My Explorer died today while driving...

[princessnatty]

94 Explorer XLT
135,000

I have noticed for about a year now that sometimes when starting it, my explorer rumbles a bit, most times it starts, but sometimes it doesn't. When it does die, it is when I make a quick stop some where and have turned off the car for a couple of minutes. I have never had this problem after parking for a considerable amount of time. I also noticed that while this "rumbling" is happening, if I press the gas there is no reaction initially but some times it picks up and will run after that.

Until today it only happened in parking lots...today on the way home from work, while on the road driving it died (so to speak). My foot was on the gas, but it suddenly stopped doing anything. I was able to roll into a safer spot, and turn off the car completely. I started it up right after and everything was fine, I got home with no other problems.

I did take it in originally last year to have it looked at and they could not find anything wrong. I took it to Ford, and they kept it for a week, but could not replicate the problem so they gave it back to me no charge. Has anyone here ever experienced anything like this? I would like to fix what ever it is before it causes more damage, or worse, some knd of accident.

Thanks!

 

[Chew_12]

It possibly could be the IAC or the MAF but Im guessing that ford would have checked that. Have you cleaned your MAF recently?

 

[Opera House]

It has some of the symptoms of a fuel problem. That could be anything from relay , to regulator, to fuel pump, to electrical connections. You have no chance of finding this unless you instrument the vehicle. I had some of the same problems and I put a meter in the vehicle to monitor the fuel pump current. Just before the engine would stall you could see the pump current slowly fall. That at least defined it as a fuel delivery problem. Then you work the problem from there. You have four options. 1. Find a mechanic who is competant and cares. 2. Buy a bunch of random parts. 3. Get involved yourself. 4. Sell the vehicle. You can forget #1.

 

[Ironman1]

Explorer dies while driving...

My 98 died on the freeway about 1 year ago. I had a rumbling sound - sort of like marbles in the engine - that would come and go.
The rear chain guide tensioner broke. This is a hard plastic piece located at the rear of the engine which holds tension on the chain. Unfortunately, shards of the broken plastic may or may not have entered the engine and done damage. It was Ford's suggestion to replace the engine, at a cost of $4500.
Incidentally, Ford has an extended warranty on the "front" chain guide tensioner. This does not apply to the rear one - of course not, the engine has to be removed to get to it! This problem occurred at 77K miles, and Ford would not help me at all - not a penny of assistance!
Good luck.

 

[princessnatty]

Thanks!!!

Thank you ALL! For your help. died again, took it to the dealership where my friends dad is a manager. He was on it...woo hoo. It was indeed the Fuel Relay. All fixed $145.00 CAD. One of the reasons I like the forum, is that when I go into the shop, I know or have a general idea of what I should expect them to tell me. You guys are great!

 

[shifty1]

I would recommend being cautious with the fix.
My X does the same thing (completely stalls out of no where and then starts right up.) The problem seems to come and go, sometimes weeks in between. I have done a few things (including the relay).
It finally just quit starting, it will turn over but wont start.
My mechanic found a bad connection at the PCM relay, hopefully that works.

I by no means want to say that your problem is not fixed, but just be cautious when driving, this is potentially dangerous especially when it stalls on a highway!! Been there!!

Also, your friends dad charged $145 to change the fuel relay?? Ouch.

 

[pegger]

Ya thats a 25$ relay at parts source and takes no more than 5 minutes to swap if your working slow.

But glad ya got it fixed