1998 Ford Explorer Tune up info

[larson89]

Well, looks like I found a good site. I recently decided to try a tuneup. Went and bought plugs and wires at the local parts house. Got my son to put everything in. Well it ran like crap worse than before. So I told him to make sure he had all the plug wires pushed down good. still no better. So while he was changing the plugs he should me a plastic vacuum hose thing on the right side of the motor which had a melted place and missing a hose. Well now that was obviously the problem. so back to the parts house we went. got that part and some hose. fixed it. no help. still not running right so I told him to pull the plugs out and check the gaps by the way pregapped at the parts house is a myth. had to gapped all the plugs. put them back in. and guess what? yep still ran the same. This time he broke the heater hose plastic diverter valve. so back to the parts house we went. got a new part and a air filter. still running like it was missing on 3 cylinders. So I had to go to work that night and froze all the way to work yep when he put the diverter back in got it backwards. next day stopped by the parts house again got a gas filter. Tried to put that in. ever try this. I got under the car and discovered that is not such a easy task you have to have a special tool. so I took it to a mechanic and called a friend that is also a mechanic no help. so when I went back to pick my explorer up the mechanic put the new gas filter in and guess what!!!! no help !!! but he did say that he had a friend that had used them bosch plugs before and it had given him some problems. so I google ford explorer, bosch plugs . BOSCH plugs don't work.....Parts people should know this.....but my parts man did not nor my mechanic friend. So I am letting everyone know MOTORCRFT SPARK PLUGS runs like a new truck better than ever. I could not believe the plugs made that much difference. But I read up when I Googled it. Lot of info on the subject if you thought about looking. Hope this helps Jeff :rangertan:

 

[archer973]

Fuel And Transmission Line Disconnect Tool Set

...next day stopped by the parts house again got a gas filter. Tried to put that in. ever try this. I got under the car and discovered that is not such a easy task you have to have a special tool...

Hi larson89. I just read your short story here and want to thank you for sharing about spark plugs. I hope you are still monitoring this thread because I would like to share about the tool for changing the fuel filter in case you want to do it in the future. While trying to replace the filter on my '98 Explorer, I had a couple of the tools that had been picked up in the past at garage sales and never used. They didn't work on my fuel filter. So I went down to NAPA and bought a scissor type tool that has four different release sizes. It didn't work either. I did some googling and found people praising a tool set they bought at Harbor Freight. So I ordered that set and they worked like a dream. I was able to release the fuel line connectors on the fuel filter and my fuel pump. Here's a link to the tool set I bought: Fuel And Transmission Line Disconnect Tool Set.