Had to replace rear shocks in the strut

[NorthGeorgia]

My 2017 Limited that I bought new in October of 2017, the rear 'shocks' in the struts went bad. My vehicle is 3 1/2 years old? Just shy of 60,000 miles. And the SHOCKS go bad? I think this is a first for me. I've had many vehicle's in my life time (I'm in my 70's) and maybe I've had to replace a 'bad' shock due to failure ... once? ..... twice? but the vehicles had considerable mileage on them. Of course I have replaced shocks/struts in the past but that was due to them being old and getting 'squishy'.

I am just kinda sorta surprised that this vehicle had one go bad in less than 60K miles. It went really bad too, I had a 'puddle' under the bad shock. Good thing I replace in pairs.....the other one was showing some 'shimmer' on it too so it was going to go bad eventually.

 

[Hamfisted]

It happens ....

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Motorcraft shocks are garbage. I had 3 rears blow out on my Expedition. My mom had both rears blow at by 10k miles on her 2019 Explorer. In 25 years of driving I've never had any other shocks completely blow out at all, let alone blow out after so few miles. Of course I've had them wear out, but never completely blow out like they did on our recent Ford SUVs. If you search here you'll find it's quite common.

 

[JasonH]

Just did write-up on this replacement, which I posted in the suspension section. But my 2017 has 120K on it and I tow a trailer. Supposedly the 2018+ models have had numerous complaints about this. I guess it's just poor quality control. We're a bit biased here, because we frequent the forum and share complaints. I can't complain too much. Over 100K on the stock parts is decent for my use case. And the replacement wasn't too difficult...at least it wasn't once I put the torch on that lower strut bolt.

 

[NorthGeorgia]

I replaced the 'shock' part myself. Bought KYB's. Luckily my son has a Lift so didn't have to crawl around to do the work. Took less than an hour once we knew what to 'undo' or loosen. KYB's have been around a LONG TIME so anticipate that maybe they'll last???

 

[airbrush]

So 6 months ago. I had to replace my rear struts on 2017 Expedition XLT with 45,000 miles. Now, oil is again showing at the seal. Took back to Ford and they say factory is advising that a small leak is part of the design to keep the seal moist. They say oil has to cover 3/4 of the strut or be dripping to be considered for warranty. I have a hard time remembering when someone designed their product to leak. My next repair will not include a Motorcraft part.

 

[Backinblack]

I had my 2018 in for service on Thursday and asked them to check the shocks before the warranty is up and sure enough the driver side rear was leaking. Only 10K miles so now I'm considering an extended warranty from Ford. They have an eight year 36,000 mile Premium Care warranty that sounds good and we only put about 4k a year on but tow a lot. With all the possible issues with the 2018's, is this a good idea?

 

[Viper74656]

I had my 2018 in for service on Thursday and asked them to check the shocks before the warranty is up and sure enough the driver side rear was leaking. Only 10K miles so now I'm considering an extended warranty from Ford. They have an eight year 36,000 mile Premium Care warranty that sounds good and we only put about 4k a year on but tow a lot. With all the possible issues with the 2018's, is this a good idea?

I just got turned on to Zeigler and Lombard Ford who sell factory-backed extended warranties as significantly discounted prices compared to what your local dealer will offer. Check them out.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

So 6 months ago. I had to replace my rear struts on 2017 Expedition XLT with 45,000 miles. Now, oil is again showing at the seal. Took back to Ford and they say factory is advising that a small leak is part of the design to keep the seal moist. They say oil has to cover 3/4 of the strut or be dripping to be considered for warranty. I have a hard time remembering when someone designed their product to leak. My next repair will not include a Motorcraft part.

Many of us have been through the same repeated replacement. After my extended warranty expired I had a rear fail yet again and decided to replace both with Bilstein 4600s. I have been running those since 2016 and no issues.