2002 Explorer problems

My cousin owns an 2002 Ford Explorer that had the battery exploded while starting up. It was replaced with a new, however while driving the vehicle, the temperature rose all the way to the H. We pulled over to look under the hood and saw that the coolant had backed up into reservoir and had overflown leaving the radiator empty, also, the a/c started blowing hot air. Trying to drive it to a safe location, the automatic transmission began to slip while shifting by it self. So, on the roadside is where it remains until sunlight.

My reason for posting is things that my cousin said to me. She was told by the dealer to never start the engine with a/c switch on nor run the a/c while going up hills and mountains. Another certified mechanic echo those same statements and added that the a/c shouldn't be set at max. He said that ignoring those warnings will cause the engine to blow. When the battery blew up the a/c switch was on and I'm thinking not only the battery blew up.

Have anyone heard about this and have any feedback. I'm not trying to fix the car, but understand why so much problems, all at once.

Reply to
Ric Christian
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I hope this is a joke or a troll! Setting the A/C at max causing the engine to blow, that is just crazy.

I've had my 2002 loaded with 7 people, a car top carrier on the roof and a cargo platform in the trailer hitch. Up and down hills with the air on and cruise at 80 and the temp gauge never even moved.

I've sat with the A/C in 95 weather waiting for a 15 minute train and the gauge never moved either.

I would never go back to a mechanic or dealer who fed you this line of garbage.

Reply to
JaWise

Sounds like a piece of the battery case got caught in the fan shroud and was not removed when the battery was replaced. Then it got caught in the fan and tore up a radiator hose and or the transmission cooler lines and then it over heated. Ac could have lost all it's freon too if one of it's lines got cut with the piece of battery case flying around. As for the ac, the clutch does not engage on our '02 until about 5 seconds after you start the engine, so there's no problem starting the engine with the ac in the on position. As for not running the ac going up hills and not to use the max setting...that's just a bunch of crap. Running your ac in the max position will put LESS of a strain on the ac system, since it's cooling inside air and not outside air. Just drove across Kansas last weekend....104 degrees...78mph....and with a 900 lb load no cooling/ac problems. wth

Reply to
wth

My aunt but a Toyota RAV4 a couple years back and after she had signed all the papers and was ready to leave the salesman actually told her that she shouldn't run the fan on high alot cause it could melt the wires. I told her she should have returned the car right then and there. But hey gotta love that Toyota quality!

Reply to
JaWise

Hi all, thank for the responds. I myself use the a/c all the time and even startup with it on. I know that every accessories under the belt puts extra load on the engine and can raise the temperature, so for that reason, turning off the a/c switch while going up hills and mountains I understand. Starting with it turned on and running it on max may blow the engine is something I never heard of before.

The moral of this subject is mechanics say all kind of stuff (facts and guessing) and sometimes we believe their guessing most of the time. My cousin worried her head off all night thinking her engine had blown. The vehicle is now in the shop, but haven't been worked on yet and I'm guessing the vehicle have a cooling problem and it may have had a faulty battery, but I'll waite for the diagnostic report before giving her more things to worry about.

Again, Thanks for the responds..........

Reply to
Ric Christian

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