Ford - Explorer :: 2005 - Jerks Badly While Driving
Jun 27, 2014
Okay, I have a 2005 Ford Explorer with roughly 160K miles which has done me good for about 6 years now, but over the last several months I have had little things go wrong here and there.
I am a mechanic by no means, but can tinker with "minor" projects when the needs arises. I change my own oil, put in a new alternator, changed the idler pulley, put on a new belt, and put new rotors, pads, and calipers with friend.
Two days ago as I was driving home after dropping my daughter off at a friends; as I was going about 55mph my Explorer jerked really hard and the RPM's dropped (almost like it shut off); then the RPM's shot back up and it was fine for about another quarter of a model. My Explorer jerked again; only this time dash lights flickered, RPM's dropped slowly, and I received two indicator lights on the dash (SERVICE ENGINE & A WRENCH). The dash also displayed a message "Engine Fail Safe Mode;" I had no throttle response and as I pulled over and came to a stop the engine died.
When I tried to restart the Explorer I kept getting the same display on the dash, but this time it was displaying "Engine Fail Safe Mode - Low Oil Pressure." I was lucky enough to have a Kentucky State Trooper get me off the road and I left her in the parking lot of a gas station about a 1.5 miles away from my house. I have a friend who was going to move it to a garage yesterday and when we went to pick it up I decided to try and see if she would start. When I cranked her up she started and then died; I tried this two more times and on attempt number three she stayed running (with no indicator lights).
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I have a 2006 Explorer V8 4x4 when driving at any speed it will start jerking or surging. The rpms do not increase nor decrease so I don't think tranny problems. When cruise control is set it still acts up. It is not setting a check engine light or code, so when I took it to the dealer they couldn't find anything. We drove it with technician and of course it did not happen. This problem is irritating at best and I'm not to sure its safe for the wife and kids to be in. I'm thinking it maybe a fuel system issue i.e.~ fuel pump, filter, injectors etc. but I'm not sure. Also, I was told to run the vin on ford.com and check for recalls or if the computer needed an update. No recalls, but nothing was said or showing if update was needed.
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Has happened twice. No check engine light, no code. Lights and electronics stay on, beeps like the door is open, shuts off and I am able to turn it right back on. Definitely do not want this happening on the highway. Don't have any other issues with idle, etc..
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I have 2007 explorer with the 4.6 V8....
Recently it started running horrible. Rough idle, drives badly, hesitation, etc. Check engine light is on, code P0171. I cannot find a vacuum leak, and i am pretty much at a loss. Before it started running poorly i replaced the thermostat, and flushed the coolant. I am assuming this is a coincidence.
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I was driving my sport trac when it suddenly died on me. We are leaning toward the fuel pump. But is there any other causes for fuel to not get to the engine? We changed the fuel filter out already...
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I did a fix a while back for water getting into my plugs [URL] .... but I was driving up a winding 60 mile road with it raining cats and dogs plus trucks were throwing water on me (night time also) and 5 miles before I got home it started running like there was water on the plugs and I barely made it home.
I haven't had time to do any tests for where it is coming in because it has been raining for 3 days nonstop but has anyone ever had water short the ignition out like that? After sitting it was fine in the morning but I need to know where it is coming in while driving. It was OK at 40mph but it started when I stepped it up to 60mph.
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i have a 2005 expedition with the 5.4 and 100k miles. Rescently it began to missfire badly and lost almost all power to the point where it nearly dies. I have seveal codes that are baffeling me. Bank 1 is rich bank 2 is lean(this may be the other way around, p0300(multiple cyl missfire) and then 4 individual cyl missfire codes. I changed all of the spark plugs with factory motocraft ones from ford as the old ones were shot. Seems to miss just as badly as before and is no where near driveable. What would cause one bank to be rich and one bank lean? I ohmed all of the coils when I had them out and they all are very close to each other with no odd ball ohm readings so I believe they are all ok. Any sugestions as to where to check next?
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2005 Sport Trac 4x4... So, my fiance purchased this new off the floor before i met her (or else she wouldn't have bought it). Had a motor issue which required a new motor after 90k miles.. Anyways, while driving on a normal road, i dropped the rear window and hear this whining noise. Checked the transmission fluid and it was a little low, nothing major. Topped it off with Mercon V... No effect. Where do i look next. It does not have a tow package. Do i check the transfer case, or rear differential?.I am thinking differential because the transfer case is more upfront to where the noise is. you cant hear it with front windows down. Only the rear sliding window or rear passenger's windows.
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While driving whenever we turn a curve to the right the steering wheel jerks and the whole front end jerks and will either quit when we slow down or come back straight. It seems the faster we go the worse it is also starting yesterday day we have noticed that the front end is beginning to make a popping or thumping sound while turning a curve or sometime will pop or thump randomly. It's starting to get pretty scary.
Just some info, tires are fine, no wear, all correct pressure. Had to recently use 4x4 in the snow but didn't have any problems with it. Did however hit a ditch pretty hard on the driver side and quickly came back out on the road from sliding off in the snow. Has a bad leak from the power steering reservoir to the pump (the line is bad but can't change it on my own and top off reservoir daily). Truck has 227k miles on body and 157 k on newish motor that was just put on in September.
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2005 Ford Escape XLT (4WD) (non-Hybrid). Our Escape had uneven wear on the front tires. Because the mechanic we've used over the year we've lived here doesn't do alignments, my wife took it to a chain tire place on a Sunday afternoon because they were open. He said the ball joint was bad, so he wouldn't do an alignment and because they were super-busy and short-handed, he asked if we could bring it back during the week for an estimate.
A couple of weeks later I called my guy, who recommended a shop a few blocks over who does alignments, so we took it to him. We told him that the chain store had said about the ball joint. I'm pretty sure that before we took it to him, the car had started occasionally started jerking a bit in a curve, but it's been a couple of months and I only know for certain it was doing it after. (I'm not certain if it was doing it before because my wife was mostly driving that vehicle, then)
The first time it was in his shop, the mechanic said it wasn't the ball joint, but the tie-rod. After fixing that, he sold us a couple of tires and aligned the vehicle. On the way home is when I know I was aware of the car jerking a bit in curves. I'm pretty sure it was jerking in the direction of the curve, but again, it's been a couple of months.
Took it back to him the next day and though we suggested he test drive in one direction which had multiple curves, he said he retightened the tie-rod because one side wasn't right, ran it through alignment again and test drove it in another direction which only had one s-curve.
I want to say it was better for a while, but I can't really swear that to be the case. We've long had an ABS light which our previous mechanic in another part of the country said was the sensor. I had forgotten, but the first mechanic we used here had broken the axle and replaced it at no charge, when he was replacing the alternator.
The alignment mechanic said that we had a bad tone ring and the easiest thing to do would be to replace the axle. A week or so later, I called him and said we were ready to do the brakes, but I have one car and he does many and I wasn't really clear, instead of doing anything with the axle or the tone ring, his shop replaced the brakes.
Somewhere around this time, the vehicle started occasionally jerking to the left. Not in a curve, but in the straightways and the best we can tell, it's mostly when we're accelerating and is most noticeable between 30 & 45 MPH. This may not be entirely true, but it's true enough that we believe it. The "jerk" sort of feels like a car driving through fresh snow "falling" into a rut. It also sort of feels what I imagine a faulty ball joint might feel like.
While it was still more of a minor issue -- it happened more rarely than it's happening now -- we took it to what I'd consider our regular mechanic and got him to replace the axle. I didn't actually say anything to him about the jerking because it was still too occasional and I was hoping it was related to the tone ring. It's now gotten progressively worse and I'm at a loss for diagnosis. You'd think that if it was the ball joint, between the two alignments, the brake job, tire replacement and rotation and getting a new axle, one of the mechanics would have noticed it.
Compounding the issue is the fact that there's two (or three if you count the first guy, four if you count the chain tire place) garages involved. Also, I've done some of the engine work my regular mechanic recommended, so there could be a thing about me getting them to diagnose and then doing the work myself or the one mechanic replacing the axle like the alignment guy had suggested. Who knows. We haven't lived here long, so there's not really a lot of history. All I know is that they all get good Yelp reviews.
Also should probably be factored... the alignment mechanic said he felt vibration around 45 MPH and because didn't think we use the 4WD, he said he disconnected the drive shaft from the CV joint (or something like that) as a means of diagnosis. (If there had been a vibration, we hadn't paid attention to it and he did this at no charge, all on his own) Also, a few years ago, prior to our move, the transmission was rebuilt twice (once under the transmission shop's warranty) and I don't remember what the vehicle was doing, but on a third trip the transmission shop had to do something with the transfer case.
Mostly around 40 MPH -- though it may just be too subtle to notice at higher speeds and we rarely drive this vehicle on the highway, so we're mostly traveling short distances at 35 & 45 MPH -- the SUV lurches a bit toward the left and there's a little jerk in the steering wheel. It really feels like I described, like it's getting caught in a rut. Both the car and the steering wheel jerks to the left side. There hasn't been any noticeable uneven wear over the three months we've been trying to figure this out and the front tires look straight up and down. We also haven't noticed any noise. Not going down the road, not when we turn or when the steering wheel jerks.
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My 2005 Honda Civic just made it through a blizzard (outside the whole time). This morning I started driving it, and whenever I got above 45 mph the steering wheel started vibrating / whobbling very badly. My car seat was also vibrating. I poured hot water over the rims when I got home and that did not seem to work. Should I take it to a car wash? Is my car safe to drive?
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I replaced the pads and rotors on my 05 Civic 3000 miles ago. Now it is pulsing badly again when stepping on the brakes. I can feel the pulse in the brake pedal and the steering wheel. What should I be looking for when I pull off the wheels again.
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I have a 2004 Hyundai Accent with about 120,000 miles on it. Last summer, it started jerking badly from park to 1st and 1st to 2nd for the first five or ten minutes that I drove it. It stopped during the winter (Texas winter, so a mild fall in most places with seasons), the check engine light never came on, and the transmission fluid was fine (both color and volume), so I didn't get it checked out. Now that it's summer again, the jerking has started back up. I've also noticed in the last few weeks weak acceleration after stopping (again, usually only in the first ten minutes or so of driving). And today my check engine light came on.
I've checked the fuses, and I just got my oil changed (they said the check engine light was giving them a transmission code, but didn't elaborate). I have a leaking valve cover gasket and cracked belts that I'll be repairing ASAP. Is it possible that either of those are causing this problem?
Since I'm a single young woman, I don't want to go into a shop without being fully informed (I can't tell you how many times I've been ripped off). My research suggested a couple things:1. It might be the coil packs.2. I might need a new transmission.
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I have a 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe Gls. I noticed that the car jerks while driving. It stumbles when you slow down. The vehicles feels like it lags power like something is holding it back. I noticed that the gas mileage is bad. What's wrong with it? Is it something fuel related?
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Incosistently when accelerating the car jerks (like when wheels spin out in rain). Car works just fine in Idle and has been working great, except for the occassional jerking. I would like to know what I should check and if its dangerous to drive, depending on what the problem might be.
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So a few days ago until now I've noticed the transmission jerks as I am driving, like a slight stall and such. Could this mean my transmission is failing, I feel as if the car chokes. My car currently had 8900 miles, all highway driven.
While I was doing some reading, I noticed some people had their ECU resetted. Also my average mpg is 10 mpg on a v4.
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I have a 97 Ford Explorer. I bought it in 07 and it was nice until like 2 years ago when it started to give me doubts. It never died on me,yet, but everyday when I first start it for the day, if I put it in gear right away, it will stay idle for a while and then kick into gear and just jump. I would drive but it keeps kicking off and on until it is warmed up, I guess because it goes away. Oh and also the OD light would come on also. I just need my truck.
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Recently purchased a 2005 4Runner Sport 4x4. I bought it before they had the chance to give it the once over but they agreed to do a safety inspection the next day. The car was in tip top shape so I was not concerned. As I was driving it home I noticed the car was jerking or rocking slightly as I was coming to a stop. I didn't think much of it but when they inspected the car the next day they found the driver side CV boot was leaking and needed to be replaced, which they did for free. When i dropped it off, I asked if they could look at the cause of the jerking and they said it was likely due to the CV boot and it would go away after the repair. Well it did not go away. I'm wondering what is causing this jerking and if it's worth a trip to the shop to have it fixed or worth going back to the dealer and making them fix it. Should I be concerned about safety?
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2010 Toyota Camry xle v6. What is more accurate, miles to empty or the needle gauge. When I use certain brands of gas I notice that the car jerks when driving at all speeds. It's just a slight jerk nothing serious. The brand is Kwik trip gas. I find the the car runs best on 93 octane bp, Mobil, shell, or Cenex.
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While driving at between 20-45 MPH in warm weather only IDEAL SPEED IS 38-42 .. At times the car jerks forward and downward like, even slowing down at red light: Seems like the whole problem is coming from transmission! (Sensors)? The car is cursed. Example:
1- The symptom seems like your driving in drive position then all of sudden it shifts to low gear
2- When driving normal then it seems like the car shifts to neutral and the RPMs shoot up to 3-4
3- Sometimes when stopped the steering wheel shakes bad.
The car runs normal in winter time? Doesn't do it everyday.
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While driving in either D or S mode, the transmission jerks in 3rd gear changing into 4th and then its fine. but it always happens in 3rd. The jerks are very very quick.
My car is 4.2L 2004 V8 (6 speed) and it has 30,000 miles on it.
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