2stroke
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- August 7, 2013
- Messages
- 1,165
- Reaction score
- 39
- Location
- 57401
- City, State
- Aberdeen, South Dakota
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1993 Ford Explorer Sport
I've been AWOL for too long, the whole work rich and time poor thing. By now I figured I would have my 93 back and running, and would be posting about a lift by now. I have everything, I just need to get around to putting the engine together and back in the truck. About every time I start to get ready, something else shows up.
Saturday my dad showed up in a 2002 explorer, as happy as could be, and rattling like a can. Sure enough, it was a 4.0 SOHC, and it was timing chain failure at 120,000 miles. My dad was not thrilled, he said is sounded fine when he test drove it. The guy told him it made noise, so it was not a surprise. Unfortunately there is no way around it, the engine has to be pulled. I did what I could that night, then finished today. What a piece of crap! For anyone looking at this job, or worse yet, considering it for an engine swap from the lowly OHV version, let me introduce Ford engineering. I decided to start underneath, the exhaust came off easy. I got the two bottom bell housing bolts out, then the third is right behind an O2 sensor. 5 minutes into it, and I'm already working around a problem because they figured it was easier to let the mechanic suffer than weld the bung on a little to the left. I get up top and decide to start with something "simple" I got everything off the plenum, and just need to unbolt it. Ford in all their glory decided to use a torx head screw. They could have just as easily gone with a hex/torx combo head, or just a regular hex. The far rear bolt is not possible to remove. Instead I pulled the plastic cowl, and took out the access panel for the wiper blades so I could remove that one screw. Next I decided to tackle the electrical. The starter/positive wire was already gone. Everything is bundled together, and everything is sharp in this 2002. The engine bay is booby trapped with razors. The engine and transmission wire harnesses are bound together at the rear of the engine where you can't get to. I had to pull multiple brackets, unplug multiple sensors, not to mention the alternator power wire, just to remove the one main ground to the engine block. The alternator wire is a job in itself. Its routed around the engine, through the accessory bracket, behind the water pump, under the thermostat housing, and over the alternator. First I removed the thermostat housing, and sure enough Ford put a tab on the water pump so there is absolutely no way to remove the wire. I took the water pump off, and the wire is stuck with a push pin up where you can barely contort a hand to get to. An hour later you finally have that one wire out, which doesn't even count that I already had the radiators and fan out which is unique in itself. Finally I'm down to nothing but motor mounts one more bell housing bolt, and torque converter bolts. The motor mounts are different than the OHV mounts, which makes no sense, but otherwise not a big deal. The last bell housing bolt was the top right, and its in a jungle of sharp plastic clips, including metal clips which hold fuel and AC lines. Finally got that off and then attempt to do the flex plate to torque converter. I actually had to look this one up. Sure enough, the only way to do it is to crank over the engine and get the nuts through the tiny opening for the starter. Again in Ford fashion, the opening is too small, and of all things, the nut is a 14mm. After a tag team effort we finally got the last nut off, and the engine came out without much fuss. All this because Ford put a timing chain in the rear of the engine, and 1 or more of the 3 timing chains WILL fail and sooner rather than later. This is an engine that should have been discontinued right away along with the triton V8. After my dad spends $300+ on a timing chain set, and then more $$$ on all the seals and other goodies, I'll get to do it all over again.
I don't mean for this post to be negative, actually the opposite. No matter what problem you have with your first gen explorer, just remember that you have the best explorer ever made. Hopefully I will be more active here in the future. My 1994 B4000 had been a real trooper, and has not had a single failure in over a year even with 280,000 miles on it, but I much prefer the explorer.
Saturday my dad showed up in a 2002 explorer, as happy as could be, and rattling like a can. Sure enough, it was a 4.0 SOHC, and it was timing chain failure at 120,000 miles. My dad was not thrilled, he said is sounded fine when he test drove it. The guy told him it made noise, so it was not a surprise. Unfortunately there is no way around it, the engine has to be pulled. I did what I could that night, then finished today. What a piece of crap! For anyone looking at this job, or worse yet, considering it for an engine swap from the lowly OHV version, let me introduce Ford engineering. I decided to start underneath, the exhaust came off easy. I got the two bottom bell housing bolts out, then the third is right behind an O2 sensor. 5 minutes into it, and I'm already working around a problem because they figured it was easier to let the mechanic suffer than weld the bung on a little to the left. I get up top and decide to start with something "simple" I got everything off the plenum, and just need to unbolt it. Ford in all their glory decided to use a torx head screw. They could have just as easily gone with a hex/torx combo head, or just a regular hex. The far rear bolt is not possible to remove. Instead I pulled the plastic cowl, and took out the access panel for the wiper blades so I could remove that one screw. Next I decided to tackle the electrical. The starter/positive wire was already gone. Everything is bundled together, and everything is sharp in this 2002. The engine bay is booby trapped with razors. The engine and transmission wire harnesses are bound together at the rear of the engine where you can't get to. I had to pull multiple brackets, unplug multiple sensors, not to mention the alternator power wire, just to remove the one main ground to the engine block. The alternator wire is a job in itself. Its routed around the engine, through the accessory bracket, behind the water pump, under the thermostat housing, and over the alternator. First I removed the thermostat housing, and sure enough Ford put a tab on the water pump so there is absolutely no way to remove the wire. I took the water pump off, and the wire is stuck with a push pin up where you can barely contort a hand to get to. An hour later you finally have that one wire out, which doesn't even count that I already had the radiators and fan out which is unique in itself. Finally I'm down to nothing but motor mounts one more bell housing bolt, and torque converter bolts. The motor mounts are different than the OHV mounts, which makes no sense, but otherwise not a big deal. The last bell housing bolt was the top right, and its in a jungle of sharp plastic clips, including metal clips which hold fuel and AC lines. Finally got that off and then attempt to do the flex plate to torque converter. I actually had to look this one up. Sure enough, the only way to do it is to crank over the engine and get the nuts through the tiny opening for the starter. Again in Ford fashion, the opening is too small, and of all things, the nut is a 14mm. After a tag team effort we finally got the last nut off, and the engine came out without much fuss. All this because Ford put a timing chain in the rear of the engine, and 1 or more of the 3 timing chains WILL fail and sooner rather than later. This is an engine that should have been discontinued right away along with the triton V8. After my dad spends $300+ on a timing chain set, and then more $$$ on all the seals and other goodies, I'll get to do it all over again.
I don't mean for this post to be negative, actually the opposite. No matter what problem you have with your first gen explorer, just remember that you have the best explorer ever made. Hopefully I will be more active here in the future. My 1994 B4000 had been a real trooper, and has not had a single failure in over a year even with 280,000 miles on it, but I much prefer the explorer.
