2002 Ford Explorer XLS has a Ghost Living in It

[lmarkie74]

Today sitting at McDonald's, waiting to buy a cup of coffee and the RPM shot up to 5,000-6,000. Note, my foot was on the brake, not the foot throttle at the time. I quickly held the brakes down hard and placed the shifter in Neutral. I turned the ignition off and restarted. Still went up to high RPM. Shut it down again and tapped the foot throttle. Restarted again and the RPM's went down to normal.

I think this Ghost is trying to kill me. Anyone have this problem. I'm experiencing a very dangerous situation.

 

[lmarkie74]

Not doing it any more. I suspect it could have been the Throttle Position Sensor. Vehicle had been sitting several months while I repaired the transmission.

Working just fine.

 

[lmarkie74]

Doing it again. While sitting in Drive with foot on brake, the RPM goes all the up to the RevLimiter. Have to shut engine off and restart a few times before it drops down to normal RPM. This vehicle is a bomb waiting to happen. It could smash into the rear end of another car or something and cause injury.

 

[allmyEXes]

I recently had something like that happen to me and it about shot me out in to traffic. Have you removed your engine's appearance cover to see if your throttle cable is fraying and jamming something up ?

 

[lmarkie74]

I recently had something like that happen to me and it about shot me out in to traffic. Have you removed your engine's appearance cover to see if your throttle cable is fraying and jamming something up ?

It happens with mine without even touching the throttle. I took the cover off last night and inspected the cable. Nothing frayed. I remove the IAC and cleaned inside the pental to see if it was sticking. Happened first thing this morning and drove 30 miles to work and nothing happened. I'm worried and waiting that this thing will shoot me out into traffic.

 

[allmyEXes]

I don't know much about these PCM controlled systems but there are a lot of guys on here that do know a lot. If I had to guess though, I would say it is something related to the cruise control function that the PCM may be engaging it at will. My issue was a mechanical one. If some Cruise Control wires were frayed and touching or if a little rodent chewed on some of the cruise wires causing it to connect intermittently, I could see the CC turning on. Did you happen to be using the cruise before you pulled in to or to a stop somewhere before this has happened ?

 

[lmarkie74]

Did you happen to be using the cruise before you pulled in to or to a stop somewhere before this has happened ?

Stopped for coffee this morning first thing after leaving house. Didn't use cruise control until I went 10 miles and got on a 4 lane highway. Runs on CC just fine and doesn't disengage. Guess I could pull the fuse to the cruise control and see if it happens again. It was doing the RPM thing a few months ago and it hasn't done it until yesterday.