Ford Explorer Sport Trac reliable?

[Kurtatron]

Hey Everyone,

I have some good news for my life, if you are interested. I am on trac to pay off my student debt in about a month. I have been paying super aggressively for the last 2.5 years. $1000 per month minimum, and $2000 per month these last 2 months. I am super excited to be rid of it. So I wanted to celebrate.

Currently my stable consists of a 1999 Toyota Solara, with the 1mz-fe. It’s get 203k miles. I have had that one for 3 years. I have also a 1991 Toyota Previa, which I use for camping/road trips only. I am not looking to get rid of the Previa, but looking to swap the Solara for a Ford Explorer Sport Trac, specifically an older one with a manual transmission.

To me the Sport Trac is the ideal vehicle. A truck that can seat 5 comfortably, and it is a compact truck that can fit easily in a garage. And it is also a manual transmission, which I am a die hard fan of. This will be the nicest car I have ever purchased. The most I have ever spent on a vehicle was $2700 for the Previa. The reasons I am considering buying a Sport Trac are:

Easier to transport bikes, outdoors stuff. I love the outdooors, camping, snowboarding, etc. but the Solara is inconvenient for this. A truck lets me put all the dirty stuff in the bed. I am not using the Previa for that because, frankly it can be too big, and I don’t want to spend the extra $500 per month on insurance when a truck-like vehicle would serve just fine most times.

So my only question is reliability. Would I seriously be downgrading in reliability going from a 1999 Toyota Solara with the 1mz-fe with203k miles going to a Sport Trac with maybe 150k miles? I mean I saw a Sport Trac with 270k and it was the original drive train (automatic though). Anyone have experience with these?

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Good for you. Student loans are real not Undocumented debt as many think of them.

 

[Speak2Mountain]

Congrats on the student debt, that's good early adulting

You've had good reliability w/Toyotas...why change?

I'd look at an older Tacoma or Tundra w/4 doors

 

[Zee09]

Congrats.

 

[dogememe]

The Sport Trac, being an Explorer, is generally going to be reliable. As with all things automatic, the transmission is the weak point, but as long as you keep on top of the fluid changes it should make it to 200K no problem. I've also heard that some years/variants of the 4.0 engine can have issues with timing chains and head gaskets, but I'd suspect that the timing chain thing is more due to going too long between oil changes with poor quality oil and lousy oil filters that don't have good anti-drainback valves.

 

[andyd]

Not impressed with OHC "up grade" to 4.0 and doesn't the 4.6 V8 have its own troubles ? But I do like the size. Either one won't give great MPG but looking for MPG in a 4wd trucklet is unrealistic anyway.

 

[14Accent]

My ex has a 2001 that's been in her family since new. It'll be turning 300k on its next oil change.

I had to put a trans in it at like 235k, threw a low mile used one in from a Ranger.

Transfer case motor shorted and took out the module, used module and new motor fixed that.

They eat front brakes, it's a heavy truck. I believe the later models had larger brakes.

Other than that it's just needed odds and ends that any vehicle may need: battery, alternator, ball joints, etc. Almost all these repairs were post 200k miles. Overall, a very solid truck.

Stay AWAY from the 2nd gen with the independent rear suspension. Don't ask, just stay away.

 

[Kurtatron]

Cool. That’s what I am thinking. I am of course in no rush to buy one. I will wait for a 1 owner truck that looks like it’s been garaged in the south. No rust bucket for me. I saw one last month in Texas. Looked so pristine, had a bull bar. I really liked it, but it was going for 7 grand, and I don’t want to make any purchases like that until I am solidly out of student debt.

 

[macarose]

Here you go.

http://dashboard-light.com/vehicles/Ford_Explorer.html

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted By: Kurtatron
Cool. That’s what I am thinking. I am of course in no rush to buy one. I will wait for a 1 owner truck that looks like it’s been garaged in the south. No rust bucket for me. I saw one last month in Texas. Looked so pristine, had a bull bar. I really liked it, but it was going for 7 grand, and I don’t want to make any purchases like that until I am solidly out of student debt.


I like the rust free idea, I'm assuming you'll need 4x4 in Detroit though. Lots of those southern trucks are 2 wheel drive.

If you look REALLY hard you can find the unicorn: a Sport Trac with 4 wheel drive and a manual transmission. Pretty sure they only made like 5 of them. Ha.

 

[Kurtatron]

That dashboard site doesn’t really support my thoughts that the truck would be very reliable. A glance through autotrader shows the Tacoma to be double the price for similar mileage or the same price for double miles. Is it better to get a Tacoma for $5000 with 250k miles or a Sport Trac for $5000 and 150k miles...

Just looking at Tacoma prices makes me not want to buy a truck...

 

[Mantooth]

My parent's 3rd gen 4.6 explorer needed a trans rebuild and intake manifold before 100k miles. In the explorer's defense - it sits outside year round, and was 10 years old when both repairs took place. I'm fairly certain the trans fluid had never been changed either. My Dad isn't as good at maintenance as he thinks he is.

 

[FermeLaPorte]

You can keep the Toyota. There's nothing like it.

The Sport Trac may need an engine rebuild soon. They pass coolant.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Why not a used 4runner?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

It is just as good or bad as the non-Sport Trac Explorer.

Please don't get Firestone tires for it

 

[Kira]

I did minor reading on Explorers because a friend's kid has one.

IAC (Idle Air Control) valve is vulnerable to age. I assume just another under-engineered plastic part.

I think it's the plastic timing chain guides which wear. Somebody check that please.

Old "trucks" are hard to shop for. People don't sell 'em until they're worn out....neighbors and friends snap 'em up.....any "Sports truck" will likely have had the guts run out of it. But you know that.

Ergo, have cash in hand when you shop and be ready to strike.

 

[Kruse]

I'm a diehard Ford man, but I simply won't own a vehicle with the 3.8 V6 or the 4.0 SOHC engine. I'm pretty sure that anyone who has ever replaced the rear timing chain and the associated components will agree that it's a design that should not have ever made it to the assembly line. Every time I see somebody say that the bugs have been fixed by a certain year, I see somebody with that year who has had problems with it. The Sport Trac is a vehicle that I've looked at purchasing, but I'd only get one with the 4.6 engine. I still feel that it's overpriced, but the market dictates that, so be it. The 4.6 also had some timing chain teething pains, but a guy can replace those components on his driveway if needed.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Kurtatron
That dashboard site doesn’t really support my thoughts that the truck would be very reliable. A glance through autotrader shows the Tacoma to be double the price for similar mileage or the same price for double miles. Is it better to get a Tacoma for $5000 with 250k miles or a Sport Trac for $5000 and 150k miles...

Just looking at Tacoma prices makes me not want to buy a truck...


I would take some of the comparisons there with a grain of salt.

The site says they have sampled 29,686 Explorers produced over a 25 year period, which is a tiny sample compared to total production numbers, but much larger than the sample of 1,802 FJ Cruisers, the highest ranking vehicle in the same category. And there's only 8 years of FJ Cruiser production to compare to, starting in 2007, with much lower average mileage (40K difference). Then all years are grouped together in the chart comparing different models, and it doesn't say how many samples of each year were taken. It would be more informative if it were comparing the same model years, with similar mileages, similar sample sizes, and more clarity on how the samples are gathered. Is it just a sample of auction vehicles taken recently? Of course a lot of 20+ year old SUVs at an auction now will have problems, and of course higher mileage vehicles will have more problems. And I bet most of the sample is of Explorers from the problematic mid-2000s years, though the sample size isn't broken down by year. A 2005 is not the same vehicle as a 1995, or a Sport Trac, and the 1995 is 23 years old now. It's a little late to gather accurate reliability data.

The issues with the sampling/comparisons are easier to see in the compact truck chart. The Chevy SSR is ranked as the most reliable small truck by far with a sample of just 267 and a score of 100. The average mileage of the sample is 54,734 miles. Of course an LS engine should be fine at 54K miles, and even the 4L60E or 4L65E should be fine. The rest of the vehicle? Probably not, which is why it's at the auction. Is the SSR a good suggestion for a reliable compact truck? Not by a long shot. Probably the worst. But the 5.3 or 6.0 will run good at 54K, and the 4L60E or 4L65E will still probably be okay, especially since nobody uses an SSR as a truck, so it gets a perfect 100. Interestingly, the Mazda B-Series ranks a full 7 points higher than the Ranger on the overall chart, even though the only Mazda B-Series samples they have are mechanically identical to Rangers. And the Mitsubishi Raider ranks right there with the Ranger, but the Dodge Dakota is nowhere? They made the Raider for like 2 years and there's no Dodge Dakotas surveyed? I think the data used to come up with the rankings isn't really sorted well enough to make accurate comparisons. They are comparing small sample sizes over a lot of years and platform changes, and where is the sample even from?

In my experience, 1st gen Sport Tracs are pretty [censored] reliable. I've personally driven 3 with over 300K. Small sample size, but how many 300K vehicles do you see?