My wife drives a V-10 Ford Excursion. She drives tons of short trips (5 - 10 min)approx 600 to 700 miles per month. Is this type of driving worse for a large engine and more tolerated by a smaller V-8 or V-6? Her rig has 100,000mi. I use Mobil 1 and use a 7500 OCI.
View 12 RepliesI am suddenly getting 8 mpg decrease both long and short trips. Rotated tires, checked psi and did an alignment but couldn't find cause. I remember my old car had an engine thermostat and when that was stuck open or close the mpg decreased a lot too.
View 19 RepliesTraffic permitting, pulse and glide or coast seems to work for the mpgs for those dreaded 1 mile trips on a cold engine. If no one behind, I'll just get off the gas and coast down the street, usually to the next stop light. Funny how often the light is red. If a bunch of ICEers are close behind, coasting not an option.
View 3 RepliesI have an 04 rx 330 with air suspension. The swaybar end links have just been replaced on the front and a rattling noise persists.
The noise happens over large and small bumps at high and low speeds at normal and low vehicle height. When the height is at "HI" the noise is louder and it feels as though the front end is shaking loose over bumps at 10 km/h+.
I took it in and was advised to replace the end links, they did so and returned it claiming the noise was gone. The air compressor and struts are in working condition.
I have done a search through the forum, not extensive... I was wondering which other components come loose/wear and cause a clunk/rattle/shudder noise.
Also, tires are new and at approx. 32-34 psi.
I recently had the Blue Spring installed on my 04 X. After having it installed I still noticed a lot of hesitation on take off, and after a few seconds of trying to take off it kicks out a large cloud of black smoke and away she goes. The problem is very noticed when at the bottoms of hills it seems powerless and makes a wierd noise from the drive side of the engine bay, until I press the pedal enough to make it downshift then comes the large cloud of black smoke and she climbs up. All I know is I'm getting worse fuel economy then I should get and something just doesn't feel right when driving the X. The truck doesn't feel like it missing at all so I don't think it would be injectors especially as They are all brand new and less than 6 months old.
View 12 RepliesBought my 2000 X from a guy a week or so ago, and am now fixing all of its little "quirks". A/C blower would only blow on high, diagnosed it as a faulty blower motor resistor and got a new one. Pulled the old one out and the wiring plug that plugs into it is fried!! 3 of the plugs are stuck in it from the resister itself and there is obvious signs of shorting. What my next step should be? Im considering getting a new plug and splicing the wires back into it, but that just ignores the obvious shorting. How to fix the short?
View 3 RepliesPlugged in my ScanGaugeII on a whim, it's usually on my 6.5 Suburban daily drivers, but was curious to monitor a few things on the 7.3
Noticed this right away, coolant temp reading a solid -40*F and never budging.
I only live 6 miles from work and I've been getting a lot of condensation gunk building up inside the filler cap and around the neck. Is there going to be any long term damage from this? Here is a picture of what I'm getting.
I know it's not coolant because I'm not loosing any and the oil on the dipstick is clean.
Since it got cold I've been taking another route to work that gets me up to 9 miles one way. Also, twice a week I take the long way home that has the engine running for a half hour but I'm still getting build up. In the winter I'm on call a lot and rarely go far from home so taking a two hour trip to really heat things up is probably not going to happen.
ETA. I change my oil every 3000 miles if that makes a difference.
A few weeks back, I noticed my driver side fog light housing broke. Granted the fog lights arent that bright anyways, I was thinking of replacing them with a light bar. Could I have the light bar wired up the same way? Would having a bar there cause the engine/tranny to overheat?
View 13 RepliesChecking in...the Ex is purring like a kitten and I love driving it. I still have some mods to do but for now she runs great. I still want to do leaf springs, rear sway bar, 35" tires and 18" rims, shocks and a new double din stereo. I will get to those after ai finish my boat project! First thing will be new shocks because the front ones are starting to make rattling noises when I hit small potholes.
View 4 RepliesWe took our Ex to a local business and got almost 6k worth of work done prior to our trip. This included specific instructions to inspect the brake systems and replace anything that needed it. The work done included new front calipers, pads, hubs, new xrf ball joints, new shocks all the way around including dual fronts, a 6.0 tranny cooler and all new fluids. I alook tried getting a magtec differential cover installed but was told it didn't fit.
Long story short, while on the road we began to notice a grinding noise occasionally on small bumps. In reding ca our rear drivers side brake pads basically disintegrated and we were stranded while BigO replaced both pads, calipers and one rotor. They also advised that the slide pins were frozen on both calipers. This had no effect on the other noise I described.
Now that we're home we went back to the original shop and explained what happened. The owner agreed to take another look at the truck but basically said he stands behind his employees. He admitted that they chose not to examine the rear brakes to save usome "3 hours" of shop time. He also said that the rear brakes would've cost the same regardless of if they'd replaced them instead of BigO.
When my wife pointed out that our family had been first of all put in danger and secondly stranded by his worker's shoddy examination. He then preceded to ask why I insisted on doing so much work to such an old, high mileage truck. I left our truck with him so they could see if the sound could be traced back to anything they worked on and off course they didn't hear it.
I'm going back there tomorrow to take him for a drive and show him the noise which I repeat only started after their work was done. Am I wrong to be furious and think this crap is completely bs?
I have an '04 EX Limited 6.0L. This past January while driving in CO from TX the truck overheated while driving stop and go in a small area looking for a particular store. The fan kicked in as it should have and it cooled some, but I begin to notice during the trip that anytime I was sitting still it would overheat. I had front and rear AC controls on heat as it was very cold. When driving normal speeds engine temps would cool down. The Heater would begin to blow cold air as the temp would rise when sitting still or barely moving. Got home and found radiator a little low of fluid and filled to just below the modified full line.
Fast forward 5 months. I've had no problems at all since until about 2 weeks ago I noticed the smell of antifreeze every time I would exit the truck. The degas bottle still looked full if you checked it cold or once you depressurized the system. No signs of puking. This past Friday after driving home from about an hour away I had to stop at a particularly long stop light and the AC began to blow hot air. I checked my temps(scanguageII) and it was getting hotter the longer I sat. Checked degas bottle when I got home no problems. I've been trying to get it to do this again but no luck. Suspected that it may be the heater core for the rear AC, but turning it on in any temp hasn't duplicated results.
I was running a small errand today, about 10 miles round trip. When I started out, I heard a small 'clunk' sound coming from the rearend. When I was on the return trip and making my last stop, the 'clunk' sound had become quite louder as I accelerated, and could really feel it. When I got home, I took a look and was expecting to see maybe a sway bar link detached or the bushing worn.
I did not expect to see two lug nuts completely gone, including the stud, as well as the holes in the rim no longer round. Big gouges in the rim around the remaining lug nuts, about to be sheared off! The other side had two missing lug nuts, however, the rim is still intact. What would cause such horrific damage? I am lucky that I was not driving on the freeway at 80 mph! This is my 2002 Excursion 4x4.
I have a 2002 EX 7.3 and have never towed anything with it since purchased a year ago. This weekend I towed a side by side on a single axle trailer about 400 miles and could not maintain 70 mph with the small load up a mild hill. Also I could here the turbo surging while climbing hills. I have a AFE cold air intake and that is it. Truck had a aftermarket muffler on it when I bought it. New to the diesels but I thought it should tow that Trailer a little easier. I have no boost gauge or anything. Truck runs great other then this issue. Does not burn oil, get hot or anything out of the ordinary.
View 14 Replies2003 PT Cruiser won't start immediately after short trip with a short stop. Always does start after turning the key and holding it to start position. The check engine light is often on and the code is for a cam shaft sensor or resistor sensor. A companion problem is the cruise control. If the check engine light is OFF and I use the cruise control, it works fine for a while and then the check engine light comes on at the same instant the cruise control turns off. Are these 2 issues connected? How much should it cost to have the sensor replaced? The car always stays running once it starts and the problem occurs randomly. What are the consequences of not repairing it?
View 1 Replies2011 FX2, 81,000 miles, with dual control A/C. The blower motor works fine on speeds 1-5. Put it on speed 6 or 7 and the motor trips after about 5 seconds. Turn it back below 6 or 7 and it starts working fine. I have replaced the resistor and the blower with the same results.
I have read through a good deal of the posts and most seem to deal with the resistor and the lower speeds not working. It's like its tripping a breaker or overload.
So this morning is just getting better and better. Was coming back in from getting the mail and noticed a small puddle under the passenger side tire/wheel area.
I never ever have a puddle of any sort in my drive way so...I start crawling around the truck and this is what I find. I can free spin the dust seal, but its all the fluid that has be worried. With less then 4 days till I have to haul everyone to the airport this is not what I need.
IF (man I feel stupid for asking) IF I leave it in 2 wheel drive how big of an issue would it be to drive it?
None of the parts will be in before I have to drive everyone out to the airport, this is the only reason I'm even considering this..
Plus would this explain a sudden lost of MPG?
A few weeks ago i had a surging idle issue very intermittently, and it went away for a while so i stopped thinking about it. Just got back from a weekend in vermont, about 130 miles each way, and i noticed as soon as i got to vermont and came to a stop sign it was surging, and when i just got home it was surging again. Why would this have picked back up after long stretches of running for a while? Runs great as far as i know, just have this surging idle for some reason.
View 14 RepliesThe speedometer on my 2002 Hyundai Sonata usually works, until it doesn't. This happens most often on longer trips. The speedometer starts fluctuating between 0 and my current speed and eventually gives up entirely. I've asked several dealers what the problem might be, but they've all said they can't find anything (of course it's always working when I take it in.) When the speedometer is not working, neither is the odometer or the cruise control. What could it be?
View 1 RepliesAfter having my SC430 for a few days, I recognized the problem with a lack of space for luggage during touring/road trips. I came up with the following solution:
1. Set both the drivers and passenger seat memory switch #2 to move the seat and seat back to the furthest most forward position when you hit #2, key off, hold for 2 seconds then release. Your seat will now automatically go as far forward as it can giving you ample room to access the rear seats even with the top up.
2. Purchase high quality leather "Duffle" style luggage, 18",20", 25" and place them vertically in the back seat and strap them in with the seat belt provided.
3. Press memory button #1 to return seat to your desired position and you are good to tour with at least 10 days worth of luggage capacity and keep your Lexus spare tire in the trunk which allows you to run Conti Pure Contact Grand Touring all-season tires which gives this car a much improved tide quality.
07 Chrysler Town & Country with 86K. It's been happening off and on for about a year now. On long highway trips when I'm driving fast (maybe more when it's cold), a whirring noise will build up. It starts quiet and can get really loud. When I get off the highway, the engine noise goes down and the whirring noise is really obvious. I take my foot off the accelerator and the whirring noise continues for about 10 seconds. When I hit the gas again (this time at city speeds, 30 mph or so), the whirring noise instantly comes back and can get high pitched and LOUD, almost like an old police siren.
Last time it happened, I popped the hood to track down the source. It seemed to be coming from the engine block. When you're looking down at it, it's coming from the left side, directly under the drive belt (but not the belt).