2002 Ford Explorer V8 Transmission Problem

After two years of towing 21ft caravan with no problems am now experiencing a form of engine/transmission "hesitation" whilst accelerating away from a standing start. Hesitation occurs mainly when the engine is hot and we have been travelling a while - occurs two or three times and most evident when engine under labour when pulling away on slight incline. Have had transmission fluids replaced by Ford and they have examined vehicle and found no cause for the problem experienced. Can only describe the "hesitation" symptom as like driving over a water hose lying in the road and feeling the slight bump through the wheels - or like clutch slippage, except we have auto gearbox. Would appreciate some help.

Nick

After two years of towing 21ft caravan with no problems am now experiencing a form of engine/transmission "hesitation" whilst accelerating away from a standing start. Hesitation occurs mainly when the engine is hot and we have been travelling a while - occurs two or three times and most evident when engine under labour when pulling away on slight incline. Have had transmission fluids replaced by Ford and they have examined vehicle and found no cause for the problem experienced. Can only describe the "hesitation" symptom as like driving over a water hose lying in the road and feeling the slight bump through the wheels - or like clutch slippage, except we have auto gearbox. Would appreciate some help.

Nick

The wife is experiencing the same type of slippage on her 99 exploder!! Just started yesterday. She says it like all of a sudden some one pushes the clutch in on a stick and then all of a sudden she will grab! Will try and have it towed to a trans shop tomorrow. Any Ideas or any recomendations on a trans shop in western Morris county New Jersey??

Oh yeah.........................trans fluid is clean, not burnt and is at the full mark!

Nick, your description does not sound unlike a misfire. You might see if you can get the "component parameters" read, focusing on the misfire monitors on the individual cylinders. The ECM stores misfires on the individual cylinders, even if the number of misfire events per 200 revolutions is not significant enough to trigged the Check Engine Light.

When I still had my 1998 Taurus SHO, I monitored this parameter quite often. I'd sometimes notice a misfire when accelerating from a stop. I'd check the component parameters and replace the coil on the one particular cylinder that was reporting a misfire. The misfire would go away for months until another coil would act up. This happened 3 times during my ownership. Not once did the Check Engine Light come on, and it was never the same cylinder twice.

JohnnyRotten's issue does seem more like a shift solenoid or speed sensor issue though. That or possibly a sticking brake caliper somewhere. If it has 4-wheel disc brakes, you may want to make sure the parking brake assembly in the rear is not sticking due to a binding cable or other hardware issue.

-Rod