Ford - Explorer :: 2002 - Left Front Brake Is Pulling Ever So Slightly
Jul 18, 2017
At my wits end on this. Left front brake is pulling ever so slightly on my '02 RWD Sport Trac. Just enough to annoy the crap out of me. Sometimes I hardly notice it. Over the past year or so I've flushed and bled the lines after replacing rear wheel cylinders, rebuilt the front calipers and replaced the rotors and pads. It's still pulling. Is there some electronic adjustment for the module that the brake lines come out of? Does the ECM control the pressures?
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I am getting concerned with the steering of my car due to a rather unsettling behavior that has developed within the last month or so. at first it was barely noticeable but over the last several weeks its become more pronounced and more than a bit unsettling.
This issue occurs under two conditions accelerating on a steep upward incline or accelerating to highway speeds / passing. The severity of the problem seems to be a factor of how much torque is being applied to the wheels.
When I accelerate hard the car feels like its pulling slightly to the left but as soon as I let off the gas the car seems to jerk suddenly to the right.
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Had upper control arm bushings replaced in June. Van has been pulling slightly to the right. Assumed it could be the tire since the front tires were due for replacement. Took it yesterday for two new tires and it still has slight pull to the right.
Here's the rub. The chain shop that did the work has since replaced their alignment machine and the new one does not have the specs for vehicles earlier than 2000. The machine also doesn't have the capability for manual input of the specs.
The manager has found a competitor that has an older machine and has arranged to pay for the alignment which I consider over the top. Evidently this is a trend we can expect to continue because in a city the size of Tampa, he could find only one shop with an alignment machine capable of alignment on an Aerostar.
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My teenage son just bought his first car, a 1991 Ford Explorer XLT 2-wheel drive. I had it checked out by our mechanic before I let him shell out the money, and everything seemed OK. It's the prototypical low-mileage car (127k actual, confirmed by Carfax) owned by a little old man who took good care of it (stack of service records a foot high) and didn't drive it very much.
Earlier this week ... he'd driven it for about two weeks with no issues ... the left front brake caliper locked up on it, to the point where it heated up enormously, the pads and rotors got so hot they were discolored and some transmission fluid got blown out by the strain.
He took it to our regular mechanic, great guy who we've used for years and has worked magic with our cars, he got into it and he diagnosed the problem as ... I hope I'm explaining it right ... a little pin or piston or something in the caliper was upside down. He put it back in the right way, and everything seemed to be OK, although he said my son would probably end up needing a brake job sooner than later because of the way the pad got ground down.
FYI, master cylinder is full of fluid, our mechanic couldn't see any leaks anywhere. Although when we took the car to the mechanic, my son tried to back it up to get a better angle at getting into the service bay, and the pedal went to the floor.
Fast forward two days, and danged if the same thing didn't happen with the right front caliper, seized up although he didn't get it as hot as the other time, parked it a lot quicker. And of course it happens on Friday going into the weekend, when our mechanic isn't working, he won't be able to do anything until Monday, which leaves us scrambling trying to get everyone to work, etc., down one car.
Doing a little online homework ... which we probably should've done before my son made this purchase ... I'm seeing a lot of brake issues with '91 Explorers. I asked my mechanic if he thought there was some ABS-related problem here and he said he didn't think so.
I will say that the car apparently sat undriven for a long time, which I know can unleash a lot of issues. What might be going on here? Do we just need to go ahead and replace the calipers, any hoses, etc., as preventive maintenance?
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I have a 2002 Ford Explorer Sport and after a brake job I noticed that while under braking at slow speed there would be a grinding sound on the front left. I replaced the brakes and wheel bearings the first time. After a while I ended up replacing the caliper itself but it still grinds. I don't notice any wheel shaking, pulling and it hasn't locked up although once I did notice a some smoke under hard braking but only once. I also don't hear any grinding while not braking.
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My '02 Explorer transmission is giving me a little trouble. The vehicle has 240,000 miles, but the transmission has been rebuilt several miles ago. I recently had the fluid changed, and I had them add a bottle of Lucas Transmission Fix, which I have had good luck with in the past. Most of the time, the transmission behaves normally.
Occasionally however, when I come to a stop after driving for a while, the transmission stops pulling, like it has shifted into neutral. Sometimes it will re-engage after a couple seconds, and sometimes I try to hurry it along by shifting to Park, then back to Drive and it will go. If I am on an incline, and the vehicle does this, it will actually roll down the hill.
Hopefully there is a simple fix because this thing is too close to the end of its life to require a hefty repair investment! Maybe a switch or a sensor. I'd love to tell you that I checked the fluid level, but Ford forgot to put a transmission dipstick on it.....
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It is a 2002 Explorer xlt 4x4 4.6l v8 with 139k miles. It runs like a top and is in great condition. However I have a few questions:
Most importantly is it feels and sounds like the rear-end is slightly grinding at low speeds mainly when I turn right. If I give it a bit of gas when turning it doesn't seem to do it. I have tried running a vin decoder to figure out if I have limited slip or not so I can drain the rear diff and inspect it, but I haven't found what it has as far as gears go.
Number two. The keyless entry and remote worked when I bought the car and then about two days later it just stopped working. I bought a new battery for the remote and put it in and it still doesn't work.
Also the interior lights will stay on after you start the car until I hit about 15mph, and also stay on for about 5min after I shut the car off. I am not sure what may cause this. I have owned tons of older ford's but am relatively new to anything newer than 2000.
And I know pics or it didn't happen, so there is one of the door sticker, one of the rear axle, and one of the car ...
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Driving on a paved road(some potholes but nothing bad) came to stop sign. After waiting for trafffic to clear, made right turn onto state highway truck began to pull to left, at first I thought i had a flat tire but every thing looked okay. Drove two miles to home, if let the steering wheel go, the truck would change lanes in about 25 feet...
2002 ford crew cab 4x4 7.3 power stroke 20k on Michelin.
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2003 Ford Explorer Sport Trac XLT v6 4.0 with 89k.
Lately my truck has been acting funny. About 1 out of 3 times I start my truck and put it n reverse it starts doing what I would describe as a hesitation. If I sit for about 10 seconds, it will stop. But if I move while it is happening it will move and jerk as if i was slightly hitting the brake constantly (no the parking break is not on). It will continue when I throw it in drive until I give it some gas. From then on as far as I can tell there are no problems. It doesn't do it every time. I went in for an oil change and they told me I will need to replace the belt soon, so could that be the culprit?
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Right Front Tire has excessive wear on Right INSIDE and car was pulling to the left. I rotated (or is it revolved?) my tires, and now the pulling has stopped......
OPINION: Bad tire that just wore poorly? Slight alignment issue that caused tire wear that then caused car pull? Wheel bearing issue causing tire wear? Or something else?
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2010 F-150 King Ranch. Randomly when turning left, it feels like the left front brake is engaging and it sounds like your anti-lock brakes when you come to a stop on slush or snow. The truck slows with your foot still on the gas, Saturday it came to a complete stop before it released.
I have had it to 2 Ford dealerships, the first could not get the symptom to occur on a test drive and told me there was nothing they could do because they did not now what to look at.
The dealer I bought it from got it to act up, replaced the IWE 2 weeks ago and 3 days later was still doing same thing. My wife dropped the truck at the dealer again Weds.morning, she told them it did it on the way there. I called at 4:30 to check and they said they drove it 2 times and it did not act up.
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My son has a 1963 Mercury Comet with a 170 straight 6 and automatic trans. Originally it would die when he made a sharp left. We fixed that by rebuilding the carb and putting in a new float. Then we found that the back brakes weren't working and had to replace a clogged brake line. Now for the weird problem. Whenever he brakes it pulls slightly left and the motor almost dies. If he anticipates the pull and steers right the car keeps running beautifully. I am assuming that the pull is probably caused by not getting all of the air out of the brake lines, but why does the car almost die unless he steers right when braking? The car does not die anymore when he makes left turns. These are non power hydraulic single cylinder brakes so there is no vacuum connection involved. The fuel filter and pump have been replaced.
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Only had this car for about a month and 1200 trouble free miles. Really in great shape but with 276K miles on it. Really runs great and feels like a new car inside and out.
Yesterday, a cool morning, 38 deg.. Started at the Ready, backing out of my car port and cut the wheel partially to turn 90 deg. to enter the street. Came to full stop and shift lever is still in Rev, before I could shift to Drive. The steering wheel shutters like I was going over a rough. Jerking slightly from left to right about 2-3 degrees. Stopped within about a second and I still had normal steering response. I continued onto the street and made a ran a 300 mile round trip on freeway and surface streets without any further problems.
I know the power steering is electric assist over mechanical linkage and can only imagine that there was a power glitch in the power convertor and I was feeling pulses from the feed back in the power steering drive. No hydraulics to blame, I don't think.
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2000 Ranger, see my sig.
Just had to swap out the pads on my truck yesterday. The pedal was pretty mushy and I was getting shaking in the steering wheel when the brakes got warm. Shaking wasn't all the time, only after they had been used quite a bit - say after city use and the brakes had to be applied suddenly. So I popped off the tires and swapped out the pads and replaced the brake fluid - flushed it.
On the driver side front, the pads barely had any real wear and the anti-rattle clip was all messed up. It was installed properly, but it looked like the pads had smashed into it. The rotor appeared to be warped, or at least out of round - but just barely. You could see it wobble slightly in one spot if you spun the hub with the caliper removed. The caliper itself was sticking slightly.
I didn't see any evidence of damage, the brakes flushed just fine although the fluid was incredibly dirty (because I haven't done it in a long while). On the passenger side front, the pads were worn down to the level I would have expected given the mileage. The wear was even.
My question ultimately is this - is the out of round hub the culprit here? Might there be something else going on like a caliper problem? Ultimately I plan on having the rotors surfaced - one of them certainly needs it and with new pads I might as well do it anyway.
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I have a 2006 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with Towing Package. I just recently bought a Trailer and when they tested my 7 pin plug, I was only getting Running lights and 12v Charging. Im not getting Left/Right Blinkers or Brake. There is NO power. I checked all Fuses. The problem is, I cant find the Blinker/Brake fuse. The manufacture book does not show one.
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My wife's 2003 sportrac has developed a problem. The left rear turn signal brake light will not work. The tail light does. When you turn on the left turn signal the front bulb and the dash light flashes real fast. I have changed both, the front and rear bulbs with no luck. I've read on here about the tilt steering column deal. I have moved the steering column while operating the turn signal with no change.
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I have a 1996 Explorer with the 4.0 motor. Today coolant started running out between the Freon compressor and the block at the front left corner. I cant see behind the compressor. Compressor hose seems to be short and stiff so removal of the compressor is questionable? I look from the front and does not seem to be thermostat or temp sensors. It appears to be behind that, like the bottom of the intake manifold? I wonder if there is a known problem in this area or how to go about disassembly. Don't want to take off compressor and steering pump if the problem is intake manifold. Have a problem ? Where to start disassembly to look?
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I have a 2004 Ford Explorer V8 4 wheel drive. Yesterday I was on the way home from a 2 hour drive and was on the expressway at a complete stop on a downhill grade. When I hit the gas, the car started lurching - it would shoot forward, then slow down, then shoot forward, then slow down.
I got the car to the side of the road and called a tow truck. Just to test - while I was waiting for the truck I put the car in neutral and even though I was on a steep downhill grade, it wouldn't roll at all. When I put it in drive - it wouldn't go initially until I had to put a decent amount of pressure on the gas pedal. I reminded me a being at a speed bump that you couldn't idle over and have to give the car some gas to power it up over the bump.
When the tow truck got there - I watched the driver drive the Explorer up onto the bed of the tow truck. What I noticed was this:
The left front tire was completely locked when he was hitting the gas. But when he gave it enough gas, the right tire that was working would push the car forward while the left tire remained locked creating friction on the pavement but the car was still moving forward from the other wheel.
Then after 3 or 4 feet - the left tire would unlock/release and start to rotate - causing the car to suddenly lurch forward. But then after another few few it would lock again. Then release again.
The thing I found odd was that when the driver later reversed the car down off the truck - the left front wheel worked just fine. So the car works perfectly in reverse, but in drive the left wheel locks then releases then locks then releases.
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1997 Limited SOHC auto.
I just replaced the transmission with a known good one from my XLT but the reverse doesn't work now and there is a loud banging coming from the front when I turn left or right.
It feels like the tyres are slipping on the road, like axle wind up. This happens in auto and 4wd high. What the banging is?
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I have a 2005 Explorer XLT with the 4.0L V6 and AdvanceTrac.
I've had a worsening growl in the front end that sounds like it's coming from the front left wheel. I can feel it in the steering wheel, and the sound goes away when I turn the wheel right of center. Center (going straight) or leftward steering, and the noise comes right back.
I changed the wheel bearing today, and there is absolutely no change in symptoms. Turning the CV shaft back and forth by hand, something feels kind of "grindy." It is the same at any point along the shaft, which has me worried that the bad bearing is in the front differential.
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I took my Passat to a VW dealer this weekend for an alignment. I could tell the car was pulling slightly to the right. Later that day, I received a call from the dealer that sub-frame needed to be replaced because they could not align the car. I asked if the sub-frame or any other component was bent because I don't recall hitting anything hitting anything could cause this kind of damage.
The dealer said that there was nothing bent but he could not align the car and I need to replace the sub-frame. I told him I just wanted to pick up the car and take it to another shop. I then received a call half hour later that the front right wheel was pushed back further than the left one and they will try to adjust it. I am not sure what is normally involved in VW alignment but I believe that I am getting poor advice from this dealer. Likewise, I am not sure if some inexperience weekend mechanic who did not know a lot of alignments and just wanted to throw parts at the car?
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