Newbie story/questions

[RobertFord]

Hi everyone!

I've been reading this forum for a while now and have already learnt a great deal! I just purchased my first car, a 1992 Ford Explorer. I'm absolutely in love with it and want to get it in as great a shape as possible, therefore I think it's inevitable I'll have some very stupid sounding questions every now and then.

I've already had two rear tires replaced as they were both used up and totally out of shape. I had them replaced with Bridgestone AT Duelers.

As the car was shaking vigorously starting at 55-60mph, I had my wheels balanced. This helped a lot, but did not get rid of the shaking entirely. I had one of my out-of-round rims reworked to be round again but there is still some shake. As this is a rather expensive procedure (about 80 euro's or 100 or so USD) I'll us the spare wheel to determine which of the other 3 is out of round and have those reworked as well. (I guess the previous owner(s) have been harsh on the vehicle)

Of course, there need to be pictures









Now, for my first almost embarrassing question; The car has an automatic gearbox and below the gear selector on the steering wheel, near the bottom, there's another switch sticking out about 5". It can't be turned, just pushed towards the dashboard, after which it returns to the initial position. Nothing seems to happen though after that. What is it for, and what does it do? It appears to be a factory installed switch and not something someone else built I'm themselves (like five or so other switches in odd places that seem to do nothing and are definitely not standard )

 

[Ageman]

The 5" rod is for your steering wheel it tilts upand down.

 

[Willcall]

Welcome to the forum!

Could you provide a pick of the button? Does it have any symbols on it at all?

 

[RobertFord]

@Ageman: Doh! Hadn't thought about that yet Will try that out tomorrow.

@Willcall: A rather vague image below, but it's the best I had at this time...

 

[Roadrunner777]

What are those things on your front bumper? Lights?

 

[Willcall]

Agreed with Ageman. See if you can move the steering wheel up and down when you push it in.

 

[ppbskis]

The stalk for the tilt needs to be pulled not pushed to release the wheel for adjustment.

 

[DeRocha]

The stalk for the tilt needs to be pulled not pushed to release the wheel for adjustment.

x2, pull the stalk towards you (and keep it pulled) while you tilt the steering wheel Up/Down.

 

[RobertFord]

Well, now that I've proven myself to be the ultimate novice : I'll finally get some time to drive it tomorrow evening.

What are those things on your front bumper? Lights?

I guess so, but they are disconnected so I figured they must have been installed prior to being imported into the Netherlands where I am sure they are illegal.

Does any of you know an easy way of diagnosing if one of my other wheels might be out of round? The vibration in the steering wheel at 65mph worries me. I've read all sorts of things that could be wrong and have attempted to tackle the easy one; by having the wheels balanced.

Of course I have bought the Haynes repair manual, but being the novice that I am, about 30% of the book is French to me. I do intend on learning, however. Can any of you provide me with some hints as to what checks / maintenance (beyond oil level ) I could perform to get my hands dirty a bit, but not be in over my head? Wouldn't want to end up with a gearbox disassembled on the kitchen table on sunday at 8pm

 

[Mayberry1981]

Of course they should have checked it when balancing your wheels but I've had some vibrations while driving in the past due to caked up mud on the inside of my rims.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Yeah, the tire shop has the tools to test tires. You can test for a bad wheel with a gauge, like a dial indicator, or get creative with something homemade.

What comes after oil change? Spark plugs and spark plug wires. Also, cleaning your Mass Airflow sensor. Grease your front end.

 

[RobertFord]

Thanks! Hopefully I'll be getting around to doing that this weekend I'm loving this forum, it's incredibly helpful and fun!

Perhaps the front shocks will also be a small project of mine. The job won't be too hard if I'm informed correctly and it feels as though they need to be replaced (car keeps bouncing a bit after pushing down on the hood) and perhaps could be contributing to my vibrating steering wheel.

It's incredibly hard to find parts around here, and they are rather expensive. I'm on the fence between two brands/types of shocks;

1) Monroe Sensatracks (About $270 for the front set)
2) Koni Heavy Track (About $200 for the front set)

Which would you guys recommend, or another brand/type all together?

 

[Currency]

Never heard of the Koni brand before, but my father has mentioned using Monroe shocks for many years and swears by them.

For the price your paying, look for some Rancho shocks.
This link may not help you any since your not from the states.

http://www.gorancho.com/

As you mentioned, the vibration your feeling could be several things, wheel bearings, bad ball joints, perhaps even a bad tie rod could cause some vibration. Mine had a vibration at 65-70 MPH, wheel bearings. I've replaced them and recently replaced the spindle on the drivers side, but still have a slight vibration at all speeds.

Your explorer looks pretty good in the pictures, I certainly wish mine looked as good but living in the Midwestern states, Indiana, of the USA causing a lot of rust related problems with snow, sand, and salt.

 

[Roadrunner777]

I have not heard the Koni name in a long time. They were THE one back in the 60's. I think I had a Koni sticker on my bike.

 

[Common Cents]

Does any of you know an easy way of diagnosing if one of my other wheels might be out of round? The vibration in the steering wheel at 65mph worries me. I've read all sorts of things that could be wrong and have attempted to tackle the easy one; by having the wheels balanced.

If you can find a place in your area that does "road force" balancing, that's the best technology. Those balancers actually press a roller against the wheel and check for runnout in the wheel/tire package under a simulated load. They will find out of round wheels and tires with defects/damage which cause low spots or high spots as the thing rolls down the road. Often, the defects can be balanced out my matching the "high spot" on the wheel to the "low spot" or "soft spot" in the tire, rotating the tire relative to the wheel rim.

It's also likely your shaking is made worse by worn steering and suspension parts. Wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends wear out and develop excessive play over time. If anything is out of round or out of balance, these worn out parts will allow things to shake and oscillate much worse than they would with fresh, unworn parts.

About those lights sprouting from the bumper, they are probably side repeater lights, wired to the turn signal circuits. Many European countries require "side repeater" lights that work with the turn signals and tells the driver of the little "city car" in the lane next to you that you are planning to change into his lane. These are usually integrated into the front fenders of european cars, though lately they can be found in the side mirror assemblies as well. Many American cars lack them entirely, and when those cars are exported to European countries, often they get rather bizarre aftermarket solutions to meet the regs of the country they are being shipped to. Often, it's a completely out of place looking light just stuck on the front fenders behind the wheel opening (like something you'd buy at a truck stop as a "clearance" lamp). If thats what yours are, I have to say, you have the weirdest add on side repeaters I've seen.

 

[cogs]

wow, looks like they took care of it, for a 92! start with the easy stuff, like bearings as they said. i smiled about the steering wheel adjuster. you said you didn't want anything over your head: you'll find that you'll be doing alot of repairs, so you'll get pretty good. get many tools if you don't already have some. the truck will definitely let you know what to fix. this forum is great, if you're not averse to reading. and posting pics helps get the question answered.

 

[RobertFord]

Road balancing definitely sounds like a good idea! Hopefully it'll spot the errors that aren't visible when using regular balancing techniques.

I removed the side repeaters this weekend as I though they were not very aesthetically pleasing. The electrical cables were already disconnected (or more simply put, just cut trough) so i figured they didn't have any use and were probably banned in my country (Netherlands)

Also got around to replacing the previous radio with a new one, requiring me to do quite some work on the wiring.

More importantly, I replaced the headlight switch. After taking out the old one, it was visible this was no luxury. It was totally worn out and there was a lot of white dust everywhere. Also, the plug sticking into the headlight switch itself, was somewhat molten and deformed exposing some wires. After taking care of the wires (I used those socks which shrink when heated by a lighter or so) I did use the same plug to install the new headlight switch, as finding a replacement plug in the Netherlands will be near impossible. The replacement of the switch was definitely worth it! I feel more secure now.

Now, I know of one more switch, when you reach down between the drivers seat and the centre console. When the switch is flipped with the motor running, you can hear it being starved of fuel and stall. Put the switch back into its original position, apply some extra gas and it'll start just fine. I know it's probably (99%) something someone installed himself, but am curious as to why.

The next area of focus will be getting rid of the damn vibration. It just doesn't feel safe. Also, there are a lot of wires that seem to lead nowhere (i.e., aren't connected to anything), of course these need to be sorted out.

 

[RobertFord]

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[RobertFord]

This weekend I was able to put the explorer on a bridge in a garage so I was able to look underneath comfortably and get some advice.

The u-joints showed no play and seemed fine. The driveshaft was clean and not dented or bent. All rubber rings around the suspention are fine. The rear wheel which was out of round, turned out to have been horribly balanced by the balancing guy, and was re-balanced.

That kind of narrows it down a lot, but the vibration is still there. The shopowner adviced I replace the front shocks as they seem worn out. I guess having the front tires aligned will be my next step and otherwise I'll probably have to cough up for some new shocks

 

[mr cribb]

When you mention vibration, does it feel like it's coming from under your seat at all?

I did the checks like you have stated, but still had a bad vibration, almost annoying/ scary to drive and I replaced my u joints in October, my vibration went away. This was no easy task getting out u joints that'd been in since December 1991, but I got it done.