Helloooo Eddie!

I did the deed. Traded in my beloved '00 Sport today. It was hard to do. I love that thing. Ever since we had a kid just over a year ago, I realized how much I need a 4 door. Avoided it. Until recently.

Scored a '99 Eddie Bauer. 5.0 V8 and AWD. Excellent condition but a tad neglected. It's the green one. Only 53,000 km (just under 32,000 miles) or about 5,000 miles/year. It was priced similar to many 2000 Eddies I've seen with the same specs, but with 120,000 km+ (72,000 miles). Couldn't resist. I did a Carfax on it and it came back pretty clean. We figure it must've been a little old lady who never drove it. A few nagging issues:

-it came with the stock top-end stereo (changer, sub etc). Display keeps vanishing. I seem to recall reading about that somewhere. I plan to put in my old system, but not yet. Any ideas what's up with that?

-Took it in for a quick oil change at "Mr. Lube". They found a leak at the junction of the tranny and engine. It's definitely sweating a bit and I'm hoping it doesn't stain the driveway! I'm contacting the dealer tomorrow morning on that one. Anyone know what it might be? We figure a gasket may have shrunk because the Ex has been sitting around for a bit. Everything else looked great under the hood and the tranny fluid looked OK as well.

-comes with that funky built in garage door opening thing. Anyone have any ideas how to program it? No owners manual included.

Overall I feel I got a killer deal. Only drawback is some of my mods are no longer compatible. I'm going to try and use the Volant box and filter and maybe my C&L MAF. Obviously the intake tube from the Volant won't work. I've already contacted our good friend Doug at Bama about re-programming my XC2 and will be researching exhaust soon. I've heard Magnaflows work well on the 5.0. I'm thinking of Flowmaster 50 series. I'm trying to avoid too much cabin noise. May consider a 70 series, but they seem too tame. Any input is appreciated. I did a lot of searching this weekend and didn't really find a consensus as to which works best with the 5.0.

I'll take some pics eventually. It's dark now.

EDIT, I updated my avatar with the "for sale" photo.

Modding here we come!

Sounds awesome. I love mine! Although I don't have the toys. Try ebay for a radio. Just make sure its the Mach. The display issue is very common. Some auctions let you do a swap too. I'm not sure about that.

I have the same oil leak type thing you do. It has never left a drop, but its always moist. Hard drops any oil on the dipstick, so I just keep my eye on it. If you find out something about it, do tell. Mine sat for quite awhile as well, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it.

Good luck and post some pics dangit!!

You are a smart smart person, the 5.0L was the best drivetrain in any Ex
Although I love the Sports, I love the 5.0L more

Dude you are breakin' my heart !!!!!!!!

Glad you kept in the family though

IAmTodd said:

Sounds awesome. I love mine! Although I don't have the toys. Try ebay for a radio. Just make sure its the Mach. The display issue is very common. Some auctions let you do a swap too. I'm not sure about that.

I have the same oil leak type thing you do. It has never left a drop, but its always moist. Hard drops any oil on the dipstick, so I just keep my eye on it. If you find out something about it, do tell. Mine sat for quite awhile as well, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it.

Good luck and post some pics dangit!!

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I'm not going to worry too much about the head unit, but I'm going to try and get the used car dealer to get me one or at least get it repaired. I'm not going to use it for long. I already miss XM. I'm using an FM transmitter thingy to listen to my iPod right now, but I couldn't even find the station I wanted because it went dark. Once we got it to work, we set a preset so I can quickly get iPod up and running.

re: oil leak. As long as my driveway doesn't pay a price, I'll be happy. I am going to see what the dealer says anyhow.

Small pic in my avatar now.

410Fortune said:

You are a smart smart person, the 5.0L was the best drivetrain in any Ex
Although I love the Sports, I love the 5.0L more

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I tell ya, I'm sure I've love the EB. It's taking some getting used to. The Sport was no nimble and could u-turn on a dime. Definitely not the case with the 4 door. I do love the sunroof and leather interior though. Forgot to mention those toys. The interior is a dark grey. It's in great shape too.

MONMIX said:

Dude you are breakin' my heart !!!!!!!!

Glad you kept in the family though

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LOL, I thought you might say that. I really couldn't see myself not having a 2nd Gen Ex. I couldn't believe how the low the miles were on this one. It would still be under warranty if 6 years hadn't passed, at least on the mileage front.

You scored good celly. The oil leak is probably the rear main seal. It will get worse, but i've never seen one go to where it disabled the car. It can ruin a driveway. If you do get it fixed, I'd go ahead and replace the front fluid seal in transmission. it is a 15.00 part, and requires only about 3 minutes of labor to install once the engine and trans are seperated.

jtsmith said:

You scored good celly. The oil leak is probably the rear main seal. It will get worse, but i've never seen one go to where it disabled the car. It can ruin a driveway. If you do get it fixed, I'd go ahead and replace the front fluid seal in transmission. it is a 15.00 part, and requires only about 3 minutes of labor to install once the engine and trans are seperated.

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How quickly will it get bad?

It is hard to say, but most smalblock Ford's do it at one time or another
If you can park in the same place evry day, sprinkle some kittylitter for protection and keep an eye on it.
Better yet a 1 foot square piece of ceramic tile

To bad you had to get rid of the Sport...I like them little stinkers
The 4-door sounds like it was a must have with the youngster aboard and also on the seal leaking deal, you could try adding some kind of seal softner/rejuvenator to your oil.There are a few on the market that may help.

very cool!! greay interior on a EB..weird i would have figured it was tan.

great choice on colors BTW..green is the best! lol

good luck with it.

So far, nothing on the driveway. That's a good sign. Chances are the dealer will work something out. I didn't get a warranty, but they did stress that they'd stand behind the vehicle for a "reasonable" amount of time. These guys win awards for their service and it really was a low pressure, no haggle sort of place. I'll see how it works out tomorrow.

I doubt it is your rear main seal, the ones on the new 5.0s are all but leak proof. They are a one piece design thats pretty much all silicone. None of the old wax rope type. I had 130k hard miles on mine when i rebuilt the engine and this seal looked like new and had no leak whatsoever. It is possible that the front trans seal is leaking a bit, its it the more conventional steel ring/rubber seal type (similar to a bearing seal) and would be much more suscepible to dry rot from sitting.

One more thing to check, that I've seen a couple times on mine, is that the drain plug is tight and not leaking. Mine leaked a little once and the wind from driving blew the oil back on the bellhousing making it look like thats where the oil was actually coming from. One way to check this is crawl under the truck and pull out the rubber plug looking thing on the bottom of the bellhousing for the tranny. If the back side of it is oily its either the rear main (unlikely as i said), or the front trans seal.

Mine is definetly coming from around the bell housing where the two meet. Fairly confident that its motor oil and not tranny fluid.

IAmTodd said:

Mine is definetly coming from around the bell housing where the two meet. Fairly confident that its motor oil and not tranny fluid.

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The guy at Mr. Lube told me mine was oil as well.

Your Explorer was so nice man -- sorry to see it go. Did you pull the gauges out of it?

-Drew

ExplorerDMB said:

Your Explorer was so nice man -- sorry to see it go. Did you pull the gauges out of it?

-Drew

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Thanks for the kudos. I've never been as attached to a vehicle as I was to that Sport. Last night I sat and stared at in in the driveway as it spent its last night outside (I had too much crap piled in the garage getting it ready for trade-in). I was definitely sad to see it go. I spent a good 10 minutes walking around it, admiring it and realizing how much I'd miss it. BUT, this new Ex is something else. I've owned 3 Sports, from a 93 to a 97 then to the 00. My first foray into 4 door is a bit alien. It handles differently for sure, but it's still an Explorer and 2nd Gen to boot (my fave). I heard an ad tonight on the radio about the '06 Explorer being the "best Explorer ever". I laughed at the ad and said:

"No it's not".

I think I'm driving the best Explorer ever. I love the comfort (the seats are so sweet). I can't wait to start modding it more. My first mod was to "try" and take out the stock airbox (dang, I forgot how tight those things fit). I ended up just getting off the cover and filter. The bottom 1/2 is supporting my C&L MAF and the filter that normally resides in my Volant box.

I'm fairly certain I'll be able to salvage the Volant box once I get the rest of the airbox out, but the intake tube will definitely not work. I'll probably sell that in due course as well as the Ford Racing 70 mm throttle body I had on my SOHC. The jury's still out on my tinted tails. They just didn't look right on the Eddie. I'll probably just cover the amber portion on the new tails with some Testor's candy a apple and stay away from the tint.

I took the white faced overlays out of the Sport and still have them. I planned on putting them in the EB, but it might look alien. The dash is very dark and with the dark grey leather, white faced gauges might stick out too much. I do plan on putting the red needles on eventually.

Cheers....

actualy tinting the tails on that green looks very nice..i think you should do it.

did you save your dimond headlights or corners? speed grills?

cant wait to see what you do with this truck. your sport was one of the prettyest(yes i think its a word..lol) on the site

EDIT: BTW now you make me wanna go drive a sport..i have never drove or even rode in one. i'm really used to the 4 doors

96limitedX said:

very cool!! greay interior on a EB..weird i would have figured it was tan.

great choice on colors BTW..green is the best! lol

good luck with it.

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A different green that yours, but green nonetheless. I actually traded in a green car (same colour as the EB) on my Sport 4 years ago. It was a Contour SVT, a true wolf in sheep's clothing. I loved that car, but I was trashing it taking it to and from the mountainbike and XC ski trails. The backseat was oh so cramped as well. Trunk space was average. The Contour actually replaced my '97 Sport whose lease expired. I left the Explorer world briefly while I owned that SVT before getting the 00 Sport. Was a fun car to own, though.