Engine swap

[mac26r]

Hi everyone, bought a 93 explorer about 15years ago. Daughter learned to drive in it and now has her own 06 explorer. Son learned to drive in it and has been driving it unitl last week. After over 270,000 miles... the engine has finally gone on to greener pastures. Other than the miles, the old explorer is in decent shape. Recently rebuilt suspension, tires and so on... I found an non egr used engine with compression of over 195 for $400.00! I thought I'd ask you folks who have done engine swaps about the trials and tribulations of doing this in the garage. I'm fairly handy. Rebuilt and installed a ford 302 for old sea ray boat, brakes and oil changes myself etc... I'd have to rent, borrow or steal a lift, but other than that i've got the tools to do the job. I've just never done one in a car by myself before. I've got a 15year old daughter who is just about to get her permit and the explorer is a good safe car to learn in. I leaning towards trying to tackle this sucker but let me know if it doesn't seem worth the trouble.

 

[Anime]

Welcome to the site.

What's the matter with the original engine?

Whether or not the replacement engine is worth it depends on the mileage. If it's fairly low mileage then it might well be worth a few hundred and you can just swap over anything else you need, but it's best to know what it's out of since the non-EGR motors can be from early 91-92s rather than late 92s - early 93s. The early 91-92s had less power/torque, weaker 90TM heads, and other things, so it's better to get one from a late 92 or another 93 if you can, especially if you want to put the EGR on and use the original ECU.

Sometimes it can be worth it to spend the money on rebuilding an engine, or just replacing certain parts. The stock heads are a weak point, and the stock rocker arms tend to wear, so replacing these parts, along with the timing components, oil pump, water pump, etc. etc. can bring new life to an old motor, for just a little more money than a used engine.

Whether it's worth it is up to you, it can be worth it and rewarding to throw in a lower mileage motor or rebuild the existing one if the rest of the vehicle is in good shape, including the transmission. There's lots of resources here and plenty of info on everything from a rebuild to an engine swap and how to replace just about anything on the Explorer.

 

[mac26r]

follow-up

Thanks for your response. So I decided not to assume the engine was blown just because a mechanic buddy of mine told me it wasn't worth the hassle with the 270,000 miles on the engine. Went and bought a compression guage and ran the cylinders. Only did the dry test since my readings were between 175 and 180 on all cylinders! These 4.0 are awsome! Long story short... MAS was completely shot. Engine ran better when I disconnected the sensor. Replaced it and the spark plugs and now it's running better than ever. I cant believe I almost started an engine swap because I got lazy! I'm going to keep this thing forever and when the kids get done learning to drive I think I'll lift it and have a great weekend toy to play with.

 

[mac26r]

follow up

By the way. The symptoms that the engine was displaying... Extremely rough idle, meaning the engine looked like it was going to shake off its mounts. Large amount of black goo blowing out the exhaust. Engine was making so much noise you couldn't hear yourself speaking witht he hood up. Wouldn't idle and smoking like crazy. I guess I don't blame my buddy for assuming it was bad but the old line about assuming just about got me again!

 

[Anime]

Glad to hear some minor items made it run much better. New spark plug wires might make it run even better.

Keep in mind all the items I mentioned are still valid maintenance items, they are better replaced sooner rather than later, especially on a high mileage motor. Sometimes you can get away with not replacing things until they cause problems, but it can also just be easier to replace them when you have the time and money rather than waiting for disaster to happen.

The rocker arms are well known for wearing and making valve clatter. New rocker assemblies and pushrods from Ford are just ~$200 if you get them from our forum vendors Tousley Ford or Ford Super Center.

The stock ECU has capacitors that eventually leak and damage the circuit board, so sometimes odd running issues like that will be an ECU that is almost shot. Only fix is either replacing the caps or buying a refurbed ECU, $100-200. Of course you can buy a used ECU of the same type, but the same thing will happen to it in short order if it's the same age.

Be sure to read up on all the sticky posts in the 1991-1994 forums and the maintenance sections, there's a lot of inexpensive maintenance items and common issues you can deal with easier once you know what to expect.