Betty's "I want to be a mule" progress log thread

The new turd mobile. 2000 Mountaineer v8 awd.



The bad:

Was living it's prior life on a dusty road. Must tear out interior and deep clean.
Driver window off track "or something" and will not roll down. It tries but the rear part wants to stay up.

3 out of 4 door handles have issues. I have 4 new outer handles on order.
Cracked passenger side tail light housing. ( Ebay for some cool tail lights)

Compass-Thermometer thingy lit up and went out--idunno bout that yet

Door locks seem sticky, probably has to do with the handles.
It has a funky purple color trim with red metallic ( you'll have that every now and then)

The good
Gas tank was full
109k miles
I am the 2nd owner!!
Is from the local area, which means no salt!
The undercarriage is fairly clean
No dents to underside panels
Good rubber
Camber shims already installed
Looks like good service records, all recalls were completed.
Clean carfax believe it or not.

The "maybe" bad

The original owner, told the dealership it had a bad "heater core" however I have run it for several cycles, over an hour each idling in the driveay and see no leaks.
However, there was evidence of a windshield leak or the like,I saw condensation on the inside of the windows this AM. The moisture smell is that of water only-no anti freeze smell. I am thinking it could also be a cowl drain which is clogged???? but she did say the passenger carpet got wet.

I tried to get heat, however it is an auto climate control. Being 90 degrees outside, I doubt it would have given me heat.The heater core hoses were hot, and the coolant bypass valve does operate. AC blows Ice cold.

Maybe she meant to say "heater door"???

Anyway--here are the pics.



My intent is to drive this and use it as a tow rig for a light weight off road toy. Mods will be minimal. Edit: This plan did not work out so on to plan "b"

Current visual status

Progress pictures

Now, let's clean it up a little


Herculine'rd rocker panels. Rock sliders installed

BW 4406 True 4x4 Manual transfer case ( AKA Mouse entry point) installed 8-27-2012
Installed newer Tcase from a 2003 11-14-15

Saw a rainbow in Colorado so yeah, time for a picture

And here she is, on top of the highest pass road in North America. Careful tire placement a must!!!

2-2-2013

Changed "color scheme" of the Dick Cepek DC1 wheels. New Falken Wildpeak AT 31x1050x15

Then I decided Maroon washer on the wheels would look better

Update 6-6-2013

New bumpers, winch and Pro LED light . Front Bumper from RLC, Skid plate from RCI, rear bumper from Kert307

Rear anti sway disconnects

Update 9-2-2014
A cracked radiator at 70mph led to engine failure. Replaced with a freshened up a bit 80k mile engine starting on page 23

Found another rainbow in Kansas.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i was just about to message you to see if they came or not. are they also the right color or very close to it?
and your welcome as well.
so that every one wants to hear a funny story. i saw jon's post he needed these parts. i have a 96 that has a tan interior but wasnt sure the shade would be right. i also work at a scrap yard and they buy vehicles for scrap. either the day of or after messaging jon i happen to spot a explorer coming in. they dont come in as much anymore (to be truthful the last one i saw come in was a white 2000 limited 5L i bought sold, then bough back and resold then it ended up where i work). i had a loader put it aside for me and when i went to look at it, it was a 2000 with a tan interior. hows that for luck!

 

[Turdle]

Still can't thank @vroomzoomboom enough. Tim, if you ever come by I'll make pancakes!

Finally got the dome light working. Silly LEDs are a 50-50 shot whether you gotta take it all down again and flip the reversed ones. Spine must be really messed up because that overhead job was making me want to roll the whole truck over.

Got the overhead console out now. All the copper foils for the map lights pulled loose. I spent about 2 hours straightening them all up, glued em back in place with liquid tape, only to discover the twist wedge sockets are too far gone from heat damage.
I'd like to find a way to solder 2 small quantum (?) boards in there. Possible?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Still can't thank @vroomzoomboom enough. Tim, if you ever come by I'll make pancakes!

no biggie and your welcome. trust me, i am down for a road trip right now however evils down for the count at the moment, and winter is coming.

 

[Turdle]

I was able to not take pictures while using soldering iron to remove material in map light bulb hole area, and, "plastic welded " , um,sort of , 2 led board things in place, then, direct wired them into the overhead console connector.

 

[Turdle]

Today, Betty gave me another surprise.
Instead of dead display, she's giving it all

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Today, Betty gave me another surprise.
Instead of dead display, she's giving it allView attachment 437850

what she really wants you to play

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Today, Betty gave me another surprise.
Instead of dead display, she's giving it allView attachment 437850

select comp for competition mode used to also say shup instead of shut up

edit: its shuf not shup

 

[CDW6212R]

I think the "METAL" might be for cassette tapes that were called metal in the description. I had a case of Maxell M90 tapes that were from just before CD's came out.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

what she really wants you to play

View attachment 437856

"I want it louder, more power.... im gonna rock it till it strikes the hour, bang your head, metal health will drive you mad"

 

[CDW6212R]

Rush, Tom Sawyer, that's the blast it full volume I think of song;



You know it's cranked up too loud when the amp clips off sometimes. I pushed my little 30w x2 amp(PA200) hard back then.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Rush, Tom Sawyer, that's the blast it full volume I think of song;



You know it's cranked up too loud when the amp clips off sometimes. I pushed my little 30w x2 amp(PA200) hard back then.

for me its either travelin band (CCR) or black betty (ram jam)


dont usually listen to stuff loud, just like clarity, but sometimes volume is nice

 

[Turdle]

Just replaced Betty's 7 year old Walmart Maxx battery with a new one. You gotta admit that was a good run on it, so, it got another.

 

[traveler]

7 years is an almost unheard of run! When I worked a counter at NAPA 4 years was good (I discovered quickly that, although I thought cold KS winters was hard on batteries, nothing can kill em like AZ heat!).

 

[Turdle]

7 years is an almost unheard of run! When I worked a counter at NAPA 4 years was good (I discovered quickly that, although I thought cold KS winters was hard on batteries, nothing can kill em like AZ heat!).

I stretched the 7 years a bit. Tag on battery was 10-2016 manufacture date. So, 6.5 is more accurate. Still good though considering where she's been in that time.

 

[Turdle]

Today's PSA is:

Never go against your own advice.

Yesterday was the start of going backwards to follow my own.

Way back when the new engine went in, with the help of countless forum members for a whole weekend, I prepped the motor with new gaskets.

I used the silicone rubber china wall gaskets!! Can you believe that? I say never do that and did it anyway just because the factory gaskets sealed so we'll.

Betty has been a skeeter killer ever since. Oil leaking onto the bell housing and dripping onto the cat shield. Once it's happening, it only gets worse so instead of burning down whichever building she parks close to, let's fix it.

Lemme tell ya. Getting old sucks. I used to coulda did this myself but man, it has been a fight just to get the upper plenum pulled. Egr tube would not surrender so sawzall fixed that. Once a socket would fit, my Ryobi impact zipped the useless nuts off manifold fitting and egr valve( valve in vice as not to crack elbow) .

I've only broken 3 injector connectors so far. Only tried unplugging 3 so I ordered a new egr tube and 8 injector clippys.

Valve covers also leaking. I have new intake set, and fel pro blue rubber to go back in.

If there are better intake and valve cover gaskets to get please tell meow. Not to sound like a kitty, but I really don't want to do this again. I already know I will not be able to place the intake or upper plenum on my own. I almost gave up trying to get upper off. So many things plugged in underneath, and my spine just will not allow all that holding and pulling crap . I can get help though.

 

[Dono]

Situation seems normal to me. :-(
It's so tight in the engine bay, its crazy.

Hate to actually admit this, but I'm so happy Tim was able to make something out of the pile of great parts I had.
I'm still happy to have washed my hands of the continual missery I endured. Self inflicted, but still..................

You brought back very painful memories. Hang in there Jon.

 

[gmanpaint]

Let it leak, you always have fresh oil in that way.

 

[Turdle]

Let it leak, you always have fresh oil in that way.

I like that option but it's getting worse. Neighbor had a magnum V8 Durango go up in flames in his driveway for same thing though.

 

[traveler]

Well now you have me worried. I've got an oil pan gasket and a rear main seal leaking that I've been ignoring for a while because I just don't want to do the work involved in fixing them. Besides, as you noted, they leak onto the catalytic converter heat shield and the oil gets cooked off before it even hits the ground. But if its gonna cause Eddie to go up in flames...

 

[Turdle]

Well now you have me worried. I've got an oil pan gasket and a rear main seal leaking that I've been ignoring for a while because I just don't want to do the work involved in fixing them. Besides, as you noted, they leak onto the catalytic converter heat shield and the oil gets cooked off before it even hits the ground. But if its gonna cause Eddie to go up in flames...

Don't Google search it then.

Anyone reading, if an under hood fire does happen to you, and you can get hood release to pop, spray the safety latch with your fire extinguisher to cool it. It's gone be sizzling hot. Wish we'd known that before .
In that case panic took over and we emptied 2 under the Durango. Had to wait and watch for fire dept.
@traveler , check how high up the bell housing oil is present. You could have a leaky egr grommet, or even valve cover. Inside my bell housing is dry, if yours is dry behind the inspection cover, your leak is higher up. Fingers crossed for you.