Ears popping while driving?

[Troy Zeppieri]

My Wife and I just purchased a 2017 Explorer Sport and when she first starts driving her ears pop as if the rear windows are down or something. My ears are weird as they aren’t affected by any air pressure differences or whatever you want to call that. But has anyone else experienced this and have a solution? Also the car has a slight stumble/hesitation/shudder upon a gradual acceleration from about 50-60 MPH? Trucks really nice besides those two things. Any help would be great

 

[blwnsmoke]

As far as the ear popping, never heard of such a thing on here. The interior is not sealed so not sure why she would experience that.

If you have a shudder and can duplicate it, swing by the dealership and take a tech or service manager out for a ride to show them.

 

[Mlarv5]

The shudder you feel between 50 and 60 might be the tranny. I know mine does it a lot and I can reproduce it in my Explorer and my F150. The tranny is taching way low and when you push lightly on the gas the tranny is in to high a gear. The best way to describe this, is you have a manual tranny and leave it in a higher gear and accelerate in the higher gear. It shudders a bit until the RPM's get high enough.

 

[peterk9]

My Wife and I just purchased a 2017 Explorer Sport and when she first starts driving her ears pop as if the rear windows are down or something. My ears are weird as they aren’t affected by any air pressure differences or whatever you want to call that. But has anyone else experienced this and have a solution? Also the car has a slight stumble/hesitation/shudder upon a gradual acceleration from about 50-60 MPH? Trucks really nice besides those two things. Any help would be great

Welcome to the Forum Troy.
There are some threads on stumble/hesitation but I've never experienced either in any of the vehicles I've had.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Peter

 

[Troy Zeppieri]

Thanks for the response guys. I believe these are direct inject engines so I’m thinking it maybe has a sticky intake valve that has some carbon build up on it. So maybe doing a BG fuel induction service on it may help. It def not a trans shudder as its such a slight hesitation, but enough to notice it.

 

[Mlarv5]

Thanks for the response guys. I believe these are direct inject engines so I’m thinking it maybe has a sticky intake valve that has some carbon build up on it. So maybe doing a BG fuel induction service on it may help. It def not a trans shudder as its such a slight hesitation, but enough to notice it.

Just takes a few minutes to see if the tranny is the cause. Next time you feel it look at your RPMs and see if they are really low under 1200 RPM. That is when I feel it the most coasting along in traffic.

 

[Troy Zeppieri]

Ok I’ll have to look at the RPMs but like I said its while accelerating at 50-60 so RPMs should be nowhere close to 1200.

 

[Mlarv5]

Ok I’ll have to look at the RPMs but like I said its while accelerating at 50-60 so RPMs should be nowhere close to 1200.

You will be surprised at how low the RPMs get in 6th gear at 50 MPH

 

[Troy Zeppieri]

Yeh true. I guess I haven’t paid attention as we just bought it and she drives it. I’ll check though tonight

 

[Mlarv5]

Just a brain burp of an idea for the ears popping. I seem to remember there is a one way valve to let air escape when the last door closes in most new vehicles This helps the door close from not trapping pressure in the car, truck, etc. I wonder if the EX has one and it might be at fault not letting the air escape fast enough. Like I said it was a brain burp from when I worked on my Toyota FJ Cruiser and had a hard time shutting the drivers door.

 

[Troy Zeppieri]

Interesting. Something to keep in mind.

 

[DanF861]

I also feel a bit of a slight pressure change when driving my 2017 Sport. Around 60mph it seems like there’s a slight “shudder” noise with all windows up (similar noise to rolling down one window slightly on the highway). Or maybe it’s just my imagination sincr the car seems to drive smooth. Curious what conclusion you come to on the issue.

 

[Sixonemale]

Road trip science: Why the car's open rear window hurts your ears:

Road trip science: Why the car's open rear window hurts your ears

 

[reserved50]

Ummm if it only happens with rear windows down on the highway its normal. I've had several dozen SUVs and sedans and if they do it with the rear windows open, its normal. I sometimes do it if the passengers are being annoying, the trick is to slowly get the rear windows down so its in the sweet spot, I call it fine tuning..

I think larger SUVs have it worse due to the volume inside.

 

[Troy Zeppieri]

It’s 20 Degrees in Wisconsin right now. It’s popping her ears with all the windows up and anyone else that has driven in the truck can feel it as well. It sounds like there could be a very small air leak from drivers front window maybe.

 

[DanF861]

I would take it into the dealer and have them check for air leaks.

 

[peterk9]

It’s 20 Degrees in Wisconsin right now. It’s popping her ears with all the windows up and anyone else that has driven in the truck can feel it as well. It sounds like there could be a very small air leak from drivers front window maybe.

It must be something to do with your Explorer. No one else has report anything similar to this in the 7 years the 5th gen has been out. As Dan mentioned, take it to the dealer if you can't find any obvious cause.

Peter

 

[reserved50]

it only happens for a short while then goes away? If you accelerate a little harder does it disappear, wondering if its related to speed or RPMs.

 

[Troy Zeppieri]

Yeh My plan is to take it to dealer after the new year. It only affects her ears the first time she accelerates to about 50-60 MPH and the. Doesn’t do it again during that ride/trip. Just was curious to if anyone else had experienced this. Again we drove two other explorers and they didn’t do it at all.

 

[peterk9]

Yeh My plan is to take it to dealer after the new year. It only affects her ears the first time she accelerates to about 50-60 MPH and the. Doesn’t do it again during that ride/trip. Just was curious to if anyone else had experienced this. Again we drove two other explorers and they didn’t do it at all.

Just curious if it will do the same if the moonroof was tilted in the open position? Was going to suggest trying it with the driver's window down but if you're having the same weather I am that wouldn't be a wise thing to do.

Peter