Newbie from U.S.A.

[Dex1961]

HI, I am a misplaced Brit, living here in the U.S. since 1999. I recently bought my first Ford Explorer, a 2000 model Sport. It is the cleanest one I found, right here on my doorstep. It has covered only 65k miles! I have owned six Ford vehicles prior to this one, all in the U.S. and all trucks apart from one van. So far, in the month I have owned it, it has received new suspension dampers (shock absorbers) and a good service. I have repaired the center arm rest and just cleaned it up a bit. I cleaned the throttle body this morning and then found my idle speed (which was really low and lumpy) shot up to 1100rpm! I think someone tweaked it in the past to compensate for a dirty throttle body. Anyway, I adjusted the throttle plate stop and all is good now. Only thing not working now is the rear wiper.
I will tackle that when it warms up a bit more here...been really cold for Texas so far this year. Hope to hear from some other members. To members in the UK....are the Explorers a hit over there? Are they left hand drive imports or made for the UK? Curious.

 

[bobflood]

Check out the UK subforum on this site. I'm born and bred USA, but love to read the UK subforum just to enjoy the terminology (spanners, breakers for junkyards, etc). Welcome aboard.

 

[LMedina]

Aloha Dex, hope you are enjoying your Explorer! I myself have the 4-door XLT model, born 14 years ago this month in March 2000 and 126k miles on it so far. It's got every damn feature thrown in short of being an actual Eddie Bauer edition (V6 instead of the V8, and no vehicle monitor console). Don't you love brashy USA trucks? So unrefined yet practical and realistic (stereotypical American attributes, yes?). I just paid out $$$ to the local Ford dealer for some long-overdue maintenance to replace worn and tired parts, but after 14 years on the road, I would expect to shell out some dough.

If you have the V6 SOHC, engine idle rpm does hover around 750rpm which makes it "low and lumpy" as you described it. If you read past professional automotive reviews, this is normal for this engine compared to the smoother-running examples found in the Toyota 4Runners or Suzuki Vitaras of the day. Even my friend's '97 GM Blazer's engine runs smoother than the Ford's. I've owned my Explorer since new and it has always idled "lumpy." How is yours now after you adjusted the plate stop?

Incidentally, NOBODY'S stock rear wiper works, haha. Not for these 2nd gen Explorers, anyway. Look it up on the forums here. There's an old TSB on it and Ford will basically replace the whole kit with a redesigned one.

Welcome aboard sir and we look forward to hearing the impressions and experiences of a cultured Englishman. //

 

[Dex1961]

Hi,

thanks for the welcome notes and comments on certain Explorer issues.
To LMedina; my idle speed is now around 750rpm and a lot smoother since cleaning the throttle body. I can live with the slightly lumpiness to the idle quality. The rear wiper problem is now solved....installed a new motor ($45 from O Reillys) yesterday and it is working as good as they do...wiper blade is missing part of the glass! I checked out the wiring schematic for the wiper and it appears that the relays are controlled via the GEM module which wont run the wiper motor if the glass or lift gate are open. A few people mentioned the switches go bad on the rear gate which can result in the GEM not switching on the relays to run the motor. I found, that if the interior lights work when the gate/glass is opened, then the switches are good! This may help others here. I may replace the tires as the Good Year Wranglers seem to be short on traction on a damp/wet road.....or the back of the vehicle is really light? I hear that Hankooks are good for the Explorer? Anyone have any thoughts on these?

Thats about it for now. Take care Y'all.