It’s gonna be an off roader/hunting rig

[Mitchs07explorer]

First hiccup today, I came out from work and there was a small puddle underneath my rig, It was coolant. I looked under the hood and could see coolant pooled on top of the water pump. When I got home again I could see that it looked like it was leaking from one of the bolt holes on the top. I was thinking I’d run it back out to the mechanic to make it right but now I’ve changed my mind. I did the water pump myself on the original engine before I knew I had a bad head gasket. It was fairly straight forward and I’m top of that fordmakuloco posted a video on YouTube on replacing it that I followed the first time. I bet I could have it done fairly quickly. Only thing that bums me out is that I was planning of changing the radiator out of my 07 Ex this weekend. Not a big deal either but having a spare vehicle made it so I could take my time. I think I’ll have to do the radiator in the 07 first because I don’t need to RTV anything like I do the water pump. I’ve also done my radiator once before a couple of years ago and actually had it out fairly quick. My only hang up was the not so quick connects for the transmission cooler. Those stupid things had my vehicle out of commission for a couple of days until I finally just cut them off.

I had my radiator flushed by jiffy lube yesterday and I couldn’t for the life of me think of what they could’ve done to make the pump leak. I would imagine their flushing machine doesn’t put a lot of pressure if any on the cooling system, at least not beyond manufacture recommendations. I then realized I replaced my upper radiator hose which was collapsing when my vehicle cooled down. The hose collapsed so much it wouldn’t allow any coolant to be sucked into the system from the expansion tank. I need to change the lower hose as well as it’s very soft, I have one and will replace it when I change the gasket for the water pump. I hope my guy didn’t screw up the timing chain cover gasket. I’m half tempted to pull it off when I take the pump off but I also don’t want to screw with it and possibly tear the new oil pan seal. Then I’d have to use the felpro kit with the cork pieces for the corners of the oil pan and I don’t trust it. I’m gonna go with the “if it ain’t broke (yet) don’t fix it”.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Here’s the progress so far. Turned out to be a loose bypass hose clamp that was allowing coolant to slip past when the system got hot. Jiffy lube must’ve screwed around with one of those hoses when doing the flush because it wasn’t leaking prior.

I changed the t-stat housing gasket for good measure too just because I initially thought I saw a leak coming from the underside of the t-stat. Once I did that I let it run for 20 min. When I came back out it had a really rough idle and smelled like it was running really rich. I had to scratch my head on that one for a few days until I hooked my smoke machine to the brake booster hose. Smoke was coming out of where the EGR bolts to the intake. Upon closer inspection I saw the bolts were nowhere near bolted down. I tried to tighten them but they were incredibly tight. My next thought was that the EGR tube was pulling the EGR down making it difficult to tighten. I opted just to remove that intake elbow with the EGR and EGR tube in place, so I unbolted the bottom of the EGR tube and pulled the whole thing off. I looked at the bolts on the EGR and wasn’t really all that surprised to see that, that fat ******* used the wrong sized washers when tightening the EGR back down to the intake, they were way to big. So the washers started to bind up against the EGR and effectively tighten it enough for the time being.

I don’t know if it was because of all of the moisture under the good the few days I was driving it around with coolant leaking out of that hose. Maybe that softened up the EGR gasket just enough it made the vacuum leak worse. Just a guess...

The part about it that kills me is the fat ******* knew he effed it up. I asked him for some parts back from the old engine and he included that intake elbow that the EGR hooks too. I didn’t think much of it when I saw it but now I knew he gave it to me because he knew he screwed up the one that’s currently on the engine. The washers started to bind on against the EGR and he stripped out the bolt holes because he kept cranking on it. At least I have the old one so I can fix this issue. When I first got the ex back from him I was getting a P0401 (insufficient EGR flow). I initially thought it could be an out of spec EGR tube that came with my OBX headers. That still might be the case but I’m going to try the OBX tube again and see if the EGR itself just wasn’t sealed properly. If it still throws that code I’ll bend my old EGR tube until it fits. It’s off quite a bit so I’ll have to do a lot of bending but I bet I could get it to work. I’ll run the smoke machine again to make sure it’s not the EGR itself that’s bad and then go from there.

I hope he assembled the rest of the engine correctly while it was out of the truckw. He supposedly took his time on that part, I think when it came down to installing the engine he really sped things up. So god only knows what else he stripped out, hopefully nothing else. In any case I think once I get this reassembled and running it should be in good shape again. Keeping my fingers crossed the OBX EGR tube will work.

 

[Blue m&m]

I couldn’t trust a mechanic who doesn’t own a tap and die set. Hope things get going better for you.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

I couldn’t trust a mechanic who doesn’t own a tap and die set. Hope things get going better for you.

My biggest fault is my want/ willingness to trust people, it’s not a bad trait but I’ve been bit in the ass a couple of times but this is by far the worst. After talking back and forth with him for several days I realized in one of our last conversation he only seemed to tell me stories about how he messed stuff up. His whole point was that he’ll fix his mistakes but it sounded to me like he never completed a job without making a major mistake lol.

But yes I agree with your rap & die comment. Like I said I definitely won’t be going back to him for anything and I’ll buy a tap and die set for myself and give the header bolts a go at this rate. I figure once I get the new elbow on and EGR bolted back up I should be in pretty good shape. So I’m going to keep a positive attitude towards the whole thing.

 

[Blk2kXLT]

OBX headers likely the reason things got rushed. They are complete POS and stole 12 hours of my time before taking them off and going with the TM. I laughed and said to myself "here we go" after seeing them mentioned in the first post.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

OBX headers likely the reason things got rushed. They are complete POS and stole 12 hours of my time before taking them off and going with the TM. I laughed and said to myself "here we go" after seeing them mentioned in the first post.

Yep, the guy told me he spent 3 hours tightening one bolt but I wasn’t sure if that was due to the headers, ineptness or both. Considering how much I invested so far it was stupid not to pony up and spend the extra $400 on TM’s. I’m hoping this set up will last a couple of years and then I can decide if I want to drop a reman and TM’s into it or move on. I’ve just invested so much into this project so far I can’t just dump it.

 

[Blk2kXLT]

Mine were so bad that I couldn't install the spark plugs and then other issues with the bolt alignments and such. He should of put on the locking header bolts as I read they eventually get themselves loose. My stock headers had some of the bolts just gone.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Mine were so bad that I couldn't install the spark plugs and then other issues with the bolt alignments and such. He should of put on the locking header bolts as I read they eventually get themselves loose. My stock headers had some of the bolts just gone.

The mech told me when he was tightening the headers he stripped 3 bolt holes on the drivers side. I’m guessing this is possibly because of alignment issues but he also said he had no problem bolting them up when the engine was out. He had to loosen up the drivers side header in order to tighten bolts on the motor mount on that side. That’s when everything went to hell I think. So far after a few hundred miles I haven’t noticed any leaks in the exhaust. I bought the thick Remflex gaskets which I think is the only reason the headers aren’t leaking.... yet. If they start to leak I’ll have to attempt to tap those bolt holes and at that point I may decide to pull those headers out and put the stock headers back on until I can get the TM’s.

 

[gmanpaint]

After reading your thread from the beginning, I can feel your frustrations. I have been down this road myself. I understand it is the expectations of getting what you was promised, vs what you got. It is more the point of it all, as the agreed price for work promised is what it should be, regardless of problems, or issues, as that is not on you. Doesn't matter if they did or didn't know about issues that might occur during the job, that is part of it.

I would personally take mechanical issues, over electrical issues any day. With the mechanical aspect, you at least have a good idea of what needs to be done, and can take action. Overall, it sounds like you got a decent deal for the work done, but sometimes it isn't about the costs, it's about the principle. That is where the emotions kick in, and can leave you feeling sick. When they deny or lie, it's even worse. They most definitely won't "Offer" any information on some problems incurred, and rather take the gamble, you won't find out, or if you do, it is down the road, and they won't take responsibility for it.

Your lucky enough to have the mechanic close enough, and willing to help fix his issues. That is a major plus, and shows he has good intentions. If he is willing to communicate with you, and help, just keep telling him about the issues as you find them, but pick your battles as you do. Something you can take care of easily on your own, just do them. The stripped threads is one such item he needs to take care of, and figure out himself, I feel. On the other hand, if the relations turns south, then you have to ask yourself if you can trust him to do it right, or are you taking another gamble letting him touch it again. Tough call.

I do hope it turns out alright, it is just a few things to tweak out, and your set for a long time to come.

 

[410Fortune]

The OBX headers I have heard good things about?
Even the TM headers can be a pita to install, unless you are PATIENT and get the correct bolts/fasteners
The header has to be bolted to the head lightly with the end two bolts (front most and rear most) then hang the gasket behind the manifold
Now you have to thread all of the other bolts, only 1-2 threads, If you try to mash the header down to the head you will never get the rest of the bolts in their holes straight because the primary tubes/angles are too close to the bolts. Now you have to mash down all of the bolts evenly, this is the only way you will be able to get all 8 of them to thread straight. A few turns of each bolt as you go until they are all tight.......If you take your time and are used to doing engines this will be a natural thing, if you rush it and don't have patience you will strip the heads (like your mech did)
And if you are swapping engines for customers you should have tap and dye kits, or go and GET ONE so you can fix your mistakes

Where in Idaho is Meridian? I will look it up.
I know a guy in North Idaho that can help with any future issues you have with your truck But you are 8 hours away from me

I have installed many sets of TMH headers in the Gen II trucks.......trying to find the exact best fit and gasket to get them to seal up. It took me 2 years and 3 attempts with my first prototype TMH to get to no leaks, I also had to do the ones on my old 96 Explorer twice.....after that I get it right on the first shot. This is a 7.5-8 out of 10 on the mechanic worth his salt scale of difficulty
No issues with install or leaks since........
Rushing the job is NOT something that is possible when working on exhaust on a 5.0 Explorer

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

The OBX headers I have heard good things about?
Even the TM headers can be a pita to install, unless you are PATIENT and get the correct bolts/fasteners
The header has to be bolted to the head lightly with the end two bolts (front most and rear most) then hang the gasket behind the manifold
Now you have to thread all of the other bolts, only 1-2 threads, If you try to mash the header down to the head you will never get the rest of the bolts in their holes straight because the primary tubes/angles are too close to the bolts. Now you have to mash down all of the bolts evenly, this is the only way you will be able to get all 8 of them to thread straight. A few turns of each bolt as you go until they are all tight.......If you take your time and are used to doing engines this will be a natural thing, if you rush it and don't have patience you will strip the heads (like your mech did)
And if you are swapping engines for customers you should have tap and dye kits, or go and GET ONE so you can fix your mistakes

Where in Idaho is Meridian? I will look it up.
I know a guy in North Idaho that can help with any future issues you have with your truck But you are 8 hours away from me

I have installed many sets of TMH headers in the Gen II trucks.......trying to find the exact best fit and gasket to get them to seal up. It took me 2 years and 3 attempts with my first prototype TMH to get to no leaks, I also had to do the ones on my old 96 Explorer twice.....after that I get it right on the first shot. This is a 7.5-8 out of 10 on the mechanic worth his salt scale of difficulty
No issues with install or leaks since........
Rushing the job is NOT something that is possible when working on exhaust on a 5.0 Explorer

Meridian is a suburb just outside Boise, that’s a bummer we’re so far apart. I have no friends that like to wrench on stuff so most of my skills come from trial and error. Plus YouTube is a massive help. But I have learned to be patient while working on this vehicle and this vehicle alone has taught me a lot about working on cars in general. Thanks for the tip on tightening the headers, for the sake of doing it right I’ll pull those bolts at some point in the near future and retap them. To many people moving to this area of Idaho now, I’d love to move further north, it’s very beautiful up there I’ll probably take some trips up that way this summer.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

After reading your thread from the beginning, I can feel your frustrations. I have been down this road myself. I understand it is the expectations of getting what you was promised, vs what you got. It is more the point of it all, as the agreed price for work promised is what it should be, regardless of problems, or issues, as that is not on you. Doesn't matter if they did or didn't know about issues that might occur during the job, that is part of it.

I would personally take mechanical issues, over electrical issues any day. With the mechanical aspect, you at least have a good idea of what needs to be done, and can take action. Overall, it sounds like you got a decent deal for the work done, but sometimes it isn't about the costs, it's about the principle. That is where the emotions kick in, and can leave you feeling sick. When they deny or lie, it's even worse. They most definitely won't "Offer" any information on some problems incurred, and rather take the gamble, you won't find out, or if you do, it is down the road, and they won't take responsibility for it.

Your lucky enough to have the mechanic close enough, and willing to help fix his issues. That is a major plus, and shows he has good intentions. If he is willing to communicate with you, and help, just keep telling him about the issues as you find them, but pick your battles as you do. Something you can take care of easily on your own, just do them. The stripped threads is one such item he needs to take care of, and figure out himself, I feel. On the other hand, if the relations turns south, then you have to ask yourself if you can trust him to do it right, or are you taking another gamble letting him touch it again. Tough call.

I do hope it turns out alright, it is just a few things to tweak out, and your set for a long time to come.

Any time I’ve contacted the mechanic in question he has always been good about getting back to me and addressing my concerns. I respect him for not avoiding me and trying to address issues I’ve come across. I realize with as high mileage as this vehicle is there are going to be other issues that arise that aren’t directly related to anything he worked on so I’m definitely not blaming him for every little thing. He did do a lot of other work as far as tearing down the newer engine and doing all the gaskets and whatnot but I did pay him for that. There’s no doubt I got a “bargain” on the labor, I’m sure a legit shop would have charged me 2 to 3 times as much. . I believe he’s trying to make a good name for himself and earn people’s trust. BUT, he doesn’t produce the quality of work he led me to expect from him. I do actually believe he would try to address my concerns but I really don’t trust his overall ability anymore, especially for all the little things I found that were half assed plus all the things he broke or lost. A serious lack of professionalism when it comes to respecting the customers property. At this point there’s no more money in it for him and in order for him to make money he has to pump out repairs for a used car dealership he works for. So I feel that if I brought it back to him for anything too complex he’d probably just rush to get it out of his way and possibly mess something else up.

My good friend is a car salesman and he met a mechanic years ago that has been servicing his cars. I was going to have my buddy’s mech do this work but he doesn’t do side work in the winter. If anything to complex pops up for me I’ll probably just wait till it warms up and take it to my friends guy. Depending on if I want to tackle the header bolt holes I might buy myself a tap and die kit or take it to a muffler shop if it proves to be difficult for anything reason (I.e. lack of working space).

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Okay I got the new intake elbow on intake system with the EGR properly fitted to the elbow and the EGR pipe to the EGR and header. I turned the car on and the idle did sound better. I hook my smoke machine back up and there was smoke coming from the EGR diaphragm area, not the gasket, as well as the IAC on top of the throttle body. I ordered both those parts and should hopefully have them installed next weekend. That should take care of the know vacuum leaks. Most of the other rubber vacuum tubing seemed to be in good enough shape. I want to change out one hose that sits at the front of the intake and runs up under the battery, it looks pretty dry and cracked even though no smoke came from it during the test. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that that’s going to take care of it and make it driveable again. I also need to take a closer look at the spark plug wires and make sure they’re not making contact with the headers and melting. After a quick look the heat resistant spark plug sleeves seem to be doing their job but I want to pull one off and take a really close look at the wire. But perhaps I’m overlooking something as simple as a melted wire.

 

[410Fortune]

The hose that runs under the battery is the EVAC system for the fuel tank vapors
the line is not flowing until you hit WOT, so you will not be able to detect leaks there

The fuel vapors are stored in the charcoal canister until the PCM decides to open the canister vent and canister purge solenoids, at that time manifold vacuum will suck the vapors from the canister, lines and top of the tank to be burned in the combustion chamber.

I HATE the factory material Ford used for that EVAC line....its crumbles and black crap gets all over everything

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

I HATE the factory material Ford used for that EVAC line....its crumbles and black crap gets all over everything

Haha I hear ya on that, I actually just had to change out the EGR on my 07 4.0 and there is a similar line that runs towards the back of the engine from the top of the intake. That line is 10 years newer but looks about as bad as the one on the 97.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Things seem to be looking up! I had the opportunity to work on my Ex yesterday all day and was able to remedy the rough idle. When I used my smoke machine (homemade type) a week ago when I noticed the rough idle, smoke poured out of the mating surface between the EGR and the intake. That’s when I discovered the stripped EGR bolt holes on the intake elbow. I replaced the intake elbow with another I luckily had on hand from the other engine and bolted everything back in place. Hooked up the smoke machine again and then smoke was coming from the EGR itself plus the IAC. I ordered both EGR and IAC and then installed them yesterday. Hooked up my smoke machine again and I thought all was good until smoke started pouring out of of the new IAC. I thought maybe I’d gotten a defective part but after doing some online research I found that IAC’s have a vent and are open when the vehicle is not running so turns out my original IAC is still good so I’ll be returning the new one.

So at least as far as I could detect I had found all my vacuum leaks, replaced my EGR and my DPFE hoses. I fired it up and had a somewhat better idle but still rougher and hesitated when I hit the gas. I turned it off and let it cool for a few moments and decided to take a look at my plugs and wires. I started pulling wires and looking under the protective heat socks and sure enough on the 3rd plug wire I pulled there was a spot where the sock and wire had been resting on the drivers side header. I pulled back the heat sock and the wire was totally burnt to the core. I ran to O’Reilly and bought a make your own sparkplug wire kit. I used the motorcraft rubber boot and plastic clip for the end that hooks to the coil and left the straight style sparkplug boot on the other end in place. I connected both ends and it was totally out of the way of the header, the wire now has a couple inches of clearance around the header. It probable won’t need it but I’ll put that heat sock back on for good measure. I put it all back together and fired it up and it was smooth as butter. Even smoother than before because all the vacuum leaks are squared away too.

I drove it most of yesterday and probably put 10-15 miles on it and all is well, runs great! I’m hoping the new EGR and it being installed properly takes care of the p401 code versus it being a faulty EGR pipe from OBX. If it is a faulty EGR pipe I have a solution for that too. Moddbox.me has long flexible EGR tubing with the correct fittings for the exhaust header and EGR valve for rerouting your EGR system if you put a supercharger or mod your vehicle in any way and you need to move it. The tubing is 20 inches long and my plan is to splice the stock EGR tube just below the two smaller DPFE pipes and micro weld with a laser welder the stock tube and flexible tube. I’ll only need 3-5 inches of the flexible tubing but that will make fitting the stock EGR tube to the headers and the EGR valve a piece of cake. The flexible tube will help with the weld not needing to be incredibly strong but it will definitely be more than strong enough and shouldn’t be a weak point. I’ve welded steel with the laser welder at my work in the past and it does an amazing job on smaller projects like this. It’s welding on such a smaller scale that it will take a little more time using the 28ga steel wire, but I’m confident it will work. In the end I’m hoping it won’t be necessary to go down that path and things will continue to run smoothly but at least I have a plan B. Someone here suggested to bend the stock EGR pipe but it’s too far off it would need to be cut anyway. So we’ll see what happens in the next 60 miles if the cel pops on for that or any other reason.

If everything holds my next move it to replace all my end links and sway bar bushings, when I was under the front end yesterday I noticed that one the end links was totally shot. I’m hoping the ballpoints are still good for now. Not that they’re that expensive but I’d rather replace the arms versus pressing in new ball joints. I get a bit of a squeak going over bumps from the front right, hopefully I can get away with the cheaper stuff like bushings for now but keep it safe for the road. I feel like I’m getting somewhere now

 

[Mbrooks420]

Great progress!

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

After a day of driving it around it still is sounding and feeling good. I popped the hood to check things out and did discover a very small amount of coolant under the t-stat housing on top of the timing chain cover. I’m possitive that I replaced the bypass hose that goes on the housing a while back but the steel bypass pipe that comes off the housing did have rust and deep pitting. I cleaned up the rust and it seemed to not leak after that and a gasket replacement, I did that a few weeks ago after having the system flushed resulting in a big leak. I think I’ll take some JB Weld and fill in the rusted and pitted areas on the steel bypass pipe. I’ll get another tstat housing gasket and use a little RTV just to make sure it’s sealed. A Dorman Tstat housing cover runs $40 so I’ll opt for the jb weld fix and see if that takes care of the issue. That will give me an opportunity to put on the lower radiator hose that I bought.

 

[Blk2kXLT]

I had to take my Tstat housing off and then get a file and flatten out the surface. Leaked 3x times when trying with new gasket, new gasket + RTV & even all RTV. (before correcting the surface)

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

I had to take my Tstat housing off and then get a file and flatten out the surface. Leaked 3x times when trying with new gasket, new gasket + RTV & even all RTV.

So did you end up just replacing it, or was filing it enough?