2007 Ford Explorer Intermittent Stalling Issue

[explodermann256]

Hello all, my 2007 Explorer XLT 4.0 has developed an issue where the vehicle will intermittently stall. When this happens, the check engine light flashes and the oil pressure light comes on. Usually, it will start right back up but sometimes it will only crank. When it only cranks, if I wait a while it will eventually start back up. The issue occurs randomly and only when the vehicle is in drive. I have left it idling in park for extended periods of time but it will not re-create the scenario. Furthermore, upon restarting the Explorer after it stalls, it will run like complete garbage; as if it is misfiring. The entire engine will shake. When it does this, the exhaust smells terrible. The shaking, however, goes away on its own after a while and the vehicle returns to running normally. I tried cleaning out the mass airflow sensor and throttle body, but that yielded no change. Additionally, there are no fault codes stored for any of this, which is strange. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am suspecting this may be a sensor of some sort. Maybe the crankshaft position sensor? Thank you.

 

[iharting]

Had the same experience due to a bad Throttle Body, the failure began that way and ended with the engine not starting anymore... in the middle of a street crossing.

 

[ExplorerDuece]

Check the vacuum line by the air hose. Its black with a thin hose connected to another canister of some kind. make sure the line is on. I had to tape mine to stay on. Check all your vacuum lines by physically pushing them to make sure they are connected.

 

[explodermann256]

Thank you to all those who replied. The truck smelled like it was running really rich so we tested the catalytic converters and they were fine. Then, I plugged in a scanner and it showed that the voltage for one of the O2 sensors was all over the place. Went under the truck and noticed that the wires leading up to the upstream O2 sensor on the drivers side were destroyed, as if they were chewed through by rodents or just plain disintegrated. We also inspected the wires leading up to the ignition coil and they were also toast, so we spliced in a new connector and changed the coil along with a burnt #1 cylinder spark plug. That still didn't fix the stalling problem, however. The alternator was also reading about a volt low at 13.5 volts, so I changed the alternator and it's now charging at around 14.2-14.3. At that point the truck stopped stalling, however, the transmission started banging like crazy, had trouble shifting, and the wrench light was now coming on. Got a P0715 code for the Input Speed Sensor Circuit. Having knew about the horror stories with the 5R55 I was worried the transmission had begun to go out on me. Went back under the truck and noticed the wires leading up to the input speed sensor/TSS were also destroyed. Spliced in new wires and everything is now working excellent. Never a dull moment!