'98 Explorer A/T 4X4 4.0L SOHC engine. ~67K miles on it.
Today it started acting all wierd. The symptoms are:
- Runs hotter than usual. Before, heat or cold (I live in TX) the dial would set right in the middle of the scale when the engine would reach operating temperature. No matter what. Today it went all the way up to 3/4 and then would go from there up and down about an 1/8 of the scale.
- Engine RPM are higher than normal. It's usually around 700RPM and today it went up to ~1300RPM. A/C on or off. When I start the car (after it has been sitting around for ~30 minutes) it would set on 700RPM but then, after about a minute it would go back to 1300 again.
- Gear change (A/T) feels wierd. As if the transmission is changing too early. Gear change feels ruogher than usual.
- Wierdest thing, It was a nice day today at 73 degrees and I didn't want to use the A/C so it would not put more load on the engine as it was acting up. So I turn the air on (one click counter clockwise) and the air comes out warm. It wasn't hot but definitly not as cold as it should have been.
Other than that there isn't any noise. Engine coolent is in the right level and seems to be clean. Air filter was replaced at 50K. Last oil change was done ~2500 miles ago and I just had a new set of tires installed. No check engine light and apart from the engine temp dial everything else seems fine.
Anyone knows what the heck is going on ? Is my car possesed ?