First Explorer! Was This A Wise Investment???

[ExCon]

My wife wanted an Explorer and I needed a tow vehicle for a boat. I bought a 1998 Eddie Bauer with the 5.0 Liter Mustang Engine and 2 wheel drive. The truck has 98,000 miles on it. It came from the original owners and here are the highlights:
1. New Radiator
2. New A/C Condenser and dryer and accumulator plus a new vacuum control assembly that controls the duct doors inside the dashboard. In other words the A/C was gone over COMPLETELY and any necessary parts replaced.
3. New plugs and wires on the 5.0 Liter motor.
4. Transmission flushed every 15,000 miles!!
5. Oil changed religiously at 3,000 miles!
6. Florida car, the underside of this SUV LOOKS ALMOST NEW!! No corrosion!!
7. Fully loaded with everything except the wheel package.
8. Tow package
9. Exterior gets a 7.5 on a scale of 1-10 since there is a chip in the front bumper and a scratch on 1 door. Other than that exterior is GREAT!
10. Interior is Eddie Bauer, loaded with leather, trip computer etc. Condition is a 7.5 with no tears but the hoodliner has a crayon mark.
11. This SUV runs like its got 40,000 miles on it. SOLID AS A ROCK!!

I PAID $7400.00 FOR THIS VEHICLE

HOW DID I DO?
I was told that the 5.0 liter "Mustang" motor along with the 2 wheel drive is the BEST drive train for this SUV UNLESS you need 4 wheel drive.

I will be changing the rear differential gear oil and begin using a SYNTHETIC BLEND OIL ALONG WITH AMSOIL OIL FILTERS
I would prefer going to FULL SYNTHETIC but I am afraid of leaking seals on the motor.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I GOT A GOOD SUV AT A GOOD PRICE AND ANYTHING ELSE I MIGHT WANT TO DO ON THIS SUV IN TERMS OF MAINTENANCE
Regards,
ExCon

 

[Blee1099]

Welcome to the site. The 5.0 Explorers are very reliable. Its alot better to tow with the V8 models compared to the V6 models since the transmissions often times in the V6 models fail.

 

[aldive]

Why would you use synthetic blend instead of 100 % synthetic fluids?

 

[ExCon]

Reason is that at 98,000 miles the seals on the motors have been "sealed" using petroleum based oils. When switching an engine that has run only petroleum based oils for 98K you must perform a "flush" on the engine and then use full synthetic. Problem is that the seals on the engines can begin to leak. If you go with the blended synthetics you don't need to worry so much about seals. I normally run AMSOIL FULL SYNTHETIC WITH AMSOIL FILTERS. Amsoil is one of the best products on the market. They make the BEST oil filters available and also make synthetic oils that are far superior to Mobil 1. They have synthetics that run for 25,000 miles between changes!! Amsoil products are FIRST RATE! I learned about them from racing with the Porsche Club Of America. WWW.AMSOIL.COM

 

[bmxking5]

Same thing blee1099 said. The V8s are said to have a "bulletproof" drivetrain b/c the engine and tranny combo is soooo good. Many times, the reason people do 5.0 swaps in older Explorers is because they want that strong transmission.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

Being that your vehicle is a 98 and with that kind of miles I think you're ok to switch to Full Synthetic.


I've heard of older vehicles with more miles that have gone to Full and have had no troubles at all.

Guy at work uses Synthetic in all of his vehicles including his late 70's Ford LTD S-Wagon.

 

[aldive]

Reason is that at 98,000 miles the seals on the motors have been "sealed" using petroleum based oils.

When switching an engine that has run only petroleum based oils for 98K you must perform a "flush" on the engine and then use full synthetic.

Problem is that the seals on the engines can begin to leak. If you go with the blended synthetics you don't need to worry so much about seals.[/url]

Say what?

That is an old wive's tale and has little if any merit.

Another old wive's tale.

It's your truck, do whatever makes you happy. Good luck.

 

[Hartman]

I'm not sure thats a wives tale.

 

[MONMIX]

If you are towing I would add an aux tranny cooler and filter.


Other than that it sounds like you got a gem.

 

[ExCon]

I don't believ this info regarding leaking seals on motos is a "wives tale" simply because this info was provided to me by Amsoil tech support! They sell the stuff and still say its a calculated risk. In my book the safe bet is running Amsoil synthetic blend using the high performance Amsoil oil filter and changing my oil at 5,000 miles. BTW: I run an 05 Mustang GT Convertible with the 4.6 liyer modular motor. I ran it using the Motorcraft synthetic blend for the first 2000 miles. I then dumped that low budget trash that Ford uses and put in Amsoil FULL SYNTHETIC along with an Amsoil SDF-11 OIL FILTER. I now will be changing my oil in the 6-7 thousand mile range although I could easily run longer. If you run the Amsoil extended use oils you only change your oil every 25,000 miles! Amsoil offers oil analysis in order to determine the level of breakdown and contamination in your engine. The days of 3 thousand mile oil changes are LONG GONE!! Thats STONE AGE TECHNOLOGY!!

 

[jayhawkexplorer]

We know. There's hundreds of threads on here about that topic. Aldive, one of the guys who talked above, is the head preacher in the Amsoil religion on this board. Welcome to the site. I'd say you paid a decent price for that Explorer. I wouldn't call it a great deal, but not a bad one either.

 

[ExCon]

Thats what I figured, didn't steal it at that price but with all the new parts and options AND the 5.0 drivetrain I thought it was a fair price. NADA puts it at over $8500.00 but I would never pay that kind of money!

 

[Hartman]

I don't believ this info regarding leaking seals on motos is a "wives tale" simply because this info was provided to me by Amsoil tech support! They sell the stuff and still say its a calculated risk. In my book the safe bet is running Amsoil synthetic blend using the high performance Amsoil oil filter and changing my oil at 5,000 miles. BTW: I run an 05 Mustang GT Convertible with the 4.6 liyer modular motor. I ran it using the Motorcraft synthetic blend for the first 2000 miles. I then dumped that low budget trash that Ford uses and put in Amsoil FULL SYNTHETIC along with an Amsoil SDF-11 OIL FILTER. I now will be changing my oil in the 6-7 thousand mile range although I could easily run longer. If you run the Amsoil extended use oils you only change your oil every 25,000 miles! Amsoil offers oil analysis in order to determine the level of breakdown and contamination in your engine. The days of 3 thousand mile oil changes are LONG GONE!! Thats STONE AGE TECHNOLOGY!!

I think "calculated risk" is a good way to put it.

 

[gavin]

FYI, the 5.0 in the Explorer is slightly different than the Mustang 5.0. A lot of parts are not interchangable, some are. So unless they swapped in a "Mustang" 5.0, it doesn't actually produce as much hp.

 

[WNP 2]

Hey,

I think you did good.

I had a 96XLT with the same engine and AWD.

The AWD is great for towing.

Bullet proof.

Morgan

 

[jayhawkexplorer]

His is 2WD.

 

[madvette74]

wifes 98 eddie bauer, excellent condtion in and out, one scratch on it paid 4 grand

My wife wanted an Explorer and I needed a tow vehicle for a boat. I bought a 1998 Eddie Bauer with the 5.0 Liter Mustang Engine and 2 wheel drive. The truck has 98,000 miles on it. It came from the original owners and here are the highlights:
1. New Radiator
2. New A/C Condenser and dryer and accumulator plus a new vacuum control assembly that controls the duct doors inside the dashboard. In other words the A/C was gone over COMPLETELY and any necessary parts replaced.
3. New plugs and wires on the 5.0 Liter motor.
4. Transmission flushed every 15,000 miles!!
5. Oil changed religiously at 3,000 miles!
6. Florida car, the underside of this SUV LOOKS ALMOST NEW!! No corrosion!!
7. Fully loaded with everything except the wheel package.
8. Tow package
9. Exterior gets a 7.5 on a scale of 1-10 since there is a chip in the front bumper and a scratch on 1 door. Other than that exterior is GREAT!
10. Interior is Eddie Bauer, loaded with leather, trip computer etc. Condition is a 7.5 with no tears but the hoodliner has a crayon mark.
11. This SUV runs like its got 40,000 miles on it. SOLID AS A ROCK!!

I PAID $7400.00 FOR THIS VEHICLE

HOW DID I DO?
I was told that the 5.0 liter "Mustang" motor along with the 2 wheel drive is the BEST drive train for this SUV UNLESS you need 4 wheel drive.

I will be changing the rear differential gear oil and begin using a SYNTHETIC BLEND OIL ALONG WITH AMSOIL OIL FILTERS
I would prefer going to FULL SYNTHETIC but I am afraid of leaking seals on the motor.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I GOT A GOOD SUV AT A GOOD PRICE AND ANYTHING ELSE I MIGHT WANT TO DO ON THIS SUV IN TERMS OF MAINTENANCE
Regards,
ExCon

 

[ThunderB]

The motorcraft oil is a synthetic blend and the motorcraft oil filter has been tested to be one of the better oil filters out there. Full synthetic is good if your not to budget conscious. I like the best value for my money, so my vehicles go to teh Ford dealer for the oil changes. My dealer only charges $19 for an oil/filter change. Not bad for a synth blend.

I thought the 5.0 Explorer motors had a better intake (GT-40?) than the mustang counterparts. i know 5.0 TBird guys like to get the Explorer motors for their swaps. I imagine the cam profile would be more for torque and emissions though. You bought about the most reliable explorer design you could have- 5.0 and 4R70 tranny. Toss in a decent cam, exhaust, chip/flasher, and j-mod the tranny and you should have a strong runner.

 

[dreamr]

FYI, the 5.0 in the Explorer is slightly different than the Mustang 5.0. A lot of parts are not interchangable, some are. So unless they swapped in a "Mustang" 5.0, it doesn't actually produce as much hp.

You are ruight, it doesn't produce the same numbers as the 5.0 "stangs, The Explorer 5.0 makes more power

And most parts are interchangeable, unless we are going way way back to 79-84's then we have a few minor issues to deal with before all the modern 5.0 goodies could be swapped over.

The only real big difference between the two is the top end (intake/heads). Many mustang guys upgrade to the Explorer top end as it is a cheap easy upgrade to GT-40 heads and a cobra intake as that is what is on the EX