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I have an 03 v8 explorer and a couple weeks ago I would stop at a light and the engine would start choking and cutting out. My first instinct was to put it in park and it when back to normal. Thinking that I got some bad gas or something, I didn't do any thing about it. A couple days after that my wife said that it was doing it again. I told her not to worry about it and I will take care of it. I waited till the millage reached it's 90k and changed the fuel filter, which was a pain in the A$$ because the fuel filter is for the 02 not the 03, changed the oil, and the spark plugs. After I finished and put it all back together I took it to the store and stopped and it just stalled without any kind of sputter. I though since that I changed the fuel filter it had air or some sort of hiccup in the fuel lines. The next day it did the same thing just stalled without any attemt to keep on going.
So my question is what could be some possibilities as to correct this? Has anyone had this problem?
How old is the battery? If the battery is the original, or around 4 years old, you might consider changing it. Many of the newer vehicles have sensitive electrical systems and, even if the battery is able to easily crank the engine over, may not keep the electrical system alive under loads. I'm not sure of the exact mechanism, but I know a lot of Lincoln LS issues have been solved by replacing relatively old batteries. When you're sitting at the stop light, you probably have your foot on the brake pedal and the brake lights do draw a fair amount of extra current....
You could also have an EGR valve that is not closing completely at idle, along with several other issues. If the battery is getting up there in the years though, I'd start with that since it is due to be replaced anyway.
I will check the battery, but I had a chanch to talk to a mechanic about this. He said that this is a common thing in the explorers. It has to do with the part of the throttle body where it connects to the rest of the intake gets warped and air goes in and "tricks the computer" so it stalls out. He said it would be a $500 fix.
A battery would certainly be a less expensive route if it were to fix it....
If it turns out to be a throttle body issue rather than the common intake manifold issues on the V6, please report back with the details. I'm sure a lot of folks on this forum would be interested to know about it. I hadn't heard about issues with the intake on the V8.
Listen for a vacuum leak around the throttle body. There is a vacuum line coming out of the bottom of it that had a 90 degree rubber fitting between the throttle body and a plastic line that runs to the rear of the engine. I be leave is is used for crank case vent.
Over time oil softens the rubber and it will split or just collapse causing a vacuum leak.