Engine dies when brake hit hard

[springbranch]

Have 03 Explorer, 4.6 Engine. 78k miles. Second owner. Had it for 4 years with no major problems.
Engine dies when I hit the brakes hard at red lights.
Any idea why it would happen?
Thanks

 

[wood1]

Last tune-up was when?

 

[springbranch]

Last tune-up was when?

I don't remember having any tune-up done. You think that is the cause? How about brake boosters or check valve?
Do they have anything to do with engine dying?

 

[97EDDIEBAUER4x4]

Have 03 Explorer, 4.6 Engine. 78k miles. Second owner. Had it for 4 years with no major problems.
Engine dies when I hit the brakes hard at red lights.
Any idea why it would happen?
Thanks

My first post to help someone. I have a 97 x 4.0 SOHC. According to ford it is designed to run on 87 octane only. 5 ys ago when it was my wifes daily driver she told me that the x stalled from time to time while she was sitting at a red light. I took the vehicle for a test drive and was able to recreate the stall. when comming to a hard stop the vehicle would idle for a second or two and then all of a sudden it would start to idle rough and then die. the x would start up fine right after just like normal. After speaking wiht many people. replacing un-needed sensors, I finaly took it to ford. I had one of their experienced mechanics take it for a spin and we recreated the stall. Needless to say he was perplexed. They had it for three days, could not figure out why it was stalling. Finaly they had to call the engineers at ford headquarters to solve the issue. Diagnosis: The engine is what they called carbonized. it happened to me because I was putting premium gas 94 oct. in an engine that is specificly designed to run on 87 only. Remedy: Ford had to flush the top half of my engine. They puor a cleaning solution into the top half of the engine and let it sit for an hour. then they pull the spark plugs and turn the engine over (by hand I assume) and let the pistons push the solution out. After that they put the plugs back in, get her running again and as the mechanic told me the run the living daylights out of her till she stops blowing white smoke. I hope this is of some help to you. It cost me around $350.00 to solve the issue. I only put 87 in from now on and have not had a reoccurance of this particular issue since

 

[wood1]

I would first check it for codes but if you are having stalling problems and have not changed the plugs and fuel filter etc (I'm guessing you have COP) ever that's where I would start. At least then you can rule out the obvious and go from there.

 

[97EDDIEBAUER4x4]

My issue never gave up a trouble code. One of my first remedies fro my issue was a tune up. Needless to say I was dissapointed when this did not fix the problem.

 

[springbranch]

My first post to help someone. I have a 97 x 4.0 SOHC. According to ford it is designed to run on 87 octane only. 5 ys ago when it was my wifes daily driver she told me that the x stalled from time to time while she was sitting at a red light. I took the vehicle for a test drive and was able to recreate the stall. when comming to a hard stop the vehicle would idle for a second or two and then all of a sudden it would start to idle rough and then die. the x would start up fine right after just like normal. After speaking wiht many people. replacing un-needed sensors, I finaly took it to ford. I had one of their experienced mechanics take it for a spin and we recreated the stall. Needless to say he was perplexed. They had it for three days, could not figure out why it was stalling. Finaly they had to call the engineers at ford headquarters to solve the issue. Diagnosis: The engine is what they called carbonized. it happened to me because I was putting premium gas 94 oct. in an engine that is specificly designed to run on 87 only. Remedy: Ford had to flush the top half of my engine. They puor a cleaning solution into the top half of the engine and let it sit for an hour. then they pull the spark plugs and turn the engine over (by hand I assume) and let the pistons push the solution out. After that they put the plugs back in, get her running again and as the mechanic told me the run the living daylights out of her till she stops blowing white smoke. I hope this is of some help to you. It cost me around $350.00 to solve the issue. I only put 87 in from now on and have not had a reoccurance of this particular issue since

Thanks for the great post. I'll keep that in mind to put only 87 octane.

 

[matt0248]

clean your throttle body, mass airflow sensor, and clean/replace the idle control valve. my 02 was idling kinda low at stop lights, never stalled. i replaced the IAC valve( which was an autozone replacement to the original one that died) with a motorcraft one, cleaned the throttle body and MAF, all is well. And it cost me less that $70 for the IAC, MAF cleaner and TB cleaner, 30 minutes and all done.

 

[97EDDIEBAUER4x4]

Your welcome. I know you have the v-8 and mine is a 6 but the symptoms of your problem sound a lot like the one I was having. Question can you reproduce the stall again and again. I would shift into neutral if I had to hard stop in order to keep the engine from stalling when I stopped hard until I was able to get it to the ford dealer to have it remedied

 

[springbranch]

clean your throttle body, mass airflow sensor, and clean/replace the idle control valve. my 02 was idling kinda low at stop lights, never stalled. i replaced the IAC valve( which was an autozone replacement to the original one that died) with a motorcraft one, cleaned the throttle body and MAF, all is well. And it cost me less that $70 for the IAC, MAF cleaner and TB cleaner, 30 minutes and all done.

Any links that you know of that explains how to clean throttle body, mass airflow sensor and idle air control valve? or can I just google it?

 

[springbranch]

Your welcome. I know you have the v-8 and mine is a 6 but the symptoms of your problem sound a lot like the one I was having. Question can you reproduce the stall again and again. I would shift into neutral if I had to hard stop in order to keep the engine from stalling when I stopped hard until I was able to get it to the ford dealer to have it remedied

It's been happening for a month, yes , I can reproduce it. I am going to try putting on neural to see if the engine still dies.

 

[97EDDIEBAUER4x4]

You can do what matt0248 has suggested also, but if it still stalls after that you will probably have to have the engine flushed. You can fix this issue and be happy again, If you are like me it annoyed me pretty good until I finaly resolved the issue.:yelexp:

 

[98 Bubba XLT]

Check the brake booster, is it in good condition?

If not, check your local junk yard

Also, try seafoaming your engine. Put 1/3 of the can in your gas tank. It may not do anything but it'll clean your ejectors. Put another third in your brake booster vacuum line. The last third goes in your crank case.

Let me know if I helped

 

[matt0248]

Any links that you know of that explains how to clean throttle body, mass airflow sensor and idle air control valve? or can I just google it?

I don't have any links bookmarked but it is pretty simple to clean the throttle body. You can do it on the car or take it off the engine, which is also pretty simple. Use only Throttle body cleaner and follow the directions on the can and you should be good to go, I used a little rag to help wipe away the buildup. The MAF is also easy, except you need a special torx bit to remove it from the housing. Again, follow the instruction on the can of MAF cleaner. Cleaning the IAC is simple as removing it and spraying the throttle body cleaner in the area the is carbon'd up. I have not had that great of luck cleaning the IAC. I found a motorcraft one on amazon for a little over $40 so I just replaced it. BTW, disconnect the battery while doing the work so the computer will relearn the idle speed after everything is cleaned up.

 

[springbranch]

I don't have any links bookmarked but it is pretty simple to clean the throttle body. You can do it on the car or take it off the engine, which is also pretty simple. Use only Throttle body cleaner and follow the directions on the can and you should be good to go, I used a little rag to help wipe away the buildup. The MAF is also easy, except you need a special torx bit to remove it from the housing. Again, follow the instruction on the can of MAF cleaner. Cleaning the IAC is simple as removing it and spraying the throttle body cleaner in the area the is carbon'd up. I have not had that great of luck cleaning the IAC. I found a motorcraft one on amazon for a little over $40 so I just replaced it. BTW, disconnect the battery while doing the work so the computer will relearn the idle speed after everything is cleaned up.

Thanks. I will give it a try. I looked for the IAC online, cheapest one I found at local stores was $70+. I'll check out amazon. Thanks again.

 

[springbranch]

UPDATE: I was going to do it myself but decided to spend time with the kids instead so I had my mechanic to replace the IAV and fuel filter and clean throttle body and MAF. Explorer hasn't stalled for since then but now I got another problem with transmission slipping into nuetral when brake hard. I will start another thread for that problem. Thanks again.

 

[97EDDIEBAUER4x4]

I'm glad you were able to resolve the issue. if it isn't one thing its another with automobiles. let us know what the neutral issue is when you get it figured out.