O.T. 2013 Ford Explorer

My past I use to be a GM tech for 10 years, but that was ten years ago, my old co-works (gm techs) advised me to stay away from the GM suv line, a lot of issues and $$$ to fix. So Wife and I are looking at purchasing a 2013 Ford Explorer limited with about 56,000 miles. Has some rust on the bottom inside of the drivers and passenger side door. I don't know much about these models. Any common issues with this model/year? Anything special to look for? Any Ford techs on this board?

Thanks for the help

I have had more trouble out of Ford's SUVs than the GM products. Mainly timing chain issues and such.

We have 2014 limited and like it extremely well so far, very comfortable vehicle, the only issue so far was one tail light had moisture inside of it that would never dry out and they replaced it under warranty.

What years, engine, miles? How often was the oil changed?

I think the problem eventually,was with the 4.2. That said,we had 269,000 on one in an 02 before it went bad. They were kind of a Rube Goldberg setup with three chains. With the right weight of oil and regular changes,who knows how far they would go beyond 269,000. I'm not the most picky guy when it comes to changing oil. Trying to break that habit with my 5.4 so the same kind of thing doesn't happen. Sludge in the oil passages is the big killer of those engines as I understand it.

Wife drives explorers , has since they first came out. She drives them about 50,000 and trades ever two years. She had a 13 before that went over 50 with NO trouble at all. Must be up north or somewhere with lots of salt. We are in Tennessee I can,t ever remember seeing an explorer with visible rust.

My advice, stay away form that car. If you see rust already there is a lot that you do not see. Look for a rust free car and do not limit yourself to one brand as most are comparable today. I have had only Kia made cars for the last 8 years and I could not ask for a better car. Just look at the warranty they offer, 5 years or 60,000 miles, bumper to bumper and 100,000 or 10 years drive train. They are great cars to drive and I never had any problems. Currently driving a 2016 Sonata all wheel drive that cost me 27,000 new.

I have not seen a speck of rust on any that I have owned and, yes they put plenty of salt on the roads here in NNY state. Happy farming.

A three year old car with rust? I'd pass based on that alone.

Wife drives a 13 Explorer we bought new, AWD, 3.5 v6, has 54K miles on it now.

It's been good, did replace a rear bearing at 50K miles, putting it's first replacement set of brakes on it today. Getting to the point it needs tires. Gets around 20mpg

I don't get the rust you're seeing, ours is clean. I run it up on a lift to change oil, so I can see the whole bottom of the vehicle. We live in southern Ohio, so we do see some salt on the roads.

FWIW

Fred

The main one was friends Mercury Mountaineer. 4.2 V-6 IRC it had a metal alloy timing chain tensioner and three timing chains, one on the back of the motor that required removing the transmission to replace. It had 72K for miles and regular oil changes. Metal filings from the tensioner dropped straight down on the oil pump pickup tube. This caused either the pump to fail or the pickup to plug. He lost oil pressure and damaged the bearing on the crankshaft. Zero help from Ford or the dealership.

Also the 5.4 engine where a nightmare on blowing spark plugs. The later ones seem to have that figured out.

The long and short of it is Ford often does not have very good engine designs. It seems like it takes them a few years to get the bugs out of any "new" engine they produce.

Also around here the local Ford dealers are not the best to deal with. When my friend's Mercury had issues we hauled it to the dealer he bought it from. They told him they never had any issues on the 4.2 V-6. Well that was a total lie. Just google it and there were hundreds of post about the trouble. Then to make it even better there was a program form Ford that they had program to address the issue up to 60K miles. My friend was the original owner and had it serviced at the Ford dealership. Neither was any help. He switched to Chevy and has had good luck with his Equinox.

I live in NW Wisconsin, the road are white from salt. I didn't notice the rust at first, unit somebody else opened the door and i was farther back.
Its common for all vehicle to start there, more on the drivers side. Cant see it from the outside at all, just open door, take a really good look at bottom of door lip.
I looked at the rest of the bottom of car no rust.

I think we're in our 5th Explorer, a 2011. The older ones were much better SUVs IMO, more of a light truck than todays SUV/crossover thing. We never had engine problems but we did go through a lot of brakes and wheel bearings. But we live in hilly country with winding roads and lots and lots of salt.

Thats all I got.

I have nothing buy good to say about Honda CRV and Pilot. Best check them out .

If you are talking about the bottom of the inside of the door just below the door panel. Some surface rust is pretty common there, that is where the condensation drain for the door is. Also there's 2 engine options 4cyl with turbo. ( ecoboost) and a 3.5L v6. If you are just riding around not doing any towing the ecoboost is very peppy. But for towing the 3.5l would be a better choice.

To all the other posts. GM has had a lot of issues with 3.6l v6 engines in the Acadia/traverse/enclave line. Timing chains being just one of the issues. The older Ford Explorer had a sohc 4.0l that has four timing chains and one is one the back of the motor. Any brand you buy will have issues with something.

Well, so much for doing brakes today. Didn't day anything about HD brakes on the sticker, so I ordered standard.

Turns out ours has HD brakes...14" front rotors...got the wrong pads.

2 good things though...turns out I really don't need brakes, must have heard a piece of gravel between the pads and rotor, there's still 20-30k miles left on them. I was just so used to the Expedition we traded in (brakes every 20-25k miles) I just knew it was time. And Autozone will exchange them at the store.

And this will give me time to get the tool I need to crank in the rear caliper pistons...didn't know about that either.

Live and learn

All I can say is my wife likes her Explorer, and if momma's happy..........

Fred

Rust is common there but not at 3 years. Either a sign of extremely poor care or a manufacturing defect - especially on a 2013 (might even be covered by warranty). Rust is common enough even with newer cars but usually they need about 6-8 years or more before you really start to see it on a quality vehicle. I have a 1997 F150 driven in salt every year for 20 years and the only rust is in the bottom side of the bed and the lower seam on the tailgate. Spend some time washing (especially stuff built after 2000) and salt is nowhere near the issue it was on vehicles built in the 70s and 80s.