97 SOHC XL

[Silverblade]

I was looking at a 97 SOHC XL today , i know the XL is the bottom model but it seemed to have everything my old 93 XLT had. I have a few questions, first is how reliable is the 97 SOHC, was it improved by 97 so it isnt crappy or is it still crappy and not good? also, when it started up it was very rough, it ran well when idling, but when he started it up it was loud and well i dont know how to describe it but it sounded like it had a "sore throat" almost, how bad is that?

Any body want to tell me to steer clear from this one?

 

[SaleenEXP]

the sohc was introduced for the 97' model year, the sohc had some problems the 1st two years, but later versions were better especially the newer version in 02' and up Explorers. There were fixes for the sohc (cam tensioner ect).

I would stay away from the 97's or 98's, actually I'd never consider a V6 anyway , but if I were I'd stay clear off the one your looking at.

What about like a 96' or 97' XLT 5.0? You can find them for sale for not a lot of money at all with more options like leather than an XL.

 

[Nate1]

I have a '99 Sport tottaly stock with a SOHC v6 and have loved it. Got a recall on my cam tensioner... ??! whatever, they replaced it for free, so like i care. I was out mudding this weekend and did great... ended up pulling my friend with his big bad fullsized '93 blazer on 33x12.5s, hes a 350ci V8 mind you. I personally think that the V6 SOHC in my 99 is a fine engine... espically if you arent gonna be some huge, every weekend, long trips out into the wilderness offroader. Im planning on putting a 4" Trailmaster susp lift and a 3" body lift on too, so I'll tell how that goes if i can get the money DAMNIT! ... I would say that you can do just fine with the SOHCs in most situations, just dont expect to run 33s on anything less than 4.1 gears.

So far as the rough start... did you get to look under the hood? Could be tons of things, dirty sparkplugs... dirty O2 sensors... many things. Take it to a mechanic you trust and have them check it out... its most likely nothing too serious.

Good luck in finding the right explorer for you!

--Nate

(if for some reason you want to see my engine... click here then goto Car Pic 10. Car Pic 5 is also my stock dual exhaust which is giving me hell trying to find a catback for... almost noone makes em! Ohh yea, and expect the SOHCs to crave RPMs, if you give it gas it will gladly hit 5k+ rpms any chance you give it)

 

[SaleenEXP]

Originally posted by nweibley
Car Pic 5 is also my stock dual exhaust which is giving me hell trying to find a catback for... almost noone makes em!

Just buy a dual in/dual out or single out muffler from like Magnaflow or Flowmaster and have a shop build a custom catback for you.

 

[Nate1]

Well problem is both companies dont seem to offer quite what I want.

I liked gibson cause it isnt really loud at all, but in fact a mellow nice deep tone, and the power advantage is over a nice middle broad range.... 2k-4k rpms.

If I cant get a good shop (btw: what is a goot muffler shop?) to build me one with a Gibson dualin single out, I'll go with the flowmaster 50 series i think... or mabey the 40 series since it is a V6, it cant be too loud a 40.

Well anyways, I just wish I could get that nice Mandrel bended stainless steel kit and do it myself rather than have a shop do it for me... but you gotta do what you gotta do right? Thanks

Ps: Sorry for this being so off topic in your thread Silverblade