What would cause my car to not accelerate when I give it gas

Asked by Josh Nov 30, 2015 at 11:01 PM about the 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I've done an oil change, changed the mass
air flow intake, and put seafoam in my gas
tank

13 Answers

44,755

why put stuff in the gas tank? anyway, if you want to keep spendin' money, just keep guessin' at any point you could just take it to a mechanic-

12 people found this helpful.
73,250

Could be a host of things. Clogged fuel line, clogged fuel filter, fuel pump going out, restricted air filter, etc. That is the simple stuff which cost nothing to check. You can also clean the throttle body. Stop throwing parts at the problem until you find the problem. Has the car been tuned since 2002?

28 people found this helpful.
3,475

if when you accelerate and it has a muffled sound, and has a "constipated" feel you have plugged converters.

31 people found this helpful.
14,365

Is the check engine light on?

24 people found this helpful.
300

yes it's on from a stop no power only after 30 mph it starts going fast. help please

30 people found this helpful.
590

What if no check engine light but all same symptoms. Loses power. Especially up hills.

36 people found this helpful.
590

Will do 70mph tops. And down to 40 mph on hills in tenessee but engine rpms do not seem to be limited at 2500 rpms or whatever. But seems like not getting enough fuel.still no check engine light. Even on code reader

23 people found this helpful.
320

Mine is doing something similar. 2003 Ford Expedition- has 143000 miles. If I keep the rpms below 2500 and slowly accelerate it drives fine. But if I try to accelerate quickly, it stops accelerating when it gets around 2500 rpms. Had the catalytic converters checked... they said there is nothing wrong with them. Fuel filter was clogged, so they replaced that and it worked perfect for several days, then did it again when I switched lanes on the highway. Have limited income, so I am trying to narrow down the problem and speak to the garage. If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

32 people found this helpful.
200

i have an 02 explorer sport trac Check in this order 1 clean the airflow sensor , change TPS , clean throttle body. 2 change the gas filter 3 change gas pump 4a if 02 sensors code is on you change sensors if dont erase the code need (clean,delete or reemplace catalitycs ) 4b need new injectors $$$$ in my personal case was the gas pump dont deliver the proper ammount of gas to the injectors

20 people found this helpful.
120

04 Explorer V8 had same problem, Misfire, pre/post cat O2 codes and dried coolant around gasket indicated intake issues/leak. Replaced plastic intake manifold, cleaned mass flow, throttle sensing and IAC sensors and carbon buildup in injection chamber. Engine runs and idles fine, no codes. Still won't go over 10 mph. Found a video talking about this condition and turned out to be a bad transmission torque converter. When driving a short distance you will hear a loud squeal like a belt slipping but that's the transmission trying suck fluid that is not there because the TTC isn't circulating trans fluid.

12 people found this helpful.
120

Bad spark plugs dirty fuel filter,fuel injectors might need replacing, vacuum hose leak it could be a number of things

12 people found this helpful.
50

I had a similar issue with an 02 lexus es 300. No power but burning lots of gas, since i had recently changed my spark plugs i overlooked them and did everything i read about from cleaning with seafoam to replacing tps and iac sensors but nithing worked until i decided to do the spark plugs again and mas i in for a big surprise. One of my spark plug cables was burnt out and was no longer making contact to where the cable boot stayed stuck with the spark plug and i had a hard time getting it out and by the time i did rubber particles had fallen into the combustion chamber wich i ended up vaccuming out. Anyway my car ran like new after i replaced all of the spark plugs and cables even better because of all if the unnecessary work that i did to it i had even ckeaned the throttle body.

5 people found this helpful.

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