2000 AWD Xploder from Turbo back to NA

[CDW6212R]

I save any copper for scrap money, even old wiring is valuable now.

 

[willzilla]

Picked up some copper washers from AutoZone. They had some Dorman 66272 which shows as the right washers for my truck so hopefully they will work when I swap them in.

 

[willzilla]

Thought I had posted a few days ago, guess not lol.

The new copper washers fixed my leaking brake issue.

Installed the new AC drier and closed up the AC system. Still need to vac dry the system and fill (most likely will have a shop do this while I get the alignment done).

Drained the radiator flush/distilled water mix from coolant system and went to vac fill the system with pure distilled water to run through the system and noticed a very slow "leak" of the pressure. Used the ear scope thing and listened around and found what sounded like a tiny leak from where the WP is attached to the engine at one of the bolt locations. Tightened the bolt further (I think lol). Was dark at this point so have not put the upper radiator hose back on to draw vac in the system again to see if the leak is fixed or not.

 

[CDW6212R]

I hope you get it going soon, to enjoy it. I hope to be doing my timing chain in about a month myself, hope the bolts let go easily.

 

[willzilla]

I hope you get it going soon, to enjoy it. I hope to be doing my timing chain in about a month myself, hope the bolts let go easily.

Hopefully just tightening the bolts fixed the leak lol.

I have another project to do in a few days as well... Replace the blower motor of my wifes e-350.. Ugh :-/

 

[CDW6212R]

Hopefully just tightening the bolts fixed the leak lol.

I have another project to do in a few days as well... Replace the blower motor of my wifes e-350.. Ugh :-/

That sounds easy, ... if you have a ladder.

 

[willzilla]

Lol.

Ok... Tightened up the WP bolts some more today before it started to rain... Pulled vac on the coolant system again and it SEEMS like the leak is gone, woohoo. Filled the coolant system again with another bottle of coolant flush and distilled water, ran it until it warmed up (fans kicked on perfectly again), turned on heater and ran it full blast another 15 minutes. Dark out now so will drain system again tomorrow after work and replace with JUST distilled water and run it again another 20-30 minutes. Cool it down, drain, and then check for leaks again, and finally fill with some water wetter and coolant.

Minor issue tonight after I shut the truck off.. Damn hood latch is not popping the hood lol. Found this video on how to open it:



Will give that a whirl and then hopefully just need to clean and lube up the mechanism to get it working again tomorrow lol.

 

[CDW6212R]

Cool, I didn't know that you could get at the mechanism from outside. I usually just slap the hood when one gets stuck. My neighbors van was doing that, plus the inside handle had been ripped off(from pulling too hard). It's another latch that needs lubricating every ten years or so.

I've got a mild clunk in my wiper mechanism today, I think I ought to replace those linkage parts.

 

[willzilla]

I was able to get the hood open using a screwdriver as indicated in the video. The cable is stretched and will need to be replaced but in the meantime I pulled the cable out about a half inch from the latch mechanism and put a zip tie in there to add some pull to it so the latch kind of works and I can open the hood with the in-cab latch but then have to kind of push a bit of cable back into place each time lol.

Drained the flushed coolant out and added just pure distilled water and heat cycled it. All seems to be going well.

Worked on the wife's van. Thankfully I can reach the blower motor and blower motor control module from within the engine compartment. Replaced both AND soldered in a new connector cable and... A/C works! BUT... Low and high settings barely a trickle of air comes out of the vents and the second from lowest and medium both feel like medium and that's it.. Lol, wtf??? :-/ So.. Went from zero A/C to the 2 mid settings both being medium and zero low and high. Rear A/C still works perfect. Hmmm. Got dark out and will have to investigate more tomorrow.

 

[CDW6212R]

Did you get a look at the blower fan and all ducting there? Those are often filled with debris. My truck needed the motor, and the fan wasn't bad, just dirty. But I had lots of pine needles and other small objects at the bottom of the AC evaporator, blocking about 1/3 of it. My airflow wasn't good when I got the truck, and the motor was just going out.

 

[willzilla]

Did you get a look at the blower fan and all ducting there? Those are often filled with debris. My truck needed the motor, and the fan wasn't bad, just dirty. But I had lots of pine needles and other small objects at the bottom of the AC evaporator, blocking about 1/3 of it. My airflow wasn't good when I got the truck, and the motor was just going out.

Surprisingly the ducts looked quite clean and debris free.

I replaced the blower motor and the wheel fan that it is attached to (bought as a combo unit) and also replaced the blower motor control module.

I checked the voltage going into the motor and it shows 14v which sounds correct to me (it wasn't zero lol) but I'm unsure if this is supposed to change based on the setting (low, med/low, med/high, high/max) but it was constant 14v when fans are on and 0v when off.

I double checked the blower motor control module connector and it looks good (was worried maybe I pushed a pin or something).

It's weird... LOW is just about no air flow, med/low and med/high has decent air flow (the same amount for both setting), and high/max has no air flow.

I'm thinking the blower control switch may be bad.

Back on the Xploder I did some more brake testing and it seems I was incorrect... rear driver side brake caliper is STILL leaking and it appears it's the drain valve area that is leaking now. Wtf. Tried to tighten it up and that changed nothing. Blah :-/

 

[CDW6212R]

The bleed screw is leaking? That's odd and usually only very old corroded ones will do that. You changed the calipers didn't you, I forgot? I did mine and might be confusing your truck with it.

 

[willzilla]

The bleed screw is leaking? That's odd and usually only very old corroded ones will do that. You changed the calipers didn't you, I forgot? I did mine and might be confusing your truck with it.

Yeah. All new calipers. All new rotors. All new pads. All new bleeder valve screws (they came with the calipers).

 

[CDW6212R]

Use a socket to initially break loose bleed screws, and to put the final tightening on them. Wrenches don't often fit as well as a socket. It hopefully just needs to be a little tighter.

 

[willzilla]

Use a socket to initially break loose bleed screws, and to put the final tightening on them. Wrenches don't often fit as well as a socket. It hopefully just needs to be a little tighter.

I'll pull the screw completely off and torque it back on and see if that changes anything. I got it tightened down really well and was worried I'd mess up the caliper. I sent an email to PowerStop and it sounds like they are mailing me a replacement bleeder valve as well.

 

[CDW6212R]

That sounds good, those are small parts that I cringe when I tighten them.

 

[willzilla]

Got some more work done today on the Xploder after work

I took the caliper bleeder valve bolt completely off, wiped it down (threads all looked good), re-installed it, bled it (was fine but wanted to be safe), and torqued it down with a socket (used a wrench before) and just went all in to tighten it down.... Leak appears to be gone!

Drained the distilled water and put in coolant. Heat cycled the truck and sprayed down the throttle cable spring on the side and the long one on the cable and the sticky throttle issue seems to have been resolved.

The brake pedal seems a bit noisy and semi-mushy but truck seems to brake nicely.. Drove the truck around the block (alignment still needs done so just a quick 1 minute jaunt) and the truck brakes nicely but the pedal feel is "meh". Perhaps I'm spoiled with braking with my SVT Focus which brakes on a dime with a solid pedal? Will bleed the other 3 calipers once more to be sure though to guarantee no air in the system.

Quick drive video:


Couple quick engine revs and a partial walk-around of the front of the truck after I shut the engine off. Can really hear the dual contour fans sucking air like mad and then winding down... The water pump can also be heard quite loud spinning down as well. Kind of cool sounding with the both of them lol...

 

[willzilla]

Ordered a new hood latch cable (comes with the interior latch pull though it's black and does not match the interior, may be able to swap in the original one to the new cable, not sure).

My wife is going to get the truck registration renewed (it's a FEW years expired lol) tomorrow and hopefully, as time allows, I will get the alignment done this weekend

 

[willzilla]

No progress this weekend... Well... Very little progress, lol. Finally got the truck registration renewed haha. Had to place an 18 sticker over the 15 so it's been a while.

Received my new hood latch cable and realized the old latch is also black so it's pretty much identical in every way. Hopefully will drain coolant once more and put water wetter and coolant mix in and replace the hood latch cable in the next few days.

Tried to get an alignment done Saturday but when I arrived at the shop they couldn't fit me in. Maybe tomorrow. I did limp it over to the car wash and washed the truck for the first time in... forever. Has been so long even had to clean off algae or mold or whatever the green stuff was. Turned out pretty decent for just a spray wash in a car wash bay. The truck drove very well to/from the shop and car wash other than the alignment shudder. Throttle still a little sticky. Brakes felt good. Temps stayed really good the entire time.







Have some odds and ends to finish up still...

- Def need to address the peeling clear coat on the fenders and front bumper.
- Touch-up paint on the few paint dings and spots around the truck.
- Have some fading on rear window trim.
- Need to order the front windshield vent.
- Need to replace the front windshield (still cracked pretty badly).
- Engine bay needs serious deep cleaning.
- Pull all door panels and clean and inspect door locks and windows. Check for old wasp nests lol.
- Pull the roof rack and either re-paint it, remove to for good, or ??

 

[Dono]

Congratulations! Your in to the small stuff. I'm not sure about pulling the roof rack rails off. I think it might be more of a problem getting them off than masking the whole area really good and painting them on the truck.

Mine are faded and peeled also. I'm faced with the same issue as you. I'm pretty sure I would end up stripping the screws holding my rails on.