Project Vehicle - 1998 Explorer Limited

[GLOCKer]

I woke up and head out to go fishing today, and I was excited to test out my AC. I set it to AUTO and 74 degrees. It kicked on blowing pretty hard and then settled down after a couple of minutes with a lower blower speed. I'm happy to have the AC working! On the way home it was nice to roll all of the windows down and open up the sunroof. It was a beautiful drive in the Explorer!

QUICK QUESTION:

How ridiculous is it to change an exhaust manifold/header on one of these 5.0 Explorers? Do both tend to have that issue with a crack? I feel like the noise isn't cool anymore and I feel like it robs me of a little power.

 

[koda2000]

Cracks were common with the steel tubular headers. IDK which you have. All mine have had the cast iron headers and I've never had any issues with cracks/exhaust leaks.

How hard it is to change a header depends on which one is cracked. The one with the EGR tube can be a bear.

 

[CDW6212R]

...
How ridiculous is it to change an exhaust manifold/header on one of these 5.0 Explorers? Do both tend to have that issue with a crack? I feel like the noise isn't cool anymore and I feel like it robs me of a little power.

Being in the South, the manifold bolts shouldn't be all seized in place. It depends on whether they break loose easily or not. The EGR pipe fittings themselves are usually worse than those eight bolts.

 

[GLOCKer]

I've got the steel tubular exhaust manifolds and the EGR was done roughly a year ago. How is access to the bolts and manifolds to get them out and in? I was just reading about doing headers on my Mustang and you have to support the motor and remove the motor mounts and starter. Is there more access on the Explorer?

 

[koda2000]

Though I haven't had to mess with the headers on any of my V8's, I recently had to remove both headers on my '01 Sport Trac Job 2 SOHC V6. I imagine the job would be very similar on a V8. I'm sure there's a YouTube video on the subject.

Job 2 SOHC header removal:
I removed both front tires and the plastic inner fenders (pretty easy to do). This gave me great access to the exhaust header bolts. My ST has been a GA truck all it's life and even after 200K the header nuts came off quite easily once broken loose. I just used a wrench on the down-pipe nuts and they came off w/out much effort. I used my air ratchet on the header nuts and they came off w/out a problem. About 1/2 of the header studs came off with the nuts. The remaining studs have to be removed with an e-socket, but came out easily with a ratchet. The biggest PITA was the EGR tube, which was attached to the driver's side lower header near the starter. I had to buy a long 27mm wrench and use a backup wrench to prevent the nipple the pipe nut screws onto from turning as the EGR tube nut was loosened. My starter was already out, which probably made the job easier. Thankfully I was able to brace the backup wrench against the frame to hold it in place. Lastly I had to heat the hell out of the EGR nut repeatedly with my MAP torch until it glowed red to get the nut to move. Then using two hands the 27mm wrench would move maybe a 1/8 of an inch until it finally came off. Once the nuts and studs were off on the driver's side, the header came right off. If it wasn't for the EGR nut this job would have been easy, though time consuming.

I've read about some people here installing Dorman cast iron replacement headers on the 5.0L. The only complaint I recall was that the holes for the header studs needed a little massaging to get some of them to line up, but that's typical Dorman quality for you.

 

[CDW6212R]

Yeah, go at the bolts with a penetrant first, and be wary when loosening each of them. The collector studs may break too, but there are some kind of repair clamp available which can replace those.

 

[GLOCKer]

Switching gears for a second - back on the topic of my trans...

(That pun wasn't intended!)

I reached out to a local transmission shop on how much it'd cost to change my 1-2 shift accumulator and they said it'd be billed as a regular transmission service at $89.

I think I'm going to have it done while I'm out of town! It cost the same as an oil change for my Mustang!

 

[GLOCKer]

I have an appointment with the trans shop around the corner of my house to drop the truck off to have the 1 -2 accumulator looked at. I had initially reached out to the shop on their Facebook page inquiring about how much it would cost to get that changed and they gave me a price but also requested I call and talk to them. The guy I was messaging with and ended up talking to on the phone shot it to me straight. He said he was concerned about digging too deep in my trans if it hasn't already been serviced at least once sometime in it's life. He said his biggest concern had to do with putting fresh fluid in it; explaining that new fluid has detergents in it that would trash an old transmission. He said they would recover my old fluid and keep it to put back in if everything went to plan. But if it looked like something worse than a bad accumulator was causing my rough shift, he said he'd just button it back up and drive it if it was his truck. I appreciated his candor. Fingers crossed he calls me with good news after the test drive and the pan comes down.

 

[CDW6212R]

I hope your truck has had the ATF changed more than once so far. It's not good to discover the assembly plug in the pan after 10+ years. It's true weird things can happen when the fluid has been left in too long, which is why I don;t like the idea of newer trucks that don't have dipsticks, and expect the fluid to be done at 100k. Plugs went the same way, people went way past 100k, and certain engines were having the threads pull out with the plugs. Being frugal is one thing, but the factory shouldn't encourage people to not service their cars for too many years.

 

[masospaghetti]

If you're concerned about the detergency of new fluid, just don't "flush" the transmission. Slowly replace the fluid with pan changes.

Keeping old Mercon fluid (especially 22 year old fluid, if it's original) is definitely not going to do any favors to the longevity of your transmission.

 

[GLOCKer]

Ugh. I just dropped the Explorer off at the transmission shop. I'm really hoping that the only thing wrong is a bad 1-2 shift accumulator spring! If I can get in and out for $89 that would be HUGE! Fingers crossed all!

 

[GLOCKer]

I got a shout from the transmission shop and the final bill is $120. The guy said the trans shifts beautifully now with the replacement of the 1 - 2 accumulator spring.

Ughhhhhh again because I'm out of town and can't wait to drive my truck! LOL

 

[CDW6212R]

Excellent. What spring did they install, was it a part number that came from Ford? I have the pair which are common on eBay to put in the 1/2 and 2/3 accumulators.

 

[GLOCKer]

I don't know. I'll ask on Friday when I pick it up.

 

[410Fortune]

Good news!!

Back to the exhaust tick, you can replace both manifolds in the 5.0 pretty easy, there are some tricks to use to get at all of the bolt easily, the passenger side manifold to downpipe bolts can be a ***** to access but it can be done with the correct 1/2" drive setup. 6" extension and wobbly and correct approach and you will have it. The passenger side manifold is easiest to change since you have a straight shot and nothing in your way. The drivers side you have to remove the steering shaft (pretty dang easy) and then you can get to it.
Dorman is making some pretty nice replacement manifolds these days, they are cast and fit rather well, under $100 for the set also........

 

[masospaghetti]

+1 for the Dorman cast manifolds, and I can vouch for that passenger side downpipe bolt being a PITA to remove. There was some weird tab welded on to the downpipe that I had to cut off with a grinder.

Eventually I broke it loose with a half inch impact gun and some extensions.

 

[GLOCKer]

Just picked up the truck from the transmission shop. Had a good talk with the owner:

-He was surprised at the condition of the Explorer when he came in on Monday and said that underneath it looks really good. He said that overall it's in nice shape than other customers' newer cars, so they kept it parked indoors overnight. That made me feel good! He was shocked after he told me all of this and I then told him my Explorer's story.

-During a three mile test drive it was obvious the 1-2 accumulator spring had gone bad. He said otherwise, the trans is in pretty good shape. It's been serviced in the past and had very minimal signs of wear judging by the magnet. He said when they split the trans filter it wasn't very dirty.

-He also said the 1-2 accumulator springs are a PITA to find by themselves. He called a transmission parts company (big one I've heard of before but I can't remember their name, Trans-Go?) and they don't just sell the spring; you have to buy the whole kit. They sent him an open-box returned kit that had the spring.

Out the door it cost $121.20. It feels much smoother now!

 

[CDW6212R]

Excellent. As you get more time with it and go through more items, it's obvious the truck wasn't horribly abused, and will last a lot of years with you taking care of it. My same 98 Limited was the opposite, and it's going to take more time and parts to bring it back, plus body and paint work. I'm game though, I have parts and plans.

 

[GLOCKer]

UGHHHH...

A new problem:
Something in the roof is squeaking now; most likely something in the sun roof assembly. The sun roof works great though, thankfully. I'm wondering if it just needs tightening up in there. Let's see how annoying it gets first! LOL

 

[shucker1]

Perhaps a little WD-40 or something like that in the tracks?

A mouse trap to get rid of the squeak might work too...