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ST Lemon

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2023 Explorer ST
#1
Well, getting this 2023 ST was an excercise in patience, ordered in March, received in December. It has also unfortunately been a complete lemon.

Problems:

1) Knocking noise at low speed passenger side when going over bumps and cracks. Replaced the entire passenger side front suspension to resolve. Ended up being the steering knuckle and strut I guess.

2) ACM continually fails. Limited sound being output on drivers side. Bluetooth calls result in severe static from drivers side. Right turn signal creates buzzing noise in drivers side speaker when on bluetooth call. Brake pedal application results in high pitch noise from speaker. Still unresolved. Checked an extensive list of connections and pins looking for faults to no avail and ended up finding the ACM was at fault. They replaced the ACM and it fixed the issue for a period of time them the drivers side speakers made a loud pop on a phone call and all the symptoms came back.

3) High pitch electrical whine on drivers side (at all times). Increases in volume when the brake is applied. No clue why this would be happening but it seems like it started after then messed around with the wiring harness. High pitched like those rodent deterrent devices.

4) Chassis resonance/vibration at highway speeds, primarily heard on drivers side. At first I thought it was maybe the Pirelli tires but it does the same thing with the Michelins. Between 84-87kmph there is a noise that can only be described as someone blowing on a bottle. You can feel a vibration in the floor. It basically goes away until you get over 110kmph. Found that some Ford tech decided to cut a hole in the undercarriage cover to access an electrical connection instead of dropping it. So now the connection is open to the salty snowy road spray. Other theory I have is there is lacking an isolation kit somewhere and the road vibrations are inducing the noise into the chassis.

5) Under hard acceleration, particularly going up a grade there is horrible grinding noise coming from under the car in the region of the center console/passenger seat. This is a new discovery. We'll see what they find out.

6) Door lock indicator rattle on passenger side. All you have to do is press down on the nub and it goes away until the next to you lock the door.

7) Somebody either dropped the tire into the car or hit it during it's month long stay at the dealership. Wrecked the PPF and scratched the wheel well trim. Not the end of the world but just another blight on this cars history.

I won't even mention how terrible the sync system is or the general stupid layout of the gauge cluster is. Like you have to be completely useless to feel that any of those layouts are a good use of space, but I knew that going into it. Other than these issues I love the car more than anything I've driven and really want to keep it but I'm starting to think I'm better off ditching the cursed thing and taking a loss.

Anyone else on here had any of these issues, had them resolved, or have any idea what might be the cause?
 

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2023 Explorer ST
#2
I've heard of water leaks around the rear cargo area causing ACM issues, have you checked your spare tire well for signs of water leaking into that area?
 

2020FordRaptor

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#3
We had a 2020 A-Build and we had those problems plus more. We didn’t have the leaking issue though. When sorted out, after a lot of time at a dealer, they were fixed for what I would have thought to be a long term fix. Just have to be patient, and it sucks but I love these dang cars.
 

OP
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Thread Starter #4
So they semi fixed the electrical problem. The bluetooth audio is fixed but the high pitched electrical whine from the breaker box or brake booster is still present and drives me bonkers. Anyone else had a problem like this?

The weird chassis resonance seems to be worse now and seems like a bearing going. Not sure what the problem is but the texh said he couldn't here it, the shop foreman had no issue though so I'm not sure what the techs problem was. Unaffected by road surface, varying wind, rpm or whether its in drive or neutral.

Now I've noticed a total lack of power sometimes when at WOT. Usually happens when you floor it after the first shift in normal mode.

Anyone have any theories on any of these?
 

2020FordRaptor

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#5
So they semi fixed the electrical problem. The bluetooth audio is fixed but the high pitched electrical whine from the breaker box or brake booster is still present and drives me bonkers. Anyone else had a problem like this?

The weird chassis resonance seems to be worse now and seems like a bearing going. Not sure what the problem is but the texh said he couldn't here it, the shop foreman had no issue though so I'm not sure what the techs problem was. Unaffected by road surface, varying wind, rpm or whether its in drive or neutral.

Now I've noticed a total lack of power sometimes when at WOT. Usually happens when you floor it after the first shift in normal mode.

Anyone have any theories on any of these?
If you floor it in Normal after it shifts from 1st it is because the transmission is programmed to shift from 1st to 3rd gear in normal. If you try to step on it at low speeds in 3rd the transmission will hesitate as it will take a couple seconds to shift into a better gear (1st gear) to accelerate.
 

OP
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Thread Starter #6
If you floor it in Normal after it shifts from 1st it is because the transmission is programmed to shift from 1st to 3rd gear in normal. If you try to step on it at low speeds in 3rd the transmission will hesitate as it will take a couple seconds to shift into a better gear (1st gear) to accelerate.
Its doesnt down shift though, it stays in 3rd gear and will rev out to the redline shift but accelerates like the 2.3L
 

2020FordRaptor

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#7
Its doesnt down shift though, it stays in 3rd gear and will rev out to the redline shift but accelerates like the 2.3L
Huh. Turbo lag or too low of RPMs for the car to make power?
 

Cdubya

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#8
Any possibility for lemon law? I certainly wouldn't be happy with all that.
 

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Thread Starter #9
Huh. Turbo lag or too low of RPMs for the car to make power?
Uh no, I said it will rev out to it's WOT shift point, at WOT so not it wouldn't be turbo lag or too low of RPMs. It's like the computer never gives the engine boost. Basically and NA 3.0L motor.

No lemon laws in Canada. We have zero consumer protections.
 

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#10
Sadly I know all about the Lemon laws at least here in Michigan. I sued Ford over a Lemon and WON!! This was back in the last generation Ford Focus rollout days from 2012. I bought (2) brand new Focus's in 2012, one was a Titanium and the other was a SEL. They were both so bad that I got Ford to buy one back but they refused to buy the 2nd one back even though I more than qualified for the Lemon law. It took some time but we ended up in court and it ended up costing Ford a lot more than it would have if they would have just bought back the 2nd one like they did the 1st one.

There are many criteria's that need to be met before you qualify for Lemon law. It even involves the Better Business Bureau that you have to go through before you can proceed to a Lemon law court case.. . The big ones I qualified for were having the same issue over and over again that were verified by Ford as being a real issue. If you have the same issue (4) or more times and it was unable to be rectified, that qualifies you for Lemon law. I had numerous issues over and over again beyond one of the issues not being able to be fixed after (4) attempts. Another qualifier was if the vehicle was out of service at the dealer for repairs for 30-days or more during the 3 year, 36K mile warranty. Hell, I was just under 100 days out of service with the car at the dealer before it was even 1 year old.. Of course the dealer tried to spin the issues any way they could and were taking direction from Ford on what to tell customers.

It took years but we all know today that Ford admitted publicly to all of their numerous scandals with those Focus's. I got lucky because I wouldn't accept the excuses and took whatever measures I needed to, but, Ford f@cked a lot of people on the 2012 and later Focus's.
 

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2022 ST
#11
Uh no, I said it will rev out to it's WOT shift point, at WOT so not it wouldn't be turbo lag or too low of RPMs. It's like the computer never gives the engine boost. Basically and NA 3.0L motor.

No lemon laws in Canada. We have zero consumer protections.
Have you checked all the charge pipes? If bands are loose you cant build boost and itll be a pig.
It doesnt even have to be significant.

OEM Intercooler or upgraded? May be leaking.
 

2020FordRaptor

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#12
Have you checked all the charge pipes? If bands are loose you cant build boost and itll be a pig.
It doesnt even have to be significant.

OEM Intercooler or upgraded? May be leaking.
Your right could be boost leak.
 

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