My 2004 Explorer

[4pointslow]

ABS light on and 4x4 lights blinking

So I had some lights coming on in the truck. Since it had been cold I just let it sit and drove my old 98 4door.
Finally had time to do a visual inspection and found some wires damaged.
A squirrel decided to eat through 6 wires on my passenger side engine compartment.
I had to move the coolant degas bottle aside to work on the wires and that is where I found a half of a Nutterbutter. I don't even like them. lol.

View attachment 95280

 

[4pointslow]

After digging out some old harnesses I found enough wires with terminals already on them to fix it up.
It is a good feeling to have an assortment of conduit on hand as well.

 

[delexploder]

I have an old laundry basket full of harnesses for just that purpose,

 

[2000StreetRod]

If I forget and leave my garden hoses outside in the winter the squirrels will sometimes chew holes in them. They will even chew up the plastic sprinklers. I trim my trees in the early spring to make sure the squirrels can't jump from the trees to the roof of my house. In about 15 minutes they can chew a hole in the plastic soffit vents large enough to pass thru. Once they get into the attic they're tough to get rid of. Insurance companies often cancel a home policy when signs of squirrel presence are detected because they pose an electrical fire hazard. Eliminating many of my large trees and removing the lower branches of the remaining large trees has reduced my squirrel population. I frequently notice a large hawk perched high above my backyard.

 

[4pointslow]

Funny you should mention a hawk, I have one that hangs around from time to time. Sure wish he would eat some of those squirrels.
I got rid of two squirrels but I know that there is at least one more hanging around, I plan to get rid of him next weekend.
Wish me luck!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

I plan to get rid of him next weekend.
Wish me luck!

you need this guy

he's good a gofers, but i think he can do squirrles

 

[4pointslow]

Bill Murray to the rescue!

 

[4pointslow]

Making your own 5/8 stainless EGR tube

Finally getting a little time to get back to working on this 2004 Explorer.
I am still planning on having the exhaust opened up to 3 inch all the way back, hope to have it done the week after next.
In the mean time I have been working on an EGR setup. With the addition of the supercharger I ended up not having a place to mount the EGR valve.
Got that figured out and finally got around to making an EGR tube from 5/8 stainless.

5/8 Stainless is not soft and easy to work with like copper, I was amazed at not being able to find more information on bending and double flaring it.
I ordered three 6 ft sections, one was 22 gauge which has a wall thickness of about .029, the other two were .035 thickness.
So far I only used the .029 sized pipe, it worked out pretty good. If it ever cracks I will make another with the .035.

Next was finding the right tools to work with this stuff.
Regular benders and flaring tools for automotive applications like brake lines will not work for this.
I found a bending tool made by Imperial Eastman that could do 5/8 stainless, the model number is 600-F. I wanted a 700-F but could not find one cheap enough. The 600-F worked perfectly.

For flaring I found a tool made by the same company, model number 2000-FS. This thing did a great job of holding the 5/8 pipe still when double flaring it.
I did one end by hand and then flared the other end with the tool in a vice, The vice was easier of course but it did work both ways.

Step one of double flaring

Step 2 of double flaring

The finished pipe
The flare nuts were off old EGR tubes I have accumulated over the years.

 

[4pointslow]

5/8 EGR tube installed

 

[CDW6212R]

Very nice work. Have you driven that truck enough without the EGR working, and can compare it to having it operational? I'm still pondering whether it'd be worth it to include an EGR on mine.

 

[Dono]

That's awesome work! First class.

 

[4pointslow]

Thanks guys!
As far as driving it, I was driving it every day while my 98 4 door was down with the bad transmission again. lol.
I have not paid much attention to fuel mileage though.
Stock it got bad fuel mileage anyway, around 13 if I remember,may have posted it in the beginning of this thread.
Then I changed the tires, also changed the tire size in the factory tune with the factory Ford scan tool but they didn't have the exact size I put on so I just got it close. I am sure it is off a little but not sure by how much.
Now I have the tune I created with SCT Advantage3 for the supercharger setup, but didn't even mess with tire size yet. I don't know what tire size is even in there now, I have too many other things going on right now but if the smoke ever clears I will revisit it.
I have not even turned on the EGR in the tune yet, I want to get the exhaust done first to alleviate high back pressure.

Main reason I wanted to do this was for inspection, I will be due in February of next year and if I didn't come up with something I may have had to return it back to stock to get a good sticker on it. You cant just turn off things in the tune in certain states, they have ways of telling if your vehicles came with egr and other things and they look to see if the monitors are enabled etc.
Now I know I can leave the supercharger on it permanently, I am very happy about that.

An increase in fuel mileage would be appreciated though, after all I am using 93 octane and it cost a bit more than 87.
In the future I may be able to turn the egr on and off to get a comparison, that would be a fun experiment.

 

[CDW6212R]

Sounds good, and what is the cost difference to the premium there? I'm considering trying to rebuild a 302 to run on regular instead of premium, because it's around 50 cents more per gallon here. It makes a difference in the compression you can run, and the cam designed for it.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

what is the cost difference to the premium there?

cheaper then regular here.

 

[CDW6212R]

You must have the blended alcohol stuff there for premium, versus pure regular? I've vaguely remembered the weird pricing they have up north in some places. I last visited in MN and SD about ten years ago, wow time flies.

Here we have regular around $2.10 now, premium near $2.60, both with alcohol, and in rare places with pure gas, close to me I can get pure regular for about $2.24, premium's still another $.40ish more. I don't need premium for anything at the moment, but I check prices since I travel around my area a lot, plus work. I buy gas about every two days, 15-20 gallons at a time. So for a work vehicle I don't think I want to have to pay $.50 more per gallon, for what would be at the least 6 gallons a day, over 8 if I commuted with it. I know $3 or $4 sounds like nothing, but for 250+ work days every year, that's $750-$1000 more per year.

 

[4pointslow]

Alternator

I just installed an alternator from Advance Auto.
Since I got the truck it has had this intermittent battery light on in the instrument cluster.
The funny thing is that it still charges even when the light comes on.

There is a green wire with red stripe that goes from the alternator to the PCM, it is just a monitor(sense) circuit and if the voltage drops below a set point the PCM sends a signal out on one of the can networks to the instrument cluster to light the battery light up.
I tested it coming right out of the alternator and only had 1.20 volts so it failed in a way that just turns the light on but still charges.
It looks like the regulator would need to be replaced to fix it. Might try in the future.
I am saving the old one for a spare, and to make sure the new one is good before doing anything else.

I got an alternator from AutoZone a while back, they call them triple checked. lol.
The guy at the store tested it and it kept failing, only one in stock of course. Then it started testing good and he said he was doing something wrong the first couple of times and it was a good one. Needless to say I installed it and it only worked for five minutes and then stopped charging.
When I went back he had to test it again to make sure it was bad, wasting my time was not a good decision for him.
I ended up getting a total refund. I put my old alternator back in and it charged fine and the light even went out for about 6 months.
I will never buy another alternator from them again. PepBoys wanted more money for the core so I went with Advanced Auto since I wanted to keep my old one.

 

[CDW6212R]

Interesting. These we have are a 4G alternator, and unfortunately the previous 3G seems to have a better reputation, and much more aftermarket support(internal upgrade parts). I'm stuck with it also, so I'm doing my best to keep a spare and use only great brands(OEM being my first choice). I didn't have good luck with the DB Electric brand, one failed in about 18 months and my local shop said it didn't have any much better parts in it versus stock. I hope the one Tim got recently is a top quality unit, I'm also aiming at getting that one from Summit.

 

[4pointslow]

I think my two 1998 Explorers are 4G.
This 2004 is 3G so I didn't already have a spare and had to buy one.
I am keeping the old one which still charges for a spare.

 

[2000StreetRod]

It's been about 3 years since I installed my custom built 240 amp 4G alternator and so far no problems except for a slight squeak which I think is my worn serpentine belt tensioner. As I recall I paid about $250 for it and all of the parts were new including the pulley. I hope that Carolina Alternator is still in business when I finish installing my DOHC V8 into my 2003 Explorer. Upgrading the stock 100 amp alternator will be a high priority.

 

[CDW6212R]

I think my two 1998 Explorers are 4G.
This 2004 is 3G so I didn't already have a spare and had to buy one.
I am keeping the old one which still charges for a spare.

Are you sure, I thought the 3G didn't get used after they stopped making the OHV V6? My local shop says they can do a lot with any 3G alternator. But for the 4G they can only get replacement parts, and the weakest link is the entire armature. I thought the 3rd gen SOHC took the same unit as the 2nd gen.