Hello, I have a couple questions about my 03 NBX

[FLRyan23]

Hello, I'm new, but I've had a helluva day and had some questions..

This morning, I noticed that I was a quart low on oil and that I was also a little low on brake fluid and power steering fluid as well, so I filled all three. After that, I jumped on the freeway and noticed that my Explorer was shaking pretty bad (it wasn't yesterday) and it felt like the front passenger side wheel was going to fall off every time I made a left turn.

So, later in the day I had to take my son to an appointment (one that he can't miss) and it seemed to progressively start getting worse. I got up under the truck and noticed that both of my sway link bars had the rubber worn off and they were both loose. I'm pretty sure that isn't causing the shaking but I think it may be responsible for the wheel feeling like it's about to fall off.

Anyway, I read that if we drove slow and were careful, that we could drive with the bad sway bar links, so we decided to take surface streets home. As soon as my sons appointment was over, we got in the Explorer and started to head home when all of the sudden, everytime we stopped at a light, when I'd accelerate, a huge thick plume of smoke came out of the exhaust, it looked like it looks when you seafoam your engine.

So, about halfway home, I had a tire blowout (rear passenger side) stopped to change the tire, got back into the car, re-started it, and then it started acting like it was slightly missing, a "service engine soon" light came on at that point.

About 20 minutes later, we were like 3 miles from home and my Explorer died at a red light. It re-started immediately, at which point the smoke completely cleared up. The entire 3 miles home, no smoke.

When I finally got home, I opened to hood, checked the oil, no coolant (at least not yet) and the oil level was good. I checked the coolant, it seemed fine.

I'm planning to drive it to O'Reillys or Autozone in the morning to get a scanner hooked up to it for the Service Engine Light.

Any ideas? I'm hopeful that It's not a cracked cylinder head or a head gasket, but I'm fearful that it is.

 

[Mr. Alligator]

Wow, what a day!

What type of engine do you have? Four wheel drive?

Sounds like you have several different areas of issues that need to be addressed. I would prioritize the engine issues, and code check should be a good start. Then go through each of the other systems one at a time. Stay focused.

* If you have four wheel drive, be careful that your tire makes, sizes and tread wear are all equal.

** Also, if you are not doing your own work on this, or if you are not extremely attached to this vehicle, you might consider that this could all start to get overly expensive.

*** Make every effort to avoid over heating the engine.

**** I have no opinion or guess as to head gaskets or cracked cylinder head, but would not think that either of those would be intermittent problems.


Good luck.

 

[FLRyan23]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm sorry that I didn't provide that info, it's a 2wd with a 4.0.

I couldn't wait until the morning, I just got back from O'Reilly's, they said that I have 3 codes that have currently popped up. One was for a misfire in cylinder 6, one was for speed sensor in the front drivers side and one for a speed sensor in the rear passenger side, I assume they're for the hub assembly.

To be honest, when I put in a quart of oil this afternoon, I thought I'd grabbed a bottle of 5w 30, but I may have grabbed a thicker oil by mistake, I'm not sure if that was the problem, but I also just noticed that the tip of my exhaust pipe is black, so I assume I was just burning oil. I drove it to O'Reilly's and Walmart and it seemed to run fine, minus the lack of power from the misfire.

 

[Mr. Alligator]

Maybe getting better.... I would still focus on misfire issue first.

Is your maintenance current? Spark plugs and wires? And maybe oil change?

Good luck.

 

[FLRyan23]

Sadly, no.

We fell on hard times and it's been awhile. We bought it used with 125k on it, and it now has 149k. We're due for an oil change now, but prior to owning it, I have no idea if it was properly maintained or not. It did get us from Houston to Orlando a couple years ago when we moved down. Ironically, the AC died on our move back to Texas.

At this point, to be honest, I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to fix or just buy something else. I was told the value is something ridiculous like $1,300 and I think with all the repairs that need to be done, it may just not be worth it.

Thanks again for replying.

 

[Mr. Alligator]

Maybe see if you could buy one spark plug wire, and one spark plug. For cylinder #6.

if you are standing in front of your truck, number 1 cyl is on the left. So you have 1,2,3 on the left. 4,5,6 on the right. Change it yourself. Super inexpensive. Worth a try, I think.

If it works, change the oil, and keep driving that truck right into the ground. Might get thousands more miles out of it...

Good luck.

 

[FLRyan23]

Maybe see if you could buy one spark plug wire, and one spark plug. For cylinder #6.

if you are standing in front of your truck, number 1 cyl is on the left. So you have 1,2,3 on the left. 4,5,6 on the right. Change it yourself. Super inexpensive. Worth a try, I think.

If it works, change the oil, and keep driving that truck right into the ground. Might get thousands more miles out of it...

Good luck.

Thanks, I'll probably give it a try, figures it'd have to be one in the back, lol...

I'm going to have to figure out what's making the wheel feel like it wants to fall off next. I'm assuming the sway bar link has nothing to do with it, right?

 

[kydirtscooter]

As far as coolant, watch coolant and oil levels. This will help tell you what is going on. When you see smoke again, catch a smell. Is it sweet?

As far as maintenance by previous owners, on the first oil change in your posession, what oil filter was installed? While not a dead ringer for good or bad maintenance, if it has a filter that is known not to have a silicone Anti drainback valve, your timing cassettes are not long for this world read:$$$$$.


The abs code on front could be bad wheel bearing. Any irregular tire wear?

Chock appropriately and jack up. Remove wheel and then take abs sensor off and peek down into the hole. Using a pick or something similar, take a sample of grease, smear into a sandwich bag. Shine a light throuh the grease. If it sparkles, bearing is not long for the world.

Try to take wheel flange (piece with lugs) and see if it has any play. This would be a good time to check ball joints and tie rod end on that side as well.

As far as rear passenger abs code, interesting you had a blow out in that position as well. Since you have a code for a rear abs sensor passenger I am going to guess that you have IVD aka "Advancetrac." Can you verify? The presence of any of these would indicate you have IVD: 1. Button between front cup holders with a skidding icon, 2. Badge saying "Advancetrac" on liftgate (some early 03 did not have badge), 3. Doing system check with cluster will state "Avdtrc OK" or "SERVICE ADVTRC", 4. ABS tone rings on both rear CVs at knuckles, 5. Skidding icon in lower left of dash cluster on prove out.

This is important because the tone ring could have been damaged or cracked in which case you will have some weird symptoms even if everything else is repaired as far as chassis stability.

 

[FLRyan23]

As far as coolant, watch coolant and oil levels. This will help tell you what is going on. When you see smoke again, catch a smell. Is it sweet?

As far as maintenance by previous owners, on the first oil change in your posession, what oil filter was installed? While not a dead ringer for good or bad maintenance, if it has a filter that is known not to have a silicone Anti drainback valve, your timing cassettes are not long for this world read:$$$$$.


The abs code on front could be bad wheel bearing. Any irregular tire wear?

Chock appropriately and jack up. Remove wheel and then take abs sensor off and peek down into the hole. Using a pick or something similar, take a sample of grease, smear into a sandwich bag. Shine a light throuh the grease. If it sparkles, bearing is not long for the world.

Try to take wheel flange (piece with lugs) and see if it has any play. This would be a good time to check ball joints and tie rod end on that side as well.

As far as rear passenger abs code, interesting you had a blow out in that position as well. Since you have a code for a rear abs sensor passenger I am going to guess that you have IVD aka "Advancetrac." Can you verify? The presence of any of these would indicate you have IVD: 1. Button between front cup holders with a skidding icon, 2. Badge saying "Advancetrac" on liftgate (some early 03 did not have badge), 3. Doing system check with cluster will state "Avdtrc OK" or "SERVICE ADVTRC", 4. ABS tone rings on both rear CVs at knuckles, 5. Skidding icon in lower left of dash cluster on prove out.

This is important because the tone ring could have been damaged or cracked in which case you will have some weird symptoms even if everything else is repaired as far as chassis stability.

Thanks for the reply, this is some great information.

You know, this is actually the 2nd blowout that I've had on the passenger rear in the last two months. My tires are all wearing on the outside edge, I've kinda been scared to take it to see if an alignment needed to be done. Most of the shops in my area are notorious for trying to get people to do work that doesn't need to be done. I plan on checking the wheels tomorrow for play. I have no buttons between the cup holders so I think I'm good there. My ABS light has been on for awhile though, I always pass my vehicle safety inspections so never really thought much about it (stupid, I know.)

I may have a brake caliper that sticks, would that cause the wheel to feel like it's going to fall off?

 

[kydirtscooter]

Finding good shops nowadays is like next to impossible!

Alignment checks are free at every Ford dealer I have been to. If you are nice they usually will print out the results so you can see what is going on.

I am thinking you have something bearing related especially with the front abs code and wheel symptoms. Often when a bearing goes, metal interferes with the abs signal and it trips an abs code/light. Could be something else too but working backwards from occurence

 

[FLRyan23]

Finding good shops nowadays is like next to impossible!

Alignment checks are free at every Ford dealer I have been to. If you are nice they usually will print out the results so you can see what is going on.

I am thinking you have something bearing related especially with the front abs code and wheel symptoms. Often when a bearing goes, metal interferes with the abs signal and it trips an abs code/light. Could be something else too but working backwards from occurence

Good to know about the Ford dealerships, I may look into that.

A long time ago, I had a 2004 Ranger that had a bearing go, it made a really loud whining/grinding noise though. At this rate, I'd almost welcome something like bearings or even a ball joint as opposed to something major like having to overhaul my suspension. I will likely be buying a pair of new sway bar links and doing it myself. Doesn't seem like something that would be overly hard to do. Plus, with exception to the year it spent in Florida, this Explorer has never been out of Texas, so it has little rust.

 

[kydirtscooter]

The lack of noise is the one major symptom of a bad bearing missing but figured it would be a good check. On heavy Ford trucks (250+) an abs light generally precludes a bad wheel bearing 9 out of 10 times. They have tapered unit bearings like these only a little bigger but same idea.

A really worn tie rod (inner or outer) could make it handle odd, same goes for ball joints, bushings, general alignment etc. But these wouldn't cause abs light.

If you do end up needing parts, just say no to dorman or any other chinese garbage!

 

[FLRyan23]

Actually went with the Moog Sway Bar Link instead of the ACDelco.

 

[FLRyan23]

If you guys are still around, I have another question...

The front passenger side tire/wheel area is getting horrible, feels like the tire is about to fall off.

I've been trying to get information, but it's really hard to search for because I'm really not finding much information. When I turn, it wobbles and gets super bad. When I first start accelerating, it wobbles and is really bad. I've checked the lugnuts, they're fine. I've checked to see if a weight fell off, but haven't seen any markings to indicate that. I've checked the rubber covers for the ball joints and stuff and none of them are torn or in bad shape.

So far, the only things I've noticed are that the sway bar links are all bad and that a can slightly turn the tie rod end by hand on both sides on the truck. I would assume that if I can turn the tie rod end on both sides, and that was the problem, it should be wobbling on both sides, right?

After that, I've read that people say it could be a bad wheel bearing (I had a bad bearing in an 04 Ranger and it growled) I'm not hearing any noises from the front end.

It could be a broken motor mount (again, not really seeing anything to indicate that)

It could be a bad CV Joint (I have no idea how to check this)

It could be a bad ball joint (again, nothing seems to look bad and I'm not hearing any noises. I had a Dodge Ram with a bad ball joint and it made a loud popping noise when I turned.)

It could be a sticking brake caliper. (That's possible if it could really make the wheel feel that way)

It could be a warped rotor. (That's also possible)

It could be a bad tire (That's possible, I have no idea how old the tires were when I bought it, I've since owned it for about 3 years and about 25k miles)

It could be the alignment. (Two of my front wheels became super bald on the outer edge of the tire, that seems feasible?)

Any ideas?

 

[Joe in NY]

if the wheel is physically moving around then the wheel bearing is shot.

 

[FLRyan23]

if the wheel is physically moving around then the wheel bearing is shot.

See, that's the thing... I jacked up the passenger side and put my hands at 9/3 and tried to move it and nothing. Same at 12/6.

 

[FLRyan23]

So, the other day, I rotated the passenger front tire to the driver rear (and vice versa) the shaking didn't change, the wheel still felt like it was going to fall off.

Yesterday, my rear passenger tire blew out, I went to a used tire shop, bought a new tire, all shaking is gone, no more feeling like the wheel's going to fall off. It's AMAZING how one tire (in the rear) could make my truck feel that way!

Thanks for all you guys help!