Engine complaints by model year
Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (engine, cooling system, oil leaks, timing chain, exhaust).
Mileage when the problem started
What owners report
My vehicle's engine has on a number of occasions simply quit running. The engine has died while underway, and also when resuming from a stop. It will or has to this point cranked without problems each time this has happened. I've just been fortunate it hasn't quit while I'm in a driving situation that involves another vehicle in the position to crash into me as I'm restarting the engine. There is not a particular situation I can point to where it does this more. The engine has less than 120K miles and maintence is routine. OBD by certified mechanics has not shown any defective readings. I've also check on-line and found it's not just my vehicle, but others in different years are doing the same thing. There's nothing on the Ford website that addresses this issue.
I have a 2010 Ford Explorer Sport Trac with approximately 26000 miles. I was driving down the interstate and I saw smoke coming from between the cab and the bed. I pulled off the freeway, onto an exit ramp to a frontage road. I called 911. Before the fire department arrived, the vehicle was on fire. It is a total loss. The vehicle is now at the original Ford dealership where the vehicle was purchased.
Tl* the contact owned a 2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. The contact stated that while driving 15 MPH on the sand in a beach area that there was a failure of which a strong burning odor started, excess heat was felt by the driver, front passenger and 3 rear passengers. The vehicle was pulled over as they exited the vehicle. Upon inspecting the vehicle, it was noticed that there was a small fire near the transmission area, fluid had leaked onto the catalytic converter as the fire progressed to destroying the vehicle with the fire becoming extensive which had erupted all the way to the fuel system to the fuel tank. The fire department had arrived and extinguished the remaining flames. The insurance company had not rendered any assistance to inspect the cause of the fire. A dealer had not diagnosed the cause of the fire yet. …
Driving on highway check engine light came on and engine started missing and car shaking; pulled in to Ford dealer in next town; diagnosis said could be this or that they could not figure it out but got car running smother; we went another 300 miles to our destination; took car to local Ford dealer; replaced spark plugs and upstream o2 sensor; took it home; still ran rough seems like it is about to stall an a light or sitting in traffic; took it back; they had it for 3 days; mechanic drove it; could not figure out what was wrong and said they thought it was OK because mechanic could not make it drive like it was mis firing or anything unusual; drove home and it immediately started acting like one cylinder was mis firing. Am going to take it to a repair shop that is highly recommended and let the see if they can find out what is the matter.
My Ford Explorer 2007 has very low mileage (56,000 miles). Its engine started to shut off intermittently under all types of conditions, streets and highways. It was indeed very dangerous. Indeed my daughter, driving this car, had an accident on sept. 4, precisely because of the engine shut off. Fortunately it happened in a stop-and-go traffic which did not result in any injury. I hate to think of consequences of this happening in fast moving traffic. My research showed that this problem is very common for these autos, and it seems that it is not taken care of. After having my mechanics check every conceivable problem, I was referred to the Ford dealership. Their diagnosis determined the internal PCM failure to be the cause. It turned out that this part is believed to be defective because of its design, and a new one is developed which is on back order. …
OK where can I start besides that I've come to hate my truck I have spent thousands of dollars fixing it constantly first off light in the car go on and off while driving whenever you hit a bump than I get random little leaks all the time and had my transmission worked on a year ago because it was messed up and here it goes again I don't know what the [redacted] is wrong with it but sometimes I swear I just wanna throw the [redacted] car off a bridge every other day there's another problem not my ac has stopped working I was drinking home from the gym yesterday morning at a red light he car shut off locked my steering wheel locked my doors locked my brake started beeping on my dash wouldn't let me do anything that's dangerous it was a major road with the light just turning green I'm stuck can't even put it in neutral and roll it out of the intersection I turned it off and turned it off …
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the engine stalled without warning. The contact was unable to activate the hazard lights because the entire electrical system had failed. The contact managed to merge over to the emergency lane. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for a diagnosis. The technician was able to restart the vehicle but was unable to diagnose the problem. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had not been notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000.
Tl contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. While decelerating from 45 MPH, the engine stalled when the brake pedal was depressed. The dealer was able to duplicate the failure, but could not find the cause. They believe it could be the torque converter, solenoid, or the transmission needs to be replaced. The current mileage is 48,600 and failure mileage was 48,580. Updated 01-29-08. The consumer stated the vehicle has not stalled within the last 2 weeks. Updated
NHTSA investigations
Spark plug ejection from cylinder head
On September 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 Ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or…
Frequently asked questions
Which Ford Explorer Sport Trac years have engine problems?
By NHTSA complaints, the 2002 (24), 2007 (21), 2001 (19), 2003 (12) and 2008 (9) model years. Engine complaints make up 17% of all complaints for the 2002.
Is there a recall for Ford Explorer Sport Trac engine problems?
No. NHTSA lists no engine & cooling recall for any Ford Explorer Sport Trac model year. A widespread problem may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin, so ask a dealer.
At what mileage do Ford Explorer Sport Trac engine problems start?
Across all years, half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 62,000 miles; 45% happened before 50,000 miles.
What part fails most often?
Owners most often name the engine (22 mentions), followed by the engine › gasoline (6).
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.