Roaring Engine Noise After Rain

[JFKatz23]

Hello,

I have a 2006 V8 Eddie Bauer. For several years now and on several occasions, I will get a loud roaring noise while in lower gears and while accelerating. I've noticed that it's been after a really hard rain or even sometimes while driving during a storm.

It sounds like I'm driving a semi truck engine with half of the acceleration. Once it gets into a higher gear the noise will generally dissipate, but will then come back if I'm accelerating from a stop.

After a while or as I've determined, after things have dried out, the noise will go away and the car will run as normal.

We had a hard rain yesterday and I hadn't driven the truck since then. The noise started immediately upon startup this evening but now the noise hasn't gone away. I drove for about 15 miles, with no rain to be seen and it still persisted. Then just as I was about to get home my Service Engine light was flashing while accelerating. It then went away after about 20 seconds or so and didn't come back on. (That has never happened before)

I've taken it to an outside mechanic and he couldn't determine the issue in the past. It wasn't really a huge deal to me because it happens so little and goes away but now I'm more worried. Does anyone know what could be causing this and/or a possible fix?

I've read some threads about how it's possibly a fan clutch issue but that doesn't seem to be necessarily my issue and no one has mentioned, rain or anything of that sort as a cause.

HELP!

2006 Ford Explorer V8 Eddie Bauer

 

[wharriso]

Check the temperature gauge when it happens. Maybe its overheating.

 

[JFKatz23]

I checked that and the temperature seemed to be fine last night. Had a problem overheating in the past but had the radiator replaced about a year ago and haven't had any problems since.

 

[banditxp]

i would check for codes. some codes dont turn on anylights. might be the electric clutch going bad on the fan.

 

[DavidEBSmith]

Flashing check engine light upon acceleration could be a misfire. Misfire after the truck sits in the rain is often from water accumulating in the rear spark plug wells.

Not sure what the relationship would be to the roaring fan clutch. We've replaced the fan clutch twice in 160K miles because at some point, it starts randomly roaring and not disengaging and my wife frets about it. Replace the fan clutch and it roars for a second or two at startup then stops, good for another 80K.

 

[MotorCityFats13]

my clutch fan roars at first start up like its performing a systems check.... maybe you have a bare wire somewhere and rain completes a circuit causing it to engage

 

[t0ked]

Had this happen to ours too. Fan clutch. We also had the radiator replaced a little while before the clutch and it didn't help. Does your MPG drop like crazy when it does it? Does it occur more with more strain on the engine (like AC)? The rain may be just a red herring or you may be using the AC unknowingly when it rains to defrost the windshield. It would start roaring with AC on or after a long highway drive and coming to a stop (even with the AC off). It would be better if I ran with the heater on full blast. Then progressed to every time accelerating from a stop. Now with the new clutch, it roars on startup but dies down quickly and never does it again afterwards. MPGs are back to normal and power is never a problem.

What bothered me the most was the loss in acceleration. At first I thought the trans was on its way out.

 

[tojan19]

Fan clutch in mine was pretty screwy also. Would randomly engage when not needed and be stuck on . Sounds like your driving an airplane. Unfortunately not cheap to replace, but worth it. I think it's about $170 for a Motorcraft one.