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About a month after I replaced the rack, I had some shaking in the steering. They vacuumed some of the fluid out and replaced about two quarts newand that did.
YOur problem sounds like somethign that went wrong with our 1991 Explorer. We stripped the front hubs when my wife got stuck in a ditch and kept gunning the engine to get out. Of course she didn't tell me until a month later in the middle of a snow storm. But I believe the 4WD drive system is different now. But the same principle still applies. Sounds like you may have had some "binding" going on in susspension. Even if she went around a slight bend in the road she could have caused damage.
Your mechanic shoudl be able to figure it out.
Good luck.
Anyway, the Explorer is going in tonight to get looked at and fixed. I figure that if the bumping, moaning sound is the drivers side upper ball joint, I will just have them replace both (drivers side and passengers side). No sense in putting off the inevitable, right?
On a positive note, my wife loves her Explorer, but it has spent a few more days out of service than her previous Honda's. This being about 8 days total in the past year and a half for the Ford. Our last Honda Accord (99) was in for warranty work for about 3 days. Not to bad overall, and understandable, seeing as how our Honda's were only 2 year lease vehicles with only 30,000 miles on them when we were done. Once we get through this minor fault, all should be well again.
Thanks again!
JRC
at that mileage, you can start having randomly-distributed failures. 80,000 exploders of similar age can run to, let's say for argument, 180,000 miles without timing failure. but maybe a couple hundred will start conking out before that. that's statistics distributed on a bell curve. a few engines could go 400,000. but on the tails of the curve, the numbers are so small that they don't count much against the other 80,000 vehicles.
sorry, but you lost the lottery on this one way I see it. the engine could perhaps be rebuilt with a new head and timing components... but at that age, you probably also need a crankshaft refurb and ring job with cleaning up the cylinders... it's a good idea to replace the oil pump and screen on general principles if you have to open the engine up... and with labor, you start getting close to the price of a crate engine real quick. a short block and a head are one option, as is a junkyard engine from something that got T-boned or back-hammered and likely has a lot of miles left.
these days, passenger engine rebuilds just plain don't happen much any more in your local area. kids and low-income folks will work on their own engines, and fleet stuff gets rebuilt regularly until the block is too thin for another cut. but the passenger engine has become another disposable part.
This is NOT an isolated incident you have here. I had a 2000 Explorer XLT as a lease vehicle, and while I owned it I had both front and rear tensioners replaced do to the rattling noise. Actually the fronts never went bad while I owned the vehicle, but they replaced them first as that is the thing Ford tells them to do. The noise was still there (under load at about 1,500RPM+). So they had to pull the engine and replace the rear timing chain tensioner. Problem solved, but then I had to turn it in as the end of the lease was up. Yeah I know it was only a lease vehicle, but it was an extra car and I thought I would just get it fixed, so the next person wouldn't have to. My wife's lease on her Honda came up and we turned that in and bought a used 2000 Explorer limited with the SOHC engine. Would you believe that it now has the same rear timing chain noise? However, it isn't nearly as bad, and it only last for the first mile or two of driving, so I don't think much of it. Anyway, the first thing I would do is get a second opinion if at all possible.
they are not necessarily related failures. you might have a casting crack if the rod is whacking something, but the hundreds of posts on this issue back in the wayback of this topic put a picture in my mind that these are stop blocks of nylon or steel-framed nylon at the ends of the overhead rocker shaft that were failing. I'm not at home now, so don't have access to my service CD.
you would have had a hellish amount of top-end noise long before the chain dragged enough on the cracked blocks or on part of the head to be opened up or bent so links jumped the gear... enough to get a deaf man into the shop.
I'd still like to know what casting cracked or was spalled so that the dealer figures he can sell an engine. I'd think worst-case a new or rebuilt head and a timing set can fix this. and that's nowhere near $5000.
I'd be hard to live with for a while if it was my car, but I still think that in the 100,000 miles range, you should start steeling yourself for random failures that could be expensive in any vehicle. it's not unexpected.
I think what fails are the nylon clips or something of that nature that hold the tensioner in place. I know that the part was revised in late 2000.
Now that I am thinking twice about it, I am not sure that they replaced the tensioner in the back. I think they replaced the cassette. I don't even recall if there was a tensioner in the back. Is there?
Anyway, sorry if I gave out wrong information. I am somewhat knowledgeable of cars, and this is the interpretation that I remember the dealer giving me a year and a half ago.
I think my aging mind needs a new timing chain tensioner as I hear a lot of rattling up stairs. Or is that the last couple marbles I have rolling around up there? I don't know, I can't remember, haha ;-)
This morning it will not start after repeated attempts. Then, I step and hold on gas pedal and it started with some smoke (probably due to flooded engine from repeated attempts). We stop the engine and it again will not start. Have to hold on to gas pedal again, brought it to the dealer and hopefully they can find something.
Anyone experience this problem before? Someone posted a similar experience on their 2000 V8, but it may not be the same issue.
Still like to hear any similar experience though.
I am trying to decide whether to take the leap on the above vehicle, it's mint inside and out and I believe the price is fair at 22K. Really like the features, ride, etc.
I've got an 01' Pathfinder w/88K carefree miles on it and am concerned about the Explorer's repair history and resale value in 2 years when it's got 90K+ miles.
Any advice?
By the way, being offered 12K for the PF.
I am thinking of buying an Air Compressor and some
tools (wrenches...etc). Sometimes when I am working on my Explorer I have to dump what seems
like a gallon of stuff on some of the nuts and bolts to loosen up things. Does anyone out their
have one of these or a recomendation for one of these or choosing one.
Thanks in advance........
I have my doubts that the pumps are even bad and this is just an intermitant electrical problem that recovers when the wiring is moved.
The "no start" may even have nothing to do with the fuel system and the pump is being replaced to create billing. At least you have warrantee.
I really appreciate all the input on this problem
Too bad ford doesn't participate, they may find out a thing or two I will let you know how things turn out
I'm not sure if that's a programmable transmission or not. What you described is corrected in the 02 and beyond models with a reflash, but that may not be applicable with a 99.
I wouldn't be too worried about early failure unless this transmission has towed a lot or been abused somehow, or severly overheated. More like a glitch. My 94 does the same thing, however, it's got 120,000 miles on it and hasn't failed yet.
when this happens, turning it all off, counting to five, and repeating usually gets me started.
so it could be happening for once to me. I figure on getting a relay some time before I die and see if the issue goes away. I had pegged it for fuel from a particular gas station for a while, but cutting them off the list didn't do it.
recently switched to Mac, so haven't installed the Ford manual CD onto my remaining WinSlows machine for the locations. but the printed electrical manual should identify the location. if you have neither, ask the parts counter guy at the dealership where it is. I've found mine to be muy bueno helpful.
Timesaver, I think a 1999 with 47K miles (not 470K) is a good deal at $12,900. Over the last 3 years, I have put 30K miles on my 1997 Exploder (total now 64K) and haven't had any major problems. Though I would stay away from one that has done major towing...
However, I would highly recommend the extended warranty. I overpaid for mine (almost $1500 for a 6 yr/60K/bumper2bumper) but so far the ins. co has paid $1000 for a number of rather minor repairs including the infamous thermostat replacement, an a/c fix and an alignment issue. I would be surprised if I don't get the remaining $500 + interest back before it expires, but in any case well worth the peace of mind. BTW, I would get a 3rd party one if you can, as I find my local mechanic does a far better job (for less money) than the dealer.
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because of the detail information from that source, I am not going to spill the beans and omit something. I will tell you that all the through-board connections on the power board need to be redone, all the diode and SM resistor connections need to be redone on the power board, and there will likely also be a number of funky solder joints on the display board that comes off with the radio's front.
I also redid all the joints to the display VF screen to the display board, as several of them looked marginal.
after that was all done, it worked fine. until it was ALL done, the display was dark.
search back a few hundred messages using some sort of search string like "ford radio" or "radio display" and you should get links to the website. it if looks like things you've done in the past, you can fix it if you have 97/3 silver solder or better and a fine tip on a low-wattage soldering iron (like 10 or 17 watts.) a lighted magnifier also helps big time.
otherwise, pay somebody else. you can't use big tools like you'd use for copper roofing on this job.
Thanks in advance!!!
P.S. I searched all the forums for this, checked the TSBs, and even RTFM. No joy.
P.P.S., some posts here have mentioned a separate '02 Explorer forum, but I can't find one. Am I just dense???
I've done the deodorizing before on a couple of Nissans, so I can do it myself if I have to. Just don't want to go through the joy of getting the evaporator box open if I can get the dealer to do it.
Thanks in advance!!!
The A/C odor can happen to any car. It just depends on the type of use that the A/C gets. Once you get it deoderized, then try and get into the habbit of turning off the A/C (but leave the blower on) no less than 5 minutes away from home. It should still blow cool for 3 of those minutes, but this will help dry out the Evap. This has solved all of the issues I had with the A/C odors in my vehicles. Enjoy your new truck!
Also some how my driverside foglight got filled with water and is now destroyed. I need to replace it but not sure where to go to buy a replacement OEM one. I'm trying not to go back to the dealer, I've already paid about $700 for other various repairs in the past month and dont need another big bill. If I can replace the fog light myself I'd rather just do that. Any stores or websites I can visit to get the foglight?
Foglight: Have to go to the dealer for that :-(
Or you could try E Bay?
Or how about an auto salvage yard?
Wgrafer:
Look really close at your headlight and see if you can find a crack or something that would let the water in. If you find the source of inlet, then take out the headlight assy and drain out the water. Let it sit in the sun for a while and dry out.
What I did to try and fix this little problem was take glue (one that dries clear) and cover the crack. So far this has worked for about a year now. However the particular fixture keeps getting a new crack every so often. Anyway, give this a quick try. Couldn't hurt.
I am tired of the back end bouncing around going over normal stuff forget about rough patches. I do like the look of the Edelbrocks over the Bilsteins.
Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer
and
Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer: Prices Paid & Buying Experience
There's more in the archives that you can find with the search tool on the left, but I don't see one off-hand that dealt exclusively with '02 models.
Steve, Host
Thank you,
Frank
If the above solution does not work for you take the headlamp out and drill a small hole in the bottom to allow the water to drain. It'll save you the cost of a new lamp.