j0hnk41
New Member
- Joined
- September 16, 2006
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Riverside, CA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1994 XLT
Sorry, this is a long story, but you need all the details.... Skip to text in Bold at end for actual question.
It is a 1994 Explorer/XLT/Auto/V6, My girlfriend bought it used, for way too much, at an auction, before we met. It ran for a few months and after being parked (I mean broke down) for extended time, She had the tranny and other oddball items replaced (About $1800 worth) . Ran like a champ up and down Cajon pass (long evil grade), in 100+ degrees, for maybe 500 miles worth. Then, on Wednesday night, She is not gone for 5 minutes, (I know she drove for less than 2 miles) and I get excited call screaming "This thing is running really hot, I need a ride to work!" and comes back and it smells hot. So I figure manana, gave her the keys to my Truck, and went to bed.
The next day I'm at work and she comes walking up "It's parked down the street, it got real hot and wouldn't run and almost stalled" and says a tow truck is on the way.
She's been through this with 2 other vehicles (Geo Metro - Bad radiator, Plymouth Laser - water pump, bad tranny) a lot lately, and swears that she checked oil and refilled radiator just before leaving.
When the tow truck backed it up, nose first, into our somewhat inclined driveway, at one point he had to raise his boom up, and upon backing in, the Explorer had it's ass WAY up in the air at one point... I mean like at 45 degrees or more...
By the end of the next day, I had replaced the extremely leaky radiator, and the lower hose for good measure, topped it up with coolant and The moment of truth was at hand. Starting was very hard, it wouldn't idle, and lots of steam or white smoke from exhaust, and after 5- 10 minutes it got up to temp and still running awful. The sun was down, and so was I.
I know it is very likely a head gasket, but She's quite adamant about the temperature gauge never going over the top, and I know positively she hadn't gone far at all, on flat city streets, in 70 degree weather. Are these engines that delicate? Sheesh, the geo and the laser took 10 times the abuse, and ran fine after fixing cooling problems.
So 3 crappy cars, 2 years, and $8000 (of her money) later, If I do a compression check, and pay someone to do a head gasket$$$, I don't want to hear "Gee Mr Gottrocks, Looks like yer catastrophic puterized inverter needs replacing" or "Hmm I never seen that happen before, That's just weird - that'll be another $500 to maybe fix it,,,,"
Is there something, anything, that could be malfunctioning due to the vehicle being practically stood on it's nose briefly? Like perhaps oil/coolant up into emision control or sensor? Is there a hidden "run crappy/run great" toggle switch somewhere?
Thanks People
It is a 1994 Explorer/XLT/Auto/V6, My girlfriend bought it used, for way too much, at an auction, before we met. It ran for a few months and after being parked (I mean broke down) for extended time, She had the tranny and other oddball items replaced (About $1800 worth) . Ran like a champ up and down Cajon pass (long evil grade), in 100+ degrees, for maybe 500 miles worth. Then, on Wednesday night, She is not gone for 5 minutes, (I know she drove for less than 2 miles) and I get excited call screaming "This thing is running really hot, I need a ride to work!" and comes back and it smells hot. So I figure manana, gave her the keys to my Truck, and went to bed.
The next day I'm at work and she comes walking up "It's parked down the street, it got real hot and wouldn't run and almost stalled" and says a tow truck is on the way.
She's been through this with 2 other vehicles (Geo Metro - Bad radiator, Plymouth Laser - water pump, bad tranny) a lot lately, and swears that she checked oil and refilled radiator just before leaving.
When the tow truck backed it up, nose first, into our somewhat inclined driveway, at one point he had to raise his boom up, and upon backing in, the Explorer had it's ass WAY up in the air at one point... I mean like at 45 degrees or more...
By the end of the next day, I had replaced the extremely leaky radiator, and the lower hose for good measure, topped it up with coolant and The moment of truth was at hand. Starting was very hard, it wouldn't idle, and lots of steam or white smoke from exhaust, and after 5- 10 minutes it got up to temp and still running awful. The sun was down, and so was I.
I know it is very likely a head gasket, but She's quite adamant about the temperature gauge never going over the top, and I know positively she hadn't gone far at all, on flat city streets, in 70 degree weather. Are these engines that delicate? Sheesh, the geo and the laser took 10 times the abuse, and ran fine after fixing cooling problems.
So 3 crappy cars, 2 years, and $8000 (of her money) later, If I do a compression check, and pay someone to do a head gasket$$$, I don't want to hear "Gee Mr Gottrocks, Looks like yer catastrophic puterized inverter needs replacing" or "Hmm I never seen that happen before, That's just weird - that'll be another $500 to maybe fix it,,,,"
Is there something, anything, that could be malfunctioning due to the vehicle being practically stood on it's nose briefly? Like perhaps oil/coolant up into emision control or sensor? Is there a hidden "run crappy/run great" toggle switch somewhere?
Thanks People
