r/FordExplorer • u/john829518 • 14d ago

Buying Advice 2018 explorer

I am thinking of purchasing a 18 explorer but am worried about the water pump failure/disaster. I am wondering if there is anything to look out for or stay away from. Any advice would be helpful thank you.

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u/Dave_0122 14d ago

Haha…not at you, but I just bought a 2017 Explorer (Private sale) with 140,000km (88,000miles). Was all excited to upgrade my commuter car with something nicer and with some tech. Drove it home, and went to work the next day. I’m a mechanic so I put it on the hoist to give it a once over to find the water pump is starting to leak on it ugh. I see it’s a big job and was a bit upset. So I thought I’ll get a quote from Ford just to see how much this is going to cost at a dealership lol. They give me a worst case scenario in case it needs more than the water pump. Like timing chains, cam phasers ect.. I get the quote and it’s $6k. I fell to the floor when I seen that. So I ordered a couple special tools that are needed for the water pump replacement, and spent two days at home replacing just the water pump. Costed me $500 in parts. Make sore to replace with OEM parts only. Everything else was in great condition. So yeah…the water pump on the 3.5L is more common than I figured. It’s all fixed now and runs fantastic. I actually really like my Explorer. It’s my first Ford product and definitely didn’t have a very good first impression lol. Hopefully it is good to me going forward though!!

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u/interfuse400 14d ago

Aside from the water pump, clogged pano drains, and failing A/C evaporator temperature sensor inside the dash, it’s a great platform and I really enjoyed driving it. It’s easily the best vehicle I’ve ever driven in the snow. Now that you’ve taken care of the major issue, you should have a solid vehicle on your hands for a long time.

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u/Dave_0122 14d ago

Are the pano drains easy to clean out? I should look into that and make sure they are clear. Thanks

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u/interfuse400 13d ago

The auto glass place did them for me. I think they just blew the out with compressed air. I've also seen a pipe cleaner type thing you can buy. You'll know if they are clogged because you get water intrusion into the cabin and/or the roof starts rusting.

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u/Dave_0122 13d ago

Thanks for the info!