Clay Lynch
New Member
- Joined
- March 27, 2019
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- San Angelo, TX
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2003 Explorer XLS
What's up Explorer folks! New to the forum and recently purchased a 03 Explorer for a low price of $900 due to a head gasket leak. The owner was told by many mechanics that he should just put another reman engine in and all said and done would run about $3800. He didn't want to do that, so he sold it to me as it was.
I've so far done a quick fix of "Steel Seal" which seems to be holding for now. I plan to either pull the engine, do the head gaskets and timing chains and everything else that needs addressing or I may swap in the 4.6 V8 which was an option in 03. Feedback welcome for sure on these options.
I really like the vehicle other than that head gasket looming over my head which could re-rupture at any time with the liquid fix I did. It's at 130K miles and no accidents (that I can determine...) good tires, clean interior, etc...
Anyway, good to find a forum for these vehicles, I think too many go to junk yards due to the situation I found this one in. That 4.0 is a mess in terms of the over head cams and the one timing chain on the back of the engine... man.
Take care guys, Clay
I've so far done a quick fix of "Steel Seal" which seems to be holding for now. I plan to either pull the engine, do the head gaskets and timing chains and everything else that needs addressing or I may swap in the 4.6 V8 which was an option in 03. Feedback welcome for sure on these options.
I really like the vehicle other than that head gasket looming over my head which could re-rupture at any time with the liquid fix I did. It's at 130K miles and no accidents (that I can determine...) good tires, clean interior, etc...
Anyway, good to find a forum for these vehicles, I think too many go to junk yards due to the situation I found this one in. That 4.0 is a mess in terms of the over head cams and the one timing chain on the back of the engine... man.
Take care guys, Clay
