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Comments
About a year ago my Ranger did exactly what you describe. There was a rattle under acceleration when cold that would stop if I let off the gas. It didn't do it when warm. The problem was a loose shield on the catalytic converter. I repositioned the shield and the noise was gone. Exhaust resonance can cause shields to vibrate and make strange noises that come and go depending upon heat and throttle position.
With your vehicle cold and transmission in Park, try bringing the engine speed up to about 1500-2000 RPM slowly. Can you hear the noise under those conditions? Or hold the brake firmly with the transmission in Drive and step on the accelerator a bit to put some load on the engine/driveline. If you can duplicate the noise while having someone else listen carefully from outside, they might be able to pinpoint where it is coming from.
I certainly hope it is nothing serious. Please let us know.
someone on here said there was a recall on these transmissions, but he didn't tell you that the recall did not apply to 02 models.
By the way, I haven't heard the noise since the additional freon was installed.
I am about to take it in for inspection and have them look at this. Would like to know what the real cause is so that I can tell the Dealership up front instead of only hoping that they fix it.
"Want to update you on my previous problem. The service manager ordered an expansion valve to replace the faulty one assuming that my vehicle had rear air since it was an EB edition. Well, guess what. my vehicle doesn't have the third row seat; therefore no rear air and no expansion valve. My vehicle doesn't have a front expansion valve. The AC system was 2 oz low with freon so maybe that was causing my problem. We don't know. I will be picking up my vehicle today and will keep all posted if the problem was corrected.
Should there any further information on this subject please advise me. My service department is simply GREAT and willing to assist in any way to cure the problem.
Thanks for all the help."
Now you state that a service tech never looked at your car and that you and another "responder" provided the information used to diagnose the problem and order parts. This is not a very good procedure to diagnose and repair a vehicle. Are you or the "responder" trained auto mechanics? You dealership's service manager may be a nice person, but the vehicle should have been checked out by a tech whose qualifications were a known entity. The service manager should not have trusted you and the "responder" he should have had the AC checked by one of the tech he works with. I remember bringing my Explorer in to a auto repair shop and I was sure that the problem was a bad front wheel bearing. The service manager responded with:"We'll see". Turns out that the tires had to be rotated. I may know something about cars, but I am not a trained automobile mechanic. You are right none of us are perfect. That is why we sometimes get a second opinion. In situations like this the second opinion must be preceded by knowledge gained from first hand observation by a trained professional.
Now that we have all of the information, I think, one might be able to say that your dealership may not be that bad. In this case they made a bad decision based upon bad business practices.
Good luck!
Good Luck
E.D.
i have the 2002 Explorer XLT and am starting to get the torque shudder at 3-4 gears... i have read on this problem and have seen recommendations for Lube Guard or Dr. Tranny's additive..
These seem to bring a friction additive that Mercon V doesn't supply enough of.....
Question is how do i add this?
V-6 with the sealed trans..... any options other than a trans shop with the squirt gun? No dip stick on this model..
just the driver.. (sometimes)
thanks..
Is this a dealer trying to get a few more service bucks out of me or is this real deal?
BTW, they replaced my ball joints under warranty when they were inspected. MY '98' has it's ball joints replaced at 60K now this--can't ford make a ball joint anymore? The car is driven on Interstates 90% of the time.
Thanks for any help. :mad:
Is this a dealer trying to get a few more service bucks out of me or is this real deal?"
I would go back and ask for a credit for the coolant change. They took your money. There was no reason what so ever to change the coolant. I would go back and state very clearly that you were taken advantage of. I know it's not an easy thing to do... but it's the truth. As far as the transmission is concerned; there have been so many problems with this transmission IT IS PRUDENT to have the fluid changed every 30K. NEVER GO TO THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT with -out consulting your manual first, but I guess you know that now.
Good luck.
The write up guy offered to give me a credit if I thought it was unneccessary and I will take him up on it after I talk to the service manager.
I've been going to this dealership for 18 years--a very large dealer in NE OH-- and never had a problem before today.
The reality is that these guys know what the schedule is on every fluid and this was a case where they were just trying to ring an easy sale. Makes me wonder if the warranty claim on the ball joints was legit or if they're trying to rip Ford off.
Either way, I'm done with the dealership--there are plenty of other out there--and may be done with Ford because of all of the things that have gone wrong with this vehicle, my 3rd Explorer. OBTW, my ABS light came on when I got home, but went off after I turned the car off and restarted; that was supposedly fixed on the last trip in.
The second thing to look at is the rear torsion bar mounts. There are covers over the rear mounts - remove the 4 bolts and take the covers off. Then spray wd 40 liberally over the back of each torsion bar where it rests up against the frame. Take it out and hit some bumps and see if the noise is gone. This works as long as the wd - 40 lasts.
Ford replaced the torsion bars, rear torsion bar to frame insulators, torsion bar adjusting arms, and torsion bar adjusting bolts when I had the popping noise. I think parts were about 250.00.
If you do work on the rear torsion bar mounts, it is very easy to go a little further, pull your lower front control arms ( 3 bolts - your torsion bars will be out anyway) and put in new lower ball joints.
The car stalls at a stop and the rpms drop to below 500. It will stall even when slowing to a stop. Once I shut the car down and put in park to restart it will be fine for a while and may not stall again that day or may stall again at the next stop.
The dealership of course will charge $150 to diagnose if no problem is found. The Explorer has 42,000 miles and we are coming up to the 50,000 warranty cutoff and wouldlike it to get resolved before it costs real money.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
It could be many different things. The linkage could be loose on the outside or inside of the transmission. The nuts may not be on the studs between the flywheel and torque converer. The driveshaft could be missing. There could be valve body or hydraulic problem. The input shaft could be missing (it could have sliped out the front of the pump). Check to see if the pump is pumping, by taking a transmission cooler line loose and putting a large pan underneath, start it up for a few seconds and fluid should shoot out one of the hoses. If it does, connect the hose back, pump is pumping. Check all the obvious, then next thing is to do pressure tests on the trans, using a 300 psi gauge and hose connected to the transmission pressure port to check line pressure. Should be around 60psi at idle, should increase to around 100 psi if you give it gas, especially if you put it in reverse, may go to 220 psi in reverse if you punch the gas. You need a good tech.
Good Luck
E.D in Sunny Florida
Pretty high likelyhood this will cure your problem.
If you do not want to chance the 150.00 diagnostic fee, you can replace it yourself for 50 bucks or so and it will take you 20 minutes - very easy 2 bolt job.
If it is the rear-end, you may be able to have them fix it or meet you half-way depending on the miles on the vehicle!
In Denver I have had pretty good luck with shops that are "troubleshooter.com" recommended - you know - Tom Martino's web site.
So I would suggest a second opinion at Advanced Transmission in Lakewood - it won't cost you anything. They are listed on troubleshooter.com. There are some other shops listed on there as well.
I think a complete rebuilt tranny can be had for 2,000 to 2,400 depending on warranty and shop. You probably want to weigh doing an 1,800 repair vs a rebuilt tranny for a little more.
To be sure, you'll have to get the wiring diagram and test for voltage at the appropriate connectors - just be sure you get the E.B. wiring diagram
Unfortunately, they don't usually look for two problems - he probably figured he fixed it.