Gauging the future reliability of a 2016 Ford Explorer

Bought new. First breakdown at 26 miles. Trans. cooling line blew off. Dealer repaired…did it again at less than 40 miles…dealer reconnected apparently without checking if it was plugged. Transmission overheat wrench light came on 19 times over 59000 miles, reported 10-12 times…no trouble found. At 59000 ,miles, I demanded that the problem be solved before the 60000 mile drivetrain warantee expired. The found the plugged trans. cooling line and replace. The told me that it wasn’t covered by warantee, but because I was such a good customer, they had a special program that would cover it. (Bull++++). Irratic hard shifting disappeared, no more overheating. Now 87000 miles on odo. What can I expect for reliability following so many trans. overheating incidences since new. I usually go to 200K with my cars. Have never changed the trans, fluid…afraid to dislodge some burnt fluid debris which will then require an ovehaul.

I doubt if anyone can make a reasonable guess as to how long before you have problems . If this is something that keeps you awake then consider trading for something new with warranty . Life is too short to let a vehicle give you premature gray hair.

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Dump the fluid and get fresh new fluid in there ASAP. Those overheating episodes likely cooked the existing fluid.

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Ford says lifetime fluid. You had plugged line and dealer has balls to say it’s your fault? Good one. Sounds good though, maybe they say service trans every 50k miles? I don’t know.

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