My car is a 98 Ford Explorer and when it starts up its really shaky and stays shaky until I'm going pretty fast...been an issue for approx. a week and the check engine light finally went on...any ideas?
2007-05-19 05:36:19 · 8 answers · asked by curious 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Loose spark plug wires?
Worn out spark plugs?
Vacuum leak?
Faulty injectors?
Stuck EGR valve?
There could be hunderds of possibilites.
Do a tuneup first, and see if it helps.
2007-05-19 05:44:52 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. KnowItAll 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many malfunctions in the fuel and air control can cause this problem. I would take it to an auto parts store that offers free OBD code reading and see what code comes up for the check engine light and then go from there. A 98 Explorer could have enough miles on it for one of the sensors to go bad, such as the coolant temperature sensor, or the oxygen sensors, and these could do it. Sometimes a bad spark plug will do this, or a bad spark plug wire. Check the codes. Then if it has not been done in 40K miles, tune up the engine with plugs, wires, air and fuel filters, and then see what you have. If you are doing this yourself, get a Haynes Manual for the Explorer and it will explain how to trouble shoot it.
2007-05-19 05:48:12 · answer #2 · answered by sailinguy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have one of these problems. The reason I think it's one of these problems is because you said it stops when your going fast...
You have a spark plug wire burned through. Or the plug wire isn't seated all the way down on the spark plug. The way to tell is...Pull a wire off of a plug and start your car. If it runs worse turn the car off. replace the plug wire and remove another one. If it gets worse repeat this for all of your cylinders until you pull a plug wire off and it runs the same. If there is no change pull out the spark plug and inspect it. Or change it to another cylinder and see if the problem moves to that cylinder. If it doesn't move to that cylinder change the wire. If that doesn't improve it, Suspect a broken valve. I hope you understand the trouble shooting process I just described The spark is going to the engine as a ground. When your going fast the spark is going so fast it missed the ground and travels all the way through the wire and finally starts to fire the cylinder that was misfiring causing the shaking.
Or you have a broken Intake,or exhaust valve in one of your cylinders. I know this because I drove a car from Arizona all the way to Virginia on 3 cylinders. When I was going above 65mph The ride smoothed out. It stumped me because I changed the wire. And still had the problem. What gave it away was that I pulled the spark plug out of the cylinder that wasn't firing I saw that the tip of the spark plug was gone. What had happened was it bounced around in the cylinder till it bounced up as the valve was closing and And when the valve closed on it the valve head broke in half.
Once again this is a guess.From experience. And I have been a mechanic for over 20yrs
2007-05-19 06:07:40 · answer #3 · answered by whtsthislif4 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I have an Idea!! Take it to auto-zone auto parts store, have one of the sales people plug in the ogi 2 or whatever the name of that code reader is that i wanna get my hands on so bad......He can look up that code in what they call a
Chilton's manual. then he can most likely give you an Idea of what could be wrong. It sounds like its more than 1 thing wrong too. Egr valves can cause that but...if its really that rough.......You can check if its the timing gear by loosening the serpentine fan belt and getting under the motor and if you can turn that flywheel more than, is it 6 degrees of slop? Then you may need a new chain. If it is indeed that chain, I have let that go and driven before with a bad timing chain..they are sometimes NYLON. AND NYLON MELTS! AND I HAD NYLON MELTED IN MY OIL PUMP AND , I FIXED IT? BUT IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!! GOOD LUCK
2007-05-19 09:16:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to a mechanic, stop driving the car. It sounds like it's either the timing belt or a fouled spark plug. It could also be a sensor problem.
2007-05-19 05:44:54 · answer #5 · answered by Chips O'toole 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it could be any # of things, from a vacuum leak, to plugs, to various sensors. how many miles on the vehicle, when was your last tune up? since the check engine light is on, i'd take it to autozone or somewhere that does free obd2 diagnostics
2007-05-19 05:46:42 · answer #6 · answered by sosaman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i own a shop,and with the check engine light on now you can get it scanned to see whats causing this to happen,take it to auto zone and have them scan the computer its free,and this will tell you if its a bad sensor,and also which one it is,then you,ll have a starting point on it ,if its a sensor they will have the part you need to repair it with also,it also sound like it might need to be checked to see if it needs a good tune up that's real important on newer cars,but have them check it its free,so you have nothing to loose from doing this,good luck with it i hope this helps.
2007-05-19 05:50:44 · answer #7 · answered by dodge man 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
u got a problem. take it in to an experienced repair shop to get it tested. my guess is engine problem and/or alignment issue.
2007-05-19 05:45:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋