Hi everyone. I need insight on possible t.c. shudder.

[jaguar]

I have a 1999 Explorer AWD 5.0 with aprox. 59K. My wife normally drives the vehicle and has been telling me about a rattle type noise heard once in a while when driving. I was driving the vehicle last night and heard it very clearly a couple of times. I was doing aprox. 35 to 45 mph under slight load and this happened. The noise went away after a short time with the longest lasting aprox. 10 seconds. I have a back ground as a service writer at a dealership so after giving it some thought appears to me to be a possible torque converter shudder. I had the trans. serviced about 9k ago (aprox. 4 years ago)but vehicle sits a lot as you can see from the mileage. It seems to me that the t.c. solenoid may be acting up. I could use advise on best way to handle this problem before it gets worse.

 

[ncranchero]

Having been a service writer at a dealership you know about the Crown Vic TC shudder and Fords fix? This was for the 4R70W's. If you suspect solenoid issues it won't fix it but it sure cured a slew of P71's in our fleet.......and my personal P71.

 

[swetrid]

Are you sure it doesn't need plugs/wires? When the wires go bad it usually misses right at those speeds because it puts the most load on ignition system. Mine did the same thing and was fixed by plugs/wires.

 

[jaguar]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I first want to apologize for asking a tech. question right away-I read after I did that I was not supposed to but I appreciate not getting scolded for my rookie mistake. I also wanted to mention that I wrote service for a GM dealership years ago so did not have the direct exposure to the Explorer but Love our 1999 Limited with the 5.0L. I suspect it has something to do with the T.C. or maybe even trans. because it did not appear to be a miss-no lugging or any sense that the engine was missing-it was a distinct low rattle type noise-the best way I can describe it is almost sounded like a air pump that was running but again with no feeling of a shudder or miss when this happened. I also suspect the reason I have not picked up on this often is I usually only drive to gas station to fill up or get washed and hardly drive over 35mph myself. I think I will put in the friction additive first since that is a easy way to check and see if it will address the issue-makes since because the vehicle is not driven much and sat for the last year while we drove another vehicle. On the response with the plugs and wires did you feel a miss at all when it was making the noise? Thanks again and let me know if you have anymore insights on this.

 

[swetrid]

I wonder if she is not hearing the engine ping. By the way friction modifier is for the rear axle and ford definitely didn't say to put that in the transmission if that was what you were going to do. Ford had a tsb for changing fluid from mercon to mercon V and reprogramming the pcm for shuddering and on some cars adding a trans cooler.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section.

 

[blakshukvw]

Does it sound like a low hum? Mine has just started making a low hum noise that I can only hear at idle. It's real noticeable when I have the door open and when I kill the ignition, just as the truck is stopping, it makes the noise more clearly. I'm not sure what the hell it is really.