There has been several recalls of the explorer due to c/control problems .
It would appear the owner has not followed up on the recall notice to have the problem fixed .

The problem is to do with the throttle body & cables , causing the engine rpm to continue after the cancelation switches have been activated .

There are at least five saftey/cancelation switches in the system ,two on the brake pedal, one on the clutch [if manual]  ,one on the brake master cyl ,& the main on/off switch.

Therefore , turning the ignition off makes no difference when it is a mechanical device problem , not electrical .As fore hoping to stop it with the brakes at that speed would be a big ask ,considering that cars today are able to spin the rear brakes while the front wheels are locked ,the car at stand still & from the idle point .

This is how the hoons do the burnouts , so to expect the brakes to stop the car when the motor has 2 -2.5thou, rpm going & 80+kls before you apply the brake with the power still on would over heat brake system , even boil the fluid giving you no brakes at all .

With all the escort cars etc, why didnt some one think to netrualize the transmission .
[manual or auto ] , the car then could have been stoped then by the brakes  in a short distance .

So what if the motor over reved & self destructed , would have made a real ford exploder , which is repairable .

The distance travelled & the risk factor of injury &/or death to himself & the hundreds
of other road users would have been greatly reduced .

This information is given by a top level head  mechanic in a ford dealership,
He is also a very good long term  mate .
I thank him for his imput .


-- Edited by justcruisin01 on Friday 18th of December 2009 05:01:16 PM

Thanks Justcruisin................... I still would have thought that if you turned the key off....the power to the ignition system is cut and no ignition.........no firing motor!! Unless it was a diesel. Do they come out in diesel?? The fuel cutoff solenoid could be part of that system?? But obviously that is not the case?? Dear old Ford old Exploders must be different!! The rest makes sense

justcruisin01 wrote:

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This is how the hoons do the burnouts , so to expect the brakes to stop the car when the motor has 2 -2.5thou, rpm going & 80+kls before you apply the brake with the power still on would over heat brake system , even boil the fluid giving you no brakes at all .

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I dis-agree with the brakes not being able to stop the vehicle.  Did you read my post on the earlier thread on this?......                           "I had a similar thing happen to me in an 8t truck a few years ago when I was doing an overnight linehaul run out of Perth.  I was approaching the T junction just before Koorda at 100kmh as I had been doing for the past 25 minutes and I took my foot off the accelerator (no cruise control) but my speed kept on.  I tried hooking my foot under the pedal, then tried reaching dow to pull it up with my hand...no luck.  I momentarily thought of throwing it into neutral but the image of that engine which I was sitting next to, almost on top of, disintegrating into a million bits put that idea out of my head.  Finally, now getting very close to the T junction I stood on the brakes to override the 11litre diesel which was running at full noise trying to take me to hell and managed to bring it to a standstill.  On inspection I found the throttle cable was frayed inside its housing.  I managed to trim the frayed bits off and filled the tube with flyspray (the closest thing to CRC that I could find) sufficient to allow me to finish the run and get back to Perth for repair."

If my brakes could stop an 11 litre idiesel n a loaded 8 tonne truck from 100 kmh with the motor going flat out then that pussy explorer engine could have been braked.  As indeed happened when he was told to stand on the brakes & pull on the handbrake.  Brakes will win everytime, try it yourself and see.

 

-- Edited by Delta18 on Friday 18th of December 2009 06:23:31 PM

There is still alot of unknown about this saga .
They did say that it either hit &/or crossed the medium strip , this jolt could have inturn freed the stuck throttle body ,its a bit of a guessing game .

I,m glad i wasnt with you in the truck ,did this have air or hyd brakes?

At least you had  the forsight to get on the brakes hard & fast & was able to do some thing about it , this guy travelled many kls , imagine how much heat could build up in that time .

Ive had brake failure in a 8t ,not a lot of fun but i managed to drive 20k back to the shop ok.

Also had complete steering failure in same truck , this was in the middle of town & a little exciting.
It broke as i crossed a rail line , with a cross intersection on the other side, lucky it was at slow speed.The way i needed to go was a 30deg turn to the left,it was a bit like riding a bike with no hands,the old bugger ran to the centre line then the camber 
of the road turned it where i wanted to go ,a further 500mtr up the main street ,very slowly out of the way & then ran to the side of road .

I guess some days we just get lucky in a way . could not have done any better with steering .

The problem with recalls if the vehicle has changed hands and the new owner decides to use other than the manufactures dealerships for service there's a good chance that the recall goes unnoticed. As the relevant RTA's around the country are the only people who know for sure who and where these vehicles may be if they became involved with issuing recalls and charging it back to the manufacture then most of the lethal faults would be corrected and it's another money spinner for the RTA.

On the news last night there could be egg over a few faces if this story pans out according to the original raconteur. According to the news item if the ignition switch did not turn off the engine or was some how prevented from "isolating the engine" then the vehicle would not have passed ADR's and Ford and the people who approved it could be in deep whoooooopsies.

But strange things happen with cars, I had a Jackeroo with the Caterpillar injectors mine was recalled twice for repair. The seals apparently dissolved in the diesel that was required for Australia causing the engine to run on it's own sump oil and self destruct in about 30 seconds....

I had an Explorer from 1998 until 2003.....not one of my better decisions I seem to vaguely recall a recall (that was messy wasn't it!) to replace the throttle cable back then. It's easy for us armchair critics to speculate what happened but if it was a stuck throttle cable that would imply that the cruise control use was not relevant ..... perhaps????

The motor should still have turned off with the key Jimricho!!

Once had a 87 Ford Fairlane, believe me once was enough. I think the wiring harness was the original design on the T- Model . Every time you used the aircon to demist the windscreen at night the alternator light would glow , hit the brakes at the same time and it would get brighter. Use an electric window and it would just give up and stop Within 12 months had 2 alternators 4 window motors and the harness replaced, electrics not covered by warranty back then. At 12 months and 1 day I owned a Toyota LC . Never go Ford again. Son In law currently has a Ford Exploder Ltd Edition top of the range just on 4 years old just replaced the auto gear box at a cost of $5500.00 for a reconditioned unit. The fuel economy is no existent. The only thing they won't pass on the road is a service station or a Ford service center. It's a throw away unit after 3 years unless you are prepared to spend big dollars.