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02 Explorer 100k mile maintenance

hey all,

i'm approaching 100k miles on my 2002 Eddie Bauer. I bought it at the end of 2006 and haven't really done any routine maintenance on it (aside from oil changes and rotations) so I would like to make sure I do enough maintenance to keep it running well for another 50k miles at least.

I called up my local Ford dealership and they have a 100k maintenance package; however the list of things they wanted to do was so long it was going to run me $960. Everyone I have talked to agrees that sounds too excessive so I was hoping you guys could help me out and let me know what should be done as opposed to what they want to do.

The only thing that has been done recently is having my rear differential rebuilt in November 2007 so I'm assuming they probably already replaced the rear differential additive.

Thanks

Reply to
brazzle
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Simple advice: forget the dealer's money-making list and read your owner's manual. Sometimes there is a separate maintenance schedule booklet, not sure about your model. It will list everything you need. If you don't have one, it can be downloaded from the Ford website. I would start with checking your brakes, tires and steering - your life is worth a lot more than your Explorer.

Reply to
Happy Traveler

It's time to drop the transmission pan and replace the filter. Surprisingly, not too expensive.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Jeffrey

Unless you mean doing so as a part of replacing the entire transmission fluid, there is not much point in dropping the pan and replacing the filter. Less than one third of the fluid is in the pan - the rest is in the torque converter. And if you ever looked at that filter, they rarely need replacement. Unlike engine oil, there are no combustion products entering the transmission fluid. Most of the particles are clutch lining material that is captured by magnet in the pan. If there is enough junk in the pan to clog the filter, the transmission is probably shot and needs rebuilding. That's not to say that the filter is not worth replacing - if you are already in there. Most dealers use a machine that taps into the cooling lines for replacing the fluid and don't even bother with dropping the pan or replacing the filter. I believe that years ago Ford stopped listing filter replacement as required maintenance, so they can get away with it.

Incidentally, in their great wisdom (or should I say in an attempt to generate income for their dealers) automakers stopped installing dipsticks on many automatic transmissions sometime in the early 2000's. The original poster's 02 may be in that category. When there is no dipstick, there is no fill tube and no way to easily refill the transmission, not to even mention knowing how much fluid is in there. One has to resort to the dealer's fancy equipment for the task. Yikes

----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Jeffrey" Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.ford.explorer Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 8:24 AM Subject: Re: 02 Explorer 100k mile maintenance

Reply to
Happy Traveler

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