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Complicated Series of failures or Simple Cause?

bduke911

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2001 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4.0 SOHC 209,000

Well this seemed like it should belong in multiple areas, so it will just have to land here. Ok, so I know some of these problems have been beat to death. They all seem to have several dozen possible causes each with difference solutions. However, there seems to be one common possible cause for each problem I am having, and that would be a vacuum problem of some kind. I will just go in the order that things have occurred thus far and may we can find a solution. So Far:

1. Truck began to run very rough at idle when first cranked. This was especially worse in cold weather. However, once the truck is warm, it seems to run just fine. After a lot of research and a few failed attempts at fixing the problem, I attributed the cause to a faulty upper and lower intake gasket (which may or may not be correct). I still have not got around to replacing them, so I am not 100%.
2. A few months later, the air in the truck would only run on high or off. Everything worked as normal, but only on the high setting. This was not really a problem since everything still worked. I attributed this to a part that for the life of me I can not think of right now. Anyway, it never bothered me too much so it did not get replaced.
3. Now, as I am driving down the interstate, the air cuts off all together and will no longer work on any setting (high/low, defrost,floor/ac/heat) However, the rear air still works as normal. It's just the front vents that will not work. For this, I have read many threads about people that will lose their vents, but their defrost still works as normal. I have checked the common issues for this problem and have come up empty in my quick look-over.
4. Very recently, my "o/d light off" keeps flashing after a short time of driving (usually while on the highway) and it seems as if it will not shift in to forth gear. I have also noticed while this light is flashing that the converter will lock or unlock very violently, sometime jerking the truck slightly. From what I have read, this is most likely caused by an electronic pressure control solenoid? I am terrible with auto trannies and do not know a great deal about them. From what I understand, it stems from an inability for the computer to measure tranny pressures thus causing lock-up and shifting issues.

Oh yeah, and the only code it is throwing is a "lean on bank 2"... I cant remember the code number.


Ok, so now that all of that is out of the way.... My question is: Is it possible that all of these issues (maybe with the exception of the tranny problem) could be caused by a single or multiple problems in the vacuum system? Or is it more likely that they are just caused by a random series of failures because the truck is getting old and I am just wishful thinking?


Thanks in advance for your help.
 






Re Item 1. My 99 did that. Rough when cold, almost stalling, on cool mornings then ran fine once it warmed up. I got P0171 and P0174 codes. Lean on Bank 1 and 2. Changing intake gaskets fixed it.

Re Item 2 and 3. Not sure I understand the question. Are you saying the fan won't run on any settings or do you mean something else. If it's just the fan not running it's likely a bad resistor. It's slightly below and to the right of the blower motor in the heater core housing under the hood. Unplug the connector, remove two bolts, and it's out.

If you have electronic automatic temperature control it gets more complicated but I'd still check that resistor.

Re item 4. It's likely got a blown valve body gasket, or a bad Torque Converter clutch solenoid, or a bad Electronic Pressure Control solenoid. At 209,000 I wouldn't be surprised if it's two or more of the above. The O/D light starts flashing and the tranny goes into limp home mode which produces very hard shifts.
 






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