2002 Ford Explorer, v8 limited, all kinds of options

problem 1
when driving down the road the fuel gauge will read 1/2 and say 180 miles to e. Then the gauge will drop to E and it will say 0 miles to e. It says fuel data computer error in the self check. It failed MA inspection because of engine light being on and I think thats why the engine light is on. Is this a sending unit problem? I have a 30 day warranty on it and the 30 is comming up fast.

Problem 2
Dash will say door ajar even tho all doors are shut and both parts of trunk closed. you can hit reset and it will go away for a while then it comes back on, could be an hour, a min or a few days. I wanted to test the door switches but dont know where they are located...??

Problem 3
Today it started to rain really hard and some of the roads were flooded. 5in deep puddles. Went to take off from a stop sighn and the truck hesitated and lost power and would shift properly. came to another stop and it was idle ing at like 800rpm really un smoothly . made it to my destination, came out from the store and it drove home with no problems. I thought maybe some water got somewhere it shouldnt have?

Any info/suggestions on any of these problems will be greatly appreciated.

 

gas gauge works by a level float in the gas tank. either wire is loose at the gank, or the float is broke inside. does the gauge work when it is full to 1/2 full? only failes from 1/2 full to 0? that normally is the float resistor broke (inside tank).
door light stays on because of sticking switch. switch is inside the door on the latch. you might be able sto spray penetrant thru the latch inside to the switch--- maybe. normally it is the drivers door since it gets the most use.
rain problme is plugs or ignition coil getting wet. when parked the hot motor makes it evaporate and then works o.k. at startup.

 

the gauge will read accurately at all ranges, it just drops to nothing then after a while will come back up to where it should be. Its in the shop today ( used car dealer shop ) to get fixed so we'll see if they fix it right

I have the driver side speaker out so maybe ill take the panel off to inspect it and see whats up with the switch.

 

i guess loose wire or broken wire making temporary contact.

 

one other question, what triton V8 do i have under the hood?

 

I don't think Ford refers to the 4.6L V8 under the hood as a Triton.

-Rod

 

good to know. thanks