Betty's "I want to be a mule" progress log thread

The new turd mobile. 2000 Mountaineer v8 awd.



The bad:

Was living it's prior life on a dusty road. Must tear out interior and deep clean.
Driver window off track "or something" and will not roll down. It tries but the rear part wants to stay up.

3 out of 4 door handles have issues. I have 4 new outer handles on order.
Cracked passenger side tail light housing. ( Ebay for some cool tail lights)

Compass-Thermometer thingy lit up and went out--idunno bout that yet

Door locks seem sticky, probably has to do with the handles.
It has a funky purple color trim with red metallic ( you'll have that every now and then)

The good
Gas tank was full
109k miles
I am the 2nd owner!!
Is from the local area, which means no salt!
The undercarriage is fairly clean
No dents to underside panels
Good rubber
Camber shims already installed
Looks like good service records, all recalls were completed.
Clean carfax believe it or not.

The "maybe" bad

The original owner, told the dealership it had a bad "heater core" however I have run it for several cycles, over an hour each idling in the driveay and see no leaks.
However, there was evidence of a windshield leak or the like,I saw condensation on the inside of the windows this AM. The moisture smell is that of water only-no anti freeze smell. I am thinking it could also be a cowl drain which is clogged???? but she did say the passenger carpet got wet.

I tried to get heat, however it is an auto climate control. Being 90 degrees outside, I doubt it would have given me heat.The heater core hoses were hot, and the coolant bypass valve does operate. AC blows Ice cold.

Maybe she meant to say "heater door"???

Anyway--here are the pics.



My intent is to drive this and use it as a tow rig for a light weight off road toy. Mods will be minimal. Edit: This plan did not work out so on to plan "b"

Current visual status

Progress pictures

Now, let's clean it up a little


Herculine'rd rocker panels. Rock sliders installed

BW 4406 True 4x4 Manual transfer case ( AKA Mouse entry point) installed 8-27-2012
Installed newer Tcase from a 2003 11-14-15

Saw a rainbow in Colorado so yeah, time for a picture

And here she is, on top of the highest pass road in North America. Careful tire placement a must!!!

2-2-2013

Changed "color scheme" of the Dick Cepek DC1 wheels. New Falken Wildpeak AT 31x1050x15

Then I decided Maroon washer on the wheels would look better

Update 6-6-2013

New bumpers, winch and Pro LED light . Front Bumper from RLC, Skid plate from RCI, rear bumper from Kert307

Rear anti sway disconnects

Update 9-2-2014
A cracked radiator at 70mph led to engine failure. Replaced with a freshened up a bit 80k mile engine starting on page 23

Found another rainbow in Kansas.

 

[Turdle]

Did you powder coat your wheels the same color as you did my engine accessory brackets? Your wheels look like a lighter color...

IIRC you asked for a "blasted aluminum" look, so I used a color called "silver sparkle".

 

[Elessar65]

The "maybe" bad

The original owner, told the dealership it had a bad "heater core" however I have run it for several cycles, over an hour each idling in the driveay and see no leaks.
However, there was evidence of a windshield leak or the like,I saw condensation on the inside of the windows this AM. The moisture smell is that of water only-no anti freeze smell. I am thinking it could also be a cowl drain which is clogged???? but she did say the passenger carpet got wet.

Passenger carpet being wet is almost always condensation on the AC evap core overflowing into the interior from the drain being plugged. Take a blow gun to the drain from underneath the truck and shoot some compressed air into it. Run the AC on full blast for a while, especially when its humid out, and it will produce quite a bit of condensation. Plugged drain = water on passenger floor board.

 

[rickybobby]

hmm, i have seen that dark torreador red somewhere....

 

[cybergasm]

I know of a '97 in Gas KS that is just sitting being ignored that has a metal fan

Good idea, not like he needs it anyway. Back in a flash.

Hardy har har

BTW can someone drive by on check on it for me please ?

Sucks having to work my ass off for the little money i am making right now and having no time for anything else.:fire:

 

[Limited02]

Jon, I do not really like the color......



















I FREAKING LOOOOOOOOOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you had your own tire balancer/changer, I'd be heading down this weekend to get my wheels coated! I'm really looking forward to getting them done now! Yippy!!!

 

[Turdle]

Well, today was the day for dirty girl to get her harness of burden AKA frame mount receiver hitch.
The problem I had was the bumper ball was in the way, so I grabbed a 1 1/8" wrench and said "ok girl, time to give up your ball". She said "un uh". So, I repositioned, and asked her this time"are you sure" and tugged, "un uh" . So, I said " you know if you don't give it up I'm going to have to cut off the stud" and tried again. "go ahead and cut buddy I'm keeping my ball".

Ok so I cut it outta the way.

I mixed up some powder and think I hit the color pretty well. Then the hitch went on without a hitch. Ol' gal took it well.
I also touched up the bumper paint a bit

with flash

I also replaced the driver side door handles. Color match is what it is.

 

[wood1]

Snazzy...

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Love your work Jon, and I take back what I said about the Ford stock wheels. I was thinking of the color you painted the wheels on your ex-Mounty-grey chromish mettalic-almost any wheel would look good in that color.

Now your rusted ball looks outta place with all that new powder!

 

[Turdle]

Rear park sensors????

While installing the hitch I did indeed create a hitch, rear parking alarm now turns off when I shift to reverse. I can press the button to turn the light off, which turns the system on, however once the lever is shifted to reverse the "OFF" light illuminates.

I searched "rear parking sensor" "rear sensor" and came up empty. Anyone know of a thread please?


Brr, this AM was a good reminder to get on the heater--blend door whateveritis issue. Hoping it is just the blend motor. We'll see.

Oh, She towed a 2 axle trailer home just fine. Sparksaflyn' was a good friend yesterday to help re wire the lights.

 

[Turdle]

OK, it is either the EATC control unit or the blend actuator, because it doesn't move when switching from hot to cold. the blend door itself seems fine and had a tight grip on the actuator motor assy. Cruel joke throwing that 3rd bolt back there BTW

Also found a coolant leak up front. All of the sudden while sitting at Sonic waiting for some iced tea, we noticed a coolant smell. Very faint, but the reservoir was down about 1/4" . The coolant is up high on the front of the engine. Oooh boy.

I am hoping it is the stupid elbow coolant bypass hose as it is wet . We'll see.

Going to get one and a new thermostat now.

 

[Turdle]

I am hoping it is the stupid elbow coolant bypass hose as it is wet

Phew. When these do this the coolant sprays over quite an area, making it look like bad news. Just a tiny slit is all it takes

Autozone "Dayco" on left, Gates in center, OEM old one on right

I scraped the thermostat housing surfaces clean and called it a night.

In the meantime I sure could use a hand finding a Auto climate control troubleshooting thread. The chilton's- haynes diagrams are of no help. I need to know which wires have which signal to control the blend door actuator motor please. WHat voltage are these signals? can I jump battery power to the actuator to test it?
I took it apart looking for a bad connection or some kind of clue, I do see some sort of rheostat on the main sector gear. Is this a position sensor?

help?

 

[Turdle]

Coolant hoses and thermostat replaced, all seems dry.

I pulled 3 fuses and reset them, now the blend motor operates. I seem to hear wind diflection sounds as it is moving so I assume the blend door is ok, but still no heat.

So I felt the heater core lines, warm upstream of the bypass valve, but cool on the firewall side. In fact, both heater core hoses felt cool.

I notice an aftermarket bypass valve was installed. I think i need to check this out. When flushing the cooling system I did the heater core also and water flowed thru it so I know it isn't clogged.

 

[gmanpaint]

Burped it real good?

 

[rickybobby]

do you have vacuum at the bypass?

 

[Turdle]

Burped it real good?

Yes, I think I did, used 13 quarts of liquid

do you have vacuum at the bypass?

Yes, plunger goes in when ac is turned on, comes back out when floor is selected. However, this is one you can reverse the flapper on. Gonna check it out later.

 

[rizzjc]

Congrats Jon! Looks good!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Ah, the joy of coolant leaks.

And hey- Silver Sparkle! I just had 2 racks and trim pieces coated that Tiger Drylac color today at work! lol!

 

[Turdle]

Ah, the joy of coolant leaks.

And hey- Silver Sparkle! I just had 2 racks and trim pieces coated that Tiger Drylac color today at work! lol!

It's good stuff. Best base for a candy color I have found, besides true chrome.

 

[CDW6212R]

FYI, the OEM heater control valves can have vacuum on them, and still flow coolant. I have my old one out, and can suck through it with the valve held shut.

I've been hunting an AC issue that seems to be due to the controlling of my Heater Control Valve. I've had heat at any setting except when the engine is cold. Changing the HCV solved the issue in MAX, but only at a stop or low throttle. I think my EATC unit is cutting the vacuum signal most of the time, heating my cold air.

The EATC units are now getting old. It is very common to have the capacitors inside go bad, causing all kinds of issues. With a Mark VII, it is typical to have a failure of all of the main electrical features, the radio, EATC, and compass modules. There is an expert who charges $90 or so each to fix those.

I'm planning to hunt for an EATC repair place who knows these Explorer units well. I expect the answer will be to have them rebuilt. BTW, I see new old stock EATC units for as low as $75 sometimes. That may be a good choice.

 

[jenren81]

jon i like the new ride! red is nice.

did you guys have fun out here over labor day? just saw you let the big ol white truck go lots of work went into that! but i bet this one will keep you plenty busy. if you ever get really bored i'll be in KS for this winter for either t-giving or xmas so you can work on mine, lol
hope all is well!