engine miss when a/c is on and accelerating?

[marcmymy]

my 2007 explorer with 4.6 v8, 4x4 .the engine misfires or hesitates when cruising along and step on the accelerater a little? if you stand on it, there is no problem. only with the a/c on also? if i take the overdrive off the problem goes away? any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[07EddyB]

The AC is taking torque away from your engine. When you step on it 'a little' it takes the transmission a second or two to decide engine power is down and it needs to unlock the convertor and possibly fall out of overdrive.
When I run my air I know power will be down. I rarely run it so I guess it's more obvious to me. I've actually wondered why my power was down before because I had forgotten that I had left it on defrost before.
That compressor takes quite a bit of power - even on our V8s.

 

[07EddyB]

I'll also add that you need to post your mileage - you may be running lower power due to old plugs or a clogged fuel filter. But it's not uncommon to have less power with the air on.