Starter Replacment 2000 Explorer 4 L OHV

[Justinwht]

This is not going to be fun.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...emoval-v6-sohc-4wd.274837/page-2#post-3469239
Gave me insight that I have to drop the front drive shaft for access.

Suggestions???

 

[Justinwht]

Dropping the front end out of the question. Means breaking open the CV joints and unbolting differential from frame. Dropping the drive shaft isn't going to get me any closer to starter as the starter sits right above and over from rear of differential case.

 

[96eb96]

It is doable without dropping anything, but takes some mechanical experience. One way is to go thru the front frame with a bunch of extensions. The other way is a very compact 10mm (I believe, if not 13mm) 1/4" ratchet and socket. I like the gearwrench vortex tools. I put a 7/8' box wrench on the ratchet (for leverage) and broke the bolt free. A wobble may work too. You may also find an extension that moves you to the back of the starter but there is a sweet spot where you can turn it. Anything shorter or longer won't work.

 

[Justinwht]

All the videos I found so far were for 2WD Explorers without the forward driveshaft, but finally found this one for 4WD.

 

[96eb96]

Is that for the OHV? An 01 is an SOHC. I remember it being a bit tighter in there, but the video is very good. I know the bolts are very close to the starter body and you need compact tools.

 

[Justinwht]

I have 2000 4.6 OHV. Plenty of tools.
Looks like he has it on a lift, but my jack stands will get me good clearance.

 

[rb142]

The SOHC is worse than the OHV. But the way to get to the starter is to lower the front diff. (No other way to get it out on the SOHC.) That is by far the easiest way to do it too. Don't bother taking apart the drive shaft or any of that. You just pull out the 3 bolts that attach the front diff to the frame and let the whole thing flex downward a few inches. It doesn't move far, but enough to give the needed clearance. It takes maybe five minutes to do -- way easier than wrestling with all the other approaches.

That said, I'm not positive but I think on the OHV the starter can be reached through the wheel well.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Somehow I get that feeling the 5.0 V8 starter is the easiest with these trucks? I have a SOHC and I imagine it's gonna stick around long enough I need to know about this.

 

[Justinwht]

SOLVED.....

Wow...This has been a learning process!

Two thing I took away from the above video.
* He has it on a lift. The salient point is he could reach everything with the front of his hands facing the engine, unlike me on my back with feet towards the driver's side and back of my hands facing engine.. I spun around with my feet towards passenger side and *everything* was easy to get at. Though I found coming in from under the front bumper a bit easier
* He has a SOHC engine, I have the rare OVH engine and that may make a difference on pulling out the starter from between engine [not differential as I originally said] and the forward going driveshaft

Things that I wasn't doing right so far...
* I finally found the "top" bolt by going through the wheel well (taking off tire gave more working room) -- It isn't on the *top*, it was staring right at me on the side of the starter. A moot point as I can get to it easier from below now.
* He took out mounting bolts first. There was too much play in the starter for me to get a good socket grip on power and signal nuts. Loosen the mounting bolts last. BTW my 6-point 10mm socket was slipping on the signal lead nut so used 12-point 10mm box wrench.

I got the starter unbolted and wires disconnected, but pulling it out between engine [not differential as I originally said] and driveshaft is still not working. Needed about eighth of an inch more clearance. I placed a bottle jack on blocks of wood and raised the engine about half an inch and got the starter out.

Putting it back in -- I pushed it into the cavity and wedged it in place to bottom to attach wires. I'll post more details later.

/Edited to replace differential with engine as noted with [ ].

 

[Robman]

I've done it before on a '00 sport ohv 4x4, didn't do anything to the driveshaft or front diff.

 

[Justinwht]

I've done it before on a '00 sport ohv 4x4, didn't do anything to the driveshaft or front diff.

Yeah... The suggestions offered to pull shaft or diff were too extreme. Lifting engine half an inch was the trick.

 

[poker4me007]

Hi for future reference. Just wondering how do you go about lifting the motor half an inch , you must have to unbolt the motor mounts, and how about the exhuast and tranny crossbar bolts. I was under mine doing an oil change the other day, and looking at the starter thinking how in the heck does that come out. Not enough room. I also have the 4.0 ohv

 

[Justinwht]

I'll get pictures. Only had to lift engine about quarter inch, well within the movement limits of rubber vibration motor mounts. Placed small bottle jack on stack of blocks. Lift point was a few inches behind oil pan.

 

[Robman]

I didn't lift the motor either. It's a doable task, though not easy.

 

[Justinwht]

On the 4.O L OHV there are as no way I could pull out starter between driveshaft and engine. The SOHC is very easy with adequate clearance.

 

[GTMountain]

It's technically doable without touching the diff/axles/motor but a little easier if you lift the motor slightly. Just take the load off the mounts with a jack and a block of wood.
Best method is to lift the whole front end, place on jack stands, and then use your jack and wood block to get a little extra height on the motor. If you have big hands it may be tough still though.

 

[97BeastExplorer]

I saw someone suggested dropping the differential rb142. I have a 97 explorer 4wd 4.0 OHV that I am dropping the oil pan to swap out pumps. I had to pull the starter to get to the oil pan bolts easier, and the 3 bolts on the diff were the way to go. 5 minutes just like rb142 had stated thanks.

 

[Justinwht]

a little easier if you lift the motor slightly. Just take the load off the mounts with a jack and a block of wood.

Exactly what I did.

 

[Justinwht]

Follow up from May 2017.

I got the starter out by lifting the engine about half an inch - well within limits of the rubber engien mounts. An easy job.

Fast forward last week....The starter went out again, 2 years and three weeks. Have receipt and Oreilly's will replace it under warranty.

Last Wed I noticed an odd noise just as the starter engaged, by Thurs it was clearly a noise. On Fri the noise lasted a whole second and then a high pitched whine - the starter was free spinning. Most likely th espline is damaged.

I doubt the flywheel is damaged, even it it was it woud be on the edge if the bendix wasn' t fully pushing out the spline. The new spline is about an inch long and should mesh with the flywheel nevertheless.

 

[poker4me007]

Probably the spring in the starter, let us know how you make out.