My wife's 1997 Explorer has what seems to be a backfire occaisionally. When you accelerate moderately, it bucks some and it sounds almost like a "cough" somewhere near the catalytic converter. It seems as though the sparkplug may be firing late, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?
In Christ,
Jeff
Could also be the coil pack. Mine went on my 99 at only 19,000 miles and it caused the same symptoms you describe. But there are so many components to the ignition system like the plugs and wires.
Guess what? It wasn't a backfire after all. The transfer case was going out, making a sound like a muffled backfire.
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