tito0422
New Member
- Joined
- February 13, 2017
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- CT
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1999 Ford Explorer XL
Hello everyone. I've been lurking in the shadows for some time, gathering general information, as well as troubleshooting info, and decided to finally join up.
I'm currently on Explorer #2. I bought my first one out of necessity when my car got totaled. It was a 2001 Sport that had a bad injector. I drove that thing for a few years with minimal issues, until 210k miles. I decided that a tune-up was in order and had a spark plug break off in the head. I was able to get it out, but didn't realize that the tip somehow broke off in the cylinder. Went to start it up, and that small fragment had some fun with an intake valve. Before the mishap, the timing chain guides were making noise, and with winter quickly approaching (my other car has summer tires), I made the decision to forego a repair and just junk it. I hated to do it, but I think I was most upset about the fact that I had just put new tires on, and replaced a bunch of suspension components.
So the next decision was either get a set of winter wheels and tires for my other car, or find another second vehicle. I happened to be cruising through craigslist and came across a 1999 XL with 171k miles for a decent price.
Looked decent, until the deal sealer:
Manual transmission? Oh that has to be a riot. I had a deposit it on it that night. Since I still had the '01, I decided to transfer all the new suspension parts, wheels, and some other miscellaneous items.
That shift knob was on my Datsun when I bought it. My buddy swore we never tossed it and he rummaged through my basement until he found it. A few beers later it was decided that it would be a great idea to put it on. I regret nothing.
Swapped in the white faced gauges and orange needles from the Sport.
The radio trim swapped right over from the Sport. It was gray like the rest of the dash and looked to bland so I taped everything off and grabbed some black spray paint i had lying around the garage.
And for my last birthday, my buddy thought these were just too hilarious to pass up as a gift. I'll stop the cobras there. Adding them to the door locks would be just too much.
So that's where I'm at in the Explorer life. As of now "Barney the blurple Exploder" just rolled over 187k miles and still running strong. It's got a couple lean codes I'm still chasing and the clutch is starting to make some noise. I just need that clutch to last the rest of the winter and I'll drop the tranny and take care of that.
I'm currently on Explorer #2. I bought my first one out of necessity when my car got totaled. It was a 2001 Sport that had a bad injector. I drove that thing for a few years with minimal issues, until 210k miles. I decided that a tune-up was in order and had a spark plug break off in the head. I was able to get it out, but didn't realize that the tip somehow broke off in the cylinder. Went to start it up, and that small fragment had some fun with an intake valve. Before the mishap, the timing chain guides were making noise, and with winter quickly approaching (my other car has summer tires), I made the decision to forego a repair and just junk it. I hated to do it, but I think I was most upset about the fact that I had just put new tires on, and replaced a bunch of suspension components.
So the next decision was either get a set of winter wheels and tires for my other car, or find another second vehicle. I happened to be cruising through craigslist and came across a 1999 XL with 171k miles for a decent price.
Looked decent, until the deal sealer:
Manual transmission? Oh that has to be a riot. I had a deposit it on it that night. Since I still had the '01, I decided to transfer all the new suspension parts, wheels, and some other miscellaneous items.
That shift knob was on my Datsun when I bought it. My buddy swore we never tossed it and he rummaged through my basement until he found it. A few beers later it was decided that it would be a great idea to put it on. I regret nothing.
Swapped in the white faced gauges and orange needles from the Sport.
The radio trim swapped right over from the Sport. It was gray like the rest of the dash and looked to bland so I taped everything off and grabbed some black spray paint i had lying around the garage.
And for my last birthday, my buddy thought these were just too hilarious to pass up as a gift. I'll stop the cobras there. Adding them to the door locks would be just too much.
So that's where I'm at in the Explorer life. As of now "Barney the blurple Exploder" just rolled over 187k miles and still running strong. It's got a couple lean codes I'm still chasing and the clutch is starting to make some noise. I just need that clutch to last the rest of the winter and I'll drop the tranny and take care of that.
