Need Advice for Explorer

[limes.on.the.border]

Ya know,

My family gave me this 95 explorer xlt, I was super excited but I could use some advice and some links.

My first problem is that there is a kill switch on my engine because my key only comes out in accessory. I had a mechanic take a look at it and he wants to replace my steering rod and put this kill switch in place till then. I'd prefer to fix it myself but nothing I've found has given me good information on if I can just replace the ignition switch or if I need to replace the entire column. From what we've noticed, the (rod?) is too short.

If anyone has dealt with this before I'd love some guidance.

My truck has also had two distinct problems since day 1: a check engine light and a two leaks. One is a coolant leak, but I replaced my radiator and my lower hose to no avail. The other leak I think is oil but I am not sure. More on that later.

My goal: get the 4 wheel drive working and back windshield wiper working. Get the leaks not leaking and the check engine light off. Replace the steering column.

Thanks.

 

[J_C]

I'm not 100% sure but it seems like the key issue should be the ignition key cylinder itself, not the switch. This is assuming you mean the cylinder position is accessory, not that it's in the off position and acts as if it's in the accessory position electrically.

If it's this latter situation instead then possibly the switch instead of the cylinder. It is worth taking it out to see if there is any damage apparent and I wonder why your mechanic did not do this before hacking up the wiring for a kill switch and in the interim just disconnect the battery to keep it from draining.

I don't understand what you mean by the rod being too short.

Check engine light, get an OBDII code scanner and pull the codes.

Coolant leak, keep looking for the source. I assume you mean you SEE a leak rather than just observe the coolant level is going down. Check around the water pump and hoses there, and the thermostat housing, and the heater core hoses.

Before you proceed too far and considering you have a mechanic looking at a simpler thing such as an ignition switch, you might want to see if the cylinders have good compression in case you have a head gasket leak or head crack or warp. The repair cost for that can exceed the value of the vehicle, especially if you also don't have 4WD working and other miscellaneous things wrong.

Do check the oil to be sure oil and coolant aren't mixing together to make a milkshake looking consistency.

 

[Explorer2.0]

Being as it's a '95 like ours, only OBD-I is available under the hood. Yes, there is an OBD-II port under the steering column but that was in anticipation of OBD-II being implemented for the second year of the second generation Explorers. There are contacts that powers up our Bluetooth reader but the Torque app doesn't recognize any protocols to give any info.

We bought this as an easier way to check and reset anything rather than disconnecting the battery.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EW0KHW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good luck!

Team TARDIS

 

[masospaghetti]

I'm not 100% sure but it seems like the key issue should be the ignition key cylinder itself, not the switch. This is assuming you mean the cylinder position is accessory, not that it's in the off position and acts as if it's in the accessory position electrically.

If it's this latter situation instead then possibly the switch instead of the cylinder. It is worth taking it out to see if there is any damage apparent and I wonder why your mechanic did not do this before hacking up the wiring for a kill switch and in the interim just disconnect the battery to keep it from draining.

I agree with this also, but you could try replacing the actual ignition switch (instead of the cylinder) first, since they are relatively cheap parts and not that hard to replace.

For the coolant leak, go to Autozone and get a coolant pressure tester kit. it allows you to pressurize the system while the engine is cold and not running, and makes it much easier to find leaks. Other than the obvious hazard of trying to find leaks on a running motor, the heat often makes slow leaks evaporate and can make tracing the source really difficult.

Before you proceed too far and considering you have a mechanic looking at a simpler thing such as an ignition switch, you might want to see if the cylinders have good compression in case you have a head gasket leak or head crack or warp. The repair cost for that can exceed the value of the vehicle, especially if you also don't have 4WD working and other miscellaneous things wrong.

Do check the oil to be sure oil and coolant aren't mixing together to make a milkshake looking consistency.

Good advice here too. Are you getting into this as a project vehicle? Anything this age will be prohibitively expensive to maintain unless you do most of the work yourself.

Depending on a lot of specifics, a head crack can be resolved with a day's worth of wrenching and a new head, or by pouring in some K-Seal (this would renew a lot of seals/gaskets that are probably due for renewing anyway, like the manifold gaskets and valve cover gaskets).

A pair of new heads and a bunch of seals and gaskets are probably in the $600-700 range. Not trivial, but this is nothing compared to the cost of a newer truck, or the cost of getting almost anything done at a shop.