a used one on there, and it's getting sold.
It's a real shame Ford dropped the ball with this, as I otherwise love the car.
15th Feb 2007, 19:00
I don't know, I just bought a 2002 Ford Explorer Sport (2-door) with 79,000 miles and so far think it is by far the nicest vehicle I have ever owned. It is far more comfortable than my old truck, both in terms of interior and ride. I notice myself doing 10 or 15 mph faster than I thought I was due to it being so quiet and comfortable, so have to constantly watch the speedometer. Granted, I haven't had the vehicle long enough to comment on reliability, but will do so in a new review when I have some history behind me. I've had no problems in my short ownership. The first thing that I did was have the local dealer perform the routine 75,000 mile maintenance schedule, and anything that wouldn't have been covered on the 60,000 mile schedule, just to get a base line for where I'm starting with the vehicle. So far I love it, but we'll see.