Other fuel system problem on the 2006 Ford Explorer
When other fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Ford Explorer report other fuel system problem at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 94,098 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45,800 miles | 55,000 miles | 88,000 miles | 123,031 miles | 139,898 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$2,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 205,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 87; the 2006 has 12. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Dt*: the contact stated after smelling gasoline inside and outside of the vehicle, the vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealership determined there was a fuel rail leak causing gasoline to spill out onto the engine.
The filling of gas in the vehicle is almost impossible- the gas shuts off every 2-3 gallons then spits gas back out all over the person trying to fill it. Resulting in gas being spilled out everywhere on the vehicle, the driver, the ground. This began happening every few times getting gas and now it is everytime. I looked this up online to find a tsb 07-25-3 problem accompanied by dtc p0451 saying this happens alot on ford explorers built before 11/27/07. I called the ford dealer service department they said this happens all the time. That the evap canister and vapor line will have to be replaced. Why is this not a recall? It's not safe to have gas sprayed on you and the car and ground everytime you try to get gas. Thank you for your concern. *tr
I own a 2006 ford explorer xlt with a 4.0 v6. Recently I was filling up with gas and it began clicking off every 1/2 gallon. I eventually filled up after about 20 minutes. I tried again the next day, thinking it was the pump, same problem. Ended up taking apart the whole fuel line system looking for a clog. No such luck. Finally decided it must be the evap/charcoal canister. There is a tsb on this issue, so ford obviously knows about it. But I had to wait for the part to come in, and had no other vehicle to drive, so I just continued filling up for 30 minutes just to get a full tank. The worst part was that you could hear the bubbling down the line, since the charcoal canister would not properly release pressure from the tank. Sometimes the gas would even come back out the fill hole and spray me with gas (a real safety issue). I ended up getting the part very cheap off of an junked explorer. But the part from a dealer was over $400. Definitely a safety issue which needs to be addressed. Thank you. *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Ford Explorer
Other powertrain problem
Radiator or coolant leak
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other speed control problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other fuel system problem happen on the 2006 Ford Explorer?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2006 Ford Explorer?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed