98 Explorer - Acceleration "Surging" (and other problems!)

[ianinoz69]

Hi guys

Here's the background (bear with me!)....my 98 Explorer XLT was recently in the body shop for hail damage repairs and on collection I noticed a "crunching" noise coming from under the hood, somewhere in the vicinity of the drivers side front wheel, whenever I put a hard lock on a right-hand turn. A day or so later this culminated in a louder crack and a broken vacuum-type unit (a globe shaped part) that hadn't been re-affixed properly and had got lodged near the front wheel. Subsequently I could no longer get air from the dash vents (could still get air to the windscreen).

Anyway, that's not the drama as the bodyshop is gonna fix it when the car goes back in next week. However what I have noticed since it happened is when accelerating the revs "surge" from around the 2000rpm mark to the 3000rpm mark and then drop back and I've got a real lack of power. It definately wasn't like this prior to the vacuum-type unit breaking. Anyone get any ideas what's causing it? and/or is it coincidental that the unit broke before it happened?

Other niggles I've got to get fixed (hopefully by bodyshop as they weren't happening before the car went in) are:

1. Rear wiper not working
2. Excessive squeaks from drivers front-side wheel area

ANY help much appreciated so at least I can go back to the bodyshop fully informed.

Cheers
Ian