supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

vroomzoomboom · May 22, 2016

for anyone that is wondering, this is what the new plugs looked like with less then a mile on them.

that is also what i had to use to start it up with after i put it back together. yes new ones are in it now.
i also found why i was getting no vacuum. the fpr, boost gauge, and vacuum modulator on the blower all share the same line. the one going to the blower fell off leaving everything open. plugged it back in, problem solved....or that one at least. with the new plugs in, i fired it up, started with no problems, but the idle did surge for the first 10 seconds then cleared itself up. i didnt fill it totally with coolant for the reason if i had to pull everything apart it would already be drained. now with it running i figured i should do that. while pouring it in, i noticed a drip coming some place from the front of the motor. the bad was i couldnt see it because of the pulley bracket that i have. its also not removed easy either because one of the bolts goes into the thermostat housing. after finding a bolt to put in the t stat, i found one of the coolant hoses had a small pin hole (anyone know what they call the hose that goes from the hardline leading to the heater core on one end and goes to the water pump on the other?). after fixing that, no leaks. start it, let it run. time for a drive. well, now i have 1 or 2 cylinders that are not firing....GUH! going to do a compression test to it, and look over my plugs to figure out what cylinder isnt firing, and why. this thing is not releasing me from its death grip.
also because of all of the problems i am having, i am going to have to say i am now throwing in the towel to making it to all ford nationals for the second year in a row which really sucks!

vroomzoomboom · May 23, 2016

did a compression test. when i got to the 6th cylinder, i realized that i was doing it wrong. i wasnt opening the throttle body. but at least i could see if one cylinder was weak for what ever reason (valves mainly). well, they were in the 180-186 range with the throttle body closed. what i did find was the 3rd cylinder wire was cooked again....also the 7th cylinder wire didnt look fully seated. with that all fixed, took it for a ride. yup, back to normal. lighting them in 1st with a fart of pressure on the loud peddle....until it cooked yet another wire.
one thing i did notice, and cant figure out was my oil pressure seems to have rose to. i also sprayed the mount with brake clean to see if i had any vacuum leaks, and didnt notice anything. at this moment i am still going to say afn isnt happening. i want to take it for a long drive. like 6 hour round trip ride before any confidence is restored with it. im going to start looking at some new wires for it however.

ahodges · May 23, 2016

Come on come on! Easy stuff so far! I had to put 2 socks on each of my wires and also use the aluminum deflectors under the socks on a couple of them that were really close. I think it was #3 and #7 ...

vroomzoomboom · May 23, 2016

what i dont get is why now? besides being at the worst time for it to happen

Dono · May 23, 2016

I'm just glad to hear it was nothing major. Fwiw, my accel ceramic plug wires look almost new. I guess that's because they are. They don't exactly have any miles on them. How embarrassing. Lol

4pointslow · May 24, 2016

New Wires

Maybe you could get those new wires on today and go for a long ride?
Glad the compression was not a problem!
Come on, you can make it to Carlisle!

Dono · May 24, 2016

Tim, I do have a bunch of those edis ends for the wires if you need some. My only challenge will be finding them. Hopefully my truck will stay running long enough to get the garage cleaned up.

vroomzoomboom · May 24, 2016

Dono said:
Tim, I do have a bunch of those edis ends for the wires if you need some. My only challenge will be finding them. Hopefully my truck will stay running long enough to get the garage cleaned up.

sure, if you have some please bring em

vroomzoomboom · May 28, 2016

i will call this a victory....sorta.
don was good enough to bring me some wire ends because i didnt have enough to use to make my new set. after waiting for the fex ex guy until 6 o'clock to drop my stuff off i pulled the old ones off and made a new set. i must have had more then one going bad, or bad because when i started it up, you probably could have put a glass of water on the motor and not had any ripples in it.
it still has the surge at idle at a stop light, but before you could watch the tach jump up and down, now its rock solid.
the bad is now the tune is out once again lol. not badly, but enough that i will have to get don to pull his hair out again.
oh, btw andy, you kinda gave me a idle when you posted about putting 2 socks on your wires, and using defectors. when i called summit i had asked if they had anything more for heat protection (i did order new socks for mine, the old ones now looking at them were toast). they said they had heat shrink, and gave me the part number. well, i can get heat shirk any place. i also was taking to my buddy about this, and he said he had some header wrap i could use on the headers. so instead of doing the headers with it, i used it on the wires. when i looked at my old wire set the boots didnt look so bad, but the wires you could tell were cooking. so this is what i did. hopefully this will work.

first heat shrink

then header wrap

then a sock

and to still answer your question about carlisle (and getting some major peer pressure from the other guys on facebook today about going lol), i am still going to say it wont happen this year. i wanna, but she still hasnt proven herself.
that still cant stop all of your that will be there to be on the lookout for a m122 for me!

ahodges · May 31, 2016

Glad I could help. hopefully it works!

vroomzoomboom · June 4, 2016

don has evil running pretty nice now. however we still need some more data logging. he had told me what he would like is one that is around 3 hours long. thats fine with me, i had planned to go for a long ride as a test drive if you like to call it. however, that also would bring up another problem. the batteries in my lap top wont last that long (that and most of the time when ever i have done any type of logs, by the time i am done, the lap top is almost dead. i have been wanting to do this for as long as i have had the full console in.
MountaineerGreen did a write up a long time back (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/120v-outlet-and-inverter-installation.175037/) on how to put a power inverter in, and now was the time i did it.
i had one of those inverters that plugged into the cig. lighter, but hated it. if it moved around it would stop working (the same goes for my gps). that and i also hate wires hanging every place as well. i went to wally word and found this one for around $40. two plugs, and two usb plugs.

i opened it up, took one 120v out of it (would have been to hard to solder back in)

then i basically cut it in haft and left the plugs by them selves, and stuffed the rest of it back in its case.

cut the holes for both the 120v and usb

hot glued both the case and usb board inside the console (for it to become soft and fall off when it gets too hot inside the truck later on im sure

wired a on/off switch in, and put it back together.

all done! ever do i have to worry about not having a inverter to charge or run anything again.

vroomzoomboom · June 4, 2016

well sometimes lady luck smiles on you, and sometimes she ***** slaps you!
after i was done putting the inverter in (which worked flawlessly!), don fixed up my tune for me. so, filled the tank, and went for a drive. now heres where the story takes a hard right turn into the wall.
the road i picked (and what i didnt know at the time) was under construction, with no place to turn and get off for miles ie, lots of gravel....i hate driving this thing on gravel. lots of sitting as well i will mention. when i left it was a nice sunny day. until 3/4 of the way where i was going the sky turned black within mins, and it started raining cows, big fat ones. i also would peek at my laptop every now and again, but also noticed it went into sleep mode while i was 30 mins into the log! (yes, that long of a data log). then on the way home, a asshat that wasnt watching where he was going, what he was doing, OR ME came within a foot of driving down the side of evil.
then that tell tail sign you shouldda just stayed home........
i wanted to get some wot data. so i let mr. asshat get a head of me for a good distance. then i rugged it. while hitting close to i think 80-90mph, the truck filled with smoke. i looked in the rearview to see i smoked out 2 lanes of highway. hit the brakes, pull over, shut the laptop down, shut the truck off and pop the hood thinking i blew another block heater. however i see no coolant in sight, but i start seeing a puddle of red forming. look under the truck to find trans fluid gushing out the bell housing....right above the very hot exhaust pipe!

luckily (i think) it didnt start a fire. call the tow truck and wait. oh, but the luck didnt stop there! while waiting, i was texting with ahodges because i asked him to watch for a m122 while he was at all ford nationals, when it starts raining...and harder, and harder, then.....hailing....
evils now sitting in the back yard (no dents that i can see just yet either). i think i blew the front input seal out on the trains. so tomorrow i start pulling that ******* out. i am so glad i am relaxing on my holiday off from work.
on a funny note, this did form right in front of me when it was raining. not sure what to make of it however.

4pointslow · June 4, 2016

Nice work on the AC inverter, I have been contemplating doing that to my 2004.
So sorry to hear about the transmission leaking, and hail.
Rainbows are awesome!

CDW6212R · June 5, 2016

Ditto, I hope the hail was minor and didn't leave any signs behind.

vroomzoomboom · June 5, 2016

something is missing h.....

.

.....never mind, there it is.....

got busy at the crack of noon today. called don to see if he still had his seal installer, lucky for me he did, so he came by around 3'clock just as i was ready to drop the trans out. it was easy to get everything unbolted, but the converter was hung up in the flywheel. had to pry it off it, reseat it into the trans, then drop it down. it was kinda funny because we were both standing there and hes like "come on! pull the coveter! i want to see what that seal looks like!" lol phoned a few places today, but anything that is good for parts is closed till tomorrow so i will get a new seal tomorrow, and hopefully toss this lump back in, and beat the hell out of it some more.

4pointslow · June 5, 2016

Any Idea what caused the seal to blow out onto the converter? That is unusual?
How does the torque converter surface look? Pump bushing?
Why is the converter sticking to the crankshaft, it should be able to flex in and out without sticking?

vroomzoomboom · June 5, 2016

i think it blew out because i have the line pressure cranked (if im not wrong, will have to check tune). converter looked ok, will take a closer look before it goes back in, i dont think i can see the bushing unless i pull the pump. the studs from the converter were hanging up because when i was trying to pull it, the motor and trans were at awkward angles

4pointslow · June 5, 2016

I just did a google search on 4R70 front seal blow out and there lots of posts on the internet about it. I guess it can be a common problem.
I wonder if using a Motorcraft seal would hold it in better.
You could also check to see what line pressure should be at wot, and check the numbers in the tune.

EDIT:
According to some posts found in Google search, the factory seal is prone to blowing out.
Found this thread interesting, no pictures of the seal retainers though.
http://forums.corral.net/forums/94-95-tech/1220985-94gt-aod-e-pukes-torque-converter-pump-seals.html

vroomzoomboom · June 5, 2016

awsome! now i get to look forward to yanking the trans out every few weeks, and oiling down the track! i can feel the love i will receive after last years performance! ugh....

Dono · June 6, 2016

At wot shifting, I did crank the line pressure to full (99) at Tim's request tp help with firmer shifts and trans component life. We did discuss that a line might blow off with more line pressure, but never thought a pump seal. Ugh.
I have mine cranked at wot also. I guess I better think about this some more. I wonder if that seal can be pushed out from fluid pressure.....I'm not ready to buy that one. I wonder if @BrooklynBay could chime in and answer this quickly and easily.
I do like the retainer idea. For what its worth, I'm glad we have the seal installer already. Thanks for that 4pointslow, any time a speciality tool gets used more than once it makes it a great buy.
I'm really considering a trans jack purchase, even more if Tim will let me store it at his place. Were getting too smart (read OLD) to be risking ourselves with some of these extremely heavy parts.

supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

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