Paul_
New Member
- Joined
- May 3, 2009
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Milton, NH
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '95 XLT
As you all can probably guess, my name is Paul. 
:
I'm looking into purchasing a '98 Explorer XLT. It has the 4.0, but I did notice whether it was the SOHC or the OHV. It supposedly has a bad head gasket. When I popped the rad cap, the coolant looked very clean, and the only thing I gathered from pulling the dipstick was that one of the 1st things on my to do list will be to do an oil change. There was no foam or bubbled oil on the dipstick. The owner says it's using coolant like crazy, as evidenced by the 3 jugs sitting in the back, but the coolant is not leaking. The next step is a compression check. I'm thinking the shop she took it to tried taking her for a ride by telling her the head gasket is gone, and it might only need a water pump. She says the shop didn't tell her what side needed it, just that she needs a new head gasket.
Even if it does need a head gasket(s), the price is decent and it should be easier to repair than my stupid Isuzu. I replaced the intake manifold gaskets, top and bottom. Got the engine buttoned up, and went to start it. It did not want to go, it just slowly cranked and cranked. I pulled the zip tube off the throttle body, sprayed a tiny amount of starting fluid in the intake and tried again. It cranked faster and tried kicking over. When it did this and I released the key, it immediately died and blew a fireball out the intake. It has since done that everytime I try starting it. That was 6 months ago, and I've been too pissed off at it to work on it. No one can explain the fireball.
I'm going to do some searching on questions I currently have in regards to modifying the Exploder. I will be lifting it eventually, but there are other things I want to do to change it's looks first.
:I'm looking into purchasing a '98 Explorer XLT. It has the 4.0, but I did notice whether it was the SOHC or the OHV. It supposedly has a bad head gasket. When I popped the rad cap, the coolant looked very clean, and the only thing I gathered from pulling the dipstick was that one of the 1st things on my to do list will be to do an oil change. There was no foam or bubbled oil on the dipstick. The owner says it's using coolant like crazy, as evidenced by the 3 jugs sitting in the back, but the coolant is not leaking. The next step is a compression check. I'm thinking the shop she took it to tried taking her for a ride by telling her the head gasket is gone, and it might only need a water pump. She says the shop didn't tell her what side needed it, just that she needs a new head gasket.
Even if it does need a head gasket(s), the price is decent and it should be easier to repair than my stupid Isuzu. I replaced the intake manifold gaskets, top and bottom. Got the engine buttoned up, and went to start it. It did not want to go, it just slowly cranked and cranked. I pulled the zip tube off the throttle body, sprayed a tiny amount of starting fluid in the intake and tried again. It cranked faster and tried kicking over. When it did this and I released the key, it immediately died and blew a fireball out the intake. It has since done that everytime I try starting it. That was 6 months ago, and I've been too pissed off at it to work on it. No one can explain the fireball.
I'm going to do some searching on questions I currently have in regards to modifying the Exploder. I will be lifting it eventually, but there are other things I want to do to change it's looks first.
