What did YOU do to your Explorer today?

[natenkiki2004]

Do you catch a lot of crud in the PCV? I've often wondered about doing that. The times I've had my upper intake off, it's oily inside.

 

[vq5speed]

I catch a lot of oil its like a oil vapor but it builds up. Enough to give off blue smoke in my exhaust. I still have my PCV valve there. But it doesn't stop the oil from being sucked into the engine. I had my throttle body off about couple months ago and there was a puddle of motor oil pooled on the back of the upper intake manifold even with my catch jar on it wasn't preventing the oil from still getting sucked in. The vacuum is super strong on that PCV valve. How I have it now no oil is getting past.

 

[Punjab]

I'm replacing my negative battery cable today and have it almost all the way out except that the bolt holding the last part of the wire to the block won't come out of the bracket that holds it and that portion of the harness. It came out of the block fine but I can't get it out of that darn bracket! Therefore, I can't remove the wire in one piece.

Does anyone know of a trick or am I missing something?

 

[Sogsnakebite]

Installed a body lift and modified bumper and grill guard on a buddies Sport

 

[murkinstock]

Rotated the tires. I've been meaning to do it for awhile, but it takes forever. That is, until I bought a Kobalt corded impact wrench the other day. That made it much quicker and easier.

 

[ccm2001]

Plastic dipped my rims black, changed the brake proprtioning valve, as well as a new rear calipers and brake lines with a full flush using Motorcraft Dot 3.

Interesting fact , the Ford parts guy told me that the Honda Racing team used Motorcraft brake fluid becuase theres couldn't withstand the temps

 

[vq5speed]

I wrench on my truck quite a bit so I wanted to hookup a quick battery disconnect. Looked at few types decided on this one cause of its simple quick easy.

 

[vq5speed]

I also hookup a Voltage Stabilizer. These are popular with tuner cars i had one before on import car I once owned. They been dynoed to give 1-5 HP and 1-5lbs of torque. No much but for $15 it can extend the life of your battery. Increase gas mileage make your headlights brighter make your ignition system run smoother. Every little bit helps! This one made by Pivot Mega Raizin shows your battery's volts. My battery sits at 13V not running running is charges at 15.1V. Also included are some grounding wires. I ran those from Negative terminal to my alternator to my manifold to the fender.

 

[natenkiki2004]

Have you experienced any REAL gains from that voltage "stabilizer"? All of the information on the site seems to be fluff and have no substance. I've come across these before and they look like a pure gimmick.

Stop and think about it, how is it going to raise voltage while starting? It's so tiny, the amount of power it holds surely can't be enough to bump voltage up. Besides, the circuitry in the vehicle was designed with that in mind. As far as while driving, I don't see how it could make any difference. You've got a huge battery with more than enough juice to power all onboard electrical circuits for hours on end that acts like a giant buffer against any spikes you might see. Adding a couple of AA-sized batteries can't compare.

I'm skeptical of the grounding wire too. It might help the alternator generate more juice to the battery but a lot of the sensors have their own grounds/return wires. Having another ground can't hurt though. If I were you, I'd be soldering those crimp connections, they look like an ideal spot for corrosion to set in.


All that aside, please take pictures of your hood lift shocks and how you set them up. It's obviously not a kit and there's several members here, including myself, that would like to have that

 

[chefduane]

Installed the rear hatch inside release mod, and put an additional 3" breather w/ screen in the airbox. Thinking about doing another additional 3" with a breather hose through to the wheel well. Saw that mod here someplace.
Have an AEM Hi Flow/Dry Flow air filter on order. Not sure if I'll see any mpg/power/resonance changes, but it will make ME feel happy!

 

[vq5speed]

Have you experienced any REAL gains from that voltage "stabilizer"? All of the information on the site seems to be fluff and have no substance. I've come across these before and they look like a pure gimmick.

Stop and think about it, how is it going to raise voltage while starting? It's so tiny, the amount of power it holds surely can't be enough to bump voltage up. Besides, the circuitry in the vehicle was designed with that in mind. As far as while driving, I don't see how it could make any difference. You've got a huge battery with more than enough juice to power all onboard electrical circuits for hours on end that acts like a giant buffer against any spikes you might see. Adding a couple of AA-sized batteries can't compare.

I'm skeptical of the grounding wire too. It might help the alternator generate more juice to the battery but a lot of the sensors have their own grounds/return wires. Having another ground can't hurt though. If I were you, I'd be soldering those crimp connections, they look like an ideal spot for corrosion to set in.


All that aside, please take pictures of your hood lift shocks and how you set them up. It's obviously not a kit and there's several members here, including myself, that would like to have that

I didn't say it bumps up the voltage. The digital read out is just showing what's already happening. My battery shows 13V just sitting there. When its running the Alternator is charging the system and the battery is putting out 15.1V. I'm not going to try to explain why the alternator makes the battery put out more volts while charging vs not charging. This stabilizer doesn't have any AA battery's in it. I did read that there are some that do and those are junk. Real stabilizer use capacitors to smooth out the waves in the current is basically what these things do. Like I said the gains are small but have been proven to increase performance. Not trying to convince anyone just sharing what I did today.

 

[natenkiki2004]

I didn't say it bumps up the voltage. The digital read out is just showing what's already happening. My battery shows 13V just sitting there. When its running the Alternator is charging the system and the battery is putting out 15.1V. I'm not going to try to explain why the alternator makes the battery put out more volts while charging vs not charging. This stabilizer doesn't have any AA battery's in it. I did read that there are some that do and those are junk. Real stabilizer use capacitors to smooth out the waves in the current is basically what these things do. Like I said the gains are small but have been proven to increase performance. Not trying to convince anyone just sharing what I did today.

I did some reading before posting, it's supposed to be a stabilizer and thus will bump up/lower voltage (supposedly) as needed. The alternator is always putting out a charge to the battery and thus will usually make it around 14-15v, just because that's the charging voltage. That shouldn't be bad though, again, the engineers had to have factored that in when building the computer. I know your device doesn't have AA batteries, I was comparing them in size. They can't be large enough to make any difference, besides the car battery itself is a much larger buffer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to attack you or say it's stupid, I just genuinely want to know if you yourself have seen benefit. I'm more apt to trust fellow ExplorerForum members than a bunch of ricers trying to add "go-fast" parts to their Honda Civics.

 

[vq5speed]

I don't think its purpose is to bump up or lower voltage. It has capacitor that store voltage so when your battery voltage has dips in its voltage from accessories stereo whatever that is using power capacitors suppose to release the stored volts to keep the system stabilized all the time. The battery still does what it does. The digital read out on this stabilizer is just a voltage meter gauge most of these stabilizers don't have a digital meter this one does. If you installed a volt meter gauge you see the same reading. This device is not making the voltage increase that's not what it does.

http://www.pivotracing.com/product/VS-ME

The benefits your not going to feel it you think you can feel 1-2hp increase. If your expecting throw you back in your seat performance its not going to happen. And if that how you measure if it works then your going to be disappointed.

In this test the Raizin the brand i have showed the lowest but they have come out with a new model Mega Raizin has more capacitors.

http://www.superstreetonline.com/ho...s-can-increase-power-and-torque-fact-fiction/


If all my gains is just a digital volt meter that's cool enough for me. But I believe there are other benefits and if it extends the life of my battery that's a benefit. You can find lots of info of people building there own.

 

[vq5speed]

please take pictures of your hood lift shocks and how you set them up. It's obviously not a kit and there's several members here, including myself, that would like to have that

I have Suspa 19" 80# struts. I originally bought these for my sons Camry. He wanted a stronger hood strut then his OEM one. But it didn't fit right cause his needed a angled pivot end so through them on my X. You could either use 18"-20" would work. Here are pictures of how I mounted them they use the standard 10mm ball studs you can find those brackets on ebay. I show how low the struts can hold the hood up. Just push it up from there and struts can push it the rest of the way by itself.

(made a correction on the struts pressure rating. I said they were 140lbs cause 140 was labelled on the strut. Turns out there really 80lb struts)

 

[turboranger91]

Just some routine maintenance. Replaced the wheel bearings, rotors, and pads. My last two explorers had the auto hubs, and this one has the manual... Soooooooo much easier to work with.

 

[larrydd999]

Finally rebuilt the air conditioner on the '94! New compressor, new evaporator & orifice tube, new filter/dryer, and anything not new flushed with new o-rings. After 3 1/2 years of owning it without it working (and not really caring) this spring and summer has been warm enough that I had to get it going. Many thanks to all of the people on this site who have 'been there' and have contributed to make my job easier.

 

[Sogsnakebite]

40 km from home out in the boonies this happened but the old girl still got me home

 

[vq5speed]

Did my Ball Joints today Upper/Lowers. That was pain.. at first I had trouble pressing out the joints till I figured out i was pressing them the wrong direction!!! Once I got that squared away they came out easy. Pressing them back was the biggest pain cause the stud end keeps moving off center took many many many try's but got it. I had purchased the joints online months ago. Wasn't till today I found they were not even the right ones!!! So I had to hit Autozone to go rebuy the correct ones. I went for so long with that thunk crunk sound almost everytime I back up or hit the brakes. I procrastinated doing these for years..

 

[ccm2001]

I installed my rear wiper motor, I used one from a 02 escape worked perfectly
Installed a new Door Lock tumbler,
Installed new back window hinges
And put a cold air intake on. As well as a AEM cold air on my wife's pontiac

All this I found at our local junkyard , paid 50$ all you can carry on Saturdays.

 

[murkinstock]

Just installed new SMP battery cables (Apparently the company that makes the ones for NAPA) I got both + and - for just over the price of one from NAPA. Ebay is a great place.

It seems to turn over faster and the amp gauge went up about a whole letter.