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2000 AWD Xploder from Turbo back to NA

After getting an estimate on how much it would run me to fix up my Xploder with all new exhaust, cold side piping, and a bunch of other stuff done up the "right" way... I've decided to convert my Xploder back to NA form so that I can actually ENJOY the truck before I die of old age.

Anyways... To start it off I ordered up a MAC cold air intake (I do not have the stock intake) and sold my FMS headers on ebay.

I plan on buying a set of torque monster headers in the next week or so but am still up in the air on how I should run my exhaust from a performance "speed" perspective. I do not plan on doing much, if any, off road driving, so am looking for a setup that improves take off and speed for spirited pavement driving that sounds good.

I already have the spare tire removed (and will be keeping it off, I have free towing anyways lol)... What would an optimal setup be with the above in mind and no worry of a spare tire being in the way? True duals (straight pipe off of each header, thru separate mufflers, and out the sides), or a dual exhaust both going into a 2 in 2 out "H" pipe style muffler and then out the sides? Or something else? In all cases I won't be running any cats.

I also plan to re-tune my car since currently it is tuned for the turbo setup which obviously will no longer apply once I rip everything out.

Thank you for any input! :)
 



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Well, it's been a bit.. I emailed the dude at the website and never heard anything so am wondering if still even around and not a ghost site, lol.

I got sidetracked and had to finish up my Camaro before I delved more into the Explorer as I was down to just my wife's Mustang and she was getting grumpy I was driving it all the time LOL.

Anyways.. finished up fixing all of the damage from the tire incident and while I was at it I went ahead and installed all of the carbon fiber parts I had laying around for about a year which was part of me converting the front of my car from ZL1 to the ZL1 1LE with OEM upper and lower zl1 1le grills, OEM inlet bezels, carbon fiber canards and splitter, plus carbon fiber side skirt covers (3m over the oem side skirts which are molded into the car and not replacement without significant body work), and a carbon fiber diffuser that is more aggressive looking. Also while I had it all apart I installed different taillights that have sequential turn signals :D

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Now back to the transmission stuff, lol...
 



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Ok.. began working on the valve body... finished the first 7 steps of the document in the zip kit and also installed the upgraded/newer 4r70w-lb1 line pressure booster kit instead of the one that came in the kit.

I did notice with this it sticks out from the valve body whereas the one that came in the valve body is sunk in pretty good... is that normal?? LOL.

Some photos of this:

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Here is how it sits after I got up to step where I drop the check balls in place:

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It says step 8 is for 01+ cars so I skipped it and then steps 9+ all seem to be working on some clutch stuff or something and not in the valve body? Do I just skip this stuff and come back to it if I end up having to actually pull the entire transmission out and go even deeper/wilder with it all? Lol.

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:D
 






Excellent, you've handled the tough VB stuff. The last steps are inside for during a rebuild. The spiral rings are upgrades to keep them from coming off at high rpm, the stock ones have a limit of something in the 6k-7k range.
 






Excellent, you've handled the tough VB stuff. The last steps are inside for during a rebuild. The spiral rings are upgrades to keep them from coming off at high rpm, the stock ones have a limit of something in the 6k-7k range.
Yeah, the VB stuff all seemed pretty easy and straight forward thankfully :D

The last steps are for a rebuild of the transmission itself so I can just skip that and put everything back together at this point (after I swap the solenoids and what not)?

I tried to track down all of the accumulator type stuff and even the full kit but it seems to be out of stock for almost all of the pieces, lol :-/
 






Also.. the directions had me use provided drill bit to open up 2 holes in the separator plate... one hole I did so.. the other was alrdy the size they wanted me to open it up to so I just left it alone. They also had me drill through one of the pieces that has a little valve in it (remove valve, drill thru tiny orifice and then all the way through, install with the 2 holes at 3 and 9 o clock). Initially I was stumped on how to remove the little black valve inside the sleeve or whatever it's called prior to drilling and ended up using a piece of tape to get it pulled out, lol :D

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Good job. I don't recall that last part but they have likely revised things since I last installed one of those 7-8 years ago.
 






Finished putting the valve body back together... All seems to have gone smoothly. No issues, seemed easy... Hopefully THIS is the issue and NOT something INSIDE the transmission itself, LOL... I will get back under the car as weather permits tomorrow or Wed and replace the last solenoid, the EPC, and then get the valve body in place :D

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Ooo.. and yeah, I need to remove the old orange O-ring from where the old filter left it in the valve body :D

I did find a super detailed video when I was about finished already but it also had the torque values for everything which was great...

 






Finished up work on my Camaro and have it back on the road for a few weeks now.

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So back onto the Xploder :D

I got back under the truck and removed the EDC solenoid which was kind of a pain... had to remove the lever arm shifter thing, roll pin, etc. Got everything off and the EDC solenoid removed. I also replaced the 2-3 accumulator piston. Sadly I couldn't get anything else other than the 1-2 accumulator top but after messing with the old one I didn't notice any weird leakage or play with it and the snap ring without the tool seemed like a headache so I left it in. If I would of been able to get the piston I'd get the tool or make one and replace it but not worth the hassle without the piston and only having the top, IMO.

Got dark so will continue work next chance I have and get the new EDC solenoid in place, the lever arm stuff, and then get the valve body in place... add the filter, new pan (with a drain plug), fill it with fluid, and PRAY. Lol.
 






How did the old EPC solenoid feel in place before you removed it? I hope it wasn't at all loose, the EPC's are reliable but the constant use sometimes causes a little wear of the case. That's about the worst issue with an EPC of a 4R, it's very rare but noteworthy if it happens. I had an expert builder suggest the EPC should be replaced at 60k miles or so, which could be in line with a normal fluid change. I am curious to see what mine are like in my three 98's.
 






How did the old EPC solenoid feel in place before you removed it? I hope it wasn't at all loose, the EPC's are reliable but the constant use sometimes causes a little wear of the case. That's about the worst issue with an EPC of a 4R, it's very rare but noteworthy if it happens. I had an expert builder suggest the EPC should be replaced at 60k miles or so, which could be in line with a normal fluid change. I am curious to see what mine are like in my three 98's.
It seemed fine.. Didn't like flop around in there and not sloppy at all so I think that shouldn't be a concern, thankfully! :D
 






That is good, I would bet your symptom was likely from one or more fluid leaks from the parts you have replaced.
 






That is good, I would bet your symptom was likely from one or more fluid leaks from the parts you have replaced.
Yeah, hope so. I know the TCC solenoid was def bad as I had a code for it from the start. Plus, a number of gasket blow outs in 3 different places on the various valve body gaskets I'm sure was not good at all :D lol.
 






The 4R is a solid transmission, if you didn't make any mistakes(which are kind of easy to do), it will work great again.
 






The 4R is a solid transmission, if you didn't make any mistakes(which are kind of easy to do), it will work great again.
Yeah. I'm hopeful all works out and it's not something deeper in the transmission that is damaged. If so, I'll have to buy a full rebuild kit or something. The transmission bench videos are super good so I'm fairly confident I could rebuild it with those videos but time is limited as is space to have a broken open transmission and the big mess that comes with it lol.
 






I finished up putting the transmission back together. All went together fairly smoothly though getting the little filter in place was kind of a pain as it just sits in the transmission but since the transmission is in the car and the opening is facing downwards so the filter can't just sit in place while you install the valve body, lol. I was able to stick a small pick in place to hold it up in the transmission as I lifted the valve body into place, so, no biggie, lol.

I need to pick up some transmission fluid in the next few days and fill it up and pray it works, LOL :D
 






Ok.. some progress.... Picked up some Merc V transmission fluid. Added like 9 quarts or so. Started truck up and it didn't fly off the ramps or do anything crazy, so, good sign with that. Let it warm up and tested the fluid level with the dip stick and it was a little low (reading at the C mark, not the H mark). Added another half quart.. waited a few min, teated again, ended up around middle of H mark.

Put car into reverse and it backed off the ramps.. put it into D, rolled it forward, R and back.. did this a few times... Seemed to take a half a second to "engage" first few times as I'm guessing fluid worked it's way into where ever it needs to go.

Drove it around neighborhood and it seemed to shift fine, no issues.

Drove it down the road near by neighborhood a few times and shifted good. Wasn't shifting like a sports car by any means but seemed to shift better than it used to back when it would shudder shifting from 1-2 on slow acceleration. Took a quick clip of the truck up and moving, lol:



Will drive it around short trips for a few days to see how it holds up. Didn't observe any leaks.

If it continues doing well plan is to drain transmission fluid back out and replace with new fluid once more as I didn't get all of the super old funky fluid out as I didn't have a pump flush system or whatever they use so figured run it for a few weeks, drain, fill, and it should be pretty clean fluid in there at that time in the end.
 






If the fluid looks fairly clear now, it shouldn't need another new filter when you change it that next time. I typically see a good 10-12 quarts to fill one when the VB has been off. I also drain the TC when I do the draining, the older transmissions all have a plug in the TC, newer models don't any longer I think.

Check the fluid again now with it on level ground, just warm. When filling from near empty, put six quarts in and start it, then add another fast and check it. Usually it will show basically empty, until you have added about 8-10 before it begins to show on the dipstick. Only add one at a time before it shows on the dipstick, then only add 1/2 quart to a quart, depending on how near empty it is. It goes up fairly quickly when it's close to properly full, it's easy to go over if you are adding a quart at a time when it shows on the dipstick.
 






If the fluid looks fairly clear now, it shouldn't need another new filter when you change it that next time. I typically see a good 10-12 quarts to fill one when the VB has been off. I also drain the TC when I do the draining, the older transmissions all have a plug in the TC, newer models don't any longer I think.

Check the fluid again now with it on level ground, just warm. When filling from near empty, put six quarts in and start it, then add another fast and check it. Usually it will show basically empty, until you have added about 8-10 before it begins to show on the dipstick. Only add one at a time before it shows on the dipstick, then only add 1/2 quart to a quart, depending on how near empty it is. It goes up fairly quickly when it's close to properly full, it's easy to go over if you are adding a quart at a time when it shows on the dipstick.
Ok, great, I will work on that tomorrow, good tips :D
 






Drove the truck some more today.. picked up daughter from school with it.. drove and shifted nice. Checked the fluid level after I warmed it up and ended up adding a little more. Actually backed it partially on some ramps to get it as level as possible as my drive is not level sadly, lol.

I did notice a weird issue.. My reverse camera no longer comes on when I put it into reverse AND my reverse lights do not come on when I put the car into reverse. So... maybe I didn't connect something or something is going on where the car shifts into reverse perfectly, reverses perfectly, but whatever tells the reverse lights to come on when in reverse is not doing so. Thoughts?? :D
 



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Ok... found this post, gives me a hint, lol...

 






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