Beginning of a beautiful journey, 2000 Explorer SOHC

[fast_dave]

@Pekka -

Dude - I love how you pixelated the license plate in Post 113 - total Operations Security -> lol

SISU! to you, my Explorer brother in Finnish Lapland!

 

[Pekka]

OPSEC is everything lol

I'm tearing down the 00 to get all the front suspension parts and to remove the 4.10 front diff.

A proper mechanic will fix the leaking main seal tomorrow but I can't drive the car yet because front driveshaft is still connected. Diff side was easy but holy crap that TC side is stuck! It just won't come off after all bolts were removed. Maaybe I'll just use some straps to secure the driveshaft so it won't destroy everything on a two kilometer drive and let mechanic remove it.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Pull the rear shaft, drive it there on the front drive.

 

[Pekka]

When in doubt, use bigger hammer

I finally managed to remove the front driveshaft and swapped worn U-joint. Drove the car on rear drive with 1st gear and emergency lights on because one bushing was missing from rear suspension, had a nice line behind me in just a few minutes Local mechanic took care of main seal and frame to hanger bushings. Didn't cost THAT much.

Car still sounds and feels horrible, time to start tearing down front suspension

 

[Pekka]

Aaaand done.

Swapped parts:

Front axle
Driveshafts
Lower control arms
Wheel hubs
Brakes
Tie rod ends
Tires
etc.

Tomorrow it's driveable, I hope.

 

[Pekka]

This is why you don't fix things when dead tired

That's a wonky front driveshaft lol

 

[CDW6212R]

Sad, wrong u-joint for that flange.

 

[Pekka]

Car is sort of drivable now. Transmission has torque converter solenoid problem and OD doesn't work. Car wobbles, one reason was that every tire had different pressure Also front wheels haven't been aligned yet.

Mechanic will take a look at the transmission next week. I'll get it flushed first and if it doesn't work, I'll swap some parts like valve body etc. If that won't work, then I'll do a transmission swap.

I'll try to swap exhaust tomorrow. The current exhaust is, to say it shortly, horrible. Worst weld job I've ever seen, full of holes and hnnnnnng

I have original exhaust in decent condition. I'll use that.

 

[Pekka]

Transmission has new oil now. Problem persists so still no overdrive. I have to buy new valve body.

Wheels are now aligned, I also have new upper control arms. New oil on the differentials.

Driver seat recliner died and now back of the seat just flops around

 

[C420sailor]

So…is it throwing a TCC solenoid code?

My 5R55E would throw a TCC solenoid code, flashing OD OFF, and wouldn’t lock up or shift to OD (can’t remember which). It ended up needing a rebuild—the torque converter clutch was burnt up, and I happened to have a broken band too.

You can try replacing the solenoid if that’s the case. That would be my first move. Throwing a valve body at it…it’s not a terrible idea bc you’ll have a new VB should you rebuild it…but I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the VB alone fixing it.

 

[Pekka]

Update:

I've been using the car every day since September. OD kind of works since I changed transmission oil but I need to be very careful while driving or OD starts misbehaving. It's been too cold to do any big repairs TCC solenoid code persists and I can't remove it with Forscan. I'll swap the transmission from '00 EB since it did work when I pulled the engine and start rebuilding the broken transmission some day.

I bought new thermostat housing because old started to leak during winter. Now I have some heat in the car

I snapped a serpentine belt while driving because of seized bearing on an idler pulley. Installing new serpentine belt and idler pulley were really easy tasks.

Things to do once the snow melts:

Transmission
Exhaust
High idle RPM
RUST

Nothing easy left to do

 

[toobladink]

What's the hope/plan for high idle RPM? Do you plan on having some sort of switch so you can toggle this and have it warm up faster when it's cold?

 

[Pekka]

After driving for a while car won't drop idle RPM and it keeps idling at ~1800RPM instead of ~750. Haven't really done anything to it yet, I actually noticed the behavior only recently.

Local dealer had chinese interior LED lights for gen2 explorer and since most interior light bulbs had died a long ago I bought and upgraded to LED lights. They actually work so it's a good purchase, I guess.

 

[donalds]

Start looking for a vacuum leak imo

 

[toobladink]

Start looking for a vacuum leak imo

yeah, i had a similar issue - i installed an intake kit and one of the hoses seemed to expand by quite a bit so after it warmed up it started leaking. every time i would restart my car after letting it warm up, it'd have a high idle and i'd get a check engine light. i'm surprised you don't have a check engine light, maybe the bulb is bad and you actually have something. i think going to the auto parts store and having them read the code is worth your time since it sounds like you might need to go there anyways

 

[toypaseo]

Replace the belt tensioner too…

 

[Pekka]

Car died on me this morning while driving to work. A lot of water on the streets, especially on underpasses, up to my shins. I turn into a little kid always when I see those huge puddles and I drive in them HARD just to see the huge splash

Soo the last one killed the car just as I drove over it. Engine died on the spot. Engine does crank but it feels sluggish. Won't start anymore. I had my laptop and obd tool with me and and checked engine fault codes with Forscan but there weren't any NEW fault codes
Intake doesn't have any water in it so I don't believe engine is hydrolocked. Also it wasn't THAT deep a ditch

Maybe water got somewhere it shouldn't have gotten and is preventing car from running. Maybe problem goes away when car gets to dry for a few days.
Maybe crankcase position sensor died, serpentine belt could have hit it when performing self disassembly
Maybe engine jumped off timing and I'm back where I started five years ago

 

[donalds]

Car died on me this morning while driving to work. A lot of water on the streets, especially on underpasses, up to my shins. I turn into a little kid always when I see those huge puddles and I drive in them HARD just to see the huge splash

Soo the last one killed the car just as I drove over it. Engine died on the spot. Engine does crank but it feels sluggish. Won't start anymore. I had my laptop and obd tool with me and and checked engine fault codes with Forscan but there weren't any NEW fault codes
Intake doesn't have any water in it so I don't believe engine is hydrolocked. Also it wasn't THAT deep a ditch

Maybe water got somewhere it shouldn't have gotten and is preventing car from running. Maybe problem goes away when car gets to dry for a few days.
Maybe crankcase position sensor died, serpentine belt could have hit it when performing self disassembly
Maybe engine jumped off timing and I'm back where I started five years ago

My bet is the crank sensor connector is flooded

 

[Pekka]

No water in crank sensor, I also swapped the sensor. A bit of a chore, I might say. Intake was dry, I also cleaned the whole intake while I was in there. Swapped spark plugs and cables. I get really slow crank and no start... I have to attack the wiring next and find out why starter doesn't want to crank engine faster. Maybe something is holding serpentine belt and causing extra load on starter? Maybe a dead AC compressor or power steering pump?

If I only had known that swapping spark plugs can be so difficult I would've let someone else do it

 

[cober]

Car died on me this morning while driving to work. A lot of water on the streets, especially on underpasses, up to my shins. I turn into a little kid always when I see those huge puddles and I drive in them HARD just to see the huge splash

Soo the last one killed the car just as I drove over it. Engine died on the spot. Engine does crank but it feels sluggish. Won't start anymore. I had my laptop and obd tool with me and and checked engine fault codes with Forscan but there weren't any NEW fault codes
Intake doesn't have any water in it so I don't believe engine is hydrolocked. Also it wasn't THAT deep a ditch

Maybe water got somewhere it shouldn't have gotten and is preventing car from running. Maybe problem goes away when car gets to dry for a few days.
Maybe crankcase position sensor died, serpentine belt could have hit it when performing self disassembly
Maybe engine jumped off timing and I'm back where I started five years ago

this was redemption