New Explorer owner, multiple querries!

[engardecmc]

Good morning everyone! Thanks for having me on board!
Just this Friday, I bought a 2005 Explorer XLT for (what I hope was) a very reasonable rate ($3800). I am very excited, but I have some questions:

Q1. There is a whining noise coming from the back end that happens only when accelerating at speeds over 35mph. It settles down at cruising speeds of 65-75mph with the speed control engaged. The seller told me that it was the rear differential, and should be about $800 to fix. He dropped that much off his original asking price of $4600.
So, my questions about this are:
a. Was he honest with me about this problem, or am I humped? Either was, I am invested in it now, and have to get it taken care of.
b. How much time do I realistically have before I have top address it? I mean, do I need to tow it in today? Or can I drive it around town for a week or so before I can get it into the shop?

Q2. There appears to be no indicator light that tells you when the 4WD AUTO is engaged? Is this so? How do you know for certain that it is functioning? Also, how does that work in relation to the "traction control" which seems to be a completely separate function?

Q3. I found a card in my glove box that it was the Keyless Entry code for this vehicle. Yet, I cannot find a key-pad. Was this just thrown in by mistake, or is there a super-secret hidden keypad somewhere? ('cause that would be cool!)

And lastly, Q4. Where is the best place (read "least expensive") to get running boards from? Factory, after-market, I don't care; they just have to be heavy-duty (I am a big guy, and I have 3 teen-age sons).

Thanks in advance, y'all,

Aaron in Atlanta

 

[roush9799]

keypad should be right on the door. As for the whining noise, I wouldn't worry so much about it right now. It will last as long as you can stand the noise. It may eventually get worse. You could just try changing out the fluid and it may or may not help. I put in some good quality fluid in mine and the noise pretty much went away.

 

[engardecmc]

Okay, so no keyless entry system. Check.
As for the noise, yeah, it's pretty bad for driving around town. In fact, it gets louder as the car "heats up" and I can often feel the vibration transfer through the gas pedal and the steering column.

 

[roush9799]

Vibration on the highway means you'll probably need your rear rebuilt. If it's just doing it in turns and take offs, then it's probably the clutches in the rear end. I solved that problem by putting in 3 bottles of friction modifier after I changed my fluid. I got one from Ford, it helped a bit, then I put one in from Napa. It helped a little more. I got one more from Napa and put it in and haven't had a noise back there since.

 

[Leo427]

Help with Q2.

This information should help you with question 2.

Since the vehicle is always in 4 auto, there is no light that is on in this mode. If slip is detected while driving, the system will automatically engage while in this setting. This is the normal, everyday driving setting.

I have pasted a link to the 2005 Explorer Owner's Manual. An explanation of the operation of the Control Trac 4 wheel drive system starts on page 216.

http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/catalog/owner_guides/05expog3e.pdf

Reading through this section will give you a good understanding of how the Control Trac system works and when to use, or not use, 4 auto, high or low.

On page 206 of the manual, an explanation of the AdvanceTrac/Roll Stability system begins. I believe that is the "Traction Control" system you are referring to. I do not have it on my '03 and am not familiar with it.

I hope this information helps.

 

[broncojunkie]

You should have asked the seller who quoted him $800 to redo the rear dif. I'd be all over it. I'm pretty sure it costs quite a bit more than that.

 

[Mr Dubya]

Q1. There is a whining noise coming from the back end that happens only when accelerating at speeds over 35mph. It settles down at cruising speeds of 65-75mph with the speed control engaged. The seller told me that it was the rear differential, and should be about $800 to fix. He dropped that much off his original asking price of $4600.
So, my questions about this are:
a. Was he honest with me about this problem, or am I humped? Either was, I am invested in it now, and have to get it taken care of.
b. How much time do I realistically have before I have top address it? I mean, do I need to tow it in today? Or can I drive it around town for a week or so before I can get it into the shop?

A1a: His honesty or truthfullness is undetectable or irrelevant by that indication alone.

A1b: You are not on a strict time-limit for driving it around according to the symptoms you've described. Your first priority should be to drain the rear differential and re-fill with the proper gear oil and whatever friction modifier is required. There are a few threads that deal with this - pay particular note to the information on adding a little extra into the case from the top ABS sensor plug (you'll have to do some research on that).

Q2. There appears to be no indicator light that tells you when the 4WD AUTO is engaged? Is this so? How do you know for certain that it is functioning? Also, how does that work in relation to the "traction control" which seems to be a completely separate function?

A2: If your explorer is equipped with 4x4, you will posses the three '4x4' buttons as shown in the following pic. (Explorers with the message center with have those three buttons on the right side of the radio instead of left).

No dash light and no button light indicated the car is in 4x4 AUTO, meaning the car will drive like a 4x2 and kick the front differential in when it detects a loss of traction, and then back to 4x2 when traction is restored AUTOMATICALLY. This is the standard driving mode for normal, dry-pavement driving conditions.

The dash indicator 4x4 HIGH and button light mean the car is locked into 4x4 continuously. This is engaged by pressing the 4x4 HIGH button while stopped or driving at slow speeds (under 30 MPH or so) on non-dry pavement.

The 4x4 LOW indicator and button light mean the car is locked into a higher-geared 4x4 for LOW traction situations. The car must be stopped and placed into NEUTRAL in order to engage and disengage.

Explorers not equipped with 4x4 and only 4x2 will not posses these three buttons.

As for traction control, I am not familiar with its details.

Q3. I found a card in my glove box that it was the Keyless Entry code for this vehicle. Yet, I cannot find a key-pad. Was this just thrown in by mistake, or is there a super-secret hidden keypad somewhere? ('cause that would be cool!)

A3: If the explorer is equipped with a keyless-entry keypad, it will be located on the driver's door B-column, as indicated by the left-most arrow on the following pic.

And lastly, Q4. Where is the best place (read "least expensive") to get running boards from? Factory, after-market, I don't care; they just have to be heavy-duty (I am a big guy, and I have 3 teen-age sons).

A4:https://www.truckgeardirect.com/



Compare their unbeatable prices on eBay. They always have good feedback from buyers on here, and I own both their brush guard (which survived an indirect telephone pole hit) and their chromed-aluminum running boards (soon to be installed).






-Dubya

 

[05XLimited]

Q2. There appears to be no indicator light that tells you when the 4WD AUTO is engaged? Is this so? How do you know for certain that it is functioning? Also, how does that work in relation to the "traction control" which seems to be a completely separate function?

The traction control part has 2 parts. One is Roll Stability Control. The other is Traction Control itself. Both of these make up the "AdvanceTrac" system. The Roll Stability is only on in Auto 4X4 and 4X4 High, and the vehicle is not in reverse. The Traction Control is on in all 4X4 modes and is only turned off by the button in the center console. When that button is set to off, both the RSC and Traction Control systems are deactivated.
The Auto 4X4 and traction control systems work in parallel. If there is slippage in a wheel, the auto 4X4 kicks on to provide the other wheels power, while the traction control only allows so much power to travel to the wheels.

 

[engardecmc]

Awesome! Thanks for all of the advice guys!

 

[fireball 440]

the traction control kills the throttle to the engine no matter how hard you push the gas pedal. I usually turn it of as I find it annoying. To disable the Auto4x4 mode and make it a normal 2wd vehicle, search "brown wire mod" in these forums.

 

[gshep]

There is no indicator light for the auto position, 4WD high will appear in dash, as will the low...low does have the light to let you know it's engaged.

If you drive hard, I wouldn't recommend replacing diff components with OEM... I'm the original owner of a 04 Limited 4.6L, I drive hard and I'm looking at replacing rear diff components for a second time...got 155K, too costly for the amount of mileage...

Interesting one other post in respect to traction control, I could swear mine disengages only in 4WD Low and is engaged automatically in auto and high modes, I could be wrong on that.

For OEM, check the link, prices are decent: http://stores.revolutionparts.com/oemfordpart.com/