Brett Jenkins

For a while now, my 02 explorer xlt has been making what I compare to a
spark knock upon acceleration and the engine light has now come on. I had
the code read, and it indicated an egr valve, or pfe sensor. There is also a
kind of rattle sound when the engine is simply idling. What is odd, right
after I change the oil, the knock on accleration is all but gone for a few
hundred miles but then grow louder as the miles are put on.

The vehicle now has 60k + miles, since we've taken many long road trips, but
has had regular oil changes and maintenance.

I posted this in the Ford newsgroup with no replies. Those folks aren't quite as helpful as y'all. Any thoughts or suggestions?



Getting ready to replace my clutch hydraulics tomorrow. Yahoo. Was going to do it today, but I had a water leak in my basement while I was in Florida, so I spent today replacing carpet pad, insulation, and pegboard. Damn my $1k deductible!

Flight_951

Sounds like the EGR valve is a good place to start. I haven't replaced one on my 97 explorer but recently replaced one on an 88 olds. Takes about 30 minutes on that car. If the EGR is not functioning properly it can raise combustion chamber temps (NOx) which will cause knocking or preignition and should trigger the dash light. Leaving it like this may burn a valve. Good luck.

Sgopher

I don't know if this will correlate, but I will relate my sad story. I have a 99 expedition with the 5.4 engine. I had probably the same type of noise on startup. This would then go away after about 30 seconds or so. While coming back from vacation, the oil light kept popping on. I checked the oil level, it was low, but not that low ( a little below half or so ). I added a little bit of oil. The light would still come on while the gauge went all the way to zero, a few seconds later it would be fine. I thought it was a short in the sensor somewhere. 2 weeks later the engine seized due to lack of oil ( actually NO oil at all ).

I found the problem on a couple of boards. It seems the pcv valve would go bad. This would then allow oil to come back through the vacuum lines and through the intake manifold. I verified this when I took the started my engine rebuild. I found oil all over the intake manifold... My engine did not smoke, drop oil or even give a hint of a problem except for the idiot light going to zero then back to normal. The sad part is I was going to work on the engine 3 days after it seized ( broke on a Wed when I was going to work on it Sat, and no I was not driving, the wife was ). I will see if i can locate the ford forum i used.

Here is an awesome site for parts. Great turnaround and pricing.

http://www.fordpartsnetwork.com/

EDIT:

Here is the forum I found for my expedition. Decent information at least for the expedition. It might have good info for the explorer as well

http://www.ford-trucks.com/

Just look under the forums section

Hope this helps

951and944S

Brett, are you sure it's not a valvetrain noise your hearing...?

If I'm not mistaken, assuming you have a 4.0 liter engine, there's a tech bulletin that addresses noisy timing chain components and is updated free of charge under warranty. Ask a technician personally. The local service manager may not be willing to "offer" any information....?

I can find out more about it for you if necessary. I have friends in dealerships and I remember them mentioning it.

Terry S.
944t@bellsouth.net

PorscheDoc

Have you tried the forums on Vmag.com, i use to use them when i had my bronco, and they were always helpful.

Flight_951

I have the 4.0 sohc in my '97. The chain tensioner recall was performed in '98 or '99 at the dealer, so by '02 they should have fixed that problem at the factory, I'd think (but who knows?). The dash light and EGR problem code wouldn't have anything to do with the timing chain though. I would second calling the dealer with the VIN to inquire about the tensioner, if the '02 is in fact a 4.0 sohc.

Flight_951

Just wanted to add that my 4.0 sohc, which had the chain tensioner recall performed already, still makes some slight rattling noise when I'm driving it before it's fully warmed up.

J Berk

Has nothing to do with your problem...but I used to own ( purchased new) a 1995 Explorer Sport.....with out a doubt this was the biggest piece of #$%^ ( insert the 'S' word here) that I ever owned! everything on the vehicle fell apart! I had always been a Ford fan ( kind of ran in the family) until then.....!

Raceit

You can also search the forums on explorerforum.com.

That may help as well.