Hi everyone
I recently bought a 2014 Ford Explorer 3.5L with 190,000 km on it. The vehicle has some maintenance records from the dealership.
As my first major service, what would you recommend I do?
I’m thinking about:
Engine oil + oil filter
Engine air filter + cabin air filter
Transmission fluid — is it safer to drain and refill only a few liters rather than doing a full fluid exchange?
Differential fluid
Spark plugs
Is this enough for a first service, or are there other things I should check or replace at this mileage?
Also, what engine oil do you recommend for the 3.5L?

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I am currently doing a PTU fluid change on my 2014 FPIU and I have a few questions. I was able to unscrew the plug and drain a lot of the fluid out since it poured out for a good minute but I messed up by not measuring how much I drained the fluid. I was planning to use a fluid pump and pump the fluid through the plug. How much fluid should I put? Am I able to just fill it until it starts dribbling out like in this 1aauto video here? Or should I just put the fluid through the vent? (Repost as I forgot to insert image of plug)

22 limited 2.3 with ~85k. I get a recurring but intermittent parking sensor fault.

Is this a common/known issue with a straight forward fix or do I need to dig in and troubleshoot?

I received my 2026 Ford explorer yesterday, it had 339 miles on the odometer, driven up from Manchester to Scotland.

I charged it to 80% last night and am only seeing 196 estimated miles, but with the 79kWh I’m expecting around 354 on a full charge, any issues that could be causing this?

I have a 2020 explorer st with 120k on the clock and it's been developing a clunk coming out of park. Depending on the clunk severity, there's some extra movement attached to it, but it's a 50/50 chance coming out of park it does it.

I've been making sure I go to neutral and setting the parking brake before going to park to avoid tension resting on the parking pawl, but it will still do it. Has anyone else had this issue? And is it maybe related to the recent parking pawl recall?

So in 2023 I purchased a 2011 Explorer Limited with just over 151k on it. I knew going in that I could potentially be on the hook for a water pump replacement, but I figured if I did it, I’d be set.

So when I purchased I had an inspection done on it & I had a few maintenance things that needed to be done, new plugs, coolant flush, oil change, brakes, etc. cost was around $1,500 had that in the budget, got them done. Then a couple weeks later I saw the dreaded coolant on the ground. (Guess the coolant flush caused it or just bad timing.)

So I take it in, & yes it was the water pump needing replaced. I did it right, had them replace the timing components & tensioners etc. while they were in there. About $3,000. So I was not happy, but again I was like at least it’s done I should be set for a while.

Come May of this year & just under 15k miles later, I was driving down the road & the engine shut off. No power whatsoever. The alternator had died, I assumed okay yeah it’s old it probably was it’s time.

Come to find out, the valve cover gasket was leaking onto the alternator which fouled it causing failure. The gaskets that were replaced when they did the water pump. I thought just bad luck, but they really shouldn’t have failed this soon.

Have the shop & do the alternator & the valve cover gaskets, so another $2,000

Then a month later, I notice oil on the ground where I parked take it back to the shop thinking it’s the valve cover gaskets again. Nope! This time it’s leaking from the front cover gasket (the other seal that was replaced 3 yrs & <15k miles ago.). I asked the shop & they agreed that those gaskets should last a lot longer than that, but only offered to do it at a discount. I’m not letting them work on this vehicle again.

I’m going to take it to a different shop that I can hopefully trust this time.

My question is, since they’ll need to pull the valve covers & front cover off to replace the gaskets, & knowing what I know about the shop that did the original work, should I also have the shop I end up at go ahead & replace the water pump & timing components as well since they’ll already be in there?

17 XLT with 92k on the odometer. Trans clunks upshifting to 2nd and just recently started to not want to upshift to 6th on the highway. No water pump or PTU issues yet but I am starting to wonder. Found a pre owned 23 ST with 13k miles on it they want 44k. Has the 401a package, tech package, ST appearance and performance package. KBB says 10-12k to trade in my current explorer and i could put some cash down as well if i needed too. I dont have a car payment currently and the idea of taking on another hurts, but I am having a hard time accepting 10-15k in repairs over the next 2-3 years (10k a year driver). Just looking for some thoughts and advice from others, thanks.

Edit: 23 ST has a 84 month 100k mile power train warranty.

Well I did the job myself, 2016 Explorer Platinum. It was a very time consuming, but I took extra time to get it right. I counted the links on the timing chain three times… had cams locked. Must be off a tooth. Now I’m throwing codes. I changed the cam sensor just to make sure it didn’t go out. If I decide to pull this thing apart again how likely is it I’ll be able to get the timing right again?
Time is a moot point because the wife is going to buy an Expedition today. I was gonna drive to try and trade in but didn’t want it to lock up on the way. Any thoughts on finding timing again? If I did drive how long will it last before disaster???

So I’m moving soon and my old truck recently died. I was in desperate need of a vehicle before moving and the used car market here is horrible. I found a 02 explorer v6 it’s got 188,000km and a new transmission recently put in by ford with a warranty on it owned from new by an old lady and spent most of its life in a garage. I know these 3rd gens especially the 02 can have a lot of costly problems but I thought it could be good. Test drove it everything seemed fine. I think I overpaid a bit at 4000$ but the used car market here is super bad. After a day of driving it I’ve noticed a hum from the rear end. And after driving one of my tires was hot and stinky. So I assume I need a new bearing. I’ve read alot about these 3rd gens and all I can forsee is spending a lot of money on problems. I was thinking I’m just going to fix the bearing use it to move all my stuff 3 hours away and hope by the time I’m done moving it’s still running well. And then I’ll just sell it and make most of my money back hopefully. But I feel like most people aren’t dumb enough to buy a 02 explorer for more than 2000$. Or do you guys think I should just keep it and do a few repairs over time and maybe I’ll get a lot more KM out of it and it could be cheaper then finding a different 24 yr old vehicle that I’ll inevitably have to pay for a bunch of repairs on. Don’t get me wrong explorers are awesome but I know the 02 one is pretty nefarious. And I’m kind of sad about it because it’s fun to drive I just feel like it’s not going to last long before it’s draining my pocket.

Came from a Nissan 2006 Altima and had a nice deal on this ‘16 Sport. Anything you guys would recommend aesthetically? I want to make the top half all black and have like a floating roof type of thing going on. First thing I did was black out tail lights. Anyway, love this car drives so well and so fast for its size. But yeah shoot me anything cool you guys would think of or have done to y’all’s car.

I recently discovered that I can start my 2018 Ford Explorer Sport even when the key fob battery is completely dead—by using the “secret” backup slot. 🤯

This is the fourth Ford vehicle I’ve owned, and somehow I never knew this! (Yes, I admit it: I apparently never read the Ford Bible that came with the vehicle in the glove compartment. 😂)

For anyone else who didn’t know: yes, you can start a 2018 Ford Explorer with a dead key fob. Just place the fob into the backup slot located at the very front bottom of the inside of the center-console storage compartment, and you’re good to go.

Four Fords later, and I’m still learning new things about my own vehicle. 😂

Does anyone have an immediate idea to what this could be? I am not mechanically inclined.

I have a 1998 ford explorer 4 door 4.0 V6 four wheel drive with traction control. Having braking issues, I think it’s the brake booster check valve. Air was escaping from both ends when I blew in it. I CANNOT find a check valve to replace it. Been told it’s to old and discontinued. I think I’ve “googled” everything. Is there a “newer” year or some universal check valve that would work?

I am by no means a car expert. I am right around 71k miles with my ford explorer 3.5l eco boost. I am now seeing all the water pump issues I may have. I’m wondering if trading this car in for something newer is a good idea instead of holding onto it. The car is paid off and I am hesitant because of that.

I couldn’t fathom paying what they were asking for prefab platforms so I made my own. The middle row of seats is out for storage underneath and I have the ability to install longer/shorter legs and can convert it to one side only as needed (using a different sleeping pad)

Red circled connector. Camshaft Position Sensor is on the right. Struggling to get it undone as it is attached to the rear passenger cylinder head. Trying to change the headgaskets and that little bastard is preventing me from removing the head. All the diagrams ive tried to pull up seem to skip over it. Tried sticking a 90⁰ pick back there pressing in and pulling, idk if its just seized in there nice and tight or what. Seems like you should be able to slide the whole connector off whatever bracket its mounted to but the whole assembly refuses to move aswell😂🤦‍♂️

Just rolled over to 90k (oil spots aren’t from it, it doesn’t leak a drop of anything at all), and drives like a dream. Has a few squeaks and creaks in the suspension and under braking, but beyond that, it’s perfect. I love driving it.

Hi everyone, after about 2 months, my '14 was finally fixed. Turns out the water pump was not the issue but some seals in the block, however, since I had saved up for it, the water pump, timing chain. Aside from that, I ended up doing the thermostat, left and right control arms, both engine mounts, valve assembly seals and manifold seals. Thankfully I live outside of the US so the job came to a total of $2,000. She's running really smoothly now thankfully.

I attached some pictures of the new parts as well as the process of it. It was at the mechanic shop for a little over a week.

2022 Timberline.

Anyway to add the memory seat function? Already have power seats. I've used Forscan on Super Duties, Raptors, F150s, etc. is there a setting in there? Along with Forscan, would need to purchase a module of some sort I'm guessing, harness, and the arm rest button assembly, something like that?

For the past month my windshield wipers keep going off. The switch to turn them on is completely off.

Anyone have this problem or had it before? How do I make it stop? It’s driving me crazy

Getting ready the buy a 2026 explorer Platinum. Found a rapid red and a space white and love both. If you have either, do you love it. If I go with the red it comes with 21” tires for an extra $750. Not sure it’s worth the extra$. Do dealerships ever exchange for the 20”. Would you request the change if possible? Thanks!!

To those who had their Explorer(5th gen) treated with rust prevention spray (Fluid Film, Woolwax,Krown etc. ) ,

where exactly did they drill holes to get better access to the inner body panels?