2001 Explorer Sport...Loud bang from the rear end? Shocks? Struts?

[huskyla27]

This forum was very helpful when I need to change my alternator, I'll give it another try

Last night i was going through a dip in the road around 15-20 mph. When my rear end tires hit the dip. BANG, sounded like a crack/gun shot went off.
I can tell that my rear end is sagging a bit.

Then this morning my check engine light came on...this couldn't be related...could it???

Is this the shocks/struts? I'm not even sure if my explorer has struts.

What would the ballpark cost be from a mechanic to fix this?

Any help you could give me would be great. Thank you so much!

 

[j8346]

if yours is anything like mine,,, check the shocks they tend to brake the mounting ears off on the top mounts... (on the rear )...

it is possible, that the left shock,, broke a mounting ear, and got over into the vent hose for the fuel tank.. causing the chk engine light , otherwise no not related..

sag , again could be caused by shocks,, but unlikely...

 

[huskyla27]

Maybe a broken spring then????

 

[1992fordgreen]

Sounds like a blown strut to me. (which is a shock) That is why the rear end sags like it does.

 

[Dave 1955]

I'm pretty sure shocks don't hold the body up.

 

[colintrax]

The explorer isn't held up by the shocks (unless you have ARC where the shocks help the springs) nor does it use struts.
Have the code checked, and look under there. Anything look broke?
Sag is pretty normal for old trucks, particularly the explorers.

 

[koda2000]

broken leaf spring or perhaps a broken spring shackle. shocks don't hold up anything.

 

[colintrax]

If it was a broken leaf spring it'd handle like piss, and be sitting real low. Like on the bump stops low.

 

[DjDom]

If it was a broken leaf spring it'd handle like piss, and be sitting real low. Like on the bump stops low.

If a single leaf spring breaks/snaps, you might not even notice a difference in the ride.


It could be a lot of things.
The second gen. Exploder does NOT have struts, it's a leaf spring/shock set up in the rear.

Get under the truck in the back and start grabbing, shaking, and hitting parts.
You'll notice if something's loose or broken. Nothing should be moving under there.
When you're under there, check for anything that looks cracked or odd.

Another idea, check if your spare tire is still under the truck. I know a few people who have lost that.

Good luck!

 

[Turdle]

Might get the check engine light checked out too. Id definitely want to know the codes stored. It may be related, in fact I would bet on it.

 

[FIND]

^^ agreed. The code will probably be for an Evap Leak LARGE, and if that is the case, just ignore it and clear it. It will sometimes throw that code after a serious shock.

Have you had a chance to do a visual inspection yet? If you can't tell what you are looking at, feel free to take lots of pictures from a few different angles and post them here for us to look at.

 

[boominXplorer]

I bet your body mounts are TOAST. They like to deteriorate to absolutely nothing and the body will rest right on the frame on the 01+ Sport models. Then when you hit a big bump the body will come up and slam on the frame. Could of caused an evap leak when that happened too.

 

[dcdyd]

I had similar experience when driving at 55mph on a road coming out of a national park in Utah. I was passing through a session of the road which has the grill like metal bars across the road under which I believe is some kind of water channel. Just I went pass it, I heard a big BANG from the rear end. I was scared because we had another week to go. So I slowed down and stopped at a garage in a town at the wayside after about two hours. The mechanics checked the truck and told me that nothing was wrong at the rear end. But he did find that the sway bar link on the driver side was broken. He replaced that and we went on. So far, three year passed and nothing more happened.