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]

Took this picture today

 

[Turdle]

On the way home from Traveller's last night we came up on a slower moving vehicle, and i decided to pass. Up ahead someone entered the highway so I needed to floor it to get around. As we were along side the slower car, I heard the dreaded machine gun sound of an exhaust leak start. Right at that instant like something blew.

When we arrived in Chanute we decided to stop at bro and sis inlaws. I let Betty cool off because when she's hot she can be a real B%&ch.

When I did finally look under the hood I immediately saw the lower DPFE hose had popped off. Considering this occurred under heavy acceleration tells me she might just have clogged catalytic converter(s).

Lately I have heard about catalytic converter cleaning products on the market. Since i have no codes, do you think this is worth a shot?

Can anyone recommend a particular brand?

I will admit I am actually preparing for a complete new exhaust, yes with TM headers. However I would like to try to buy a little time. I have acquired Vroomboomzoom's headers but I need a couple more months to afford 2 cats, muffler and exhaust.

 

[mr cribb]

Don't know how well the stuff works, but I've seen the different items you pour in the gas tank and its supposed to clean up the cats.

Why not make them go away and tune the computer to not look for the rear sensors? If you lived in an emissions area I wouldn't suggest it, but since you don't then why not give that a shot?

 

[Turdle]

Don't know how well the stuff works, but I've seen the different items you pour in the gas tank and its supposed to clean up the cats.

Why not make them go away and tune the computer to not look for the rear sensors? If you lived in an emissions area I wouldn't suggest it, but since you don't then why not give that a shot?

I am on the same chapter of that book! We'll just leave it a that.

 

[shucker1]

On the big bore stationary engines I work on we always just use soap and water mix in a bug sprayer. Let them sit a few minutes rinse them out with a garden hose and put them in the sun to dry.

The cat elements are usually 3 ft square or a round disk in a holder assembly.

My guess is that the same process should apply for an automotive type enclosed unit.

 

[Turdle]

During the Independence day celebrations we took 'ol gal to the country club, packed with grand kids, chairs and a cooler to watch the local fireworks display.

I opened the rear hatch glass to get something out, and pow!

The window retaining bolt on the glass hinge fell out and there I was holding a piece of glass. The air shock support on the driver side was pushing the whole glass up, meanwhile the passenger side glass was still held in place.
It's a good thing my bro in law was near, because both my hands were occupied to keep the rear glass from being broken. He dug out his pocket knife and was able to get the tiny c clip off the air shock and push the pin out. Then he went to the other side to remove that support shock. If this has ever happened to you, you know exactly how goofy the whole situation becomes.

I was able to use some foil in the threaded are of the hinge, without the air shocks installed, and keeping th glass latched it got us back home. However I did not want to drive like this risking the hatch glass.

[MENTION=14280]ped5stang[/MENTION] to the rescue.

I sent him a PM and had a new set of hinges within a few days.

I blasted and coated them, stuck them on and now have a secured rear glass.

Sometime little things are actually huge problems. It's good to have a vendor with the hard to find "little things" we really need. Thanks Terry!

 

[mr cribb]

Friends in low places or high places depending on how one looks at the situation.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Cant say i ever heard of that before glad it worked out. Somehow i thought u were going to say a bottlerocket shot off into your hatch... some nutty things happen on the 4th

 

[Starkman]

We messaged last year, any plans to come out to Colorado this year? I've been getting out a lot this year and it would be fun to get to meet some guys from the forum.

 

[Turdle]

MLB and I loaded the dogs up and started out for country cruise. My dogs like looking at cattle, so we try to do this at least once a week.

We had to stop right quick at the gittin place for some things. I let Sheri sit with the ac and dogs while I acquired the brownie mix, but when I came back out many naughty words were spoken.

Betty was bleeding!!1. OMG red drips right off the lower radiator coolant hose connection.

So, I went back to the driveway, and tried to give the lines a snug, but they were tight.

Looks like the radiator itself cracked. Just then. Up to now she's been leaving not a single drip behind. My driveway was clear, until we got back from this little jaunt.

I wonder if the 4r70w transmission has an internal "thermostat" as is found in a 5r55e? If so, fluid would only be circulating there when the transmission was hot, which might have helped hide this issue?


In the meantime, I called autozone to get a warranty replacement radiator. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

On the bright side, this happened within a mile or so of home, and things could have been much worse.

 

[gmanpaint]

She will be fine. I have gone thru three rads on the 94 already, and one on the 95. Our rigs are old, and it happens.

You put all new coolant parts with the engine swap, so this should be all you need to take care of for a long time to come as far as that stuff goes.

Although I might have held onto that spare trans you sold. LOL!

 

[Turdle]

She will be fine. I have gone thru three rads on the 94 already, and one on the 95. Our rigs are old, and it happens.

You put all new coolant parts with the engine swap, so this should be all you need to take care of for a long time to come as far as that stuff goes.

Although I might have held onto that spare trans you sold. LOL!

Yeah, but this radiator was only a year old. it was also replaced during the swap. Remember my bad rant?

 

[gmanpaint]

Umm... Yeah.... It was a memorable rant. LOL!!!

Dang aftermarket knockoff parts. I think that's why I went thru a few in 10 yrs. Still cheaper then a new Ferd or Griffon type, but some parts are worth the extra cabbage. You were lucky and close to home, so it was an easier decision to get another like it.

It's when your wheeling up a mountain or thru a dessert and blow one up, that you want to spend the extra on one.


Might wanna check out the trans cooler while your at it. Maybe give it a flush with that special cleaner for it.

 

[traveler]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. But glad u were near home. Sandi and I enjoy those country jaunts... It'd suck to have a rad go out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Rick]

It's always a good thing when they break down close to home. Inconvenient, but she didn't want to leave you stranded in the boonies

 

[Turdle]

So, the warranty exchange went as smooth as 40 grit sandpaper.


I took the old one back. Once again they ordered the wrong one, so I went back later after they ordered the correct part.

AZ guy says "ooops! the computer says I cannot do a swap. I have to refund your money then sell you the new one"

" Ooops, now I can't even ring up your refund" looks at other AZ guy who types in some numbers and says" there that got it.

He went to ring up the new one and "oops, this new one is 20.00 higher"

I said "oops, well I am not paying you a cent more"

After many buttons pushed and many more oops said I just walked out with my new radiator. I am so fed up with them.

 

[gmanpaint]

Counter guys. Would make a funny reality tv show.

At least you got what you needed.

 

[Rick]

After many buttons pushed and many more oops said I just walked out with my new radiator. I am so fed up with them.

I think that the only requirement to work for a chain autoparts store, is to be breathing. The only local store I'll deal with these days is NAPA. The vast majority of my parts now comes from Amazon Prime.

 

[Maniak]

So, the warranty exchange went as smooth as 40 grit sandpaper.


I took the old one back. Once again they ordered the wrong one, so I went back later after they ordered the correct part.

AZ guy says "ooops! the computer says I cannot do a swap. I have to refund your money then sell you the new one"

" Ooops, now I can't even ring up your refund" looks at other AZ guy who types in some numbers and says" there that got it.

He went to ring up the new one and "oops, this new one is 20.00 higher"

I said "oops, well I am not paying you a cent more"

After many buttons pushed and many more oops said I just walked out with my new radiator. I am so fed up with them.

I had a mail order company do this to me & they kept s restocking fee. I called my CC company (Amex), told them it was a warranty exchange and they got me the restocking fee and the extra cost back...

I'm sure Autozone doesn't really care BUT I can say I've had very good luck with Oreilly's as far as returns/swaps. I use them enough (well a Friend an I) that they gave us a Comercial Cash account. It's not much but 10% off when I need it local is nice (Avg is 10%). For smaller things I do still use Amazon and if I can wait longer, Rockauto..

~Mark

 

[traveler]

On the way home from Traveller's last night we came up on a slower moving vehicle, and i decided to pass. Up ahead someone entered the highway so I needed to floor it to get around. As we were along side the slower car, I heard the dreaded machine gun sound of an exhaust leak start. Right at that instant like something blew.

When we arrived in Chanute we decided to stop at bro and sis inlaws. I let Betty cool off because when she's hot she can be a real B%&ch.

When I did finally look under the hood I immediately saw the lower DPFE hose had popped off. Considering this occurred under heavy acceleration tells me she might just have clogged catalytic converter(s).

Lately I have heard about catalytic converter cleaning products on the market. Since i have no codes, do you think this is worth a shot?

Can anyone recommend a particular brand?

I will admit I am actually preparing for a complete new exhaust, yes with TM headers. However I would like to try to buy a little time. I have acquired Vroomboomzoom's headers but I need a couple more months to afford 2 cats, muffler and exhaust.

I'm with Mr. cribb on that one. If you can, just tune the cats out of the equation and remove them. I did that with my Tbird and never regretted it. If i had a tuner for the explorer I'd tune out the cats and the EGR.