# French horn under hood

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036>\
**Category:** The Show\
**Created:** [January 5, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036 "2008-01-05T16:18:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Opera\_House](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@Opera\_House](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Opera_House)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036/1 "2008-01-05T16:18:23Z")

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Don’t they have Explorers in Boston? This is a common problem with the Idle Air Control valve. Cleaning the valve has some success, but most have to replace the valve for about $70. As far as the hose falling off, there is a possibility at this age of a rubber cap falling off on the vacuum tree or the hose to the vacuum modulator on the transmission. If any hoses on the tree are oily, the modulator is leaking.

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**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036/2 "2008-01-05T18:03:40Z")

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Don’t they have Explorers in Boston?

```
I would not want to drive one in Boston.
```

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**Author:** ![Opera\_House](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@Opera\_House](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Opera_House)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036/3 "2008-01-05T20:20:25Z")

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Back with slightly modified name after about a years absence when they changed the board. Never could get signed in with the old name although it is listed in the mid twenties of people without a life.

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**Author:** ![rchang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3bc359/32.png) [@rchang](https://community.cartalk.com/u/rchang)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036/4 "2008-01-07T01:16:22Z")

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This sounds like the “moosing” problem. The “moosing” sound has often been said to sound like a fog horn rather than a french horn. This issue has been discussed in the Ford Explorer forum:

[http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136952](http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136952)

My 1995 Ford Contour also had this problem which turned out to be a design problem. The fix was to install a redesigned idle air hose. The new hose has a resonator attached:

[http://www.woodfam.com/ryan/svt/moose\_fix.html](http://www.woodfam.com/ryan/svt/moose_fix.html)

-R.

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**Author:** ![Sinbad76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sinbad76](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Sinbad76)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/french-horn-under-hood/9036/5 "2008-01-16T22:34:07Z")

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While I didn’t hear the very start of the call, I did hear ‘French horn’ and cold start.

I’ve had a similar problem which I traced to the thermostat. As it began to open, an oscillation occurred that made quite a loud sound just like the one the caller described.

Hope this helps, although the earlier response re: Idle Air Control Valve seems to be a known problem for this (Explorer) vehicle.  
Al76