1998 Explorer XLT Resurrection

[archer973]

Grinding Valves w/ a Vacuum Hose & Drill

...you should at least lap the valves...

Hi deadernie. I did some more googling on lapping valves and came across a neat video that I wanted to share with you and others that are following this thread. The guy that made the video has several videos that car guys might find interesting and helpful. Here's the link: GRINDING VALVES WITH A VACUUM HOSE & DRILL. VALVE LAPPING FOR BROKE FOLKZ

BTW: Do you have a turboencabulator?

 

[archer973]

First set of valves done

Thank you to deadernie for the suggestion that I should lap the valves since I am not sending the heads to a shop. I didn't know what that meant, but a little looking turned up a lot of info. I mentioned a video showing how to use a piece of vacuum hose and a drill to to grind the valves. I did that yesterday, didn't take long to do all six valves on the drivers side head. I put the valves back in the head and put it back on my test fixture that I previously described. The first time, all six valves leaked. This time--NO LEAKS!

I've ordered new valves for the other head since I had valve strikes on the pistons there. I will lap those when they arrive.

I watched several You Tube videos by oldskool funk. This a good one for making a smoke-type vacuum leak detector with materials that you might have laying around in your garage. It's something I will do soon since my son has a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a vacuum leak we can't find--MAKE YOUR OWN SMOKE/ LEAK TESTER W/ A JAR, TIRE PUMP & CHARCOAL.

 

[archer973]

Just a quick update. I received the new valves, lapped and installed them. No leaks. I modified my test fixture so I could use my leak-down tester to check both the valves and the rings, then waited for the tester to arrive. Good news--it was delivered two days ago. Bad news--it was faulty. We all know you get what you pay for and I went for what appeared to be an inexpensive item on eBay. It's is already on its way back to the seller and I am debating buying a different unit or moving on without.

 

[Toucan]

Interseting! Will follow! I am presently refurbishing my '98! Had unforeseen/unplanned damage to Timing chain guides etc. So, did a rebuild!

 

[archer973]

DIY Leak-Down Tester, New Problem and Hello Toucan--Not necessarily in that order

Interseting! Will follow! I am presently refurbishing my '98! Had unforeseen/unplanned damage to Timing chain guides etc. So, did a rebuild!

Hi Toucan! Thanks for joining me. You said you already did a rebuild. Would like to hear of anything you learned and any advice you can give. Good luck with your refurbishing.

I've discovered a new problem. As I was cleaning the upper oil pan, I discovered some cracks in it. They are in interior support pieces near the large interior bolts. At least one extends to the side of the pan, but I cannot detect the crack on the outside of the pan. Since I was in the big city for other business, I stopped at a Pick-N-Pull salvage yard, but it would not be possible to pull the upper pan without pulling either the engine, transmission or transfer case. So I was doing an online search for it and found a website I wish I had known about before. Car-Part.com. This site searches for car parts in salvage yards all over the USA. You can search by VIN or make/model. I found the part I need for a good price in a yard in E. Wenatchee, WA. That's half-way across the state from me, but the yard happens to be only eight miles from my youngest son's home. He has picked it up for me and I was already planning to go visit him next month so I will get it then.

DIY Leak-Down Tester: I've mentioned the YouTube videos by oldskool funk. He has a video that shows how to make a leak-down tester. I found most the parts I need in my garage--air regulator and gauge from an old compressor, a second gauge from an old compression tester, and some quick connect fittings. I just need a few plumbing fittings that I can get at the local hardware store. But I do need a 40 mil drill bit. I don't think I can get that locally, but I can get a pack of 10 from Amazon for $4.

This means it isn't over yet--at least another month.

 

[Toucan]

One thing I learned is do not buy cheap kits. I had to return first one I bought. The second was twice the amount but brought all the gears, chsins and all the plastic parts. Also included all the gaskets.
Also remember to have your. No 1 piston at TDC and the keyway of the shaft in the upright position. Required for proper timing.
Had no internal valve damage. But it can happen. I drove my X for two weeks after I felt that jerk that told me something went bad.
Doing this on my phone so cannot go into too much detail. Lol.

 

[archer973]

Thanks for the advice!

One thing I learned is do not buy cheap kits. I had to return first one I bought. The second was twice the amount but brought all the gears, chsins and all the plastic parts. Also included all the gaskets.
Also remember to have your. No 1 piston at TDC and the keyway of the shaft in the upright position. Required for proper timing.
Had no internal valve damage. But it can happen. I drove my X for two weeks after I felt that jerk that told me something went bad.
Doing this on my phone so cannot go into too much detail. Lol.

Thank you for your advice--all good points to make. I'm curious, did you use any of the special tools recommended for timing the valves?

 

[Toucan]

Oh, I am sorry, the work was done by a professionally trained mechanic. I only followed him using my Haynes Manual to sort of ensure that "he was doing it right" lol You know just wanted to make sure. I have no hoist rack so had to take it in to him to do. Reason he took 17 days was because the parts supplier had to ship parts down from their main branch. Actually first pack was wrong so had to be returned. Same with water pump we tried three until we found the right one.

The best thing was have taken old pump and pictures of exposed part of engine. This I am sure would have ensured the correct kit was supplied at the first try.

 

[Toucan]

One area I am having difficulty with is the various switches on the inside. Especially those for driver seat they work sometimes. Not sure if they need replacement or cleaned. I suffer from terrible back problems.

I have removed my sun roof and sealed off the opening. Got myself a deal when a very tidy and clean 2001 was wrecked in the front and sold off in parts. I managed to get Paneling, headliner bumper and inner lights control switch, door lock main switch (driver side) for only $100.00. All in mint condition.

I brought in led lights for domes and panel but not the right spec. They are too dim. So will order a set twice as bright.

 

[archer973]

Update

I haven't worked on this lately. Since I still need to pick up the upper oil pan from my son, I put this on the back burner and started doing house chores and some landscaping. But I also took a two week vacation which included a couple of days visiting the Everglades and a drive down to Key West from Miami. I didn't have a James Bond experience in Key Largo, but enjoyed the alligators, dolphins and manatees in the Everglades. Going to visit my son this weekend and will bring back the oil pan and pick up on this project next week.

 

[archer973]

I have been silent on this thread, but that doesn't mean the project hasn't been progressing. As always with spring and summer, there are a lot of other projects that come up which require time. But I have been doing a little work when I can. Enough so that the engine is finally rebuilt and ready to be put back in the car. The valve timing was a repeat of the earlier process before I decided to pull the heads. The reassembly process could have gone smoother. I had to remove the upper intake manifold twice to get underneath for parts I should have installed first. A few other sequence problems that slowed the job. Any ideas on what I to do with left over parts that should have gone in there somewhere?

Early on in the project, 2000StreetRod advised me to drain the fuel tank and check out the fuel system before trying an engine start. So I am taking his advice. I jacked the vehicle up this morning and put it on stands so I can get to the fuel tank. I'm also replacing the transmission filter while I can crawl around under there.

Oh. When I got ready to reinstall the spark plugs, I really looked at them for the first time and found that there were two different types of plugs, three of each type. One set of three were Motorcrafts marked with the number listed in my Haynes manual for this vehicle. The other three were Bosch plugs and they are not the correct type for this engine. After spending time online I discovered they were used mostly in Chevy trucks and vans. I don't know enough about spark plugs so I have to ask--could using the wrong plugs have contributed to some of the problems like maybe the cylinder that overheated? Would appreciate any insight others might have. I went out and bought six new plugs and installed those.

BTW: I was only kidding about having left over parts.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Spark plugs

Many members have reported problems with Bosch plugs in our engines. Your vehicle has a waste spark system. The cylinders are paired with one cylinder firing on the compression stroke and its pair simultaneously firing on the exhaust stroke. With a waste spark system current flows thru the plugs in one bank in the opposite direction of the other bank.

The factory originally installed different Motorcraft plugs in one bank than the other. On one bank the spark plug center electrode wears and the other bank the outer electrode wears. Most members purchase dual platinum or dual iridium plugs so it doesn't matter which bank they are installed in.

If the plugs in some of your cylinders were frequently misfiring that would put more load on the functional cylinders and possibly overheat the functional cylinders.

 

[archer973]

Update, Question and Thank you 2000StreetRod--not necessarily in that order

Many members have reported problems with Bosch plugs in our engines. Your vehicle has a waste spark system...

Thank you 2000SR for your response. As usual, I learned something new from you. I was not aware of the "waste spark system" and your description of it was very understandable. The diagram was helpful, too, so thanks for including it.

So I ordered the recommended plugs for my engine and installed them. I have the engine ready to come off the stand and put the flywheel back on it and drop it in the car.

I pulled the gas tank which was lots of fun...haven't had that much fun since the hogs ate my little brother. Main problem was finding a tool that would release the fuel lines. Ordered a set from Harbor Freight which had good reviews and a low price and did the job nicely. I am making one of my rare trips to the big city tomorrow and will pick up a new filter to install. There was very little gas in the tank and it didn't look bad--looked like gas, smelled like gas, tasted like gas--but I was relieved that everything looked very clean. Ohm meter tests indicate the pump and sending unit should be operational, so I drained out the little gas that was in there, blew compressed air through the fuel lines, then reinstalled everything--except the fuel filter.

New question. I was rereading the engine removal process in my Haynes manual because it states in the installation that a lot of it is the reverse of the removal. When removing the torque converter fasteners, there is this caption under one of the pictures: "Mark one of the torque converter studs with white paint and make a corresponding mark on the driveplate so the torque converter and driveplate can be reassembled in the same relative positions." Now I marked the stud and have no problem remounting in the same relative position. My question is, why is this necessary? The studs are symmetrical so it will match no matter the position, so there must be something I don't know about a torque converter that makes this a desirable step. Actually, there's lots I don't know about torque converters. This question is just one of a curious nature and hopefully someone has some insight for me.

 

[2000StreetRod]

flexplate/torque converter balanced

I think the factory attaches the torque converter to the flexplate and then balances the two as an assembly. I doubt that its important because it isn't normally done when replacing either the torque converter or the flexplate.

 

[ZWilson07]

Plus a lot of times the manuals just state that, just because.

The same concept when just about every single one always states to mark the rear diff pinion flange to the driveshaft flange so that it can go back together exact when pulling it and not throw off the balance.

But the pinion flange is completely symmetrical and the driveshaft is balanced by itself off the vehicle anyways. Just something that is always said to do but the world isn't going to magically end if it isn't done. Most just do it just to be safe and no particular reason not to do it.

Good luck.

 

[archer973]

Re: flexplate/torque converter balanced

I think the factory attaches the torque converter to the flexplate and then balances the two as an assembly. I doubt that its important because it isn't normally done when replacing either the torque converter or the flexplate.

Plus a lot of times the manuals just state that, just because...Most just do it just to be safe and no particular reason not to do it. Good luck.

I just got back from the big city and want to say thank you to 2000StreetRod and ZWilson07 for your answers! I suspected it probably wasn't a big issue. I will do it just to be safe and because the book says to, but as stated above, probably not important since it isn't done when replacing either. I appreciate the insight from each of you.

Got my new fuel filter. Tomorrow I plan to start putting the engine back in. With luck I will have enough time off from other chores to finish this beast by the week's end.

 

[archer973]

The End is in Sight

As I was afraid, my hopes to have time away from other tasks didn't pan out so I continued putting in little bits of time here and there. The engine install went well, but when I finally had enough done to try an engine start it didn't. Turned over, had spark, but no fuel. After a bit of testing I concluded the fuel pump did not live up to it's name and pump fuel. So I had to plan another trip to the big city and go to a Pick-N-Pull yard to pull another pump. Brought it home and installed it. But the engine still didn't start. Now I had fuel, but no spark. It took me a day to find that the crankshaft position sensor connector wasn't seated. After firmly seating it, the engine fired right up. But...

Smoke started rising between the engine and firewall. I shut it down for a few minutes while I did a visual inspection, then started it again. I soon found that there is a hole in the top of the catalytic converter on the left exhaust pipe. So now I have new problem to deal with. But I have an engine that runs.

The purpose of this thread has been to ask questions and log what I've done. I've been able to go back to my early entries and use information I wrote way back when to remember things I needed to do as I completed the job. In the next few weeks, I plan to create a new thread that details the process I went thru as well as share info on the tools I made to avoid buying the recommended tool kit.

At this point, I want to say thank you to all who have shared your knowledge and experience. It would have been a much more difficult job without the great help I received here.

 

[archer973]

Red Hot Catalyst

Today I was able to let the engine run for more than just a few minutes and then I noticed the right side catalytic converter was glowing red hot. This is on the side of the engine that had a timing chain slip, valve strikes, and--I'm told--backfires and balls of fire shooting out of the exhaust the last time it was driven.

I've been reading on the web that a catalytic will glow red for two reasons--raw fuel in the exhaust and a plugged catalytic. I'm guessing that when the timing chained slipped, that was when the backfires and balls of fire occurred and there was a catastrophic event in the catalytic that has destroyed it. Or, I did the valve timing wrong and I'm getting raw fuel into the exhaust. I hope to do another compression test and leak down test on all cylinders tomorrow. I think it will eliminate or support something wrong with my timing job.

I'm open for comments and suggestions here.

 

[archer973]

New Catalytic Did Not Fix Problem

After discovering my catalytic converter got excessively hot--glowing hot--my initial research indicated either fuel in the engine exhaust or the catalytic was plugged. A compression test of the engine indicated all the valves were closing, so I concluded the catalytic was plugged and ordered a new one. $170 dollars later, I still have a glowing catalytic converter. I spent a couple of hours yesterday reviewing other threads here and in other forums looking for a solution. Most of the threads contained suggested solutions, but very few came to a conclusion, i.e., "I fixed it. This was the problem." So I am starting another thread focused on this problem alone and will follow through until I have a fix and posted the solution for others.

Glowing Catalytic '98 Explorer 4.0L V6 SOHC 16V (VIN E)

 

[archer973]

Glowing Catalytic Fixed

For the past few weeks I've been working on the glowing catalytic problem when I had time. I also had other projects to finish, including three trips to eastern Washington so I've been pretty busy. But I resolved the issue with the catalytic. The fuel injectors needed to be cleaned. For more information, go to the link in my previous post for the thread I created about this problem. I also explain there the method I used to clean the injectors.

During the longer engine runs while working on the catalytic, the engine temp rose to extremely high a few times before I shut it down. Until this morning I didn't address that problem, but it appears to be resolved now. There was still too much air in the cooling system and the radiator cap was not relieving the pressure properly. I've burped the system and changed the radiator cap. Appears to be running well now.

And yesterday I backed the beast out of the garage, the first time it has moved under it's own power since 2005. Haven't street tested it yet, just backed down the drive then up to the garage a few times. The brakes and the transmission work. I still have a few more parts to put on it--hood, a skid plate, gravel shields. It needs to be washed and the interior cleaned. Then there's those little things called insurance and registration before I can take it on the road.

I'm not calling the resurrection complete yet. Waiting to see what shakes out the first time it's on the road.