planning Necromancy

[Exploder240k]

Its time to bring the old Exploder back to life. You have this unique opportunity to give advice, spells, potions and wizardry. Help bring back an old Explorer that has been dead and unstarted for over 4 years. All suggestions and comments, directions to other threads or books are welcome.

1996 5.0 V8 AWD 240,000 mi.
It was Not put to bed properly. No cylinder lube. No Sta-bil. Nothing.
Recently done is replacement of one head and related gaskets. (Done by someone far less than professional, sadly, and not me.)

On the to do list:
New battery.
Remove and replace old gasoline.

what else before I try to start it up?
I'm sure it's a good time to replace all fluids, but I'm curious to find out if it will start first.

 

[SoHK_alumni]

Change the oil, thermostat and coolant.

Rent/borrow/make an drill powered oil pump drive. Note the orientation of the cam position sensor, pull it and use the oil pump drive to get oil throughout the engine internals.

Reinstall cam position sensor in original orientation.

Expect lifters to be noisy on initial start and probably a fair amount of smoke out the tail pipe.

 

[koda2000]

It can be a challenge to get an FI vehicle running again after sitting for so long. Your fuel injectors may no longer work after 4 years and may need to be replaced.

Along with the fuel in the tank, change your fuel filter and flush out the fuel lines with fresh gas.

Remove the spark plugs and squirt some ATF into the cylinders to get the rings working again.

If/when you get it running expect it to run like crap for a while.

Your brake parts will probably rusted solid and will need attention/replacement..

 

[ranger7ltr]

If your fuel tank is metal expect to replace the tank and the fuel pump... If you don't, that tank probably has rust in it and the fuel pump will pump it for a while...Then you will be replacing fuel filters often until the pump finally gives up the ghost and dies...

A replacement set of fuel injectors would be a wise investment... Or getting the old ones remanufactured...The fuel sitting in them for 4 years is likely reduced to solids now...

Getting ATF into the cylinders long before start-up will help to break the ring bond to the cylinders...

Do not be surprised if you have no oil pressure on start-up... My Ex sat for over 2 years and the sludge in the bottom took care of the pump pickup...Dropping the pan and replacing the oil pump and pickup and cleaning the pan and inside block was done and was easy due to it being 2wd...

Pulling the valve covers and cleaning the sludge out is gonna happen one way or the other...I started mine up with oil pressure and multiple rockers stuck in the open position due to sludge in the top end...Then it ran like crap!!!

Good luck and let us know how it runs... I love bringing these back to life...