Hi..

I have a 1998 Ford Explorer.

I've noticed that when it's really hot outside (late afternoon), my explorer makes a whining/humming type sound when I sitting at a stop light. It doesn't matter if the a/c is on or not. It's a very loud very noticable sound.

As soon as I put my foot on the gas to move again the sound stops..when I get to the next stop light, there is the sound again. It only does it when my foot is not on the gas. No performance issues of any sort, just the noise.

I don't notice this sound in the mornings or late at night after the sun is down. I only get the noise during the hottest part of the day.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

 

I have heard of this, don't remember what tread or handle to give credit too.
anyway they said they fixed it by replacing the ICV (idle control valve). I say remove it and try cleaning it with some carb cleaner first. If that doesn't fix it, then try replacing it as they did. Its located on the throttle body, it stratles the butterfly valve in the throttle valve and is hald in place by just 2 screws. The ICV allows air around the butterfly valve when it is closed to allow engine to idle. GOOD LUCK

 

Thanks, I have called the auto parts store, and it's not going to be that much to replace it. I believe that is what needs to be replaced, I have heard from another Ford Explorer driver that is what was wrong with hers as well. So I will start there, and see how it goes.

Thanks for the fast reply

 

I'm the other person you're thinking of I believe. Thanks to help from you and another person here on the forum, I think my issue is resolved.

I had the ICV replaced this past week and it seemed to take care of the problem.

You might find this funny though...when I took the car to the dealership and told them the information that i'd gotten here, they laughed and said "you shouldn't believe everything you read on the web".

Two days later they said they couldn't duplicate the sound (which is a virtually IMPOSSIBLE statement because I live in Texas and it's hot and that car was humming non-stop).

I took the car back and they said "oh..it's the ICV"..I said "yes I know..I told you that last Friday and you told me not to believe what I read on the web".

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Thank you for all your help!

 

It will never go HUMMMMMMMM,, --- yea those guys dont like it when you cut in on there bread an butter money--- I saw where we had one guy post here that he works as a Ford Tech at a Dealership , be curious to see what that job ( replacing the ICV ) pays , I belive that you use to get 1, hour book time of course this was a few yrs back

 

Well I have replaces the Mass Airflow Sensor right by the air cleaner, I have not heard the noise since then. I drove around town listening for any signs, and I found nothing. It cost around $100 to fix, and took all of 15 minutes to replace.

Hope this helps anyone who is having the same problem.

 

JD, you said you were going to replace the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve and then later you said that you replaced the MAF. Which was it. I am a Senior Master Ford Tech and as for the dealer telling TexFordOwner that they could not duplicate the concern, that is not that uncommon. You drive your car everyday of the week and know every thing there is to know about it and how to make it act up. As a tech we get a repair order on a car that we may or may not have seen before with a concern on it. We may or may not get any information on how to duplicate the concern. We drive the car and run diagnostics. If the concern does not happen during our test drive and there are no DTC's related to the concern, we advise the customer of what we found or in this case what we did not find. This is not to say that the car does not have a concern or even that I may have fixed thirty or forty of them with the described concern by replacinging the IAC. However you are not paying me to guess with your money. You could record the sound that your car makes and play it to twenty different people and you would get twenty different descriptions on the noise. It is imperitive that we duplicate the concern before replacing parts or at least let the customer know that we could not duplicate the concern but our experience leads us to believe it is the IAC based soley on the description given by the customer. If we make an educated guess based on this information and get it wrong you know who will be beating down the door wanting their money back. And by the way the labor on an IAC for a 1998 Explorer is about .5 hours, this does not mean that it takes 30 minutes to take out two bolts and replace the part. This time includes the time we spend in the parts department looking up your parts, ordering your parts if we do not have them in stock, going back to parts to get the parts when they come in, pulling the car back in the shop, installing the part, checking and clearing any possible DTC's, filling out the paperwork and parking the car. For those of you out there that think technicians are just out there waiting for you to break down so that we can stick to you, you should spend some time at the dealership before making you final decision about that. What other occupation can you think of where you are working for someone else and still have to invest $30,000 to $80,000 of your own money (in tools) just to be able to have the privaledge to work for them? Do you have any idea how many IAC valves you would have to put on to pay for that. Granted it does not take $30,000 worth of tools to install one but the next car will have a different concern that requires different tools and so on and so on. I really love my career choice and the people that I work with and my loyal following of customers that travel many miles just for my services and honest work. I just hate it when outsiders and shadetree wantabees run down something they know nothing about. I will get off my soap box for now. I am sure there are many out there that have had terrible experiences at a dealership that will be giving me an earful for this post. SMT

 

Dang Pakus, where just here giving are best educated guesses. I now how you feel when people think you just out to rob them blind. I do know how it is to work at a dealer, I did it for a few years, and the first few months were a pain (wasn't clocking enough labor hours). I know some people are going to bash on us but just egnore them its not worth it.

 

Hey I understand completely Catfish. That is the reason that I signed up here. If I see someone posting a concern that I know how to fix, I will post a reply. However if I am not sure I will ask a question or keep quiet instead of helping someone waste their money. When some one told the previous poster not to put to much stock in what they read on the internet sites keep in mind that the man or woman that you may be chatting with on line that sends you a picture and they look like a supermodel but just can't seem to find a date, may or may not be what they seem. Same goes for free advise on your car. An anonimous tipster does not have to stand behind their work, we as professional techicians do or we would be out of a job because the customers would go somewhere else. In our case, our shop is days behind not because we are slow but because we have a good reputation in the area for doing quality work. It may not be cheap but it is done right the first time. SMT

 

Pakus

My post was not meant to offend all mechanics in general. If you read the post you will see that I noted the experience with ONE individual at ONE dealership.

What I WAS trying to do was to thank the people that assisted me (particularly cctxfish) and to validate cctxfish's theory of what the problem was and provide feedback that might be helpful to others in the same situation.

I'm not a mechanic and I don't pretend to be. I'm a blonde female (yes I know..that speaks VOLUMES). And just as you try to change the myth that all mechanics are "out to get ya"..i'm also trying to change the theory that blondes are clueless...lol..that's why I came to the forum. To get information.

I appreciate the help that I received at this forum and tried to use that to educate myself as a consumer so that I COULD provide more accurate and detailed information when taking my car in.

I applaud you for sharing your knowledge here. Just remember that there are some of us that really do use it. So don't knock us for that. Deal?

Thanks to you all.