This is Ford's service information for the facelifted fifth generation Explorer, the U502 as it was sold from 2016 through 2019. It arrives as seven PDFs totalling 25,499 pages, and the workshop volume alone runs to 100 of Ford's numbered sections.

This set includes the wiring diagrams. That is worth saying plainly, because it is the part most downloads leave out. You get 1,653 circuit drawings in Ford's own colour format, wire colours and gauges marked, and 591 connector end views that name the colour, the harness number, the base part number and the pigtail kit for each plug. Alongside them sit the component harness location charts, so you can find the connector on the car before you probe it.

Read this before buying so you know exactly what you are getting. Two things to be clear about. This is a set of seven separate PDFs in one download, not a single file, so you pick the volume first and search within it. And the data set is the 2017 model year, sitting in the middle of the 2016 to 2019 run, which is how Ford issued it: the 2016 facelift and the 2019 run-out share this material. The owner and warranty books included with it are the North American editions.

Which vehicles this manual fits

• Fits: Ford Explorer, fifth generation U502 after the 2016 facelift, front wheel drive and four wheel drive. The Police Interceptor Utility is covered throughout, not as an afterthought
• Covers years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016
• Engine options: the 2.3L EcoBoost four cylinder (201kW/273PS), the 3.5L Duratec Ti-VCT V6 (209kW/284PS), the 3.5L EcoBoost twin turbo V6 fitted to the Sport and Platinum (257kW/350PS), and the 3.7L Duratec V6 (227kW/301PS) that only the Police Interceptor Utility got
• Gearbox: the 6F35 and 6F50/6F55 six speed automatics, with the power transfer unit, four wheel drive system, external controls and transmission cooling
• Wiring: included. 1,653 circuit figures, 591 connector end views, component harness location charts and views, and the full pin-out data
• Diagnostics: 2,614 pinpoint tests, 2,794 distinct diagnostic trouble codes with a dedicated DTC index, plus component testing for the anti-lock brakes and the electric power steering
• Also included: Ford's 2017 Powertrain Control and Emissions Diagnosis book, 1,395 pages on its own, the 545 page owner's manual, the quick reference card and the warranty guides
• Language: English
• Pages: 25,499 across seven PDFs
• File type: ZIP archive holding seven PDFs, 740 MB

Inside this manual

The workshop volume follows Ford's numbered sections. Below is what the set holds across all seven books, grouped the way you would go looking for it.

Every system section carries the same four parts: specifications, description and operation, diagnosis and testing, then removal and installation with the torque figures written against the fastener they belong to.

Sample pages from this manual

Three pages taken straight from the set, one from each of the volumes you will spend time in:

What you can repair with it

Start with the electrical, because that is where this set pulls away from anything else at the price. A fault that reaches a connector normally stops most downloads dead. Here you have the circuit drawing, the connector end view showing which cavity is which, the harness location chart telling you where the plug lives on the car, and the pinpoint test telling you what the meter should read. Four pieces of information that only work together, and all four are present.

Four engines are documented, and the one people usually cannot find is here: the 3.7L Duratec that Ford fitted only to the Police Interceptor Utility, with its own electronic engine controls and exhaust sections. The 2.3L EcoBoost, the 3.5L Duratec and the 3.5L EcoBoost each get full engine, cooling, ignition, starting, emissions, intake and fuel charging chapters, and the two EcoBoosts have separate turbocharger sections.

Both six speed automatics are treated properly. The 6F35 behind the four cylinder and the 6F50/6F55 behind the V6 each get overhaul, external controls and cooling coverage, and the power transfer unit and four wheel drive system are documented alongside them. A dry fill is 11 quarts, 10.3 litres, of Motorcraft MERCON LV to WSS-M2C938-A.

The 2017 Powertrain Control and Emissions Diagnosis book that comes with the set is a serious document in its own right, 1,395 pages of diagnostic method, symptom charts, powertrain DTC descriptions and reference values. If a check engine light is what brought you here, that volume plus the pinpoint tests is the whole job.

Body and collision work is complete: front end, roof, side panel and rear end sheet metal repairs, the vehicle specific tolerance checks for measuring a bent shell, the subframe and uni-body mounting section, and the paint general information. Trim, glass, seats in all three rows, the roof opening panel and the restraint systems are all in the workshop volume.

Driver assistance is covered module by module for the fitments this generation offered: adaptive cruise, collision warning and avoidance, lane keeping, active park assist, the rear camera and the side and rear vision systems. Module configuration is documented, which matters because a replacement module on this car has to be configured before it will do anything.

There is also a set of things that rarely make it into a download at all: Ford's wheel alignment specification tables, the service reminder indicator reset procedures, the anti-lock brake and electric power steering component tests, and a dedicated DTC index for the Explorer and the Police Interceptor Utility.

Manual language and format

The whole set is in English, Ford's North American edition.

The download is a ZIP archive holding seven PDFs, about 740 MB in total, and you extract it before use. They are numbered so the order is obvious: the workshop manual first, then the wiring diagrams and connector views, then the powertrain diagnosis book, then the owner and warranty material. Search runs inside whichever volume you have open, so the habit to get into is picking the volume before you type.

The files have been cleaned up before packaging. Metadata is stripped, nothing carries a password, printing and copying are enabled, and the page furniture that files of this kind pick up on their way around the internet has been taken out, including the vehicle identification number of the car the original export was generated against. What is left is Ford's own pages.

One cosmetic thing you will notice: some illustrated pages in the workshop volume carry a small strip of colour swatches in the right margin, a leftover from the viewer Ford's own service site draws them in. It sits outside the text and affects nothing, and we would rather mention it than have you wonder.

Nothing to install and nothing to activate. Any PDF reader opens the volumes, on a workshop laptop, a Mac, an iPad or a phone.

Questions about this manual

Are the wiring diagrams really included?
Yes, and they are the reason to buy this one. 1,653 circuit figures in Ford's colour format with wire colours and gauges marked, 591 connector end views giving the colour, harness number, base part number and pigtail kit, and the component harness location charts that tell you where on the car to find the plug.

Will it fit my 2015 Explorer, or my 2020?
Neither. The 2015 is the pre-facelift car with a different front end and the 2.0L EcoBoost, and the 2020 is the completely different rear drive U625 redesign. This one is the 2016 to 2019 facelift, and we sell manuals for the other two separately.

Is the Police Interceptor Utility included?
Properly, yes. The 3.7L Duratec V6 that only the police car used has its own sections, Ford's Police Equipment section is in the workshop volume, and the wiring diagrams, connector views and DTC index are all titled for the Explorer and the Police Interceptor Utility together.

Which SYNC versions are covered?
All four fitments Ford offered across the run get their own information and entertainment sections, SYNC 3 included, along with the module communications network and module configuration procedures.

How much oil and transmission fluid does it take?
Engine oil is 6.0 quarts, 5.68 litres, on a service fill including the filter. The automatic takes 11 quarts, 10.3 litres, for a dry fill of Motorcraft MERCON LV. Both figures come out of the specification tables, and every other capacity is in section 100-00.

Is it one file?
No, seven, in one ZIP. That is deliberate: the wiring diagrams and the workshop procedures are separate documents in Ford's own material and keeping them apart is how the cross-references work.

Does the owner's manual come with it?
It does, all 545 pages, plus the quick reference card and the warranty guides. They cost nothing to include and they answer the questions a workshop manual does not, like what a particular warning light means before you go looking for a fault.

Why buy this instead of a shop manual off the shelf?
A shelf book gives you a couple of hundred pages spread across several model years, written from the outside. This is 25,499 pages of what Ford issues to its own dealer network for one vehicle. Each of the four engines has its own chapters instead of one shared summary. Torque figures sit inline with the step, against the exact fastener, in both Newton metres and pound feet. Diagnosis runs on Ford's own pinpoint trees, 2,614 of them, naming the connector and the expected reading at every branch. And it carries the two things a general book never has: the complete wiring diagrams with connector end views, and the collision and sheet metal repair specifications with the tolerance checks. For less than the price of one paper manual you are reading what the dealer technician reads.

How you receive it

Payment is taken securely and the download link is issued as soon as it clears, normally inside a minute. There is nothing to post and no disc to wait for. The link stays live, so the file can be pulled down again later if you need it on another machine.