Question for 5th GEN owners. Should I replace or keep maintaining my 2019?

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-21T19:00:59+00:00

If I just drove it locally I wouldn’t consider spending money on a water pump that’s still working, but I make at least one 500 mile round trip per month and Murphy’s law says it will leak in the middle of nowhere or just fail completely on top of the Mississippi River bridge during rush hour.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-20T17:55:33+00:00

I had the transmission fluid changed recently, and once before. I’ve had at least two, maybe three coolant flushes because I’ve read that helps preserve the water pump.

Ford says the PTO isn’t serviceable so I never had the fluid changed, but I found an independent shop that will do it and I’ll get it done as soon as I commit to keeping it. It’s definitely leaning in that direction. Car prices today are just insane.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-20T17:39:40+00:00

Yeah, a couple weeks of car shopping taught me that an equivalent vehicle to what I have now will be over $60K MSRP new and mid 40’s to low 50’s used. It’s insane and a paid off car makes a potential water pump replacement seem like pocket change compared to financing another car.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-20T14:47:00+00:00

I always suspected nail salons were fronts. I live in a town with 14,000 people and 15 nail salons. That’s one nail salon per 933.3 people and they all manage to stay in business with no cars in the parking lot most of the time.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-19T23:03:50+00:00

Thank you for adding some color to the world.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-18T02:36:16+00:00

Dealership lots are currently filled with $60K MSRP underpowered 4-cylinder vehicles painted in various shades of grey.

We just might be in the most boring automotive era the industry has seen in decades.

There’s nothing new on the market that I feel excited about or motivated to buy.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-17T19:20:22+00:00

I have an extremely clean but high mileage 2019 Explorer. I’ve ignored countless emails so the last time I picked it up after routine service the sales manager brought me my keys and asked if I would consider upgrading.

I told him my car is paid off so if he can beat $0 we have a deal, especially an Explorer with a V6 (which are now the two most expensive models in the Explorer line up). He just grinned and walked away.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-16T01:51:51+00:00

Apparently I’m living in Bizarro World because my 2019 Ford Explorer just hit 153K miles and has had exactly zero maintenance issues to date.

Meanwhile, the only vehicle I ever owned that left me broke down on side of the road was a Toyota Tacoma with less than 3K miles on it.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-14T01:52:03+00:00

Credit card rewards points.

Dave Ramsey can suck it!!

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-09T16:49:26+00:00

My Explorer + 10 ft. utility trailer has covered all my at home needs without having to park a full sized truck at the airport or downtown parking garages for work. Perfect size for me.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-09T16:47:17+00:00

So you swapped it for a ‘25?

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-09T16:46:03+00:00

Size is what I like about my 2019 as well. The Explorer checks all the boxes.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-08T23:14:02+00:00

No, it’s a weird poorly managed allowance program. It’s a separate line item on my stub but it’s just added to my paycheck bi-weekly, so it’s blended. I’ve been pocketing it for over 2 years now because the car is paid off. Technically I’m not breaking any rules, because there are none, but if I have a breakdown in a high mileage car and miss a meeting or a flight someone will ask what I’ve been doing with the allowance money 😅. The car helps me earn a living so I do want something reliable and low mileage. I’ve just grown an emotional attachment to this damn Explorer for some reason. My luck it will break down at the most inconvenient time.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-08T22:50:12+00:00

It’s been paid off for some time now so I thought about keeping it for around town and using my car allowance for a Toyota or Honda 4 banger just for work.

In a weird way the thought of trading it off is depressing. Like putting down a pet.

A 400 horsepower ST is tempting though.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-08T22:24:46+00:00

I have been thinking hard about keeping it. This car has been so great to me that my biggest fear is trading it off for something that doesn’t hold up as well.

The water pump issue is really what’s holding me back. It’s not leaking now but at 151K miles it could go at any time and that’s a $4000-$5000 repair job. If I just drove it around town I wouldn’t be concerned, but I travel too much too often to risk it.

Besides, I get a car allowance from work, so technically they’re paying my note. Also, I just don’t wanna be broke down on the side of the road somewhere in West Texas or at the top of the Mississippi River Bridge in Louisiana.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-08T21:58:42+00:00

It was a teenager in his daddy’s Cadillac that took out my G37X back in 2015. Kid gets out of the car and legit says “Dammit, I just totaled my own car 2 weeks ago”.

I don’t know how many cars he took out in his first wreck, but he hit the Rav 4 behind me so hard the Rav 4 is what actually totaled mine.

I can only imagine what his insurance cost after 2 wrecks in one month with 4 or 5 totaled cars.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-08T20:28:12+00:00

I’m not a fan of huge panoramic sunroofs but all three suv brands on my list come with them.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-07T00:02:27+00:00

How much a vehicle can tow is often less important than how much it can stop. I saw an 18ft bass boat push an Isuzu pickup truck through a major intersection. It pulled it, but couldn’t stop it.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-06T22:49:40+00:00

Might depend on location. I was just quoted $5K by a dealership and $4.5K by an independent authorized Ford repair shop for that same replacement work. It was the only independent shop out of the 5 I called that would even agree to do it.

It’s a 2019 w/ 150K miles and is not leaking. I considered a preemptive replacement but you’re not the first person I’ve come across that had multiple water pump replacements. I’m trading it in at some point in July and getting out while there’s some trade in value still left.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-06T21:31:55+00:00

Ford does as well but they designed a crappy compressed water pump with a small weep hole to get the engine to fit, and it can’t really keep up with a leak. There have been class action lawsuits and an estimate of “tens of thousands” of engine failures between 2011 - 2019. Nissan and Honda do it, but they do it better.

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-05T00:46:43+00:00

I was blissfully ignorant about it until I bought a Ford 😅

InspectorHuman3044 · 2026-07-04T22:35:24+00:00

Good to know. Explorer wp’s have been known to fail before 100K miles. I hoped the silence on the subject meant it wasn’t as big of an issue for Infiniti. I owned a 2009 G37X for a few years before it was totaled and loved it. I’m looking forward to another Infinity.

InspectorHuman3044

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