- Joined
- Jan 7, 2021
- Threads
- 22
- Messages
- 483
- Reaction score
- 1,219
- Location
- Desert Southwest
- Vehicle(s)
- Vintage Motorcycles, F-150, various other
- Your Bronco Model
- Big Bend
- Thread starter
- #1
I've had my Big Bend 2.3 manual for almost 2 years, it has 24,000 miles. I've enjoyed it on many camping and overlanding travel trips.
I only had 1-2 major problems in these 2 years, until recently. The main one there was after buying tires at 10,000 miles at the dealer. I drove away, everything was fine for about 2 miles. Then I got a brake warning light, and lost 80% of my braking power. I did a U-turn and went back to the dealership. They quickly diagnosed a brake computer module problem, ordered it and I was back on the road the next day or two. The bronco had no problems for the next 8-9 months.
But the past 3 weeks has been a series of major problems. When I say major, I mean you would be stranded wherever you are. The scary thing for me is I do a lot of very remote off road.
It started with a dealer oil change. When the service asso came out she said the oil had been changed, but the tech found a minor transmission leak he wanted to troubleshoot. Fine, I said keep the Bronco. They gave me a loaner. About 2 days later they called, said they had to remove the transmission (of course) to fix the "shaft seal". Fine I said.
BUT - during this repair they said they'd had a clutch problem. Indeed, on a trip a week previously to northern New Mexico, I had noticed the clutch felt funny when cold (it was in the 40s). The pedal would slightly stick down, then "pop" up under your foot. When warmed up, it felt fine. I was worried, but made it home. I was in very remote areas, like Chaco Canyon. So the dealer also noticed a problem, and said they had to replace the Master Cylinder. Then they had trouble bleeding it, and at some point also replaced the Slave cylinder. Both! The Bronco was with them for about 5 days.
Weird coincidences right? All covered by the warrantee. Then a week after getting it back, this Saturday, I was driving in town and started losing power. The revs were not keeping up with my throttle. I pulled to the side of the road, it died. No lights. I tried a restart and it cranked about 10 seconds, fired a little, stuttered, died. Second attempt it started after 10 seconds, but ran ok. I drove to the dealer. They couldn't diagnose it on the weekend. Since it was running again, I drove it home, planning to take it in on Monday. But Sunday it died again driving to the store. Twice I got it to run but only a 1/4 mile, before it would studder and die. I rolled into a parking lot and waited about 1 hr for roadside assistance to send out a tow truck. Since the dealer is closed on Sundays, had to have it towed to my home, where it sits dead in the driveway right now. Another tow to the dealership is happeing this morning. Probably a fuel pump issue.
I have not been a negative nelly on this forum. I actually spend very little time here, because of all the negative worries about Broncos. I ignored all that for 2 years. But I must relay I have little confidence in the truck right now. What if these strandings had happened up at 11,000 feet on the Alpine Loop last year? Or at Chaco Canyon a month ago? Or up the class V old mining road 3 miles from the Mexican border last weekend? I've owned Fords since the 1970s. My first being an old Fairlane 500 in high school. Falcons, Galaxies, Taurus SHO, F-150....other Fords. This Bronco has stranded me more times than all my others in all my life....combined! And most of my first 3-4 cost less than $1,000 back then. Very used, old school, but reliable anywhere I went.
UPDATE Dec 23: Ford has made it right with adding a free ESP. See last post.
I only had 1-2 major problems in these 2 years, until recently. The main one there was after buying tires at 10,000 miles at the dealer. I drove away, everything was fine for about 2 miles. Then I got a brake warning light, and lost 80% of my braking power. I did a U-turn and went back to the dealership. They quickly diagnosed a brake computer module problem, ordered it and I was back on the road the next day or two. The bronco had no problems for the next 8-9 months.
But the past 3 weeks has been a series of major problems. When I say major, I mean you would be stranded wherever you are. The scary thing for me is I do a lot of very remote off road.
It started with a dealer oil change. When the service asso came out she said the oil had been changed, but the tech found a minor transmission leak he wanted to troubleshoot. Fine, I said keep the Bronco. They gave me a loaner. About 2 days later they called, said they had to remove the transmission (of course) to fix the "shaft seal". Fine I said.
BUT - during this repair they said they'd had a clutch problem. Indeed, on a trip a week previously to northern New Mexico, I had noticed the clutch felt funny when cold (it was in the 40s). The pedal would slightly stick down, then "pop" up under your foot. When warmed up, it felt fine. I was worried, but made it home. I was in very remote areas, like Chaco Canyon. So the dealer also noticed a problem, and said they had to replace the Master Cylinder. Then they had trouble bleeding it, and at some point also replaced the Slave cylinder. Both! The Bronco was with them for about 5 days.
Weird coincidences right? All covered by the warrantee. Then a week after getting it back, this Saturday, I was driving in town and started losing power. The revs were not keeping up with my throttle. I pulled to the side of the road, it died. No lights. I tried a restart and it cranked about 10 seconds, fired a little, stuttered, died. Second attempt it started after 10 seconds, but ran ok. I drove to the dealer. They couldn't diagnose it on the weekend. Since it was running again, I drove it home, planning to take it in on Monday. But Sunday it died again driving to the store. Twice I got it to run but only a 1/4 mile, before it would studder and die. I rolled into a parking lot and waited about 1 hr for roadside assistance to send out a tow truck. Since the dealer is closed on Sundays, had to have it towed to my home, where it sits dead in the driveway right now. Another tow to the dealership is happeing this morning. Probably a fuel pump issue.
I have not been a negative nelly on this forum. I actually spend very little time here, because of all the negative worries about Broncos. I ignored all that for 2 years. But I must relay I have little confidence in the truck right now. What if these strandings had happened up at 11,000 feet on the Alpine Loop last year? Or at Chaco Canyon a month ago? Or up the class V old mining road 3 miles from the Mexican border last weekend? I've owned Fords since the 1970s. My first being an old Fairlane 500 in high school. Falcons, Galaxies, Taurus SHO, F-150....other Fords. This Bronco has stranded me more times than all my others in all my life....combined! And most of my first 3-4 cost less than $1,000 back then. Very used, old school, but reliable anywhere I went.
UPDATE Dec 23: Ford has made it right with adding a free ESP. See last post.
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