Just Bought My First Explorer !!

[steve_ lazarus]

Morning,
Just joined the board and thought I should say hi. I probably need to update my profile with truck info and I will after the post. I purchased my 2006 Explorer XLT last Friday and figured I better start on the research. I actually got a hell of a deal on it through the "Military Overseas Sales Program." (or ENCS). They didn't swear me to any secrecy so I guess it's okay to talk about it I purchased (ordered) the V6 (wife and gas prices :fire: ) XLT 4X4 (Black) with the following options:
1.Convienence Group
2.Leather (camel)
3.Power Pedals
4.Moon Roof with shade
5.17 in Rims
6.Running Boards
With the current military rebates, discounts and the lower cost I paid on the options I spent a grand total of $26,721 I'm pretty thrilled needless to say .
I am currently stationed overseas in Italy and will be picking it up in late May before heading to Syracuse, NY for my next duty station (MEPS Station)..
I just had a couple of quick questions before I went digging through all the posts.
1. I will be picking up the truck/SUV in Tacoma, WA while I am on leave. That's the great thing about military sales, they will have it waiting for me at the stateside dealership of my choice, this one being Titus-Will Ford in Tacoma. I will then drive it to Syracuse, NY. Is the two week time frame while I am on leave in WA going to be okay as far as break-in time goes on the motor before the long drive??
2. Should I look at using Mobile1 as my main oil?
3. Anything else you think I should do to it, or need to do to it before the long drive??
Any and all help greatly appreciated!! I am Looking forward to spending some quality time here on the board
Ciao
Steve

 

['97 V8]

hey Steve, welcome to the site, and thank you for serving our country.

Thats a good deal on your X, im kinda jeulous. As far as break in goes, its all about the mialge you put on it. It will be fine to drive it across country while your still breaking it in. But uring the break in period don't gun it all the time. Just drive the way you would normally.

We've been running Mobil 1 in my mounty from after its first oil change and the motor is the same as the day it came off the showroom florr, powerful and smooth running.
Another thing you culd do is get it Ziebarted. its really good for your car and we had it doen to all our cars and they still look like new, except for the tree dent from the badlands. I think thats all. Too bad your X wont be in Tacoma on friday, im headin there, coulda got you a picture of it if you wanted. Again welcome to the site.

 

[steve_ lazarus]

Thanks for the welcome !,
Yeah that deal was a steal !!!
Great advice, I was hoping I wouldn't have any issues using the Mobile1, been a loyal user on my Mitsu Eclipse, even though it runs me around 55 Euro for five quarts over here ($60 USD) Ziebart protection is already listed on my invoice, so that's good to hear. I was thinking of doing the oil change as soon as I picked it up, shouldn't be an issue should it? What weight am I looking at using, I heard that the Explorer uses a funny weight motor oil.
What about these performance chips??, are there any for the 2006's that are worth purchasing and/or is it to soon to be thinking about performance mods?
Thanks again!

 

['97 V8]

i'd let it run with the factory oil until you need to get it changed. then from there start using mobil 1. As for the weight of oil i dont know but ill call up a ford tech in an hour and a half...its still 7:35 on the west coast. As for mods you have the air intake that i know is available. I cant remeber reading somewhere that the mustang performance parts for the 4.0 would work on an explorer. Also http://underdog-performance.com/id92.html has some performance pulleys you could use. Anyone else from the furom have any ideas?

 

[briwayjones]

Hey Steve welcome to the forum and great deal.

I think Ford is using 5w-20 in most if not all of their vehicles now.

 

['97 V8]

yup its 5w 20

 

[floydr007]

Definitely dont put in mobil 1 for break in. I have heard that it is simply too slippery to properly break in the engine. So for the first few thousand miles stick with what is in there, then switch to mobil 1. Also, when your on the highway, if you are still in the break in period, you obviously dont want to gun it much, but also it is good to change engine speeds somewhat often. So maybe just slow down at some points and give it enough gas to induce a downshift to get it through the revs once in a while. Enjoy the new Explorer, and thank you for protecting our country.