Random Misfire on 3 cylinders

[slimfitz]

May anyone ever reading this thread never ever have to pull their motor out. This is by far the worst designed vehicle to work on. I have never had so many issues. Ford's biggest problem is they put bolts behind other things and it is big pain in the ass to take the other thing out.
The first big issue I had was the radiator. They made the fan shroud nice to where is splits in half. But that is probably the only nice thing on this explorer. The radiator is not designed to come out of the housing it is in. Why? The condensor is also housed in there and it seems as if they want it to come out as a unit. Some of us dont want to evac the AC system Ford!
The second issue that was a huge pain in the ass was the driver side motor mount. WTF was Ford thinking on this one? You have to drop the front axle to get to the nut! Oh and you cant just drop the axle without pulling the sway bar because the bolt wont come out. So that was an extra two hours just to get the motor mount bolt.
The next hiccup was that you cant just leave the trans in place and pull the motor. The flywheel extends to far into the bell to be able to lift the motor up and out. So I actually had to pull the driveshafts (the front drive shaft u joint straps are to small so you cant get a socket on the bolts unless you beat them on with a hammer), then drop the crossmember, and then finally lower the trans out of the way. This whole thing has taken me 15 hours today and the motor is still sitting in the engine bay. I can not believe how difficult this has been. May you never have to do this!

 

[Explorer_PL]

Slimfitz -

My hat off to you for taking on such a challenging project. I assume you must have a roomy garage and access to an engine lift and air tools. Pulling the engine from the Explorer is beyond my point of courage, radiator, differentials, tranny maybe....

I am about to replace my leaky radiator on my 06 and from the readings I noticed that some members were able to pull it out without evac-ing the AC by bypassing the condensor - loosen up 2 bolts or something like that. The other staff the you needed to take out - thank you Ford. I've seen photos where you need to take the body or the cab off the frame (Expedition, Excuriosn, F-Superduties) so I guess the "geniuses" at Ford do not think it's a big deal for an average owner once the warranty is off. Wrong - these type of things just turn off people from buying another Ford. After reading your post I am considering selling mine before I need to spend big bucs just on labor to pull it out, at $ 100 an hour, it's getting expensive.

I sweared not to buy another Ford after I broke a spark plug in the head and needed to drill the head and install an adapter.

Did you buy the used motor from the junkyard ?

All the best luck and keep us posted - interesting reading.

 

[slimfitz]

I have not bought the motor yet. It is about an one and a half hours from me in South Jersey. I plan to skate out of work one of these days a little early and go pick it up. My garage is is fairly big but its full of junk. So I actually had to clean it out and move my Mustang out that has been on jackstands for a year and half. I do have air tools and a engine hoist along with alot of other tools.

It might not be so bad to do again because this time around I would know what I need to do. This engine was definitely not designed to come back out very easy. It rolled down the assembly line and they put the body on top of the rolling frame. I am still confused on how the exhaust y pipe comes out. I have not figured that one out. It blocks the trans from coming down. So my trans is still up in the air by jackstands. I did finally get the motor out today. I popped off the head and it really doesnt look that bad in there. Just looks like an old motor. Im thinking the rings were just wore out.

The radiator will come out with a little help from a prybar on the bottom while someone up top pulls it up. Just be careful with the prying. I saw the two bolts holding the condenser in but Im not sure if there is room to get to them with the radiator in the way. Mine made a single cracking noise as I was prying it. Not sure if we cracked the tank or not. That doesnt matter now. My helper accidentally dropped the jack handle right into the radiator putting a hole in the aluminum. So I had to buy a new radiator today.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Do you have a lift or you are doing it just with the truck on jacks ?

So do you think it was just worn rings or head gasket ?

 

[slimfitz]

I just have the front lifted about a foot off the ground on jackstands. I wish i had a lift. My back would be so much happier.

I believe the rings were just on their way out. The cylinder is nice and smooth. The head looks like a normal well used head. And the head gasket is a metal multi layer gasket. Almost like Cometic. The layers were still there. They actually looked alright. I dont know if maybe the head was a little warped or the gasket was just weak. Somehow it was leaking between 3&4

 

[Explorer_PL]

Since you have the old motor out, you can take pictures of it so when you go pick up the new one, you can compare if it'sgonna fit; location of mounts, number of bolts and pattern for the tranny bellhousing and this type of staff. I just know that every manufacturer makes little changes from year to year, sometimes minor, sometimes making things complicated for people like us.

PS: Speaking of pictures, if you can and have time, you should post some.

 

[Explorer_PL]

It's got to be a "Ford" thing.

I searched on youtube for "Explorer motor replacement" and I got a video for Aviator motor replacement.

Those came with 32 valve 4.6, and what they did ?

They lifted the whole body off the frame.

See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2SXXS_sg8

 

[slimfitz]

Yea that looks just like the explorer underneath. I imagine it would be super easy to get the motor out by taking off the cab. This explains how the y pipe comes out now. Im still wondering how a tranny shop gets the tranny out. They dont pull the body. Only thing i can think of is the separate the t case from the tranny and snake it by the exhaust. As far as pics i can go take some. Its just an explorer now with no engine

 

[Explorer_PL]

Slimfitz -

any progress ?

 

[slimfitz]

I just picked up the motor last night. I got it out of my truck and in the garage. Tonight i want to swap over all my stuff. It came from a junkyard and those guys dont unplug anything. They cut all the sensors and hoses. My wife works nights during the week so im limited to what i can do since i have to watch my two year old son. But this weekend I hope to have it in.

 

[Explorer_PL]

I hear you with the junkyard guys just cutting everything. Many years ago I was replacing the engine in my Thunderbird SC, and the junkyard just pulled the motor out of the donor car and broke the intake manifold on the supercharger, and that part by itself was few hundred bucks from Ford, for them it's just another motor, for me it was more headaches.

Do you know what car the motor came out ?

PS: Looks like you have a helper, your son can hold the shop light if needed

 

[slimfitz]

The only thing they care about is getting to motor out as quick as possible. So yes there are broken connectors all over it. It came out of a 06 Mountaineer. It is definitely a low mile motor. But it has been sitting now for what 6 years? They said it was bought in Oct 06 and wrecked in Dec 06. I think the fuse box or battery or something caught on fire when it was wrecked. The left side of the engine all the rubber O rings and spark plug boots were deteriorated. But the right side of the motor all that stuff looked brand new. We pulled the valve covers there and it is shiney and new inside. So I didnt care about the rest of the motor. I only cared about the longblock basically. Plugs all looked nice and new with only a few miles on them.

And I cant wait for the day when my son will sit still and maybe hold the light for me. As it is now I try not to take him out in the garage because he likes to take tools and bang them on the side of things like my Mustang

 

[Explorer_PL]

That's a great find. Once you get it in, just change the oil few times more frequently the first few times to get the garbage out of the cylinders.

What's wrong with banging the tools on your Mustang ?

If he were banging them on the Explorer - that would be a problem.

Luckily, my son is 11 so I am passed that, but I still have holes in my workshop bench that he drilled using my cordless drill whem he was 5.

 

[slimfitz]

I do plan to do an oil change after about 300 miles on it. I took some pics for you.

This was this morning

Here it is with no motor in it

Old motor

cylinder 3

Junkyard motor

inside of valve covers

Valvetrain

going back in

Have to stop right here to put power steering pump and AC compressor back on

Took 3 hours to stab the motor mount back in. That was a pain in the ass. I bolted the trans to the motor and stopped for the night.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Wow, looks good, thanks for the pictures.

Did you drop it in already ?

 

[slimfitz]

Yes those photos were of it going back in. I still need to put the crossmember back in, install the drive shafts, drop the front axle again and put the motor mount nut back on, reinstall the front axle, and finish all the stuff up top.

 

[slimfitz]

Well I got the motor back in and running. However I still had the issue of the car had no balls. It would only get up to 45 and still stumble. Was an absolute dog. I had no check engine light however it had a couple pending codes. P0172 and P0174. One bank running lean and the other bank running rich. That didnt make sense to me how the engine could even run that way. I have finally figured out that I had a plugged cat. I pulled the O2 sensor out of the lean bank and let it dangle and took it for a drive. I had its balls back and it shifted nice. I am thinking that this is what led to the cylinder 3 failure on my last motor. So now I am looking for new cats

 

[Explorer_PL]

Slimfitz -

just for educational purposes, how would clogged cat blow the head gasket ? Back pressure ?

 

[Explorer_PL]

I bought the cats with Y pipe for my old Tahoe from them, and it worked:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sport-Trac-...xplorer|Year:2006&vxp=mtr&hash=item2c669185e2

 

[slimfitz]

I have no clue. I assume the pressure has to go somewhere. This side was also running lean so I imagine it was running hotter than normal