Bad Cats on Ford Explorer with 4.7 V6

My wife's 01 Explorer Sport smells like a dead skunk after being driven in traffic, so today we took it to the dealer. Of course the report back after having the truck all day was no problems found. My wife started ragging on the Service Manager, who called us later to say that he had been doing some checking and found a bulletin from Ford that recommended changing the CATs on all 01,02.& 03 Explorers due to a problem with the metals used in the converter. Of course they ( the dealer) don't stock the CAT and will have to order it. My question is has anyone else had this problem of a smelly Explorer and had the dealer replace the CAT fixing the problem? Also this V6 gets lousy mileage, less than 10mph in the city and 15 on the road. Is this normal for the V6?

Reply to
Bill
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Reply to
Bill

From Richard:

'03 Explorer 1.4Kmiles

No mine doesn't have a funny smell at all. We put 700 miles on it this weekend and got 21.5mpg, highway 65/75 mph

/Richard

Reply to
Debbie Grimes

Kind of a double whammy, here, Bill... A big mistake was your wife ragging on people (yes, people, just like you and me and everyone else). There is no gentle way to address this (Lord knows I married my blushing bride just to avoid ever having her for a customer 8^) ).. but difficult customers leave lasting impressions.

One of the very important things that we do at the dealership level is to verify any concerns before we start slinging parts at something. If the car wont act up while it's in my possession, what am I to fix? I will admit that part of any repair on modern autos includes a visit to OASIS and this should have netted the tech any TSBs pertinent to the symptoms.

I realize that things work much differently in the states than they do here in Canada, but I believe a call to Fords regional office might have helped.... but not if the dealer can cite a confrontational customer...

In that same vein.... the difference betwixt "us" and "them".... without a government mandated licencing body for auto techs, the chances of both you AND your dealer falling victim to charlatans is far too high. When we see the huge price extolled by substandard repairs (those 'mysterious' single vehicle accidents - good road, midday, nice weather - not to mention when they turn into multis) we can see that there is a very real need for some kind of national standard. Unfortunately, this will come with a price tag - I just don't see many folks willing to sign the cheque.

I'll still temper this with my old "the highest price probably ain't the best price either....

-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

Reply to
Jim Warman

No, you should get 19.5 city and 20.5 highway.

Reply to
The Wolf

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