I have a 2003 Explorer XLT with 130,053 miles on it. I just changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter a little over a month ago.

For a while I've been hearing kind of a groaning sound in the engine, and it's getting worse. Today I decided to really pay attention to when I hear the groaning, and it's when the car is idling or I'm slowing down. When I got home, I opened the hood with the engine running so I could try to find out where the sound is coming from. It seems to be near the front of the engine compartment on the right side of the car (passenger side).

Also, I discovered today that the engine lopes when the car is idling. I don't know if there's a connection between that and the groaning sound or not.

Any ideas as to what the problem might be? I've already done a bit of searching online, and it seems like a long list of things it could be, but I'm hoping that if ask here with specific details, maybe you can help me narrow it down. I'd prefer to fix it myself if I can, but I need an idea of what problems to look for so I can decide whether to tackle it myself or pay someone else an arm and a leg to fix it. Thanks in advance for your help!

Sabrina

 

Welcome to the site Sabrina..

4.0 or 4.6 engine?

At idle, if you 'slightly' bring the RPM up (just over idle speeds) does the groan and surge stop?

 

I think it's a 4.6 engine--it's a V8. I haven't tried bringing the RPM up when in idle, but I'll try that today and let you know.

 

I noticed today that the noise usually starts shortly after I start the car, and also anytime I ease up on the gas while I'm driving. After a minute or two of idling, the noise usually starts and the RPM start going up and down a lot, but it's not constant--sometimes both problems will just randomly stop. I did try revving the engine up to around 3,000 RPM, and the groaning and erratic RPM did stop briefly.