Hello fellow Mariner owners. I purchased a Mariner in March of this year and I love everything about the vehicle except when I got stuck in a little bit of sandy road and the 4 wheel drive would not kick in.I had to back out and go around it after trying everything to get the 4X4 to work; no such luck. I had it in to the dealership and they checked everything out and could find nothing wrong. Then I took the mechanic to a construction site next door and put one wheel into a sand pile and gave it the gas. Still no 4 wheel drive! The dealership is checking with Ford Engineers to come up with a solution to this problem; it has been four days and I still don't have an answer. Has anyone else experienced this problem with thier Mariner? I would be interested to hear from anyone who has. [img]smileys/smiley7.gif[/img]

Hi Scheuer1,


I was under the impression the Mariner is 4wd all the time..?? Is that not the case? I have a 2006 4x4 and haven't gone anywhere to tell me one way or the other.. of course I wouldn't have known to try anything as I thought it was on all the time..

Try climbing a small hill made of loose sand. As soon as the front wheels hit the sand they stopped spinning and all power was transferred to the rear wheels.I even tried putting it in low after shifting to neutral and made another attempt to climb over this minor bump; same thing, spinning rear wheels. The Mariner is definitly not a hill climber; I will let you know how it acts in deep snow in a few months. I had it in to a dealer twice and they found nothing wrong. My brother works for Ford and talked to some engineers that designed and tested the drive-train, and yes it is considered an AWD vehicle. If this is the case it should have been presented as an All Wheel Drive SUV; not a 4X4 that has either an axle lock or a simple set of buttons that electronicly engage positive Four Wheel Drive performance and control. I will have to be careful if I take it "Off Road!" [img]smileys/smiley11.gif[/img]

that is very odd...were the wheels deep in the sand? its a fairly heavy vehicle...was sinking a problem?

Yes, front wheels deep in loose sand and all power was transferred to the rear wheels and I just sat there with the rear wheels spinning and no action from the front wheels to pull me through. I backed out and tried another sand hill that wasn't as loose and climbed up and over with no problem. Ford Engineering tells me that the Mariner is actually an AWD and not a true 4WD vehicle. Very disappointing considering I live in Michigan and expect deep snow this winter. If I had known this before I purchased my Mariner I would have bought the Mountaineer, which has buttons to positivley engage the 4WD High/Low. The Mariner is not an off road vehicle in my opinion but I will keep posting on it's performance in deep snow.

i dont know where you live, but i reside in the utica area, and my old 2wd truck does just fine in thie flat terrain, but im used to the hilly areas of SW PA

I live in Michigan, we were trying out the new Mariner 4WD in a sand pit up north along with a few jeeps, explorers, etc. Very disappointing off road performance in hilly sandy areas. Does Ok in flat farmland off-road though. Waiting to see what it does in snow; if it doesn't perform well it will be the third time I had it in for the 4WD and i will qualify for the Lemon Law, which is what I will pursue!


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sorry to hear that it is such a problem...keep us posted on what you discover...

We finally got a decent snowfall here in Michigan and I have to say that the Mariner is very sure footed in slippery conditions. I tried very hard to get the wheels to spin on a slick snowy surface but they grabbed like they are supposed to. You could feel the 4WD kicking inand grabbing the surface on all four wheels; therefore, no problems!


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So to sum up all of the posts,it seems to me that the four wheel drive works best when the vehicle is on a more flat ground than any type of incline. Does this sound like a correct "summation" ?


Lenny