supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

vroomzoomboom · August 8, 2015

i am going to check that stud today. i was thinking about that yesterday and its the only thing i didnt check. however....the auto electric shop owners kid is a moron. he originally tested the alt for me and said it was good. when i went there yesterday the owner tested the truck and asked me to pull it off and bring it to him to test. he bench tested it for me this morning and guest what... FAIL. i watched it myself and saw it drop at a higher rpm. what sucks it i bought a builder in a box rebuild and had john powder coat the housing for me as well. i screwed it up both taking the old one apart and putting it together (as well as it got damaged in shipping, not johns fault either). he had one in stock and benched it for comparison and it was night and day difference. so now the battery is on a slow charge just to make sure its up to snuff. i am going to put the new alt on and do a log and see what happens. does this sound like a sales pitch for the shop owner to sell me a alt. it might to everyone but not when he tells me if this one does the same thing on the truck i can return it for a full refund.
i will get back to everyone later. i also have to spend probably the next 6-8 hours cleaning evil up for the first show it has gone to in almost a year.

vroomzoomboom · August 8, 2015

4pointslow said:
What did he test the battery cca's with?

oh i almost forgot, this is what they used to test the cca with

2000StreetRod · August 8, 2015

powder coated alternators

vroomzoomboom said:
. . . he bench tested it for me this morning and guest what... FAIL. i watched it myself and saw it drop at a higher rpm. what sucks it i bought a builder in a box rebuild and had john powder coat the housing for me as well. . .

As I recall, Jon bought three alternators from Tom Coker (Carolina Alternators) to powder coat. I hope that your failed alternator was not one of them. So far my 240 amp has been reliable.

4pointslow · August 8, 2015

log

vroomzoomboom said:
ill find out tomorrow what he uses for a tester. as for a data log, i think i will leave the pump running, but unhook the coils. or would you rather me do the same log the same way

Do the log the same way with it being able to start. The X3 is fast enough to catch and graph the battery voltage.

Then...

When you test at the battery with a voltmeter, the meter and/or our eyes may not be fast enough to see what happens when the engine starts so fast. That's why I say unplug the crank sensor, it just stops the engine from starting so you can crank it for about 5-10 seconds, no longer than 15-16 seconds or you may overheat the starter.
We also need this engine cranking voltage reading to know exactly how it reads with your voltmeter at the battery. If we still find 10.8 we move the red lead from your meter to the next spot(going towards the PCM) and crank it again, if we find 10.8 no resistance there and move to the next spot. If we found 8.7 we found the part of the circuit that has the resistance in it.

4pointslow · August 8, 2015

Battery tester

Midtronics is a well known tester, they have been used by Ford at the dealerships too. In fact, I even have one but it is an older model.
So far it has never let me down, it has found batteries with low cca's and has never condemned a good battery.

Now with that said, there is another type of tester that puts a load on the battery and can put a load on the charging system as well if needed. This type is considered a better tester.

Good luck on the clean up, hope the car show goes well!

4pointslow · August 10, 2015

New Alternator

Tim's new Alternator is doing his truck a lot of good. The voltage looks so much better now.
I had him do a few tests, he video'd me and I determined that the voltage dropping during starting was not an issue. With the coil unplugged and cranking the voltage only drops to 8.6 for a split second on the datalogger, and then it stabilizes around 10.5 on the datalogger and 11.19 on the battery while cranking for 5-10 seconds. The difference in voltage is about .69, should be .5 or lower but it is almost insignificant. He was going to clean up the PCM ground lug and run another ground wire from it to the battery for redundancy.

Tim the TPS voltage looks steady here too, we will have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't start acting up again.

vroomzoomboom · August 11, 2015

i did clean the post today and did a trans lock log for you, and emailed it to you as well. i looked it over, but i didnt see a difference.
on a different note, and i dont know if its newpartsitis but i swear to god that now it seems the truck as gotten a little more grunt now with the new alt. not sure if its me or not, but it sure seems like it.
thanks again for helping me out john, and it was also great talking to you again. hoping i make it there next summer so you can see, hear, and TEST DRIVE your handy work.

vroomzoomboom · August 15, 2015

well.....just when you get one problem figured out.....
i mentioned a few posts back that it pushed the block heater out last week. well, tonight i needed to cool down and think (because the a/c in my house took a crap and had to figure out why it wasnt working) and needed to go for a drive. hadnt taken evil for a little ride in a while and figured, "premium gas is 1.35 a liter right now, why not take my fuel loving truck for a drive!"
got out on the highway, and had to stand on it to beat traffic.....well i didnt have to stand on it to beat the traffic....well, i didnt have to beat traffic....well, ok, there was no traffic, and wanted to stand on it. im guilty.
anyway right after i did that, i could faintly smell coolant. i had to pull over at a store anyway, so i did. i was gone for maybe 5 mins when i came out to see a leak under evil right at the spot where the block heater is.....what the hell is going on now!!!! GRRR

4pointslow · August 16, 2015

Block heater

Do you have a picture of the block heater?

vroomzoomboom · August 16, 2015

dont have a pic yet of the one thats in there, but it is that one. i could smell a small amount of coolant just after i got off the throttle. i had a thought it might be a head gasket, but before that there was no coolant loss, no bubbles that i knew of in the rad, no snot on the rad cap and the oil doesnt look like cream as well. i will pull it out, look at the o ring and see if it tore. that and those wing nut looking things on the back of them do look flimsy. i am tempted to put one of the rubber plug style frost plugs in it, and get a in line block heater for it. crappy thing is i need a block heater for it because i sometimes have to start it in the winter to move it when i move snow around, and i also like to take it for a ride to get everything moving around

4pointslow · August 16, 2015

Freeze plugs

Never use one of those rubber freeze plugs, they flat out suck. If you decide to remove the block heater use a regular freeze plug in there.

That block heater you have now is the weakest link if it is leaking under pressure. Check you radiator cap to make sure it vents at the pressure it is rated for. Also check the vent hose and bottle to make sure there is no restriction in them.

I wont pretend to be a block heater expert, I have never used one. Maybe some others can chime in.
There is another post on here where a member talks about three brands and how two of them are good and the other is not. I believe he stated the "kats" brand from Nappa was not good.

Also, everyone uses different kinds of RTV, blue, black, etc. I only use Ultra Copper sensor safe RTV and never have any leaks. If you install another block heater I would recommend using the Ultra copper. If you didn't use any RTV then that could be a problem along with a cut O ring or cheaply made device that doesn't stay tight. Also the surface has to be clean and dry for the RTV to chemically bond, I use brake clean for that.

Worst case scenario,
If your head bolts are stretching under boost or you have any head gasket problem or cracks in the heads/block then the cooling system will be over pressurized at WOT and the weakest link will show up.

ahodges · August 17, 2015

That looks like the factory block heater. My Ranger has the same one. The only problem I ever had with it was it rusted out and blew out while I was under full throttle (of course right in the middle of an intersection) and it made quite the scene. Anyhow, I tried to install a standard freeze plug and that leaked so I went back to the Motorcraft block heater and hadn't had an issue since.

vroomzoomboom · August 17, 2015

well what i am hoping happen was the first one i left in the block when it went to the machine shop and i am figuring the solvents ate away the o ring and it was a ticking bomb. the second one i figured i over tightened and it distorted the o ring because i was around 10 mins from home on the highway. when i got home it wasnt down much in coolant. this one i tighten with a screw driver and not a 1/4 ratchet. time will tell. if it spits this one out, frost plug is going in along with a in line heater.

vroomzoomboom · August 19, 2015

well the "i dont want a block heater in me, so pffth" continues. was out ripping around in it, and all seemed well. was sitting at a light when some kid rolls up and starts reeving his motor. light turns green and he rockets away. i gave him a car head start, stomped on it, and blew past him. then promptly ran home to hide in case the long arm of the law saw (or heard) what i did. when i pulled into the driveway, i got out to open the gate when i once again saw steam pouring out of the hood. so as mad as i was, waited till around 10 at night to pull the block heater out. this time i put a frost plug in. when the heater gets pushed out, it isnt by lots either. maybe a mm or two. i bought a in line heater to put in, but when i went to put it in, there really is no room to safely put it in. i am going to see if i can find a pressure tester so i can pressure test the cooling system and pray i havent spit the head gaskets out. no signs of, but i want to make sure.

vroomzoomboom · September 3, 2015

good news, and bad news
the good is that last week i went to the speed shop to talk to the owner who will be doing the dyno tune for me. he wants me to change the air temp sensor's location to behind the throttlebody. that way it will see the difference when the meth kit comes on. i am also suppose to call him after the long weekend and he will put it on the dyno to do a few datalogs as well. what i didnt know was his dyno is at his house (5 mins away from me).
i had also picked up a 03 sport for cheep (with dono's help, thanks again btw) to fix and resell. good thing to because....
the bad news. i had noticed one of the front tires starting to go low all the time. i pulled it off the other night trying to look for nails, or anything like that. couldnt see anything but did noticed the valve stem core leaking. after tightening it up and filling the tire back up i went out the next morning and again it looked almost flat (it lost 25 psi overnight). pulled it off again and took it to a tire shop. the verdict? cracked rim!!! and good luck trying to find another foose speedster as well. i have the winter tires and rims on that i use to park it (and they dont hook for **** either) so now i have to buy a new set of rims.....joy...

4pointslow · September 4, 2015

Rims

I feel your pain man,
The water pump on my 4 door broke last Friday night on my way home, fan hit the radiator and caused a leak. 350.00 later and now I see a drycrack in one of my tires that wont pass tech inspection. I was planning on replacing the wheels and tires but not this soon. I have a race on September 20th, probably have to buy 2 tires to get me by and then change them out in 6 months.

CDW6212R · September 4, 2015

Best of luck finding another rim, and you might do fine to have that one repaired(by the right business).

I've got a used set of Volk GTC's that I hope I'll never hurt. They are also unavailable, and I'm having to drill out the lug holes for inserts/seats, and 1/2" lug nuts.

vroomzoomboom · September 16, 2015

after what feels like infinity, evil is going on the dyno tomorrow. well, the start of everything at least. i had called the shop that will be tuning it, and the owner is going to come to my place in the morning, pick it up and take it to his house and begin his data logging. i also told him a few issues that the truck is doing (and that i cant figure out) so he is going to look into them a see if its the truck or tune. i was amazed at one thing. he asked that i move the IAT from the stock spot to behind the throttle body because it wasnt reading when the meth kit turned on. i did a log and it dropped the temps around 70-80 degrees. wow.
and just went i thought i had rims all picked out, i guy i work with has whats call up here a grand west catalog. thats basically a place here that you have to be a dealer or distributor to buy from. that also means i may now change my mind once again on rims because i can get them at crackhead pricing!

2000StreetRod · September 16, 2015

IAT sensor location

I have my IAT sensor port on the manifold between the blower output and the heads. That way it reads close to the actual temperature flowing into the heads. During boost the blower significantly increases the intake temperature and the PCM compensates by pulling spark advance to prevent detonation.

Dono · September 16, 2015

It took some time to get there, but evil's getting some extra special attention. All that and pick up and drop off.
a thing of beauti! I can hardly wait to see the results.

supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

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