Hello Everyone! Help!!

[gunther575]

Hello everyone! I'm sort of new here. This is my first post here, but I have been in and out of these forums for years now. Have found many great answers to my questions and problems on this site. Please keep up the good work.

I'm in serious trouble here with my 2002 Explorer Sport 4wd.
For months when starting it, it would run real rough and chug badly.
After just a few minutes of running and driving, it was perfectly fine. This chugging and rough idling has been happening for probably a good three months or longer. The other day, when I started it, it barely remained running, and shook pretty violently. Some black or discolored smoke came out from the tailpipe. This happend at work and I was trying to get home. Once I got it started, it ran very rough, and I was able to get it in gear and start to head home. If I gave it too much gas, or tried to stomp on it, it would basically die out. If I just barely gave it some gas, the truck would excelerate ever so slowly, and I drove the whole way home like that. It would idle more or less fine, you just couldn't barely give it gas.
My first guess if the fuel filter, then I'd go with the fuel pump. After that, I guess I'm just screwed. I do not have the money to bring this in to someone and I'm going to be the one fixing it. I'm on one short budget here and am hoping someone has heard of this problem before and knows exactly what it is. Before I start replacing things in this vehicle, I'm hoping someone here can put there finger on it instantly for me. If you need any additional details, I will be happy to provide them. Thank you in advance for your time and help with this situation.

Brian

2002 Ford Explorer Sport
2DR
4WD
110k miles
plugs changed at 85k miles
trans fluid change at 90k miles
oil change 2mnths ago.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Have you checked your intake gaskets?

 

[gunther575]

No, I have not. That did not even occur to me to be a problem with these symptoms.
Are they hard to replace or expensive? They should be right up top?

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome brian

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Do you have a check engine light?

 

[Joe Dirt]

I've always checked mine with some carb cleaner- spraying the seam of the gaskets with teh truck running. Light sprays that result in the run of the engine changing indicate a leak...

 

[gunther575]

Ok. When I last posted, this happened the day I left for vacation. (What a way to start a vacation!) I left to go to FL for a week and just got back. I left it in the garage, and unhooked the battery. I reattached the battery, and the pos, fired right up. No rough idle, no problems. I did notice a bit of moisture had come out of the tailpipe, and there was a bunch of black powder that followed. It just sits on top of the water, it doesn't mix with it. I let the truck sit idle and warm up for over half an hour. Rev'd it, drove it, can't duplicate the problem. The day it was worst, the outside temp was over 60 degrees, today it is only maybe 32 outside. I sprayed the entire seam area with carb cleaner and could not get the idle to change. I also checked all the hoses. I don't recall any hissing when the engine was running like garbage.
Even when the engine was running so rough I thought it was going to rip right off the mounts, it never threw a code. Even now, there is no code. In my first post, I noticed I said the plugs were changed at 85k, I now believe it was around 50k when they were changed. When the engine cools, I'm going to check those to see what they look like.
This whole thing has got me so frustrated. I know when I go to work this week, that's when it will show it's ugliness again. I will surely keep you posted on what happens and what I find.

Just got done pulling the #5 spark plug. This thing looks like it is an original. I replaced them at the time with MC Platinums. The face and arched arm are covered in carbon, or whatever that black sooty looking stuff is. The post looks like it is half the orginal height, looks melted like a mushroom or bullet shape, and is leaning to one side sort of. I imagine that can't be good. I'm going to pull the other five and replace them all. I expected these plugs to last longer for the price. We'll see what happens.