Hello from Tulsa

[Hlperez1976]

Just want to say hi and learn a few things here. Just picked up a 2016 Explorer XLT with the 2.3 turbo and fwd. Black leather, 18" wheels and Titanium pearl white paint. Nothing crazy. Hopefully it gets good gas and get up and go when she needs it. It has about 117,x.. on it.

...Is this one of them engines that blows head gaskets or cracks the block?
... How bad is it to clean the carbon build up on the back of the valves?
... Is thier an after market intercooler that will bring down the charge air temp on this 2.3

Just trying to do small mods that the wife won't know but help the Explorer in the long run. Oorah!

 

[DintDobbs]

@Hlperez1976 Welcome to our collective backyard! I'm not a 5th-gen owner, so I can't answer these questions directly, but I can recommend you to my best pal, the Search Bar! He's a rather wordy character, but he has the answers to most questions. Climb up to the top right corner of the screen and you will find him there, waiting for you.

Simply search for terms like "2016 2.3 head gaskets" or "5th gen 2.3 valves" and peruse the results for any relevant work. Often, you will find walk-throughs (some times with photographs) for replacing difficult parts or correcting common problems.

As for the intercooler... besides checking around this forum, I'd suggest looking around the general Internet, just use Google or Bing or some other such for your year, make, and model, followed by "intercooler" and/or "reviews", to see how others' experiences stack up.

Hope you enjoy your time here, and best of luck finding the answers to your questions!

 

[2020FordRaptor]

Just want to say hi and learn a few things here. Just picked up a 2016 Explorer XLT with the 2.3 turbo and fwd. Black leather, 18" wheels and Titanium pearl white paint. Nothing crazy. Hopefully it gets good gas and get up and go when she needs it. It has about 117,x.. on it.

...Is this one of them engines that blows head gaskets or cracks the block?
... How bad is it to clean the carbon build up on the back of the valves?
... Is thier an after market intercooler that will bring down the charge air temp on this 2.3

Just trying to do small mods that the wife won't know but help the Explorer in the long run. Oorah!

Welcome! Yes there are intercooler for your Explorer.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Just want to say hi and learn a few things here. Just picked up a 2016 Explorer XLT with the 2.3 turbo and fwd. Black leather, 18" wheels and Titanium pearl white paint. Nothing crazy. Hopefully it gets good gas and get up and go when she needs it. It has about 117,x.. on it.

...Is this one of them engines that blows head gaskets or cracks the block?
... How bad is it to clean the carbon build up on the back of the valves?
... Is thier an after market intercooler that will bring down the charge air temp on this 2.3

Just trying to do small mods that the wife won't know but help the Explorer in the long run. Oorah!

welcome to EF! i havent heard of any large scale head issues on these yet.

 

[94Eddie]

Just want to say hi and learn a few things here. Just picked up a 2016 Explorer XLT with the 2.3 turbo and fwd. Black leather, 18" wheels and Titanium pearl white paint. Nothing crazy. Hopefully it gets good gas and get up and go when she needs it. It has about 117,x.. on it.

...Is this one of them engines that blows head gaskets or cracks the block?
... How bad is it to clean the carbon build up on the back of the valves?
... Is thier an after market intercooler that will bring down the charge air temp on this 2.3

Just trying to do small mods that the wife won't know but help the Explorer in the long run. Oorah!

Welcome aboard. Having the four cylinder will make any engine repairs much easier and cheaper. The engine in your Explorer is basically very reliable. The smaller displacement four cylinders in the Escapes have bad issues. Cleaning the carbon off the valves shouldn't be too much trouble since it is a four cylinder. If I were you the first thing I would do is install a good catch can system. The reason for the carbon buildup on the valves and elsewhere is due to oil mist getting sucked into the intake tract from the PCV system. A good catch can setup will intercept most of this mist and go a long way in keeping carbon buildup to a minimum. The single best thing you can do is regular oil changes. Don't follow Ford's service recommendations for oil changes, transmission fluid, PTU fluid, etc. Oil change intervals shouldn't be any longer than 5k miles and there are new oils out now that are specifically made for direct injection engines that further help keep carbon buildup to a minimum. Transmission fluid service should be every 50k miles. If your Explorer has AWD then change the PTU fluid every 30k miles. The PTU is heat soaked by the engine, transmission and exhaust system. This degrades the fluid in the PTU quickly thus requiring the 30k change intervals. Also, the PTU holds less than a quart of fluid which makes changing it even more critical. At 117k miles you should change the coolant, flush the brake fluid, drain and refill the rear differential if it has one, flush the power steering fluid (if it isn't electric), drain and refill the transmission and the PTU. Good maintenance will go a very long way in keeping repairs to a minimum going forward.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum!

 

[Mike65]

Welcome.