Pizza boss said he doesn't want me delivering in my Explorer if it's leaking.

[96eb96]

Well my other car is a 2010 Honda Accord 4cylinder and when I compared it to the Explorer for gas mileage for deliveries, the Explorer was only costing me 60% more in gas.

What is your rear end? The axle code on the door sticker will tell you.

I think my 4.10 rear end cost 1-2 mpg. At 60Mph it is a bit over 2000RPM in OD. The engine is always revving faster with those gears.

 

[98FordLove]

How much you drive is irrelevant to how much oil you’re pouring onto the ground.

If you truly drive so much the clear choice is a better vehicle.

Also, thinking newer trucks get worse mileage is just plain wrong. Any semi-modern SUV would do considerably better. Your OHV is incredibly inefficient.

But wouldn't a vehicle that runs/operates less time a week result in less oil loss since it's not running as much?

At this point, in needing of new brakes, would you say that I should just sell the truck?

I already have a better vehicle, the Honda. I would miss the cargo space though and the AWD that the Ford has when i need to haul stuff or when i travel in areas with lots of snow that highly benefit from AWD. The biq question, am I willing to convert my Honda to a full time beater. The Honda only has 212K km on it, even if I retired the Explorer and used the Honda all the time, I would still have 5+ years out of it easy. By then I should have enough for a new truck or SUV.

 

[98FordLove]

What is your rear end? The axle code on the door sticker will tell you.

I think my 4.10 rear end cost 1-2 mpg. At 60Mph it is a bit over 2000RPM in OD. The engine is always revving faster with those gears.

Not sure which code it is but here's door sticker. And I was being honest when I said my coworker who drive a 2021 Explorer gets worse mileage. He told me how much has costs and I compared it to me.

 

[Mbrooks420]

3.27 open.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

3.27 open.

woah 327 doesnt even sound drivable that said, drive the honda a bit, save up a bit of cash from fuel savings, park the explorer for a bit, use it occasionally to get groceries in all, or for bad weather days, and DD the honda a bit. eventually youll save enough to get some beater honda, toyota etc, maybe an awd rav4 if those exist? without winters I would say civic or the like, but awd seems nice there. park the X for a bit, until you save enough to repair it the right way, and maybe only use it once in a while. for example, RMS on this sohc leaks, but only 3 drops or so if it sits for a whole week, let it sit overnight, sometimes its not even a drop. that is a level of leak that i find acceptable, but if it leaks more, such as 5-10 drops a night for sure, it would be garaged until it can be repaired. it all depends on the "risk" you plan top take. find your tolerance to leaks, and go from there with the appropriate repairs, imo.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

@Fix4Dirt
Well, I myself wouldn't want some guy coming into my driveway pouring oil out, if it happens it happens though, I get it. His aint that bad though, but it's still a whole thing, they probably just dont want to get any complaints about oil in people's driveways and at the company, better safe than sorry and all.

right, thats what i was saying. my presumption is delivering pizzas, you dont spend more than say 5 minutes parked at a house. as such, if the leak isnt pouring, i wonder if it wont leak in the 5 minutes it sits. and if OP plans to park a while, they can slide the mat under. dunno, just trying to figure out ways to make it work

 

[96eb96]

3.27 will certainly save gas! I hate to say it but it must have weak acceleration.

 

[94Eddie]

You bring up a very good point. I am not going to do the mat underneath the truck. Selling the truck is a possibility. If I do this, I would surely miss it though even if I drive the truck much less and have to use my other car for deliveries (which I will be for the time being). And I wouldn't do the brake job on it. Or I do the brake job on it and keep it and just don't use it for deliveries and try to get one to two more years out of it.

Possible issues that can happen from now until one to two years from now, that would lead me to scraping the truck
1) The head goes.
2) The cat goes.
3) The truck chasis becomes rusted making the truck unsafe to drive.

I will say though, driving this truck under "normal amounts of usage" not 20 hours a week, I'd say that I would only lose 1/4 of a quart a week if that. Obviously doing deliveries it greatly increases the oil loss.

I understand your dilemma. I too have a tendency to get attached to vehicles but know when keeping one going just isn't worth the time, frustation and money to do so. I say sell it now while you can get the most for it and apply it to another beater that gets better gas mileage and is eaier and less expensive to repair. The US and Canada are heading into a recession and fuel prices are going to skyrocket this winter. Once this happens you won't be able to give your Explorer away and buying a more fuel efficient vehicle will only get more expensive. Sell it now and get something that is more economical to own and run while you can.

 

[94Eddie]

right, thats what i was saying. my presumption is delivering pizzas, you dont spend more than say 5 minutes parked at a house. as such, if the leak isnt pouring, i wonder if it wont leak in the 5 minutes it sits. and if OP plans to park a while, they can slide the mat under. dunno, just trying to figure out ways to make it work

If the leaking is noticed by his boss and saw fit to address it with him then it is likely bad enough to need fixing.

 

[96eb96]

If the leaking is noticed by his boss and saw fit to address it with him then the it is likely bad enough to need fixing.

And if it is getting worse, eventually too much oil could be lost. Someone may end up with a very cold pizza :lol:

 

[Josh P]

Sell it and get something else

 

[98FordLove]

woah 327 doesnt even sound drivable that said, drive the honda a bit, save up a bit of cash from fuel savings, park the explorer for a bit, use it occasionally to get groceries in all, or for bad weather days, and DD the honda a bit. eventually youll save enough to get some beater honda, toyota etc, maybe an awd rav4 if those exist? without winters I would say civic or the like, but awd seems nice there. park the X for a bit, until you save enough to repair it the right way, and maybe only use it once in a while. for example, RMS on this sohc leaks, but only 3 drops or so if it sits for a whole week, let it sit overnight, sometimes its not even a drop. that is a level of leak that i find acceptable, but if it leaks more, such as 5-10 drops a night for sure, it would be garaged until it can be repaired. it all depends on the "risk" you plan top take. find your tolerance to leaks, and go from there with the appropriate repairs, imo.

Well like I said the gas mileage isn't bad at all. I track all my expenses like fuel when delivering and I know exactly what each car costs. For example 10 deliveries in one night on the Honda (before it went up 20c recently) would cost me around $11-12cdn in gas. And the same 10 deliveries using the Explorer would cost me around $14-15 in gas. Over the span of a week it would cost $40 more in gas using the ford which would be $160 a month more. Add another $7 or so for a full quart of oil to top off the Explorer once a week.

But seeing how the ford will likely be gone well before I have any big repairs to do like front end suspension work, not having to pay for future suspension work on the ford down the road was a huge bonus in favour of driving the ford.

 

[98FordLove]

right, thats what i was saying. my presumption is delivering pizzas, you dont spend more than say 5 minutes parked at a house. as such, if the leak isnt pouring, i wonder if it wont leak in the 5 minutes it sits. and if OP plans to park a while, they can slide the mat under. dunno, just trying to figure out ways to make it work

I've seen oil drop from under the explorer within a 5 minutes getting back to the establishment with the truck off. It won't be a lot, maybe 1-2 drops. Oil however doesn't drop at all when the truck is running, not a single drop.

Too bad I can't throw in some Lukas stop leak and call it a day. The explorer leaks worse using high mileage oil. Tried it for 2 oil change intervals before going back to regular conventional 5W30.

 

[98FordLove]

I understand your dilemma. I too have a tendency to get attached to vehicles but know when keeping one going just isn't worth the time, frustation and money to do so. I say sell it now while you can get the most for it and apply it to another beater that gets better gas mileage and is eaier and less expensive to repair. The US and Canada are heading into a recession and fuel prices are going to skyrocket this winter. Once this happens you won't be able to give your Explorer away and buying a more fuel efficient vehicle will only get more expensive. Sell it now and get something that is more economical to own and run while you can.

The only thing is, if I get another beater I want another AWD and an SUV or truck so I have the cargo space. And I just can't afford it right now, nor do I particularly need it since I'm not even operating my business right now. So I figure just keep this explorer for the time being, put new brakes on and use it only for when I go up the gravel roads by or when I need the cargo space that my car lacks.

If I sell it now I'll maybe get $1000cad tops and the luxury of owning 2 cars (especially a car and a truck) far outweigh the $1000. Doubt I find anything near as reliable for $1000. Especially if I can get this to last me 2 more years. From what I've seen over time, the leak hasn't gotten any worse over time. Its stayed the same.

Also, another thing is I'll just use my Honda for deliveries again, 4 nights, 20 hours a week. Pizza delivery is not a long term job for me and I'm hoping that very soon I can drop down to 2 or 3 nights a week which will be less wear and tear on the car. And hopefully within a year I can find another and better side gig and eventually quit. The Honda can handle it. 5 nights a week was a bit much for my liking but 4 isn't as bad and 2 or 3 will be even better.

i tried to convince myself to convert the Honda as a full time beater but I just can't do it. I've tried too in the past but as soon as I lose a beater I immediately miss having one.

 

[98FordLove]

Some pics. All I know is the drivers side of the oil pan is wet but the passenger side is dry.

You can see around the corner bolt of the top right corner of the oil pan is where the crack is (drivers side front). The grey stuff seen there is the hardened JB weld applied to it. It slowed it but didn't stop it, even after the mechanic making sure the bolt was fully tight.

But there is oil on the drivers side of the oil pan too, hence why the mechanic believes the head is leaking (this was 5 mo ths ago he said that). But I would think if the head was Infact leaking it would have gotten worse overtime or already had blown by now. It's been like this for almost 2 years now and it hasn't gotten any worse.

The crankshaft seal was replaced 5 months ago so that's one small cause of the leak that was stopped.

I do see red liquid near the crack on the oil pan right inside the oil head....anyone see it?. Oil isn't red.

 

[94Eddie]

The only thing is, if I get another beater I want another AWD and an SUV or truck so I have the cargo space. And I just can't afford it right now, nor do I particularly need it since I'm not even operating my business right now. So I figure just keep this explorer for the time being, put new brakes on and use it only for when I go up the gravel roads by or when I need the cargo space that my car lacks.

If I sell it now I'll maybe get $1000cad tops and the luxury of owning 2 cars (especially a car and a truck) far outweigh the $1000. Doubt I find anything near as reliable for $1000. Especially if I can get this to last me 2 more years. From what I've seen over time, the leak hasn't gotten any worse over time. Its stayed the same.

Also, another thing is I'll just use my Honda for deliveries again, 4 nights, 20 hours a week. Pizza delivery is not a long term job for me and I'm hoping that very soon I can drop down to 2 or 3 nights a week which will be less wear and tear on the car. And hopefully within a year I can find another and better side gig and eventually quit. The Honda can handle it. 5 nights a week was a bit much for my liking but 4 isn't as bad and 2 or 3 will be even better.

i tried to convince myself to convert the Honda as a full time beater but I just can't do it. I've tried too in the past but as soon as I lose a beater I immediately miss having one.

Only use the Honda when you have to use it. Otherwise, use the Explorer. Also, doing what was suggested regarding the RTV patch costs just a tube of black RTV, a couple cans of brake cleaner, a few rags and a few quarts of oil. Just make sure to let the oil drain from the engine when it is hot (maybe 3-4 hours), then spray and wipe all the grease and grime from the area of the, apply the RTV and let it cure for 24 hours. It is worth a try, IMO, and might keep you from putting more wear and tear on the Honda.

 

[98FordLove]

Only use the Honda when you have to use it. Otherwise, use the Explorer. Also, doing what was suggested regarding the RTV patch costs just a tube of black RTV, a couple cans of brake cleaner, a few rags and a few quarts of oil. Just make sure to let the oil drain from the engine when it is hot (maybe 3-4 hours), then spray and wipe all the grease and grime from the area of the, apply the RTV and let it cure for 24 hours. It is worth a try, IMO, and might keep you from putting more wear and tear on the Honda.

Thanks. The only thing is finding space where I could do this. The explorer is parked on the street and my neighbour spy's on me 24/7 so each time she sees me even with the Explorer hood open, she assumes there is something wrong with it.

Which bolt drains the oil?

When the mechanic did this 5 months ago, he got me to degrease the entire underbody and I used 2 full cans of degreaser on it then took it to the car wash right after. I have to say that I was able to get the underbody quite clean and very little oil remained.

He did use sandpaper on the spot where the crack is but after getting it back and us looking in the hood again it was really obvious that the crack on the oil pan was just one spot of many leaking. There is oil leaking from somewhere above the oil pan gasket on the drivers side. Looks like directly from the engine and this would explain why the mech said that he strongly believes my heads are leaking.

Also the oil pan gasket on the drivers side looks to be seeping oil too. So say the RTV does work for the crack, I would very likely still be leaking oil elsewhere.

 

[donalds]

I see a front main seal leak
it's coming down from the front behind the harmonic balancer

 

[98FordLove]

I see a front main seal leak
it's coming down from the front behind the harmonic balancer

Front main seal as in the front crankshaft seal? If so I replaced it 5 months ago. Small $1 seal.

If it's not the same deal, how is it changed out?

 

[donalds]

Yes front main seal crankshaft seal on the front remove harmonic balancer check crank shaft for scoring install speedi sleeve and new seal