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!

 

[willzilla]

Well... Good and bad news...

Good news... Car started right up (smoked a lot)... Idled perfectly fine... Surprised really lol. Waterpump kicks right on when I put the key in and turn to on (before starting).. LOUD, lol. Not to bad but pretty loud.

Started car... And for some reason water was being forced out of the damn radiator fill cap?? Like.. A lot.. Kept leaking right on out and pouring down the side :-/ Weird... What would force the coolant up thru the cap?? And the coolant wasn't even hot yet..

Another bad... Very small coolant leak (before I even started car) dripping from behind the water pump? Bottom passenger side like.. Not where pump meets up but something a little further back behind the pump?? UGH :-/ Looks like prob the timing cover gasket area... I think that's what it's called.. Does the bottom left waterpump bolt (as if facing it, so, passenger side) bolt not only WP on but also pass thru and bolt the timing cover on? Perhaps I didn't torque it down enough? Hmm.

EDIT: Doesn't seem to be dripping anymore.. Read around and read some about heat cycling the water pump stops it from weeping (if that's what it's doing).. Didn't get a chance to let the car really warm up much at all due to my water coming out of the coolant cap..

EDIT EDIT: Would a bad cap leak out constant flow of coolant as the truck runs? Cap kind of spun on and tightened down but not like super tight and wobbles when I press each side. YouTube video of a bad and good cap made it look like my cap is bad. Ordered a new one, maybe ONE of my issues? Lol...

 

[willzilla]

Grabbed a new radiator cap from autozone and tossed it on. Added a little more coolant and wanted to test some things.. Truck wouldn't even start.. It'd try and then die, so... 2 steps forward 10 steps back lol.

Tried to take a pic from where it looks like it's leaking at as mentioned earlier, the small slow leak..

Passenger side up back behind water pump but not actually where water pump meet the cover..

And noticed some.. Corrosion on the harmonic balancer.. will this cause an issue??..

Also turned key on and didn't start truck and hear the water pump running it sounds like but appears no water actually flowing.. So.. No clue. All wired up and it appears to be correctly wired.

 

[willzilla]

Emailed Meziere last night and got a reply back this morning (wow!). Inquired on my flow issues:

Hi Will,

Sure sounds like you might have a air bubble trapped in the system. I don't think you would have hurt the pump. The first thing I would try is to use a vacuum assisted radiator filling tool. Most repair shops will have this tool and it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes. This will insure that all the air is removed from the system. The next item I would check is to make sure the pump is spinning the correct direction. On the front of the pump is a small round plastic cap that will pop of. Inside you will find a 5/32 allen, this is the motor shaft and it should be turning counter clockwise when you are looking at the front of the pump. As for the whine these pumps will make some noise if they are not pumping water and should run very quite once it has water flowing. If you do not have any success with this feel free to give me a call at the number below.

Thank you
God Bless
Jerry Dickinson | Meziere Enterprises, Inc. | Tech. | E: jerryd@meziere.com

-----Original Message-----
From: "Will Green"
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 7:21pm
To: meziere@meziere.com
Subject: WP374 Pump Install on 5.0 Ford Explorer

Unsure if this is the correct contact info but I had a question on the Meziere WP374 water pump that I had ordered a few years ago (mid 2013) and am just now getting around to installing (have been out of state for work, etc, military contracts and such).

The install is on my 2000 Ford ExpIorer 5.0 v8 (same setup as the 94-95 Mustang). I installed the pump and wired everything up as per the Meziere relay kit (WIK346), poured coolant into the radiator to the top, capped, turned key on the on position, and hear the pump, but nothing seems to be flowing at all, just the fairly loud whine sound from the pump, but no flow.

Wiring is good (green to key on source, red to positive battery terminal, black to chassis ground, blue to the pump. Everything metered out good.

I had the key on position set for a minute following the doc on the fill procedure but as it seemed to not actually have flowed any of the coolant for that minute did I "run the pump dry" for more than a few seconds as it warns against and ruin something?

Thank you,
Will​

So... If the corrosion on my harmonic balancer is "ok" and the small leak can be taken care of (tighten bolt a bit more?) I will be checking these things when I get a chance.

 

[willzilla]

I plan to borrow my buddies air compressor and pick up a coolant vac fill setup to fill my coolant system (after I pull off some hoses and check for any blockage.. Hope I didn't leave a shop rag stuffed in a radiator port lol) next week or so. I sent a quick video of the waterpump in "action" to Meziere and he said it sounds fine just no water so could be a few things going on preventing the coolant from actually getting to the pump to circulate.



It's supposed to be nice this weekend so I'm hoping to do a little work on my SVTFocus as I wait for additional pieces for my Xploder. Have a small oil leak that looks to be coming from the dip stick tube and it seems the o-ring has a tendency to fail often if the pcv system is acting up so I'm yanking the pvc system and installing a bypass and running it to a combo catch can dry cell battery box that I've had in the car for a long time but never hooked up the dual catch cans lol.

^ Not mine, but what it looks like. Mine is below (older, cleaner pic)...

Also plan to run the hose that dangles from the valve cover to currently nothing at all to the other catch can port and plugging the open hole (no idea why it's left open) in the aem cold air intake tube. Waiting on the various fittings to show up in the mail. The original ones I ordered were the wrong size :-/ Lol. Also picked up a new air filter for the AEM CAI (and more coolant since my failed fill attempt wasted a good bit of what I had).

Also need to clean the damn SVT engine and exterior (and interior) lol.. And a fairly big job in pulling out the IMRC (intake manifold runner control) box, break it open, and clean up some potential circuit board corrosion and make some adjustments to hopefully get my intake runner operating properly and get rid of a damn code I've had for a good year now. Process does not look to bad, http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/svt-performance-2002-2004/222180-how-imrc-removal-repair.html.

If/when I get the truck running right (coolant flowing and all that) I will then need to delve into my driver side window barely working and a bunch of the door auto locks not locking/unlocking via the power switches... And a ton of other stuff. FUN! Lol.

 

[willzilla]

Some success this wknd... Super busy and weather was warm though rained some today (Sunday) while I was outside working on the SVT.

Was able to yank the IMRC box (left the cable connected and just dangled the box), split the seal and open her up, de-solder the circuit card and pulled it with the motor, cleaned up some connections, re-soldered the circuit card back in place, and then fix a spring that had came loose, and it seems, for now, the IMRC may be fixed, YAY (saves a few dollars!).

Also pulled the dipstick tube and noticed the o-ring was completely disintegrated and probably the origin of the small oil leak (maybe?). Changed out the oil and oil filter and powered her back up. Seemed to run pretty good... Still need to replace back tires and the brakes and figure out how to pull the PCV setup and re-do it but it appears I need to pull the entire header out to make room :-/ Have a new air filter coming in for the AEM CAI as the current one is falling apart lol.

Hope to get to work on the Xploder this upcoming weekend and figure out my coolant flow issues!

 

[willzilla]

Ordered up some 3m dbl sided tape to fix my door molding on my SVTf, some new centric rotors front and back, and hawk hps pads... Hopefully have the SVTf all fixed up soon and then can finish up on the Xploder!

 

[willzilla]

Not much to report... Dumped all coolant/water from the Xploder and checked the radiator input and output and saw no lost rags or anything that I may have left in the system preventing proper coolant flow. Filled back with water and tried the WP again and no flow... Switched the WP wiring to reverse spin and no flow so it wasn't an issue with maybe being wired wrong internally. Switched wiring back. Ordered up a coolant vac fill setup and will vac fill the coolant when it comes in and I can borrow my buddies air compressor!

Did get some time to replace my driver's side trim on my SVTf though... Total PITA... It was coming loose so I yanked it off last week and then had to spend a good 2 hrs removing old dbl sided tape and some old funky plastic glue stuff that was used to hold it in place. Put new dbl sides tape on and got it re-attached and so far it looks good and hasn't fallen back off. Haha. Waiting on the rest of my new brakes to come in for the SVTf as well so I can replace those (and the Xploder brakes next if I ever get it running first lol).

 

[willzilla]

My buddy dropped off his air compressor and I got in the radiator vac fill kit so... Hope to give that a whirl soon with this nice weather! Need to finish up doing my brakes on the SVTf.. Started on them today and got the front rotors and pads replaced for the most part (need to get some tricky ass clip on the passenger side to finish them). Rears shouldn't be to bad. Hope it leaves me time to try to force coolant into the Xploder waterpump! Also got in a sweet new replacement Xploder console lid, looks amazing! Replaces my broken up one, woo!

Old front driver side brakes on the SVTf...

New front driver side brakes on the SVTf (centric rotors and Hawk HPS pads)...

 

[willzilla]

Completed the SVTf brakes Sunday PITA, haha. Turned out nice. May get some time tomorrow to try to vac fill the Xploder coolant. Hope it works lol.

Old rear brakes on the SVTf:

New Centric rotors and Hawk HPS pads on the SVTf:

Good practice for when I do the Xploder brakes soon lol

 

[willzilla]

Alright... No one follows this but myself anymore as I'm slow as F, haha.. But.. Helps me keep a record of everything I've done (or do) so... I'll keep on posting! Lol.

Anyways... Some good progress on both of my project cars... Got in new window switches on my SVTf so I now can up/down my passenger window from the drivers seat... Took 10 minutes to swap the switches and only 4 years or so to get around to it, haha.

Got in my new console lid from Zealous Interiors. My old one was broken into a number of pieces and the replacement lid is awesome and looks almost the same but in perfect shape and has all new material and foam and looks awesome. Put it in today.

New Zealous Interiors console lid on the right and old busted on the left:

New Zealous Interiors console lid installed.. Looks and feels great!

Additional good news is... Using the coolant vac fill kit and my buddies air compressor I was able to vac fill my coolant system (with water for now, testing things out and not wanting to make a mess with coolant yet).. I was able to successfully fill my coolant system and the waterpump was flowing the coolant! YAY! Lol.

The Xploder started right up and idled great.. No issues at all... Couldn't find any leaks or anything. As the Xploder warmed up (took a while) the fans kicked in right when they should and started slow and ramped up as the heat increased. Car settled right on a great looking temp and didn't budge any higher during the 20-30 minutes I ran it for.

And some videos of the Xploder running... Sounds pretty decent.. Idles pretty good I'd say... No leaks, smoke, or anything funky that I could detect other than some initial coolant smell which my guess was just some old coolant leftover that had spilled out from my previous attempt on various parts that burned off when it got hot.

Running and a quick walk around:



Running and checking the fans and such in the engine bay:



And rev'ing it up a bit (and checking temps):



Now to drain the water out and put in actual coolant, finish putting center dash back together, tighten up camber bolts, clean up engine wiring, strip and repaint wheel center caps, air up tires, get an alignment, and a few other things and it's coming along!

 

[Dono]

Ok, this definitely warrants a gold star!
Finally your truck is back to life, and works.

Congratulations!

I'm sure more than a few of us here have pump envy. Keep us posted on how well it works.

 

[willzilla]

Yep! Two gold stars to myself as I was losing hope lol. My limited mechanical skills are seemingly improving slightly and this has thus far been a good learning experience.

Still have a few things to finish off before I can get it on the road...

* Finish putting my center dash back together. Need to figure out some of the wiring and other things.
* Tighten up camber bolts.
* Replace rusted up center caps (or re-paint the two that look like crap from sitting outside for a couple years).
* Air up the tires.
* Alignment.
* Drain water and replace with coolant (vac fill again lol).
* Pull all door panels off and remove any wasp nest remains that may or may not be present before my yard got nuked lol.
* Fix the sluggish rear door locks.
* Grease the window tracks.
* Fill the AC system.
* Some other things I cannot recall lol.

 

[willzilla]

Got a little more work done today... Sprained my lower back (left side) last week in the gym and keep re-aggravating it each day doing something (moving my son to bed, lugging tires to fedex to return, etc).. So... Wearing a brace trying to get work done lol.

I cleaned up the wiring a little and tightened some wires down so they have no chance of finding their way to moving objects lol.. Still need to clean up a lot of the parts in the engine bay eventually.

While I was at it I snapped a random picture of the SVTf engine bay... Semi-cleaned up..

I drained all of the water from the coolant system and vac filled the coolant system with some Amsoil coolant... Process worked great once again and the waterpump was circulating the coolant perfectly. Ran the truck to warm it up for a heat cycle and verified fans come on and speed up/down based on temps to maintain a nice stable temp.

Flipped over my center dash gauge "pod", which the wiring I need to clean up and fix up to some degree.. and found both gauges seemingly working fine lol... Picture looks weird (and sideways as it's sitting on the floorboard) because of my red interior LED lighting..

Also did a few light revs on the truck and had my daughter film it so I could hear how it sounds... Not bad overall.. Though at the last second of the video you can hear her cry as the sound scared her (oops) lol... Poor girl!



I did run into a minor issue... Wanted to give my newly hooked up windshield wiper pump setup and... It failed horribly. I turned on the fluid and it barely squirted out on the windshield and then a ton dumped out near the driver side front tire.. No clue how it managed to come out around there lol. Maybe the nozzles are clogged up or something? Need to investigate when I have some light.

 

[willzilla]

Good and bad news... Good news... Re-wired up my gauges, cleaned it up some, and re-installed the center dash (yay). Scrubbed off some old grime in a few places as well.

Bad news... Waterpump no longer flowing coolant I think after the heat cycle and it cooled the coolant in the pump got pulled from it to other places and when I went to fill after the heat cycle I had waited about 24 hrs and it no longer had coolant in it to recirculate :-/ Blah. Didn't see any leaks so the coolant didn't leak out.. Though when I tried to cycle the pump with key on a bit dripped out from what looked like the t-stat (zero leaked while I had it running for 30 minutes last night) so dunno... Going to drain coolant once again and vac fill the coolant once more and then heat cycle and as soon as its safe I will keep spinning the pump and adding coolant, re-heat, etc, until coolant system is FULL.

 

[CDW6212R]

It's odd to see that the electric WP is not moving coolant with normal filling practice. Did the maker say anything that seemed plausible to affect the system being filled(no air pockets etc)?

I wonder if there is a high spot at the upper hose that can trap any air. I don't recall anyone mentioning having problems before.

I just bought another Explorer myself, a 98 Limited I haven't begun to work on. But I just received a new WP, all front pulleys, belt, fan, tensioner, since the whole truck looks original. It's also filthy from the front of the balancer, back to the trans. I saw a drop of green coolant on the bottom of the balancer, so I know it has a leak of that for sure. This truck has had the front drive shaft out of it since it was bought seven years back. So the whole front drive is suspect, I'm planning to swap all of my Mountaineer parts onto it, just to get it running(and the special hubs let me run the 18's(to use up those tires)).

The weather is great right now, keep busy with it while we can.

 

[willzilla]

Yeah.. Not sure why it's being such a PITA. Meziere did suggest the vac fill procedure to me... Unsure why it seems to require it in the truck. I'm hoping this new issue with it working 2 days ago and then no longer flowing yesterday is because I only did a cold fill.. Then ran it for a heat cycle which moved coolant into some other places in the engine and then when I shut it off the coolant was pulled from the pump as it wasn't topped off quick enough to draw more coolant into it.. Maybe. Lol. Looks like my current plan is to drain the coolant, vac fill, heat cycle, and as soon as it's safe to open up begin adding coolant back into the system. I think the electric waterpump has more of a chance of getting air into the pump versus a conventional as even turning key to the key on position it begins to spin.. I didn't top off the coolant system immediately and instead key on'd the car to test something else and put windows down and the top of the radiator had no coolant (level was low after heat cycle) so perhaps that was the issue.

As I mentioned earlier I noticed as I ran the WP yesterday some drops of coolant seemed to be dropping below the t-stat housing but it only did this as I ran the WP with no flow, zero leaks when I initial cycled it with vac fill and ran it for its heat cycle.. Weird.


GL on the new Explorer Weather was great but I believe it will be meh for a few days before getting nice again :-/ I have some work to do (for work) these next few days so things will be on hold for a bit while I catch all of that other stuff up.

I also ordered a new license plate LED bulb (one is dead) and new fog light bulbs (one is dead)... Will need new ballasts also as the passenger side HID is flakey.

 

[willzilla]

Drained coolant back out of the Xploder and was going to vac fill it back up and noticed that the system isn't holding vacuum... Sounds like some air escaping around the thermostat.. Going to tighten up the bolts some more on the t-stat, waterpump, and tighten down any hoses that I can when the weather clears back up and go from there... Blah.

 

[Dono]

So? Water pump moving coolant yet?

 

[willzilla]

So? Water pump moving coolant yet?

It was.. Everything on a temp hold until I figure out the source of the small leak somewhere around the t-stat housing. I applied vac to the coolant system and could hear a small amount of air leaking out in that location and system would slowly lose vac.

Currently all coolant is out of the system until I can figure it out. Hadn't worked on the car for a few days as my wife had surgery on Monday and we had been shacked up at the Vanderbilt hospital for 3 days. Got back Wed night and have a lot of work to catch up on this weekend but hopefully I can delve into it soon.

Got some new tires on my SVTf finally as my rear ones were stripping apart lol... Will need to delve into my rear driver side brake on the car as well as it's making a bit of noise and I think it's because the pad is sticking a bit. I sanded the surface between the pad and caliper where it rides and it seemed to move "ok"... way better than before (wouldn't even fit on right for some reason and the old pad was pretty much glued in place) but think I need to pull the pad back off and get a metal file on it some.

Fun fun!! Lol.

 

[CDW6212R]

I hope your wife recovers well, do what you have to and keep her happy.