"Red Bull"

[410Fortune]

plug wires again? You get used to this with the 5.0 and headers.
Run the wires along the fender skirts!!!!
SO GLAD IT WAS SOMETHING SIMPLE AND NOT INTERNAL ENGINE ISSUES

you got this!
Red will earn your love again, I promise

 

[MrQ]

I've still got some electrical gremlins to work out. Windshield wipers won't park or do a full mist sweep. Passenger window is sticking going up, there is multiple rattles going on, I have a air leak somewhere into the driver's side foot well, the auto rear view mirror doesn't work, the front windshield needs to be replaced, it still clunks in the front end, the driver's side seat track has slop in it, rear wiper doesn't work, brakes are hard one second and soft the next.

But instead of fixing these items I went out and bought a Flowmaster Super 44, because the dumb kid inside me wants his exhaust to sound badass.

 

[410Fortune]

I've still got some electrical gremlins to work out. Windshield wipers won't park or do a full mist sweep. Passenger window is sticking going up, there is multiple rattles going on, I have a air leak somewhere into the driver's side foot well, the auto rear view mirror doesn't work, the front windshield needs to be replaced, it still clunks in the front end, the driver's side seat track has slop in it, rear wiper doesn't work, brakes are hard one second and soft the next.

So its a 98 Explorer, sounds to be in good shape! LMFAO
1. Wipers = multi function switch
2. Pass window, I bet you find the metal track dealio has come loose, they break their mount for the bolt. A quick weld or replacement, remove door panel have look see
3. Rattles = 1998 was a while ago
4. Air leak = new door seal, can swap with passenger side in a pinch
5. Windshield = Shop around can get installed around $150-180, the glass costs installers $65 so make them fight for your business
6. Auto dimmer mirror, autolights, I hate those things!! I always remove and upgrade
7. Front end clunk = what SLA IFS Ford doesnt have a clunk? all is normal here move along (Usually sway bar bushings or ball joint)
8. Brakes hard and soft = check to see booster is holding vacuum, any leaks in the brake system? fluid loss?

New flowmaster = Nice to see you have repairs going in proper order. With the new muffler you can ignore items 3, 4, 6, 7, and possibly 2, maybe 1 and heck it still stops so 8 too......

 

[MrQ]

Red's got a new sound

New video · Friday, May 29, 2020 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Only cost about $200 for muffler and install.

And another surprise... a huge power steering leak that has gone from a trickle to a waterfall. This apparently has been the source of my "oil leak" since day 1.

 

[410Fortune]

Ah good a daily update for us!
Keep plenty of rags, that is the tip of the day

 

[MrQ]

Most of this thread is supposed to be for me to document issues (apart from some several gratuitous ranting posts, haha). It's already saved me a lot of time and money because of the detail I have added over the past 9 years.

Now onto the daily, "Oh for the love of Gawd!" post, starring everybody's favorite cantankerous money pit, RED!

Today he was in a good mood so he only broke his hood release cable. Well that, and still pissing power steering fluid on my floor and managing to unthread his sway bar link (Found my clunk!).

I can't win...

Sidebar, I spent 18 hours helping my friend replace the radiator, timing cover, front main seal, oil pump, oil pan gasket, water pump, and thermostat on his 01 Chevy 2500 6.0L.

...We were only supposed to replace the upper intake gaskets which, actually, never got done.

I'm a little punchy right now from lack of sleep, but I guess it's kinda cool to see the sky change from dusk to dawn, while hip deep in an engine bay.

 

[MrQ]

Been about two weeks. Started driving Red back and forth to work for the past week and a half. No problems so far. All the leaks are gone, the power steering seal fixed the last leak. Changed out the hood release cable and it promptly landed on the header when I started the engine, love the smell of burning plastic and the reality of $25 thrown away. Those headers have destroyed more crap than I can count, if they didn't look and sound so good, I might have pulled them off already.

Now I'm dealing with a rough idle and that clicking/ticking sound is not going away. I'm starting to believe its not exhaust anymore so I'm leaning toward a bad lifter. I feel really down on power at the bottom end, but some days are better than others, usually in the morning when the engine is cold.

Looks like the intake manifolds and valve covers are coming off again. Thank god I don't have to pull the heads to get the lifters out.

However, that'l have to wait until I get Stripe back... yes, my friends Silverado is again taking up the other half of my garage. Turns out he has bad lifters too, found that out after tearing down all the work we did two weeks ago. So I lent him Stripe for the interim until it's back together.

And he still wants to buy another Chevy... some people never learn.

 

[410Fortune]

I have two chevys, a Toyota and a Jeep in my shop!! I think it is the end of day's, we just don't know it yet.
Ticking noise with a 5.0 (that was just installed with headers) is almost always an exhaust leak! Where do you hear it the most? wheel wells?

 

[MrQ]

I have two chevys, a Toyota and a Jeep in my shop!! I think it is the end of day's, we just don't know it yet.
Ticking noise with a 5.0 (that was just installed with headers) is almost always an exhaust leak! Where do you hear it the most? wheel wells?

It's definitely driver's side.

I find it hard to believe that there would still be exhaust leaks with those remflex gaskets. I can't feel any exhaust leaks and I had my muffler shop guy look at it to see if he could find the leak. He said it was lifters because he couldn't hear anything in the exhaust. Only thing I could think that would still be leaking is that stupid two piece joint in the headers. If I have to take those things off again...

I'm gonna try some of that marvel mystery oil or whatever people recommend to quiet lifters. If the sound gets quieter or goes away I'll know its lifters, otherwise my exhaust is playing havoc with me again.

Still can't figure out the rough idle though...yet.

 

[MrQ]

On the upside, Red hasn't let me down when I needed him most right now, so I am super stoked. Plus, except for the ticking, he sounds so good getting on the gas (why did I take so long to get this muffler?). I think I'm finally falling back in love with him again

 

[MrQ]

It's definitely lifters. I finally got that Chevy out of my garage and got Stripe back, so now it's time to tear into Red again.

Got underneath as I notice a leak under the transfercase; I don't think the driveshaft is supposed to move up and down like that. I'm thinking output bearing, the oil had a lot of sparklies in it and it was quite brown.

New video · Friday, Jun 19, 2020 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

And the driver's side CV shaft seal is also leaking. *Sigh* here we go again.

 

[MrQ]

Pulled the valve covers and the lower intake to see what was going on...



Looking at at least two lifters that need replacement.

 

[CDW6212R]

The rockers should move freely and smoothly in their range of motion, with no excess gaps or wear along the way. The lifter isn't what keeps the rockers in their place so to speak, they only push up on the pushrod. If you have too much clearance from the pushrod to the lifter, not enough preload, that would be a problem.

So have you measure the preload on those rockers that seem to move more? That is checked with the cam on the base circle for that rocker, the valve completely closed. With any valve opening, there shoud be no real movement of the rocker/pushrod/lifter.

So it may be just a lifter preload check it needs. The rockers may be okay, but loose in your hand they should move smoothly but not move side to side very much. The rocker pedestal should fit well inside its rocker.

 

[MrQ]

It's only on those two valves. The second valve lifter firmed back up in two to 3 minutes, the first one never did. This leads me believe I have a bad or clogged lifter on that valve. There was significant side play after I tapped the pushrods side a couple of times.

It also fits my issues with the rough idle and ticking if that lifter is not working properly.

 

[410Fortune]

Did you install new lifters when you did the 306?
did all the little oil holes point the correct direction?
possible carbon blockage from engine being put together at lifter
Sorry to see this, hang in there, nothing worth having comes easy!

 

[MrQ]

New lifters all around, I wasn't going to scrimp on that with a new cam. I've looked online and not seen that the oil hole direction matters, but I may be wrong. Gonna grab a couple of melling lifters at the local O-Reilly's and button him back up. $14 a lifter, yeesh.

 

[410Fortune]

I hate having to buy lifters.....so much $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$14 each ain't bad until you need 16!!

I have always re installed the lifter with the hole pointing the same way it came out, I have heard it does not matter as the hole is inside a halo that is pressurized so it will get pressure whether it points towards the valley or towards the heads, but I still do it by th ebook, says to mark them and re install the same way, so that's what I do.
Often with engine builds some crud is let loose and gets suspended in the oil....will find tiny passages to plug up. Lifters have the smallest oil passages........ tiny bit of carbon can keep a lifter from pumping up

Do you have an oil pressure gauge on this monster?

 

[MrQ]

I have the dummy gauge and it says pressure is good, but I might need to get something else on there to get an actual pressure though.

 

[410Fortune]

good idea!!! I like the oil filter re location kits because they give you a nice spot for oil pressure, allow you to run the larger Fl1a filter, and add a little oil capacity to the 302..........

 

[MrQ]

I'll look into that. My brother found a really cool two pod mount that went on the driver a-piller. Gonna see if I can find another. I'd like to put oil pressure and water temp there. Dummy gauges are no fun.

I have a scangauge II, but for some reason Ford didn't offer oil pressure as an output. I gotta check and see if my Forscan program will.