Easy repair or shortblock?!

[mowermechanic]

I JUST BOUGHT MY FIRST FORD... ...EXPLORER!! (pre-exploded). $500 for a 94 limited 4wd. i've been reading on these forums for about a month, now i finally got one! WHo i bought it from said the motor was bad, if i disconnect the lead to the ignition module, and turn it over, it turns over fine, and sounds like it has good compression, all cylinders sound even. BUT when i plug in the lead, and actually fire it up, it knocks, but it only sounds like one big side rod bearing. Guessing oil leaked out of front main seal, and he ran it low on oil.(that's what the trail of oil tells me) HERE's my first question. Is it possible to remove the oil pan, and unbolt the rod caps, and clean up the journals with some emry cloth, and measure/install new rod bearings?!? thanks guys!

 

[wyochimneysweep]

probably not

 

[TedJ]

You've got nothing to loose if you're doing the labor, the parts won't cost much. Otherwise get a known good junkyard engine and swap it. Depends on how much time you have, how important it is to have it running 100%, and how long you want it to last. I wouldn't consider it a permanent fix, but if you need it fixed now and need some time to find a replacement engine, then it might be ok.

 

[Turdle]

I think jeffbethandkids just did this actually, you might ask him for tips. He knows his stuff, and actually replaces parts, instead of shotgunning the whole deal. I saw the truck they rebuilt driving the colorado trails just fine a few days later.

tell him I said hey--

 

[mowermechanic]

I have no oil pressure, i heard the oil pump pick up tube likes to drop off from the oil pump, is this true?

 

[35Remmy]

I've heard of that happening, but not for a specific vehicle. Of course it's a possibility.

Have you ran basic tests like compression?

I wouldn't see why you couldn't drop the pan to get the caps/journals and go from there.

This is what happens when you pay 500$ for a vehicle, heh. Although if you REALLY wanted a headache you would have bought a Blazer.

 

[Maniak]

There was a thread this past year about someone dropping the pan to replace the gasket. Even doing that was tough as there isn't enough room to remove the pan. He dropped it some to replace the gasket, but he had to push the gasket into the pan and fish it out on the otherside.. Soo.. You most likely have to lift, if not remove the engine to get to the bearing caps..

I've seen posts about the pickup being plugged, but never hear of it falling off.. at least on an X.

~Mark

 

[mowermechanic]

i figured i'd pull the engine anywayz with the forklift.... least that way i could do the rear main seal and other gaskets alot easier, plus inspections n' such
I don't have a compression tester, but when you turn it over, every cylinder sounds even, so they arn't too far off. ...i hope. But yes, i knew the engine was gonna need serious repairs for the most part, hence 500. WHen a small engine throws a rod, usually you can just sand up the crank journal till all the built up aluminum is gone, slap a new rod in, new gaskets, and away you go. I'm hopin the x isn't too far off from that.

 

[icom]

I've heard of that happening, but not for a specific vehicle. Of course it's a possibility.

Have you ran basic tests like compression?

I wouldn't see why you couldn't drop the pan to get the caps/journals and go from there.

This is what happens when you pay 500$ for a vehicle, heh. Although if you REALLY wanted a headache you would have bought a Blazer.

LOL !!!! I'd take a Blazer over 1/2dz Exploders ANY day..got an explorer in the garage I'll trade for a Blazer or Jeep Cherokee in a heartbeat.

 

[mowermechanic]

i like the full size blazers, but the s10 dropped me off 3/4 the way to montana from washington, also killed my 4wd in a blizzard, also had a car, blew H/G on the way to montana, you know what they say about chevrolet. Back to the X, I also found about a cup of water in the intake, he went into the trails with it a couple times he told me (the seller) I think the offroad excursion might have more to do with the engine knock than he thinks.

Cracked
Heads
Every
Valve
Rattles
Oil
Leaks
Engine
Ticks

 

[KPT]

LOL !!!! I'd take a Blazer over 1/2dz Exploders ANY day..got an explorer in the garage I'll trade for a Blazer or Jeep Cherokee in a heartbeat.

You like Chrysler products???? I just got rid of my 2000 XJ, HATED it. My 95 Explorer is a better vehicle by far.

My base level (XL) 95 Explorer made the second from the top level (Classic) XJ look like a primitive POS.

 

[35Remmy]

ICOM when you sell parts and you sell SO many parts for one particular vehicle that new jokes are made daily about the quality of that vehicle, logic would tell you that certain vehicle is JUNK. In this case, the Chevy Blazer.

They're about as CHEAP as cheap gets.

 

[icom]

i like the full size blazers, but the s10 dropped me off 3/4 the way to montana from washington, also killed my 4wd in a blizzard, also had a car, blew H/G on the way to montana, you know what they say about chevrolet. Back to the X, I also found about a cup of water in the intake, he went into the trails with it a couple times he told me (the seller) I think the offroad excursion might have more to do with the engine knock than he thinks.

Cracked
Heads
Every
Valve
Rattles
Oil
Leaks
Engine
Ticks

F* Found
O* On
R*Road
D*Dead

F*Fix
O*Or
R*Repair
D*Daily

I know there's more

You like Chrysler products???? I just got rid of my 2000 XJ, HATED it. My 95 Explorer is a better vehicle by far.

My base level (XL) 95 Explorer made the second from the top level (Classic) XJ look like a primitive POS.

Cherokee.. I know a few guys that have them,well over 200k and no problems
no major problems anyway.

ICOM when you sell parts and you sell SO many parts for one particular vehicle that new jokes are made daily about the quality of that vehicle, logic would tell you that certain vehicle is JUNK. In this case, the Chevy Blazer.

They're about as CHEAP as cheap gets.

SO many parts ???What parts ?? What jokes ? fill me in. I must have missed all those while waiting in line for everyone to get their Ford parts

I've had 3 S10 Blazers,2 S10 P/U

1-Blazer 210k when I traded it in,all I ever did to it was change the oil,set of tires (bought new '95 )

1 -Blazer I have now 110k + never did anything but change the oil and a set of tires (although the A/C doesn't work now ) bought a used '96 in 2000 with 13k on it)

the '88 had around 180k when I sold it,its still driving around town

both of the P/U's had close to 200k....1 got totaled,the other the guy is still driving 310k last time I rode in it last fall

if I remember right,all had the 4.3L

:

Talk about JUNK..EVERY Ford I've had (F150,Taurus,2 Exploders and a few others over the years),now those have been P.O.S's and then some.. Parts ?? How about that crappy,poorly designed 4.0 SOHC that REQUIRES several hundred $$$$ of chains,guides,tensioners WAY too often...thousands of $$$ unless done by the owner (mines needed them twice in less than 40k) ( ok,so its not really the engine,its the crappy giudes and tensioners)

sorry guys,but you're never going to convince me that Exploders are better than anything..or at least that the SOHC is "better"
I will say they are nice looking SUV's though.

 

[Maniak]

sorry guys,but you're never going to convince me that Exploders are better than anything..or at least that the SOHC is "better"
I will say they are nice looking SUV's though.

You just have bad Ford Karma .

We finally rebuilt the motor on our 1st gen X (4.0 OHV) at 355k miles
Our '06 mustang which has the 4.0 sohc motor has over 90k miles on it.. so far, all trouble free..
Our old (now gone) '84 van with a 300 inline 6 motor went well over 200k miles when I parked it (other issues) and then got rid of it..
Our dodge Neon lasted 305k miles (broke a timing belt trying to push the replacement interval too far)..
I've had two hondas that went over 300k miles.
The only motor I've had issues with quickly after owning is the Chevy flatbed (1 ton).. That motor died 10k miles after getting the truck.. no warning signs.. it just killed the cam one day..

I do agree, ford has made some stupid decisions/designs but every maker has done that.

~Mark

 

[35Remmy]

ICOM...we sell just TONS of chassis parts, sensors and fuel pumps for Blazers. We actually had to make more room on the shelves to accommodate not just Blazer fuel pumps, but GM fuel pumps, gas tanks and front end parts. EVERY year after plowing season rolls by the Chevy guys come in crying about their ball joints and tie-rod ends for their not-so-heavy-duty independent front suspensions (junk).

We joke about how if GM ever went out of business so would every auto parts store.

So tell me how great Blazers are when we sell 10 Blazer parts to 3 Explorer parts. And keep in mind there's 10 times more Explorers on the road.

Want to know what we sell more parts for than ANYTHING? Silverado's. I worked on them in the military for 4 years so I know what they're ALL about!!!

You know the saying...if you want a nice riding truck you buy a Chevy...if you want a work truck, you buy a Ford. Only ones that held up for our base towing 300 days a year and almost always over gross.

 

[35Remmy]

MANIAK...what oil/filter were you using in the OHV 4.0? I know that this motor easily runs 200k miles but was thinking of switching to Amsoil from Motorcraft and didn't know whether or not it was really needed. I'm only at 90K in the Ranger OHV 4.0. Runs like brand new.

The 'ol 88 Ranger I have went 273,000 (2.9L) before the motor went and it was BEAT on (under-expression) running plain Valvoline 10W30.

 

[icom]

I'll buy that remmy.. I don't do any plowing,so maybe thats why all the chevys have lasted so long for me
and I agree,there sure are ALOT of Explorers driving around,just driving between my house and my mothers (about 7 city blocks or so) there's at least a dz Ex's parked at houses to about 2 S-blazers including the one I'm driving


but it sure seems that I definately have some kind of a Ford vodoo curse on me.

hope the SOHC in my Ex goes awhile before it comes apart,sure makes a heck of racket when I start it up in the morning until it gets good and warmed up;can't afford to re-do the chains/guides in it.. (LOTS more pwoer in the Ford than the 4.3 in the Blazer too)

 

[Cobraguy]

Fix the oil pressure problem. You may not have bearing knock once you do that. However, the oil pressure may be low because of bearing problems. Don't trust that idiot gauge in your dash. Use a manual gauge.

If you find a bearing out of it, you need to decide how good a repair you want. If it's bad enough to knock, it's bad. You not only worry about the crank surface, but you worry about the rod. Is it beat out of specs? You might get away with throwing another bearing on there, but is that going to be a reliable repair? Is that important? Maybe you only want to fix it well enough to get you by for now and will worry about it later. Up to you.

If it's spun a bearing, don't even attempt to try and replace the bearing.

I'm not sure of the oil pick up on a 4.0. On a 5.0 it bolts on. Really hard to fall off...

 

[mowermechanic]

That makes sense. I was told that the whole engine lacked oil if there's no oil pressure. So i might be better off getting a used long block, untill i can save up for a rebuilt one, or rebuild the original one... Also a cup of water in the intake, and the radiator had about a quart of water in it is all.

 

[CDW6212R]

That makes sense. I was told that the whole engine lacked oil if there's no oil pressure. So i might be better off getting a used long block, untill i can save up for a rebuilt one, or rebuild the original one... Also a cup of water in the intake, and the radiator had about a quart of water in it is all.

I'd swap to another used engine, they aren't expensive. I'd sell my 93 4.0 for $250, it has 112,622 miles on it. Good luck,