maverickhunter
New Member
- Joined
- October 28, 2006
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Gloucester Mass
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1997 XLT
I have a 1997 Ford Explorer and just recently drove it into 2-3 foot deep water... OOPS. First things first, I yanked it out with a hand winch (MYSELF), standing in water (20F mind you).... called for a tow (AAA) and as soon as I got it home tried turning it over... it was seized...
The guy who towed me was a mean man, a police officer also came and swore at me a bit, I on the other hand took the arrogant ******* route. ("I'm sorry sir, but I will not comply with the like who needs to swear to get his point across" (he was new to the force, I've never seen him before I know every cop in this town through family and my ROTC unit))
Both of them said it would NEVER run again
Next day in the light tried starting it, but only to hear the starter motor TRY to crank the engine... no movement...
I came to the conclusion it was screwed beyond belief, after a few thousand "F bomb"s and tears I took the air intake apart just to see if I could go from there to the exhaust manifold and drain the water to sell it a little easier, hopped on the forums for some sort of instructions and realized I couldn't see the spark plugs. (I thought in my head, how neat it would be if the plugs were under the car to just drain the water out that way?!) at this point I took 6 out of the 8 plugs out easily and it started draining buckets of water with each one... (factory original) with 220k miles!? wtf?
Much to my dismay 2 of them did not comply, and I broke them as well as a ratchet, 4 sockets, and 2 extensions. I was a man on a mission, I figured I could drill the plugs, thread them with a left handed thread, shove a bolt in there, and then just take the piece out with the makeshift handle-bolt... (hopped on forums again) learned about this nifty device called an "easy out"
Meanwhile back at the farm.... my friend Steve noticed my hood open and decided to try to start the car via the starter solenoid >.< blew the ceramic right out. I freak out thinking I'll never get the metal piece out...
Back here again.. many people do it on purpose just to get the ceramics out (YAY), I use an easy out I already have and it works on the 8th plug but the 7th had alot of trouble, it took me two days to remove it I broke a few more extensions, and ripped apart a cheap wrench and aluminum pipe I used for leverage, but nonetheless after soaking in mystery oil it came out with a loud screech with every 1/4 turn.
I intend to keep my ex if new spark plugs will fix the problem!
The moral of the story: USE ANTI SEIZE AND CHANGE SPARK PLUGS REGULARLY! (30,000 miles or so), Anything is possible with vice grips, it's just not a good idea
Use the right tool for the right job
...... and don't drive on roads that say DETOUR/ROAD CLOSED unless you KNOW you can make it.
The guy who towed me was a mean man, a police officer also came and swore at me a bit, I on the other hand took the arrogant ******* route. ("I'm sorry sir, but I will not comply with the like who needs to swear to get his point across" (he was new to the force, I've never seen him before I know every cop in this town through family and my ROTC unit))
Both of them said it would NEVER run again
Next day in the light tried starting it, but only to hear the starter motor TRY to crank the engine... no movement...
I came to the conclusion it was screwed beyond belief, after a few thousand "F bomb"s and tears I took the air intake apart just to see if I could go from there to the exhaust manifold and drain the water to sell it a little easier, hopped on the forums for some sort of instructions and realized I couldn't see the spark plugs. (I thought in my head, how neat it would be if the plugs were under the car to just drain the water out that way?!) at this point I took 6 out of the 8 plugs out easily and it started draining buckets of water with each one... (factory original) with 220k miles!? wtf?
Much to my dismay 2 of them did not comply, and I broke them as well as a ratchet, 4 sockets, and 2 extensions. I was a man on a mission, I figured I could drill the plugs, thread them with a left handed thread, shove a bolt in there, and then just take the piece out with the makeshift handle-bolt... (hopped on forums again) learned about this nifty device called an "easy out"
Meanwhile back at the farm.... my friend Steve noticed my hood open and decided to try to start the car via the starter solenoid >.< blew the ceramic right out. I freak out thinking I'll never get the metal piece out...
Back here again.. many people do it on purpose just to get the ceramics out (YAY), I use an easy out I already have and it works on the 8th plug but the 7th had alot of trouble, it took me two days to remove it I broke a few more extensions, and ripped apart a cheap wrench and aluminum pipe I used for leverage, but nonetheless after soaking in mystery oil it came out with a loud screech with every 1/4 turn.
I intend to keep my ex if new spark plugs will fix the problem!
The moral of the story: USE ANTI SEIZE AND CHANGE SPARK PLUGS REGULARLY! (30,000 miles or so), Anything is possible with vice grips, it's just not a good idea
Use the right tool for the right job
...... and don't drive on roads that say DETOUR/ROAD CLOSED unless you KNOW you can make it.
