Advice seeking newbie

[km449]

Hi all.

I am about to gravitate upwards from a Scorpio to an Explorer, and wondered if there was anything in partic I should be looking out for.

I am scheduled to buy a 97P, 102k miles, with FSH, chains done 12 months ago, plus new brakes, pads and discs then too. Since then it's had a service in May with new plugs and leads. Being mot'd tomorrow.

Other than it only having a radio/cassette (which I presume I can easily swap for a ford double din radio/cd?) it looks a good buy.

Don't do a partic high mileage (8-10k) so lpg conversion at 1250 doesnt seem justified. In the real world of local driving what sort of mpg do people get?

Many thanks

Keith

 

[welshgod]

real mpg

Hi,
this week £20.00 got 80 miles out of it , town driving but with the bonus of seeing over, round etc pretty much everything.

 

[Howard]

Congrats I hope you like it. For real mileage I have monitored mine for the last 40,000 and it averages out at 18.8 mpg. Most of my driving is fairly local with some odd long trips. As with all new purchases make sure that everything works, including the air vents (floor/screen ac). Also when the chains where done was the oom12 kit fitted? where they the later revised chains? Check the atf for colour and smell. A nice red and no burning smell.
All the best.

 

[km449]

Thanks for that - appreciated.

A few questions re your comments please of

"Also when the chains where done was the oom12 kit fitted? where they the later revised chains? Check the atf for colour and smell. A nice red and no burning smell.

Whats the kit you refer to and what do you mean by "later". They were changed by a FMD in August last year. Could there be doubt that they did it right? (I get the feeling from checking the forum that FMD arent always up to speed re Explorers!

Thanks again, Keith

 

[Howard]

The OOM12 kit was issued in the states in 2001 to correct a problem with the lower inlet manifold 'O' rings leaking and the timing chain tensioner. They also modified the timing chains guides. You are right that the Ford agents in the UK know very little about the Explorer and are best avoided. The best thing to do over here is DIY using the knowledge of this board and its members. I believe that the 97's use a single din fit radio. the later models use the ford 1.75 din units as found in the mondeo etc. Get yourself the Haynes manual (from amazon) and a good set of tools including a code reader or scanner. Parts are not too bad to get but the Ford dealers are poor and expensive. Third party places that specialist in USA imports are much better and know a lot more about explorers. Hope that helps.