Welcome, and show us some pictures. We love those Mountaineers. Does that have the painted grille also, there were two colors of those?
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I was talking to a fellow the other day that has another Monterey but his was dark blue with the gold trim and tan interior, also his was 2 wd while mine is AWD both have the 5.0 engines which along with the low mileage was a huge selling point for me.
Well it has four new matches tires and oil has been changed, original owner was 92 year old woman and the people I bought it from had only owned it a few months because they bought it for their son who when he went to jail they decided to sell it,it shows good care with exception of some odds and ends that I'll take care of when I have time and money to do so but so far I love itYou will love that truck. Have it checked well, change all fluids and filters, and be sure all four tires are always the same diameter. Don't mix any new tires with old ones, that true AWD does not work with mismatched tires at all.
I have had no trouble with the AWD of my Mountaineer, or my latest 98 Limited, but my prior 98 AWD had black fluid in the AWD. That is a symptom of having bad tires mixed with good, the prior owner was a young woman, it was her first vehicle. The fluid was black because the AWD viscous clutch had seen too much heat from mismatched tires. That hurt the seals of the unit internally, leaking it out into the TC fluid. I took care of it well, but it finally locked up solid after about 20k more miles. I found out by the destroyed front diff, it was the same as driving a 4WD locked in 4WD on the street. I had to replace the front diff, and pull the front driveshaft so I could still drive it for work.
Spend good money on tires, and keep them rotated, that is a much easier task than replacing a ruined TC or a diff etc.
Well the main things right now are the door ajar light stays on but I have an idea about that, the factory stereo works great with the exception of the displayn which I have been watching some videos on YouTube about repairing it, the windshield washers don't work nor does the rear wiper and drivers side window seems to be off track but being careful raising and lowering it works ok for the present time,thank you for your information and help.That sounds great. Don't worry about the paint until you are ready to redo it, aim for all of the obsolete items now. Some things you can find readily on eBay etc, whether NOS or used. Get the door seals if any of yours are rough, unfortunately the hatch seals are both long gone. You can get the window seals still fairly easily, and those are important for not scratching the glass.
Drive it and enjoy it.
Well everything that needs fixed doesn't affect its drivability, just a few minor things that I can take care of as I get time and money to fix them,thank you for giving the information on what I may eventually need,I prefer an older vehicle over an overpriced new one that won't do anything that this one will.That sounds great. Don't worry about the paint until you are ready to redo it, aim for all of the obsolete items now. Some things you can find readily on eBay etc, whether NOS or used. Get the door seals if any of yours are rough, unfortunately the hatch seals are both long gone. You can get the window seals still fairly easily, and those are important for not scratching the glass.
Drive it and enjoy it.
Thanks for the information,will check those out.Check your door jamb strikers, the part which the door latches grab onto. Those strikers have a plastic busing which breaks when old. Replace all of those to tighten up the doors, the hatch also. Dorman has the easiest to get strikers, for each one is $7-8 on Rock Auto.
Lubricate all of the door latches, they will be dry and stick a little when this old. I like PB Blaster to free them up, and White Lithium as a longer term lubricant, so I use those two in order on each latch. Spray the hinge are of the door handles to, especially the hatch handle.
Get the door ajar to shut off, that will drain the battery after a number of says.
It sounds like you have the original radio, which are great. The two top option radios are both Pioneer decks, high quality except for the display defect. That used to be repairable with an available new display board, it's been gone for a long time. Some shops may know how to repair the original board, doing random soldered joints yourself is about a 50/50 deal to fix it long term.
I've been looking for the replacement strikers and have a question, would these be the same as for 2000 Explorer? I found ones that supposedly fit Explorer but not Mountaineer- doesn't make sense to me.Check your door jamb strikers, the part which the door latches grab onto. Those strikers have a plastic busing which breaks when old. Replace all of those to tighten up the doors, the hatch also. Dorman has the easiest to get strikers, for each one is $7-8 on Rock Auto.
Lubricate all of the door latches, they will be dry and stick a little when this old. I like PB Blaster to free them up, and White Lithium as a longer term lubricant, so I use those two in order on each latch. Spray the hinge are of the door handles to, especially the hatch handle.
Get the door ajar to shut off, that will drain the battery after a number of says.
It sounds like you have the original radio, which are great. The two top option radios are both Pioneer decks, high quality except for the display defect. That used to be repairable with an available new display board, it's been gone for a long time. Some shops may know how to repair the original board, doing random soldered joints yourself is about a 50/50 deal to fix it long term.
The strikers will be the same for all Fords from the 80's and 90's, except for the newer designs that came out, such as the 1994+ Mustangs.
The HELP section kit at parts stores will work for the hatch strikers, but they do not fit the doors. Those will work on much older Ford doors.
Ok, thanks for the info, I figured as much but thought I'd run it by you and make sureThe strikers will be the same for all Fords from the 80's and 90's, except for the newer designs that came out, such as the 1994+ Mustangs.
The HELP section kit at parts stores will work for the hatch strikers, but they do not fit the doors. Those will work on much older Ford doors.
I noticed that one side of the rear hatch is higher than the other, making it not fit to the body as it should, just wondering what the procedure is to adjust the upper hinge,I think I have an idea how to do it but just want to find out if I'm right before I try fixing itYou will get it, there are dozens of things you learn about these after owning them for years. That's what makes the forum special, lots of people document how they learn to solve problems, and they share them.
Well I was just looking at it and it appears that the passenger side hinge is bent up from the body more than on the drivers side so I may try to bend it back closer to the body and hopefully it'll fix it to where it latches properly,I don't believe that it's the striker out of adjustment if it is it's not by much,will let you know what I find up and thanks for the informationThe hinges control the overall height and side to side hatch location. But the hatch strikers do grab it and move it in any direction opposing the hinge's desire. My Mountaineer hatch fits perfectly, it always shut great and the striker bushings never even cracked. My last two 98's though the hatches didn't fit so well, my prior one was horrible.
I discovered that someone had installed an antenna at the edge of the hatch, and evidently they bent the right hinge a little to make clearance for the antenna. So the hinge has been a bit loose, it has too much play in the joint, and it lets the hatch move a bit, and the striker bushings don't last long, about a year so far for each.
Long story short, open the hatch and look at the hinges carefully, see if you can move the hatch any near the hinges. If they have any play in them, replace them. I bought about three of them a few years ago, planning to replace the two on one truck, and keep a spare.
Then lower the hatch to just near latching, see how the hatch fits the body without being latched. The strikers will force the hatch to move to them, either up or down, in or out. You want the hatch to naturally close and match the body, if it doesn't come very close, then the hinges will need to be loosened and very carefully move the hatch before tightening the hinges again.
So if the hatch comes down close to fitting the body before engaging the strikers, then adjust the strikers one at a time. Simply loosen one of those bolts, and carefully move it slightly in the direction you want it to pull the hatch, then snug it enough to test fit/shut the hatch. You can adjust the strikers in a few minutes. Hopefully your hinges are okay and the strikers are just in the wrong places.
My 99 truck that I rebuilt, the hatch didn't fit well, due to a prior big wreck(rolled). I had to force the hatch hinges to bend a little to move it closer to where it belonged. It was still a bit high at the roof seam, and I used a piece of wood and a big hammer to tamp it down slightly. I did all of the fitment work with the doors, fender, hatch, and body, before painting.