2004 Ford Explorer Stalls when Cruise control is on

SAGE68

MEMBER
2004 FORD EXPLORER
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
40,000 MILES

My engine stalls when I use cruise control. It has happened 3 times. The first time I was just driving with cruise control and it stalled. The second time I had used coast and it stalled. The third time I had disabled it with the brake and reset it at a lower speed. Any idea what could be causing this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I just put over $500 into my other explorer (I have two) I would hate to dump more money into this one.

1 Reply

MARTINCL

MEMBER
1 POST

I have an '04 Explorer Eddie Bauer that was exhibiting the same problem. Ford replaced the throttle body assembly and SOLVED the problem. Flashing the PCM did not fix my problem. I had to involve the Eastern Regional Manger to get the dealer to fix the problem. It seems it is a Ford factory known issue with certain Ford vehicles but no TSB has been issued. Here is how to tell if it might be the throttle body issue: accelerate to about 38 MPH and engage cruise control, begin coasting downhill, watch the tachometer, if the tachometer drops below 500 RPMs you may need the throttle body replaced. My RPMs were dropping below 300 then engine would sometimes die. The key issue seems to be the engine RPMs dropping while in 4th gear below 600 while coasting downhill. The problem did not occur in over-drive, only in 4th gear. Since the throttle body replacement engine RPMs never drops below 700.

My repair was made under extended warranty at 78K miles in March, 2008. Ford should fix without warranty as a major safety issue. By shifting into neutral you can immediately restart the engine after the stalling.