Hard jerk, then wrench light came on

[BrianDye]

Driving to work this morning, cruise set at about 74. Had been driving for a good 15 or so miles, all of the sudden the cruise shuts off, Explorer jerks me then the wrench light illuminates. Now it's still driving okay (right after it happened) but it's at about 2500 RPM's @ 70 vs 1900-2000 RPM's. Continued to work, I had no time to stop.

Once I got off the highway, it downshifted normally, until it shifted to first (I believe) as I was almost completely stopped it shifted kind of rough. Took off and it was shifting really funky, as if it didn't want to, but something was forcing it to. Different RPMs and speed than normally where it shifts, kind of hesitating it felt like as well.

I should also add that when I was driving, I pressed the O/D button, and the RPMs kicked up, and I pressed it again and they dropped back down to 2500 or so, so it's not O/D going out.

I got close to work, pulled over and shut it off, then started it back up and it drove perfectly fine...granted I didn't get over 35 mph in the short distance I had, but the wrench was off and all seemed well.

What am I looking at here? This has my mind racing at work, stressed to the max.

 

[Flag Gibby]

Unfortunately the only way to tell is to pull the code that it threw. Most likely it lost the signal for one of the ABS tone rings and the TCM was trying to get the driveline back in sync. That is the most likely scenario that I could come up with.

 

[BrianDye]

Upon using the "Powertrain malfunction light" vs wrench light, I yielded a lot more results. Seems as if it's very common to be the TPS.

My issue though is that I have NO check engine light, so it won't actually show any codes from what I've read. I found a link deep in one thread where a guy described some of the same issues, one being that it felt like he had a misfire at idle, which I have the symptom too and he had about 4 important connectors that had exposed wiring from heat degrading the insulation over time.

Hopefully I can make it home without issues, and get this figured out without having to shell out large sums of money.

 

[BrianDye]

Unfortunately the only way to tell is to pull the code that it threw. Most likely it lost the signal for one of the ABS tone rings and the TCM was trying to get the driveline back in sync. That is the most likely scenario that I could come up with.

That crossed my mind, but I had that issue on my 2009 Edge (AWD). Both rings busted from water freezing under them and expanding. Was driving down the highway and traction control light flashes and the engine cuts the power thinking I was slipping. Only problem was that the rings were sliding on the axle so it didn't stop thinking I was slipping. Eventually a 1/4 mile or so down the highway it gave up, threw the wrench light, check engine, and (I don't remember what other light) but it disabled the AWD so I was only driving in FWD and had to limp it home. This was nothing like what happened in the Explorer.

I was also under the impression that there are no codes unless a check engine light is on. I only have the wrench light. (Well, had, since it turned off when I restarted the engine)

 

[Explorer_PL]

I believe you have v6. I have been dealing with same issue on my 06 v8 for the past 2 months. When it did the first time, I got an error for throttle body. I had another one at home so replaced it - still same issue. If you dig into the codes with some better scanner, you'll probably find U0101 or U1900 which are communication code errors between PCM and TCM, and maybe you'll have P21xx errors most likely. There is something about wires going to the TB assembly where they melt and create an interment short or noise in the signal. Check the wiring going to TB, both sides, the TPS sensor, and the TB motor assembly.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Had that happen when my front wheel bearing went. Problem was the sensor wasn't reading properly and it was throwing the traction control on. Seemed like it was slipping. No check engine light. Swapped the hub and good as new.

ABS codes don't show up on a run of the mill reader, you need to go to the stealership, or to someone who has an expensive reader to have them read.

 

[Explorer_PL]

I have Innova 3160 and I can read ABS and SRS codes. My old cheap reader did not, that's why I upgraded to 3160. I think it was about 200 bucks.

 

[BrianDye]

I'm going to check all the wires I can get my hands on today when I get home, but I don't see this being an ABS/tone ring issue. I had only a wrench light, no loss of acceleration or power as I experienced with my last vehicle that had a tone ring go bad on the highway.

 

[BrianDye]

I forgot to mention that I do in fact have the V6.

I have changed the front hubs, spark plugs, fuel filter, and cleaned the throttle body and MAF but that was all longgggg before this happened.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Cleaning the TB is always good, but check the electrical around it.

 

[BrianDye]

Update:

Got off work LATE the day this happened, and it started raining when I got home, I had no motivation to check under the hood. When I left work, had zero issues, light was off, etc. Next day going to/from work, again, all was well. Got on it a few times, used cruise control, etc to see if I could trigger it again, nothing.

Since yesterday, I havent done a damn thing. Got a mean cold now, and work the next 12 days in a row. Cant wait! Hopefully this was just a one-time thing, sensor malfunctioned or something, who knows. I still will check all the wiring as another thread mentioned, but not in the next few days until I can breathe and not have my head exploding!

 

[naiku]

Just had a similar thing happen today but on a V8. Pulled away from a stop, at about 30mph a big clunk and wrench light came on. Shifting from P to R is very clunky, managed to limp home but the transmission is not shifting gear while driving. Just stays in one gear.

Dreading the cost on this, going to read the codes tomorrow.