1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[97Sandbox]

I picked up a 5x8 trailer yesterday that needs some TLC, but will be perfect for hauling our ATV and a dirt bike.

I'm swapping on the lights that were on my brush hauling trailer and I'm a little stumped by the issues I'm having.

I'm getting voltage to the trailer connector, but it's not the full 12V I'd expect for the brake lights. The brown/white wire (tail lamps) is about 1.5v with the lights on -- I'm not sure what it should be, the bulbs are very dim at that voltage. The yellow and green wires (left/right brake & turn) only get about 0.75V when the brake is pressed (not enough to illuminate the bulbs). I believe that should be more like 12V. I'm taking these readings at the trailer connector itself to eliminate any possible issues with the trailer harness.

After reading the wiring diagrams, I pulled the Trailer Tow Park Lamp Relay and swapped it for a known good relay, but nothing changed. Anyone have recommendations for what to check next?

 

[410Fortune]

Check trailer tow fuses? Sounds like a bad ground or just bad connections / corrosion at the trailer adapter
Check same voltages at a tail light and see what you get

 

[97Sandbox]

I checked the #3, #7, and #30 fuses and all were good.

The trailer adapter that was on the Mounty was very corroded when I got it, but I replaced the connector with a nice one from the salvage yard. I checked each of the four wires on both sides of the splices and voltages were the same, so I'm ruling out issues with the adapter connector and wiring by the tail light.

There's not much to these circuits. If fuses, wiring, and the relay are good, the only place I'm seeing upstream that could cause issues is the turn signal switch itself.

I'd think if it had issues though, my tail light turn signals and brake lights would have issues too. But they're working fine.

Right now I have the white trailer ground wire grounded to the rear-most frame cross member the one the spare tire is right up against). Maybe it needs to connect to the frame itself?

 

[410Fortune]

Any body or frame metal should be a good ground

 

[97Sandbox]

Hmmm. Seems odd that something so simple is giving me so much trouble. I'll dig into the grounds further.

 

[97Sandbox]

Holiday stuff is finally wrapped up so I should really be diving back into trailer wiring...but it's getting cold here so instead I drove to Omaha today and picked up a brush guard.

This one is a little different from the one I had on my '97, so I'm going to have to experiment to figure out the brackets go on (it's just hanging on the bumper right now).

 

[Blk2kXLT]

The one I installed on my explorer was actually from a Monty. See where I had to use a plasma cutter to make room for the bumper.

Maybe use a file and clean up the place where you are connecting to the frame for ground. Also make sure you repack those trailer bearings yourself w Redline grease. Also run proper PSI in the tires for the trailer (often higher than generic car tire)

 

[97Sandbox]

It's been a while! I forgot to post an update: I ended up hardwiring a new trailer connector and everything started working fine. I think the old plug-in harness that I reused from my '97 had seen too many Wisconsin winters and the corrosion was doing a lot of goofy stuff.

Having a roadworthy trailer has been awesome. I've been able to haul propane tanks to heat my shed, steel to build a weld table, and lots of other misc. items.

Today I made it to the salvage yard in search of another M5R2 trans to rebuild and swap the clunky one I have in the Mounty now. I didn't find any 4x4 units, but I picked up some other goodies.

Passenger door hinges to replace the worn out ones I have now (they're even white!), an early 5.0 Explorer steel fan blade and short oil filter stalk (I want to convert my factory setup to run an FL1A filter instead -- this will be good to do when I'm replacing my AC compressor ahead of the summer), and a standard rearview mirror.

Also a rear liftgate glass opener button to replace my broken one. Can you swap the key cylinder if you drill out the rivets?

My daughter broke off my auto dimming mirror (which was junk anyway) so I'm doing an auto dimming mirror delete.

Let's get this junk out of the way:

Remove overhead console:

Undo inner visor mounts for more headliner flex then you can gently pull it down and fish the wire back through the console opening:

Tuck wire away:

Reassembly is reverse of removal.

Now I just need to get some glue to put the new mirror on.

 

[roryboryalice]

I'd check that the deicing coolant line that goes around the PVC vacuum line to the throttle body isn't perforated and held together from carbon internally. It's one of those things that not a lot of people know of that's hidden under the upper intake and if is perforated you could be running on coolant for years and not even know except that you're radiator is low and you see no leaks some more I believe don't have them it depends on the DSO to where it was originally intended to be sold for colder climates.ill look for the photos

 

[roryboryalice]

5.0 Upper intake water hoses

The upper intake on the 5.0 has two water hoses that are about 1/4" running to it. Is there a benefit in not reconnecting these? Alternately, are these keeping an essential system active or efficient? I have heard that these should be kept in place on the TB spacer on Fox Mustangs. I would...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[CDW6212R]

5.0 Upper intake water hoses

The upper intake on the 5.0 has two water hoses that are about 1/4" running to it. Is there a benefit in not reconnecting these? Alternately, are these keeping an essential system active or efficient? I have heard that these should be kept in place on the TB spacer on Fox Mustangs. I would...

www.explorerforum.com

Remove those, the benefit of heating the TB or EGR is trivial, but developing an unseen coolant leak is very high, and bad.

 

[97Sandbox]

Mirror downgrade complete!

This stuff seems good:

It's definitely a read the instructions type of deal. And wear gloves too.

After glue cures, slide cheap Ranger mirror over the mounting plate and viola

Looks stock and in my opinion much better without the wires.

 

[410Fortune]

I agree, I hate the gen ii “autolamp” mirror

I recently glued a jeep mirror on using the same stuff.. must use the activator! The first package didn’t work out… turns out the little blue activator pouch hit the floor and I missed it. The second time around it worked… mirror got knocked off again (wife and teenage driver sharing same jeep) the third time I just used permatex super glue and the exact same results lol worked great. Makes me wonder if you really need the $15 mirror adhesive kit when their
Superglue does the exact same
Job… still holding today

 

[97Sandbox]

Nice!

Hey Jamie, since you're back in the thread I wanted to ask: to run an FL1A filter off the 96-97.5 filter stalk, do I need to rob the threaded portion out of a 4.0 truck?

Obviously the piece that came with the stalk is extra long for going through the heat exchanger and it has metric threads for the short filter.

Thanks!

 

[410Fortune]

Let’s ask @allmyEXes he is the one who has done this!
I’m still running 820s on my 302s I just change it every 3-5k miles lol
I would love to convert over to the fl1a then I can just stock two filters the fl1a and the 1995 for the big diesels
I’m pretty sure you just need to change to the 98-01 style adapter and then change the fitting on the end of it

Ditch the oil cooler that thing is a pita and if it leaks you get oil on your water or worse…. Water in your oil

 

[97Sandbox]

Thanks! For some reason I thought that was a conversion you did. Looking forward to @allmyEXes setting the record straight.

Yeah, I left the heat exchanger behind at the salvage yard. I'm just after the convenience of keeping one filter on hand for both my 4.0 Sport and this 5.0 Mounty.

 

[410Fortune]

And the larger fl1a! Twice the size
I’m gonna watch too my sport trax needs this

 

[allmyEXes]

@97Sandbox @410Fortune @Josh P Grant, I dug up the information about the conversion. I think it is as simple as screwing a 3/4"-16x3/4"-16 ford filter adapter into where the heat exchanger used to sit. If you got the piece attached to the block and its through bolt, you are halfway there.
On page 2 and page 3, there is more info about it. This conversion works on the heat exchanger type and without to convert to the FL1A filter.
97MM oil filter mods Post #38 and #43. In this pic the FL1a is screwed on and in a pic somewhere in my thread the X long FL-299 is attached.

 

[CDW6212R]

@97Sandbox @410Fortune @Josh P Grant, I dug up the information about the conversion. I think it is as simple as screwing a 3/4"-16x3/4"-16 ford filter adapter into where the heat exchanger used to sit. If you got the piece attached to the block and its through bolt, you are halfway there.
On page 2 and page 3, there is more info about it. This conversion works on the heat exchanger type and without to convert to the FL1A filter.
97MM oil filter mods Post #38 and #43. In this pic the FL1a is screwed on and in a pic somewhere in my thread the X long FL-299 is attached.
View attachment 463279

That was a great idea and you posted it in your thread, I missed some of that. Where did you buy the 3/4-16 threaded fitting, was that an easy to find application? I wish I had thought of that 20 years ago, I hate the little oil filters.

 

[410Fortune]

https://a.co/d/2jsf70c

HURRY ONLY 11 ERRR I mean 10 left in stock lol

cheaper at summit

Allstar Performance ALL92003 Allstar Performance Oil Filter Adapters | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Allstar Performance Oil Filter Adapters with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Oil Filter Adapters at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

I probably have one of these in the shop i have a few oil filter base mounts.... looks like the sport trac is getting her oil changed