02 explorer engine rattle
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02 explorer engine rattle
i have a 2002 explorer with 43,000 miles , the engine is makeing a noise about 2200 rpms, i noticed it on accrelation. so i stalled the engine up by holding the brake and about 2200 rpms it started making a noise. also for the past couple months my wife tells me that their is an odor in the garage after she has driven it an shut it off like something is hot. you can not hear the noise if you rev it up in park, the engine only does it if you put a load on it. i hope it is not the timing chain. please help. thanks
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From: "Garden State"
The wife had a 2002 with the 4.0 V-6 and at about 43,000 miles it started making a noise that sounded SIMILAR but not exactly the same as engine "pinging" or spark knock. First occured when the engine was "cold" and under "stress" such as going up a small hill in the 2100-2600 rpm range it seemed. When the engine warmed it would go away. As time went on it took longer for it to go away. It's the notorious timing chain tensioner problem these engines are famous for. You can ignore it and end up with a siezed engine from the disintegrating plastic parts floating in the oil. I had a used oil analysis done and the oil was heavy with iron wear particles due to the chain slapping against the engine parts and shedding iron. Read other cases where the oil pump pick-up screen was clogged with shredded plastic from the tensioners and seized the engine. The repair is expensive and they were using the same bad parts for the repair. She traded in the 2002 and got a 2005 with the 4.6 V-8. The gas mileage of the V-8 is just about the same as the V-6 and it's a lot more powerful. Go figure 
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Whimsey
.Whimsey
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just sent my oil sample off today. i have a oil lab at work they cut my filter open cut a piece of the filter off and made a slide out of it . we look at it at 500x and all we seen was metal and sand {dirt}. then we heated the sample up to 250 degrees and looked at it again this will help identify the diff. in the metals , by their colors blue was the harder stuff orange was the cast and so on. but no plastic. my wpc was a little high at 24. but all in all ,the sample looked normal to a little high, the oil guy said. after work i took it to my local ford dealership and had a few of my friend mechs come out and listen to my engine and to my luck it did not make a sound. i don't know what else to do.
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From: "Garden State"
Don't worry engine failure won't happen overnight. It'll take time. So you have some time to evaluate your situation. In my wife's case the noise at first was only with a cold engine. But as time went on the noise lasted well until the engine was warmed by the temp gauge. Good luck. This is another problem Ford is well aware of yet ignores. I'm not ragging on Ford's since I've personally owned them since 1971 and still do. But I'm really disappointed that they don't stand up to their mistakes and FIX them after they have been known for years! They drive away a lot of future owners unfortunately.
Whimsey
Whimsey
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I have the same ping around 2500-3000 rpm in my 2001 4.0 explorer with 80000 miles. Believe it or not when I changed the oil myself I used valvoline maxlife for cars over 75000 ....5w 30 and the ping went away.. Then I gave in my truck to a jiff lube place and BANg the ping is back.
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I think that the noise could be the tensioners... what I found is that going to a full synthetic (I use Valvoline, but I'm sure others would work good) made the noise go away.. I believe the tensioners have a "plunger" or "piston" that gets sticky in the bore it rides in, and when it sticks, it's not able to take up all the slack in the chain.
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I also have the ping/rattle in my 1997 explorer. It has 102,000 miles on it, and it has been doing it for years. It starts at exactly 2500 rpm and I can hear it until the motor overpowers it when over 3000 rpm. I haven't been able to figure out where it is comming from.... maybe I will try a different oil.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Friendswood, Texas
I think you folks are aving a problem with carbon buiklding up on the top of your pistons and increasing the compression in your cylinders. Try running a higher octane gasoline for a tank or so and see if this clears it up. If it does, you can have the engine decarboned.
Both vehicles above reference a wife as the driver. Wonder if a less aggressive driving style may be part of the problem also?? I know the lower RVP fuels, oxygenated fuels, and lowere emmission standards are big contributors to this problem. It is not unique to Ford.
Good luck and hope this helps.
Both vehicles above reference a wife as the driver. Wonder if a less aggressive driving style may be part of the problem also?? I know the lower RVP fuels, oxygenated fuels, and lowere emmission standards are big contributors to this problem. It is not unique to Ford.
Good luck and hope this helps.
Cargo Master
Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Friendswood, Texas
I would be very surpruised to learn that the motor oil has anyhting to do with this. The pinging is pre-ignition and is a timing/fuel/combustion problem. If the oil you are using made it go away, by all means motor and be glad the problem has gone away but don't be surprised if the problem reoccurs. I would still have the enigne decarboned.
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Originally Posted by polar911
How is the engine decarboned?
Your local auto store carries a product "Sea Foam" Basically to get the carbon out of your engine, you take off your Brake Booster vacuum line, suck the bottle of Sea foam into a hot Engine as it's running. When the engine has sucked up this fluid, turn off the truck for 10 minutes as the fluid will be working during this time loosening up the carbon. After 10 minutes, start the truck up, make sure the fire department doesn't come to your house because there will be TONS of thick white smoke that last a good 10 minutes as it's spitting out all the carbon build up.
I did this to mine and could not believe that came out of the engine! Idles and sounds like new now!
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From: SE Texas
I know what you are talking about
My wife's 02 Exp does the same thing, sounds like valve clatter on a fairly cold engine under moderate acceleration. I use a local mechanic that recently left the local dealership after about 10 years. He showed me the "report" that Ford usually issues to dealerships on reoccuring problems and it detailed the noise perfectly and listed the cause as the tensioner. Sorry to say but it is a very expensive procedure to replace a part with the same bad part (18+ hours labor). My Mech said to just let it eat. The oil testing does seem like a good idea.
Wes
Wes