andylegate
New Member
- Joined
- February 14, 2006
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Aiken, South Carolina
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '98 XLT
I've been all over the web this evening, and I must say, some of the things that I've read, especially about the '02 and later X models have me shaking my head sadly and even understanding why some people hate Ford so much. As it is I've always loved Fords and the best car I ever owned was a Ford. An '88 Taurus wagon was the best one. I flipped it end over end and when it crashed down on its roof I walked away without a scratch. Yep, that was the BEST car I ever had.
But right now I'm about ready to take my gun to my '98 Explorer. I've loved this car to death, but now I'm at a total loss about what is wrong with it. About a year ago, my wife came home with the engine making a very loud clattering sound. Turned out the rear timing chain had jumped, and the 13 mile drive tore up the rest of the engine. Well, after about $2,500 I had a practically new engine put it, 4.0 SOHC with only 30k miles on it! (old one had over 150k). Ran like a dream until last week when something strange happened:
My son and I were leaving for work and school and when we pulled out of our driveway we both heard a loud buzzing sound. Like a alarm going off. It only happened for a second or 2 and then stopped. The sound seemed to come from where the fuse box is, or from where the relay/fuse box is under the hood. Everything seemed fine until we got to the stop sign at the end of our street, where the truck stalled out. Puzzled, I started the truck up just fine, but when I put it into gear it stalled out, with a lurch. It did this 3 times, until I forced the issue by putting my foot on the brake and then the other on the gas, put the rpm's at about 1,200 and then placed the tranny in R. This seemed to work and I forced it backwards about 20 feet. Still driving two footed, I put it into drive and it seemed to work just fine, no more stall, no more lurch. While driving into town (about 13 miles) the O/D light started to flash at me, but the truck was shifting just fine and did not stall anymore. Once I work however, I did notice that the truck would make a strange sound when shifting from park to either R or D. Took the truck to the same guys that replaced my engine and they did a fluid and filter change on the tranny. They reported that the filter was clogged pretty bad, but found no metal or anything in the pan (small sigh of relief there). For the next 7 days, the truck ran just fine, shifting even better than before, but every once in a while the O/D light would come on and flash at me, then would go out all on it's own.
Then today, disaster struck. Got off of work, and going down the street, shifting just fine when the O/D light came flashing again, the "Buzz" happened again and the RPM's suddenly shot up to 3,500! I jerked my foot off the gas and the RPM's when back down. I tried to give it gas and the RPM's shot back up. Meanwhile the truck is slowing down as I'm started up hill. I tried shifting quickly into 2nd and then 1st, but nothing was happening. Worse, as I was up hill, the truck was slowly starting to roll back down backwards. Luckly I was able to back it into a parking lot and call a friend.
The truck starts just fine, and park engages just fine, but taking it out of park and trying any gears, it simply acts as if it is in Neutral. Fluid level shows fine. I crawled under the truck, all electrical connectors are still attached to the tranny. However, there was one other thing I noticed. The oil pan was already quite warm to the touch, but the tranny pan still felt cold.
Both me and my friend that picked me up feel like it can't be anything mechanical in the tranny, simply because it was shifting like a dream until it went into total failure, as though there is no fluid in it. We keep thinking that it's got to be a fuse or a relay (not that Ford was nice enough to lable each one I'm afraid).
So I'm going to have the truck towed tomorrow. Has anyone seen or heard of the truck doing this before?
But right now I'm about ready to take my gun to my '98 Explorer. I've loved this car to death, but now I'm at a total loss about what is wrong with it. About a year ago, my wife came home with the engine making a very loud clattering sound. Turned out the rear timing chain had jumped, and the 13 mile drive tore up the rest of the engine. Well, after about $2,500 I had a practically new engine put it, 4.0 SOHC with only 30k miles on it! (old one had over 150k). Ran like a dream until last week when something strange happened:
My son and I were leaving for work and school and when we pulled out of our driveway we both heard a loud buzzing sound. Like a alarm going off. It only happened for a second or 2 and then stopped. The sound seemed to come from where the fuse box is, or from where the relay/fuse box is under the hood. Everything seemed fine until we got to the stop sign at the end of our street, where the truck stalled out. Puzzled, I started the truck up just fine, but when I put it into gear it stalled out, with a lurch. It did this 3 times, until I forced the issue by putting my foot on the brake and then the other on the gas, put the rpm's at about 1,200 and then placed the tranny in R. This seemed to work and I forced it backwards about 20 feet. Still driving two footed, I put it into drive and it seemed to work just fine, no more stall, no more lurch. While driving into town (about 13 miles) the O/D light started to flash at me, but the truck was shifting just fine and did not stall anymore. Once I work however, I did notice that the truck would make a strange sound when shifting from park to either R or D. Took the truck to the same guys that replaced my engine and they did a fluid and filter change on the tranny. They reported that the filter was clogged pretty bad, but found no metal or anything in the pan (small sigh of relief there). For the next 7 days, the truck ran just fine, shifting even better than before, but every once in a while the O/D light would come on and flash at me, then would go out all on it's own.
Then today, disaster struck. Got off of work, and going down the street, shifting just fine when the O/D light came flashing again, the "Buzz" happened again and the RPM's suddenly shot up to 3,500! I jerked my foot off the gas and the RPM's when back down. I tried to give it gas and the RPM's shot back up. Meanwhile the truck is slowing down as I'm started up hill. I tried shifting quickly into 2nd and then 1st, but nothing was happening. Worse, as I was up hill, the truck was slowly starting to roll back down backwards. Luckly I was able to back it into a parking lot and call a friend.
The truck starts just fine, and park engages just fine, but taking it out of park and trying any gears, it simply acts as if it is in Neutral. Fluid level shows fine. I crawled under the truck, all electrical connectors are still attached to the tranny. However, there was one other thing I noticed. The oil pan was already quite warm to the touch, but the tranny pan still felt cold.
Both me and my friend that picked me up feel like it can't be anything mechanical in the tranny, simply because it was shifting like a dream until it went into total failure, as though there is no fluid in it. We keep thinking that it's got to be a fuse or a relay (not that Ford was nice enough to lable each one I'm afraid).
So I'm going to have the truck towed tomorrow. Has anyone seen or heard of the truck doing this before?
