I've always thought that a station wagon, SUV, and the like with rear opening windows or hatches came from the manufacturers with tailpipes exiting out the side. I have been watching the news lately about the Police Explorers having issues with carbon monoxide and I notice those vehicles have tailpipes coming straight out the rear under the bumper. The investigators seem to be thinking there are cracked exhaust manifolds... wouldn't you hear a exhaust leak?? As far as I know, no one has suggested the problem being the tailpipe location. What do you guys think?

 

Possibly... But why would it be limited to just the Explorer?

 

Because these Explorers are drilled full of holes, front to back for mounting all the various equipment and lights required for the law enforcement community. Lots of opportunity for carbon monoxide leaks into the cabin. That's just my guess ...........

 

You would be guessing 100% correctly... Only the Explorers that have been modified for Police / Public Service use AFTER leaving the factory are affected by this problem... The holes that had been drilled for the modifications apparently were not properly sealed...

 

X2

one of the local towns just had an officer pass out behind the wheel and get into a minor accident, i dont recall the number but half the motor fleet was explorers and the gist of the article was pointing to the police modifications as the problem.

FOMOCO was sending out reps to examine and repair the vehicles even tho they were modified after leaving the factory.

 

Hmm, maybe they would do that to my marauder - its just a little modified

 

Not all exit on the side. Volvo wagons and SUVs exit to the rear.

 

I bet most of our classic cars are getting CO in them. I keep a CO meter in the car for long distance driving when I have to put the top up. Sitting still at idle for a some time with no wind the meter gets up to about 50ppm but once moving it goes right back down to zero or very close. Before I fixed the exhaust it would get up to almost 90 to 120 ppm while driving, so I never drove it with the top up. Still a big hole in the trunk where the quarter meets. Coincidentally when I finally cut the old single pipe out it was rotted on the top pointing directly in the trunk. That explained the high readings.

So yes, CO will find it's way through any crack or crevice.

 

Related story. The Toyota Tundra and Sequoia use a lot of the same parts. The Tundra's pipe went straight out the back, as did the Sequoia's, but we changed that about 8 years ago because there were complaints of sucking in exhaust when you had the lift gate window lowered a bit. We replaced it with one off to the side. The complaints were from the Persian Gulf, where we exported a ton of them, because they burn crappy gas over there that is sulfurous.

 

A buddy of mine is a cop for a township near me. I saw him the other day in his Explorer. I was checking out his vehicle while talking about the recall on the cop cars. The "civilian" Explorers have large stainless exhaust tips sticking out past notches in the bumper cover,similar to our 442s, the police versions don't have the tips & the little pipes on the mufflers exit about an inch in behind the cover. I can't believe they wouldn't know that might cause a problem with the possibility of the exhaust going up behind the bumper cover,especially since cop cars sit & idle allot. Ford probably saved a dollar per vehicle by eliminating the tips!!

 

Yeah I'm sure the CO levels were a lot higher in the cars of the 60's. In fact the older ones of the 50's still had road draft tubes. When I drive my old Vista cruiser with the rear window open I can really smell the exhaust if decelerating. It has the single exhaust exiting on the right by the rusted out spare tire well. I didn't know a lot of the other SUVs had exhaust out the rear... never really paid much attention , I guess. The police equipment modifications make sense. This must be a huge PR problem for Ford, whether it's their manufacturing problem or not.

 

Couple of things....

Ford has known about this concern for a while. Maybe over a year or so when I saw an advance notice about it.
In March 2017 they settled a class action. Undisclosed amount but denied all allegations. Typical move to limit costs and exposure.
Last month another notice stating they believe issue related to aftermarket accessory installation piercing under carriage without being properly sealed.

My guess is that and particular airflow under/up back of vehicle causes issue.
Remember the air spoilers on wagons to keep rear window cleaner? Airflow under a closed back vehicle will come up and settle on back.

Drive a wagon or SUV with back glass down, no spoiler and you will know it pretty quick.

Most of our older vehicles may have leaking exhaust and body perforation causing exhaust to enter passenger compartment. Since almost none of our compartments are even half as air tight as a new Explorer it vents out.

 

Update on the Auburn MA. Police Explorers:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/201...cUI/story.html

 

Correction process just released. Sealing body drains, lift gate spoiler/trim panel, install exhaust tip extensions and reprogram the HVAC module.