Fan rubbing on shroud body mount issue?

[gfyracing]

Hello, I am new to the forum and was wondering if anyone has experienced an issue that I am having. I have a 2002 Ford Explorer Sport Trac and the other weekend when I was out I hit a long water hole that was a couple of feet deep doing a bit too fast. Near the end of the water hole the truck started slowing down because of the amount of water I was pushing. I filled the engine bay with water but all was fine except for some steam so I kept driving.

After a couple of miles it was still steaming alot so I stopped to make sure everything was ok. There was a lot of water in the engine bay but nothing wrong except I noticed the fan wasn't turning because it was hitting the top of the fan shroud. It didn't over heat so I drove home and when I got home noticed the fan was rubbing more and the fan tips were black from rubbing the shroud. It was only rubbing on the top of the shroud.

I checked the motor mounts and transmission mount and there isn't much play in either. I noticed my body mounts are in really bad shape so I am guessing they are the culprits. The wiring harness behind the motor has been chafing on the vacuum port for the brake booster as well. I'm betting that when I hit the water hole it washed out a lot of the old body mount bushing and that caused the body to sag letting the fan hit the top of the shroud and the wiring harness to rub on the vacuum port.

The reason I'm asking on here is because the motor seems like it is tilted towards the back but the motor and transmission mounts seem fine and only the body mounts look bad. Judging from other Sport Trac's I've seen that looks normal to have a slight tilt towards the back but I wanted to confirm that.

Thanks.

 

[Fredness]

You guessed it...
Sounds like the body bushings are compressed from age. It is normal to have a slight tilt of the engine/transmission to the rear (lower in the back).

 

[koda2000]

The ST's OE body mount bushings are garbage. The front ones (AKA "A") and the rear ones (AKA "D") are pretty durable, but the 2 in the center ("B" and "C") are some kind of weird foam stuff that just disintegrates over time. Check your "A" bushings, which are located on each side of the radiator core support. My "B" and "C" bushings were so bad my doors didn't close correctly and the body was about 1-1.5 inches lower on the frame. Replaced mine with a Prothane 6116 kit.

 

[swshawaii]

Can't see how the engine didn't hydrolock if you were "pushing water" and " filled the engine bay with water".

Intake is behind the passenger headlight. As a precaution, inspect the air filter and oil for white milky color. GL

 

[gfyracing]

Thanks for the replies.

Can't see how the engine didn't hydrolock if you were "pushing water" and " filled the engine bay with water".

Intake is behind the passenger headlight. As a precaution, inspect the air filter and oil for white milky color. GL

I already changed the oil and it was good. The water got in the engine bay because I was creating a wake and it was splashing up and inside. All the parts of the plastic that had indents were full of water. It wasn't deep enough to go in the intake but it splashed up inside because of the speed I was going. I learned my lesson about saying to my kids watch this and going 25 mph through a 2 and a half foot deep water hole that's 50 feet long. Actually no I didn't l will do it again cause it's fun trying to soak them when they have the windows down.

 

[Fredness]

...also, the front and rear diffs are vented just over the level of the frame - you might want to check the diff fluid for water.