Vehicle Data Hub

2006 Ford Explorer engine problems

134 complaints about engine have been filed for the 2006 Ford Explorer, which is 17% of all its NHTSA complaints. It is the 2nd most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
134 17% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
68,000 miles 120 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
0 and 2
Injuries and deaths
1 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When engine problems show up

Engine complaints by mileage, 2006 Ford Explorer Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 68,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 18 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 17 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 15 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 30 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 23 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 6 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 5 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 4 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 1 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 1 complaints 200k+ miles: 0 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 68,000 miles
Based on 120 complaints that include mileage. 42% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles18
20k to 40k miles17
40k to 60k miles15
60k to 80k miles30
80k to 100k miles23
100k to 120k miles6
120k to 140k miles5
140k to 160k miles4
160k to 180k miles1
180k to 200k miles1
200k+ miles0

What the data shows

Of the 120 engine complaints that report mileage, the median is about 68,000 miles, and 42% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 2 fires, 1 injury.

What owners wrote

My 2006 ford explorer jerks and jolts extremely hard while coming to a stop. The first time I took it in for the warranty repair they reprogrammed the computer which seemed to help for a few months. Today I returned for the same problem only it is three times as bad as before. They told me at first it was the drivers fault. Then they came back and said it was normal operation. My neck is very sore from all the jerking and jolting it has received from this car. In fact my neck is burning right now from pain.

Reported at 15,000 miles, August 2008 Injury

Range shifter needs to be replaced, truck is jerking with acceleration and changing going between 1st to 5th gear jolting the vehicle. Very big safety issue as I have almost been rear-ended multiple times. Ford says no recall on transmission issues. Mine is a 6r60 transmission in the 2006 eddie bauer explorer which has the range shifter located inside transmission. Will cost $2300 to fix!

Reported at 87,000 miles, October 2012

Other problems reported for the 2006 Ford Explorer

Engine problems in other years

Engine problems across all Ford models