2002 Explorer 4.6L takes longer to shift. O/D light flickers misfire cylinder 4

[Wade2]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. Today I bought a 2002 explorer with 142,000 miles. I have a youngreat family and I plan to use the Explorer to pull a 6×12 enclosed trailer 2500 miles across the country to relocate. When I got the Explorer the engine light came up with a cylinder 4 misfire. Now, the Trans shifts...later than I think it should. Also, to kind of see what we had...we went on a 2 hour ride up mount hood...at which time the O/D off light began to flicker. I've read that that could be cause by the torque converter. Do you guys think the converter could be causing the late shift as well? I have some money into this thing and...I don't want to lose my ass...my wife loves it and it's perfect for our family...so I'd like to get it fixed...Thank you guys in advance

 

[Number4]

Welcome to the forum.

I absolutely love the body style of the 3rd gen explorers. Try as I might, I can't get into anything else. So I'm stuck dealing with its faults.

Did you get a PO304 code for cylinder #4 ? I'd swap the coil from #4 to another cylinder and see if the misfire moves with it. Easiest way to see if its just the coil.

On the trans, take it to an AAMCO that has good reviews. They are franchises and aren't all good like they used to be. The ones I've been to, will drive your Ex, pull any codes and tell you what's wrong for free.

 

[rocco123]

Check the spark plug to make sure it's still tight also. When my #4 plug blew out it was preceded a couple of weeks earlier by a #4 misfire.