I have a 4WD, 1997 Explorer Sport 4.0 w/ 171,000 miles. Recently I have been noticing a heavy vibration when the car is idling. It seems to start a second or two after I have come to a stop and am idling in drive. It seems to be more pronounced when I come to a hard stop. I haven't been able to figure out where the vibration is coming from, but you can feel it from anywhere in the car.

I live in the northeast and it has been cold lately. I think that the problem has been worse in the colder weather, though I can't be sure of that.

Also, and this may be unrelated, I have started to hear a rattling near the exhaust when the car is parked and running.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas of what it might be or any diagnosis tips?

thanks!

 

If it is a hard Vibration, kind of like a Shudder. The Idle Speed could be To Low. There are many things that can cause this, some of them are, Dirty Air Filter, Dirty Fuel Filter, Bad Plugs, Bad Wires, Bad Throttle Position Sensor.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't term it as a shudder. It doesn't feel like the engine is having trouble keeping at idle at 500-600 rpm, though I'll definately check all those items out.

Apparantly a friend of mine encountered a similar problem in her Explorer Sport (newer model) and Ford removed the heads, replaced the valves, valve seats, head gaskets, and intake manifold gaskets. Luckily for her, it was under warranty. This seems a bit excessive.

Could it be related to the Idle Air Control?

 

My 94 Ex had really bad vibration in idle. More "jerk" than "vibrations", but it was bad.

It went away as soon as I fed the engine fuel.

The EGR was blown.

I replaced it (relativly easily), and now it runs super smooth.

 

It could be the IAC going bad. A bad IAC usually causes the Engine to stall though. EGR is a good option, as well as the PVC valve Like I said many many causes for a Rough Idle.Could even be Dirty Injectors.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm still working on finding the root of this problem. I'm going to replace filters and plugs this weekend. I also have two new symptoms that I wanted to let you know about to see if it brought about any mroe ideas.

1) A couple of times this week I have had very rough starts. It almost sounds like something is caught in the gears or the fan and the engine has to work through it in order to start. This is ery intermittent and has happened only twice in the last week.

2) This morning, I was stopped at a stop light in drive and all of a sudden the rpms increased and my car jerked forward a little (foot was lightly on the brake, but it was as if I stepped on the accelerator without applying more pressure to the brake).

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

twallace,
It sounds like we're having a similar problem. I have a 4WD 1999 Explorer 4.0, automatic transmission, with 90,000 miles. I notice the vibration/shudder after I come to a stop, but also right after switching gears. It usually shudders 2-3 times and then things run smoothly after that. I'm wondering if it is the beginning of an IAC problem, which seems relatively easy to fix. Have you found the cause of your vibration yet?
Ed

 

I'm not sure if this is any help or not but I had a couple of things happen with my 96 5.0 AWD Explorer. I am good about maintenance and do all the regular service required. The two things that I had happen are:
I would get a shudder while shifting (most noticable during torque converter lockup). It had been getting worse and I went to my local dealer expecting to need a new torque converter. Apprearently there is a service bulletin on 5.0 Explorers and Mustang GTs where the transmission needs to be flushed (including something extra they do to clean the torque converter) and with the new fluid an anti-shudder addititve is put in. Bare in mind that I tow a horse trailer and for piece of mind I have been getting the transmission flushed every year (about $75). I considered this cheap insurance. I currently have 110,000 mile on it. This did fix the problem and costs about $100.
The second thing I have happening is a vibration that only occurs when the temperature outside is below 40 degrees. I have put up with it for the last 4 years. What I found is the sound comes from the fuel tank (fuel pump). It just gets noisey when it's cold out. It does resonate through the vehicle and sounds like an engine or transmission vibration. It is easy to prove this out by turning the key on but not starting the engine and you will feel it for a couple seconds as the fuel pump comes one. Also when the engine is running put you hand on the fuel tank, you and feel and hear it.
This is my second Explorer. The first one (a 92) had 210,000 miles on it when I sold it, still running well.
Hope this helps,
Chuck

 

Any update on the vibration source/fix

 

My '04 explorer has the same problem and my ******* dealer refuses to acknowledge that it exists. Any1 got a fix that I can confront my dealer with?