00 Explorer "hiccups"/hesitates in drive when foot is off the gas

[Jaegergirl]

Hi All,

I'm having an issue with my Explorer and need some help.

It idles fine but when you're in drive and take your foot off of the gas pedal, it "hiccups" (sorry, that's about the best way to describe it) or hesitates. Basically it runs like crap. When you press on the pedal, the hiccups stop and it seems to run fine. At first it was an intermittent problem but now it's happing more frequently. The check engine light is not coming on and it doesn't seem to matter how fast you are going. It happens no matter what brand of gasoline I use.

I've called our mechanic but he's not able to look at it until next Tuesday so I thought I'd post here to see if anyone has an ideas what might be wrong. I don't want to drive it if it's going to do more damage to whatever is wrong with it AND I don't want to get stranded somewhere either if it quits running.

Thanx in advance.

 

[Blee1099]

Sounds like it needs a tune up.

 

[Glacier991]

the hiccup you describe... it it like a one time thing, or does the engine start to sputter or do the hiccups continue ?

 

[DocAnkh]

Sounds like either a fuel filter,faulty Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)problem.....Hope this may help a bit......

 

[Jaegergirl]

the hiccup you describe... it it like a one time thing, or does the engine start to sputter or do the hiccups continue ?

When my Explorer is "hiccuping", it feel like you are driving over a series of little bumps. It does it after you take your foot of the gas and stops and soon as you accelerate. To top off the hiccuping problem, while it's acting strangely, there's a noise coming from the rear, almost sounds like the road noise you get from your tire tread. I usually drive with music on so I never really heard the noise. My husband is the one who noticed it this weekend.

We initially thought the problem, at least the hiccup, had something to do with the engine/fuel or maybe it just needed a tune up as some have suggested. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be that easy to fix. Our mechanic had it yesterday and said everything is running as it should...he thinks the problem could be with the transmission. We have to take it to a transmission shop to find out. If that's the case, I'm going to be mad (to put it mildly). We just had the transmission rebuilt last summer (the Ford dealership did it, which is a whole other story all together) and the warranty on that work expired Aug 1. My luck. This Explorer has been nothing but problems for us.

Thanks for your replies. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Jaegergirl]

Update. The transmission shop has no idea what the problem is either and suggested we take it to the dealer. Only problem is I absolutely HATE both Ford dealers that are close by (I had bad experiences with both service departments) and I'm half tempted to take it to the dealership my cousin's husband is a mechanic at even though it isn't a Ford dealership.

My husband took the Explorer on a road trip this weekend and said it didn't do anything that I mentioned above when it was in cruise control. So the problem remains a mystery...........

 

[Cdaddy78]

I've heard of people on here mentioning a similar noise from the rear, suspected to be the transfer case.

 

[Jaegergirl]

Update

After taking the Explorer to 3 different shops with none of them able to fix the problem, I reluctantly I took the Explorer to the dealer. I explained the problem and happened to mention the TSB regarding the rear end. To the tune of $2k they overhauled the rear end, replaced the left side wheel bearing hub bearing/4x4 pinion seal and rear ABS sensor. 2 days after getting it back, the problem wasn't only still there, it was worse!! So we took it back. Today they tell us the tires are what's causing the problem (they said they called FORD and was given this information).... we put 2 new tires on the front a month or so ago. The 2 new tires are a different brand than the back so there is a slight size difference (which I didn't know). When driving, this is causing the automatic 4 x 4 to engage and disengage which is what causes the shutter/noise. I am going to get 2 new rear tires (same brand as the front, of course) to see if that indeed fixes the problem. So we'll see....