Hi Folks,
Since I'm the new guy on the block and new as far as owning a four wheel drive, I have a few questions about the problems I'm having. In December we planned a trip to Texas. I have a 1993, 4.0, Limited Explorer. I purchased this vehicle the year before, it had 91,000 miles on it and it was in excellent shape. I always got around 19MPG until this last December. It dropped to around 17.2 to 17.5. About the same time I noticed a tick in my CB, so I felt the plug wires were shorting out. I had no time to do a tune up myself, so I took it to the Ford dealer. I told them that I also had a knock in the left front wheel area and that I already put new shocks on it, but still when I went over a bump I had the same knock. It still sounds like the same bad shock sound. I told them that I was taking this vehicle to Texas and I needed it in a month. They took it in and informed me I needed new plugs, that the left hub gear was cracked, the front U joints were bad, the transmission fluid needed changing, the lower radiator hose was leaking, and the right brake rotor was under specs. I told them to fix everything. After paying the $1795, we were off on our vacation.
Down the road, the same knock was heard in the left front wheel area. By the time we got to Texas it was idleing bad. We cut our trip short and turned around and came back. Heading into Oklahoma City, I heard a loud clunk in the engine area and the speed went down from 80MPH to 35MPH. I thought I threw a rod. I managed to get off at the next exit. The next day I found a mechanic at the local PepBoys. This guy was sharp and came in on his day off to fix a bunch of cars and he squeezed me in since I was a thousand miles away from home. He checked the motor out and phoned me at the hotel. He let me know that park plugs were in bad shape and there was damage to the engine because of the plugs. He asked me when they were replaced and I said less than 2,000 miles ago. He was lost for words. He told me I needed new spark plug wires, a new set of plugs, and a new coil. He said while he was at it he would clean the injectors for me. He said this would get me home and I could argue the problem out with my mechanic. He puts the old parts in a box and gave them to me. Two plugs had the contacts burnt completely off and the electodes landed in the cylinders the rest of the plugs were burnt, but not as bad as the first two, the bad ones were in cylinders 2 and 4.
I took the Explorer back to the dealer, they checked it out and said that I had a shattered valve. I told them that one of the electrodes must have nailed it, he said there was no proof of that. I asked if Ford was going to warrantee the damage, he said they wouldn't.
My question to everyone is: What could cause the correct Motorcraft platinum plugs to burn hot, if they were not faulty? What else could have caused valve number 5 to shatter if something didn't hit it? The vehicle now runs like a motor boat and I got 12MPG on the way home. What could be causing the knock in the left front wheel area?
Please, if you answer this on this list, can you email me privately because I don't get much chance to sit on this computer. Thank you very much.
Email: onegun2@aol.com
Limited93
[Edited by Limited93 on 01-13-2001 at 07:05 PM]
Since I'm the new guy on the block and new as far as owning a four wheel drive, I have a few questions about the problems I'm having. In December we planned a trip to Texas. I have a 1993, 4.0, Limited Explorer. I purchased this vehicle the year before, it had 91,000 miles on it and it was in excellent shape. I always got around 19MPG until this last December. It dropped to around 17.2 to 17.5. About the same time I noticed a tick in my CB, so I felt the plug wires were shorting out. I had no time to do a tune up myself, so I took it to the Ford dealer. I told them that I also had a knock in the left front wheel area and that I already put new shocks on it, but still when I went over a bump I had the same knock. It still sounds like the same bad shock sound. I told them that I was taking this vehicle to Texas and I needed it in a month. They took it in and informed me I needed new plugs, that the left hub gear was cracked, the front U joints were bad, the transmission fluid needed changing, the lower radiator hose was leaking, and the right brake rotor was under specs. I told them to fix everything. After paying the $1795, we were off on our vacation.
Down the road, the same knock was heard in the left front wheel area. By the time we got to Texas it was idleing bad. We cut our trip short and turned around and came back. Heading into Oklahoma City, I heard a loud clunk in the engine area and the speed went down from 80MPH to 35MPH. I thought I threw a rod. I managed to get off at the next exit. The next day I found a mechanic at the local PepBoys. This guy was sharp and came in on his day off to fix a bunch of cars and he squeezed me in since I was a thousand miles away from home. He checked the motor out and phoned me at the hotel. He let me know that park plugs were in bad shape and there was damage to the engine because of the plugs. He asked me when they were replaced and I said less than 2,000 miles ago. He was lost for words. He told me I needed new spark plug wires, a new set of plugs, and a new coil. He said while he was at it he would clean the injectors for me. He said this would get me home and I could argue the problem out with my mechanic. He puts the old parts in a box and gave them to me. Two plugs had the contacts burnt completely off and the electodes landed in the cylinders the rest of the plugs were burnt, but not as bad as the first two, the bad ones were in cylinders 2 and 4.
I took the Explorer back to the dealer, they checked it out and said that I had a shattered valve. I told them that one of the electrodes must have nailed it, he said there was no proof of that. I asked if Ford was going to warrantee the damage, he said they wouldn't.
My question to everyone is: What could cause the correct Motorcraft platinum plugs to burn hot, if they were not faulty? What else could have caused valve number 5 to shatter if something didn't hit it? The vehicle now runs like a motor boat and I got 12MPG on the way home. What could be causing the knock in the left front wheel area?
Please, if you answer this on this list, can you email me privately because I don't get much chance to sit on this computer. Thank you very much.
Email: onegun2@aol.com
Limited93
[Edited by Limited93 on 01-13-2001 at 07:05 PM]
