00 OHV Galloping like a 3 legged drunk | Page 6 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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00 OHV Galloping like a 3 legged drunk

Any mechanic that starts messing with ignition parts after reporting 2 cylinders with low compression, one of them being FORTY POUNDS is a garbage mechanic. If that’s truly the case that’s the ONLY place to start repairs.

Nothing you dump in is going to restore the 80-100 psi you are short.
 



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My horrible Grand Ham is the little 4 cylinder, though at this point chugging coolant is the understatement of the century, I'll dump in 2-4 gallons of straight water, drive my spawn to school 2 miles away, bring it home and dump in 2-4 more, let it sit all day, dump in 2 more, drive it to pick up my spawn, bring it home, pop the hood and repeat the process in the morning. I've only had one car that left me sitting on the shoulder more, that was a 79 Bronco, put a down payment on it at a pot lot when I was like 19, drove it like a month and told the dealer where it had last broken down, said I'd consider my down payment as the cost of renting it and they could shove their contract up their butt, they never did try to contact me again.

I was just looking on CL just for the heck of it, I can't believe some of the absolute garbage people are trying to sell, and the prices they're asking?!?!!?
"1986 Ford Tempo. Fancy stereo. Laundry list of new parts. Clean body except for the rust, nice interior except for the stain on the back seat that looks like there was a corpse in there for a year. 295k miles. Yeah BTW the motor is completely blown, hasn't started in ten years. Transmission like totally fell out too, I put it in the trunk so you can put it back in. AsIs 2000$ I know what I have so don't try to lowball me"
I get that the day of the 500$ wonder car is long past, much as it pains me to accept it, but there's no way in hell people are really so stupid as to buy an older vehicle with a blown headgasket and a slipping transmission for 90% of the average asking price for the same year make and model WITHOUT any current issues... Please tell me people aren't actually that stupid?
If they are I'm listing HP for like 3k... Or maybe I should list it for the 4,400 I paid for it, recoup the buy price and write off the insane amount it's taken to keep it on the road :laugh:
Most of the “I know what I have” posts on Facebook are trolling.
 






Got it back a bit ago. Purring like a kitten, toodled around town a bit just to kind of give it some hell and see what it would do, engine light stayed off and it's running like it was before we moved and it started acting up.
I did explain my current financial/physical situation to him when I made the appointment, not going to hazard a guess at whether he did more than just the coil or not, but there's a few entirely unrelated spots in there that are looking mighty clean for an engine that's been collecting dust for a couple of years. (it's also entirely possible that Granny asked him to do other things and charge me for the cheapest part) Worse comes to worse I've got one issue nailed down, drive it for a couple of weeks and see if anything else goes sideways on me or if it starts running rough again. Went and had the oil changed while I was out, they tried to tell me I have a nasty leak in the oil pan gasket... Same thing they told me about my Pontiac 6 months ago (I'm calling BS, I've been under there enough that I would have noticed a severe leak from my pan gasket).
 






/\ So the coil you installed was a cheapo ...out of box failure....so installing a quality fixed main issue....? .... What about the two MAF codes?....is there anything on the invoice about replacing MAF and or wiring/ plug ? So they mixed up customers vehicles and gave you someone else's compression readings ..?
 






Sweet
 






/\ So the coil you installed was a cheapo ...out of box failure....so installing a quality fixed main issue....? .... What about the two MAF codes?....is there anything on the invoice about replacing MAF and or wiring/ plug ? So they mixed up customers vehicles and gave you someone else's compression readings ..?
The coil I installed was definitely a cheapo, I ordered the cheapest one I could get my hands on and it took like two weeks to arrive because it came from China. There's nothing on the invoice about the MAF, but I swear the top of it looks significantly cleaner than it did when I put it back after blasting it's guts with electronics cleaner, my kid says I'm seeing things :dunno:
I'd believe that it's possible that they gave me someone else's compression readings, this little shop is constantly swamped, like I've driven by it off and on for years and the only times I've ever seen their lot empty has been the big holidays, when they are open you've got to park across the street and walk to their office because there's zero room to park in the lot.
I can't do it tonight, mainly because I'm a giant wuss and don't want to go outside in the cold again, but tomorrow afternoon I'll disconnect the battery and let it sit overnight, take an ultra scenic route to the grocery store, then throw the OBD-II scanner back on it and see if it gives me anything other than the blasted airbag light, which I'm honestly not worried about, as long as that light's been bouncing randomly between on, blinking, and off, I figure if it was going to randomly deploy for no reason it would have happened long before now.
 






If your check engine light is off then I'd run it
 






Been absolutely nuts around here so I haven't had time to update, my apologies.
Had a minor issue a few days after I got it back from the shop, started acting up and missing again, I ran it back to them and they got back into it, turned out that when I was changing the plugs out I did manage to do some damage to the one I dropped through the engine, the ceramic was split from end to end in two places, there was no visible fracture when I crawled under the front end to retrieve it but you know how it is, blow the dirt off, cross your fingers and hope.
Beyond that it's been running great, still getting **** for mileage, still kind of crap on ice with all seasons, but definitely back to being the Exploder I know and love.
Finally gave up and drilled through the factory hinges on the back glass to install bolts this week, I'd completely forgotten how quiet it rides when the back glass isn't banging around :laugh: decently warm today so I'll go out there (it was like 10f when I put the bolts in) so I'll probably go out here in a bit and loosen the bolts a but to put some silicon under them, not that it really matters, the back windows have leaked for years, but it's completion. Probably ought to get some touchup paint on the spots where the windshield had been rubbing at some point too, I don't have touchup paint, so I'll get my black nail polish out and do that because it's basically the same (I'm a "retired" body tech, I do know better, but I'm also cheap and totally unopposed to redneck engineering/fixing).
Got something squirrely going on with the front right suspension after getting new rubber on it, it has done this before with new tires, can't find anything physically wrong so that's a fun project for later, might see a new thread pop up about that at some point.

HP didn't freeze, it managed to purge enough water from the system that there wasn't enough left to freeze and cause an issue. My teenager is about to get his license so I'm going to dump a couple grand into it here soon to get it running half way decent and let him drive it into the dirt. New radiator, some belts, hoses, and gaskets are definitely cheaper than buying him a ****ty used car, and it won't be nearly as upsetting if he manages to destroy it as I would have sent it out of here on a flatbed by now if scrap priced weren't in the toilet. He's probably going to whine about not liking it, but it's a free car so... Yeah. Hopefully I can figure out the turn signal BS, but if not he'll just have to use hand signals on the days it decides that signals are for wimps.
 






It runs like butt from the moment it's started, doesn't seem to be any better or worse as it warms up, though it does seem slightly more inclined to stall when warm vs when running cold.
The 3k was just for the sensors, they wanted considerably more for the one cat.
I wish I had my blasted toolbox here, I've got the scan tool in there but it's buried in the back of my storage unit behind everything else that went in when I had to move on short notice. May have to pop the belt later on just for the hell of it, might not give me any answers but it'll also rule out a few things which at this stage is more helpful than driving it and hoping it throws me a code.
Check the two "gang connectors" on the firewall. I haven't yet but I'm fairly certain that's where MY problem lies. Mine also will, on rare occasion, start to idle rough enough to stall it in neutral (5 spd) and just confirmed the temp gauge drops when the CEL comes on after a couple minutes of driving.
 






^ Rough idle is often the IAC valve, needs cleaned or replaced every few years, as long as you aren't also having misfires at higher RPM too.
 






It's totally groovy now, running like it did when I first acquired it, there's definitely some stuff on my radar to fix/replace before it gets a chance to cause issues, but for the time being there's nothing pressing that needs done.
 






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