Aging explorer- things to watch???

[steveh]

I have a '95 explorer sport 4x4 with a manual transmission and about 125k miles. Until this year it has been an amazingly trouble free car. No expenses other than brakes, tires and other maintenance / wear and tear type items. This year I had to replace the clutch hyrdaulics because of a leaky slave cylinder. I was able to stomach this because I figured the clutch was getting up there in age so I had to do some transmission work anyway... 2 months after doing that I developed a leak in the cooling system- heater control valve (~$150). Fixed that only to find the next weak link in the cooling system- intake manifold gasket (~$600). Normally I'd do this kind of work myself but with my current working situation I can't afford the time and the potential of being w/o a car while fumbling my way through a repar. I'm wondering what others experience has been with high mileage explorers? What issues have you run into? What should I be on the lookout for? Am I going to have to start budgeting $$$'s to keep the car on the road?

Any tips/advice greatly appreciated!!!

 

[ExplorerDMB]

It is hard to say exactly what to watch out for. 125K isn't a whole lot of miles, I've worked on trucks with 200K+, but if you keep up with maitnance, you shouldn't have too many "surprises". Ball joints, shocks, suspension parts might start crapping out because of the usage and the life on 'em. Hope everything goes well.

-Drew

 

[Cheesebrat]

my seals in the rear axle went out. started leaking the gear oil on my disks, had to replace the seals, pads, rotors(warped), and e brake shoes so watch for that too.

 

[BigDakota]

Get religious about keeping things maintained...keep everything lubed/greased etc....anytime you hear or feel anything out of the ordinary with the Sport....figure out the seriousness of it and fix it!!

 

[steveh]

Thanks for the responses so far. What about transfer case shift motor? I understand that's an expensive piece... Anything else to worry about on the driveline?

Anyone have trouble with the heater core in a 95+ model? I thought I had a leak there but it turned out the heater control valve was leaking and giving me that pleasant antifreeze smell inside the car when running the heat. I felt pretty lucky about that, but I'm a little suspect of the strength of my engine cooling system as that was replaced, then my intake manifold gasket blew out... Could the head gaskets be next, not too far down the road? Maybe the heater core? Both big $$$'s. How about the H2O pump or Radiator?

The car runs perfectly and we've owned it since new so I have a good history with the car...

Again thanks for the help!!!

 

[BigDakota]

WOW..Steveh....Its a good thing that you are concerned with Sport....but I hope its not making you paranoid about your ride.Granted...you may have some evidence of things that need to be looked at..but...your X is gonna wear out..what part first is anyones guess..alot has to do with ones driving habits.You can find good used parts for the X, if you are comfortable going that route...and are mechanically inclined or can afford to hire someone! There are some great,useful threads on this Forum that can help you repair or replace almost anything. ....use the SEARCH feature...for example..your shift motor...use the SEARCH and you can get your answer.

Just use common sense ..if you are blessed with it and everything will be OK!!

 

[97BlackX5.0]

seems to me when you get a car over the 100k mark from 100-125 thousand is when they usually break a whole bunch of stuff.... sometimes i think engineers do this on purpose so we'll trade in and up.... then after you fix all the little stuff they'll run good again for another 80k at least so they could sell them as used cars.... as big dakota said the earlier you catch things the less expensive it will be. U will be replacing parts though so i would keep some money aside for unexpecteds especially if you go on long trips with it... or do what the engineers want you to do... trade up for a newer more reliable car or truck.

 

[PaTraxx00]

I would maybe budget for a radiator if you've already had cooling system problems. OE rads from gen 2 have plastic tanks crimped to both sides that are known to develop leaks. I've read of others having luck recrimping them but I opted to just replace mine with all aluminum along with hoses, water pump, and thermostat while the system was empty. Not a very complicated or time consuming job but living in south Florida I wasn't willing to chances with cooling issues. Another quickie I did was the belt, belt tensioner assembly and idler pulley (idler pulley was real loud thought is was my PS pump going out) broken belt will leave u sitting along side the road. My alternator went out last week quick job (20min) upgraded from 90amp to 130amp new with lifetime warranty. Direct bolt on. 90amp alts run almost constantly to keep up.

 

[alohamonte]

Front end components - ball joints, tie rods, cv axles, sway bar bushings

Electric gremlins - radio, brake light switch, power windows, dash lights, multi function switch

Sensors/valves - tps, maf, idle air, coolant temp, pcv, tstat, environmental, fuel filter, o2

 

[PaTraxx00]

Here is a almost zero cost fix for stretched throttle cable

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166562

 

[PaTraxx00]

I would clean all your sensors and throttle body. Here is good mod for the TPS another almost freebie

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79362