Project Vehicle - 1998 Explorer Limited

[GLOCKer]

Last night, after a LONG and HOT day at work, I started working on the driver door. I began with the driver side mirror, and ran into issues. The plug for the replacement mirror was smaller than the mirror on my Explorer Limited because the replacement isn't heated and didn't have a puddle-light. I rolled the dice, and spliced the new mirror onto the old plug, matching up the red, yellow, and blue wires and discarded the remaining black wires. It didn't work. I guess I should just be happy I have a mirror I can manually adjust.

Next I set to looking at the locking mechanism on that door. I determined that the interior handle is broken as is the exterior handle. I ordered replacements for both as well as a clip kit for the connecting linkages with the rest of my Amazon credit. Today I went and purchased a $5 rivet kit with an assortment of rivets included. I'm really hoping to be able to keep the lock actuator. Wish me luck with this.

Then I popped the hood, propped it with a baseball bat, and changed out the hood struts. The old ones were leaking pretty bad, but now my hood stays up on its own! With the hood staying up properly, I decided to take off the front wind deflector thing and clean the junk out from under it. It was pretty nasty and the dirt was actually pretty thick. It degraded the paint a little in spots, so I'll probably sand those small spots down to clean metal and hit it with some touch-up paint, and then put the deflector thing back on to hide it.

I also picked up a couple of cheap'o compounding, polishing, and waxing pads from HF for my DA buffer. But I'm not going to start worrying too awfully much about the exterior until I clean up the interior enough to not fear getting a disease from it!

 

[GLOCKer]

Oh yeah; any tips on how to locate an exhaust leak?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Start the truck and crawl underneath. If it’s cold it’ll leak the worst. Sometimes you can see the soot where it leaks but not always. You’ll feel any leaks. If the 5.0 makes a ticking sound at idle when first started, your passenger side manifold is most likely cracked. The EGR tube is also possibly cracked.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Any help?

 

[GLOCKer]

Any help?

So basically that's what I thought would work when I spliced the connector from my Explorer limited to the replacement mirror without the puddle lamp and heated feature. This may mean my splice was garbage, the mirror is broken, or the switch in my Explorer is bad. I'll continue to investigate! Thank you sir.

 

[TKZ]

Sometimes I find exhaust leaks buy having someone hold a rag over the exhaust tip while I look for the leak, works better when its cold out.

 

[koda2000]

Common Explorer exhaust leaks are from a cracked header or EGR pipe where it attaches to the header. If the '98 still had the tubular headers, they tended to crack more frequently. Ford eventually replaced the tubular headers with cast iron ones. The cast iron ones sometimes crack too, more often on the passenger side.

 

[Redmanss]

Restrict the tailpipe with a rag, it will make any exhaust leaks much more obvious while searching for them.

 

[Mr. Alligator]

You mentioned "matching up the red, yellow, and blue wires and discarded the remaining black wires."

My electric skills are primitive, and I am not sure exactly what you are describing, but is it possible that you discarded the grounds for your replacement mirror?

 

[GLOCKer]

You mentioned "matching up the red, yellow, and blue wires and discarded the remaining black wires."

My electric skills are primitive, and I am not sure exactly what you are describing, but is it possible that you discarded the grounds for your replacement mirror?

I am wondering this myself, but the plug for the replacement mirror didn't have a provision for a black wire. I'm a little disappointed that I don't have a power mirror on the driver door; it upsets my OCD to have non-functioning features on a vehicle!

 

[GLOCKer]

Yesterday's progress almost saw me puking in this turd as I was vacuuming it out. I pulled the floor mats and vacuumed out the front and back seats. I pre-treated the rear floor mat with carpet cleaner and will hopefully get a chance today to try to clean it. And I ordered a (hopefully correct) door lock actuator for the driver door today!

I know it's not much; but I'm trying to do at least one thing a day to get this turd back in shape. I'm also considering rying to remove all of the fake wood trim. Has anybody attempted this before? Can it be done without destroying the factory door and dash surfaces?

Before:

After:

Treated the floor mats:

 

[Mr. Alligator]

I am wondering this myself, but the plug for the replacement mirror didn't have a provision for a black wire. I'm a little disappointed that I don't have a power mirror on the driver door; it upsets my OCD to have non-functioning features on a vehicle!

Maybe.... one mirror electrical system is grounded through the metal vehicle windshield pillar, and the other system uses ground wiring???

Just a thought.

 

[koda2000]

Maybe.... one mirror electrical system is grounded through the metal vehicle windshield pillar, and the other system uses ground wiring???

Just a thought.

Never hurts anything to have an extra ground. Just saying.

 

[GLOCKer]

A little bit of a let down today:
I took carpet cleaner galore to the rear floor-mat with a scrub brush and hose for a little over an hour and I barely made a dent in the nastiness of that one floor mat. My hopes of being able to just use the wand attachments of our carpet cleaner probably wont work out on the interior. I'm going to have to pull the seats, the center console, and then the carpet out of this thing and use the neighbor's pressure washer to get it as good as I can get it. I have a feeling I'm in for a ton of labor for not an awesome return!

This photo doesn't reveal how stained the floor mat still is:

 

[Mbrooks420]

If you have a pick and pull handy, I’d just grab another carpet.

 

[koda2000]

I've had good luck using a product from AutoZone called Tuff Stuff Carpet Cleaner. There's a regular strength and an "extreme" strength. I've gotten some nasty stains out with it, but I can't guaranty it will work for you on that mat.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you show this mat to a dry cleaning shop? I wonder if they could clean it for you.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I've had good luck using a product from AutoZone called Tuff Stuff Carpet Cleaner. There's a regular strength and an "extreme" strength. I've gotten some nasty stains out with it, but I can't guaranty it will work for you on that mat.

Tuff Stuff is a really good product, with the built in plastic brush on the top I’ve seen so,emnasty stuff come out.

 

[GLOCKer]

Yesterday, when I was scrubbing and rinsing the floor mat, I had what looked like coffee with creamer coming out of it when I used the hose. It was DISGUSTING! My full on plan now is to pull the seats, seat belts, and center console and get the carpet out of the car. I'm then going to pressure wash the hell out of it, and then use a slightly darker than stock gray automotive carpet dye to hopefully cover any remaining staining. I'm looking at potentially using this product:

 

[Spudhut]

If you have a pick and pull handy, I’d just grab another carpet.

Or make one

Your not the only one...this PO must have had a dog and...who know what in mine. I tried to scrub it with 409 spray, carpet cleaner - its crusty like old bacon. The more I scrubbed, the blacker the water got . Ack!

For kicks - I went to Junk Yard later in week and found this water soaked (sunroof left open ) beauty for $20. 20 minutes and had this out quick.

Pressure washer and Tuff Stuff - It came out pretty clean. Even scored some factory front/rear mats for $10.