Stalling, hard to start, short distance driving

[Dolphins39]

I recently filled up my explorer with gas at a relativley new gas station. I drove for about fifteen miles to my destination, waited a few hours and began to drive back. When I was on the highway I could not accelerate over 55 mph around halfway through the trip (I was going faster previously). I got off the highway, and took some back roads home. While driving my car backfired (I assume it made a really loud noise like a gun) and started to smoke. I was almost home so pulled into the driveway and went to sleep. The next day I drove around the block with the windows down to see if I could hear anything. The car was clicking very fast and it sounded like it was coming from the engine. I checked the oil, and it was full because I recently changed it the previous weekend and added some fuel injector cleaner. The car also smelt when I drove it like something was burning. Today, I tried to drive it to school and it quit after about three miles. While I was driving, the sounds increased and when I tried to accelerate after a red light it would only go up to 35 mph, after which the engine stopped, I slowed down, and my power steering was out. The Check Engine light, which was coming on and off since I drove it on the highway, came on along with the battery light. However, the radio and power windows still worked. The smell was also really bad and my car was smoking under the hood. It would not start. Later in the day it started and I attempted to drive it home and since I had to go a longer route, the car stopped at about the same distance traveled as before. Once again it wouldn't start. I waited a few hours, and finally drove it home so it is now sitting in my driveway. After it died the second time today, there was smoke coming out of the air vents into the car even though the enigine was off and the air conditioner was off. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have summarized my problem below:

• Hard to start; will not start after stops running
• Smells bad when running and after running
• Clicking noise beneth car; oil is full
• Travels the same amount of distance every time before refusing to accelerate and the engine shutting off
• When engine is about to quit it sounds like a diesel engine it is so loud and smoke comes out of engine beneth where the oil goes in

 

[uh60james]

You said you changed the oil and added fuel injector cleaner, where did you add the injector cleaner and what type was it?

 

[Dolphins39]

I added the fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank, like it said. I believe it was STP.

 

[uh60james]

Ok, you had me worried you added it with the oil. I'm not really sure what the problem is then, perhaps the new fuel tanks at the gas station had some sort of chemical treatment in them?!?!?

 

[Dolphins39]

The fuel tanks are not that new. Maybe a few months. I have filled up at that gas station before with no problems.

 

[walterd140]

You say it smells. Does it smell like rotten eggs? If so your cat is clogged. If you do venture out again & it dies, jump under it & see if the cat is red hot. I mean real red color, not touch it to see. If so you got it clogged & may need a new one.

You would have to have alot of bad gas to simulate what your talking about. I'd say like 50% water in the tank. If it were the stations fault, they would have been out of business by now with all the folks screaming about it.

On another note, you say the power steering went out & check engine light came on at the same time. I had this before when the serpitine belt tension pully died on me. So you might want to check all components connected to the belt. Is it possible the tension pully is failing intermeadetly?? Possible.
Walter

 

[Dolphins39]

It smells more like something is burning - like oil i think but it might be something else. Also, I think the power steering went out because the engine shut off. I'll check though, thanks.

 

[Dolphins39]

I discovered that the radiator had a large crack in the left side where it connects to the hose at the top. I figure the car was overheating, but the temperature gauge never went into hot. I installed a new radiator and it runs a little better, but when i went to flush out the system this brown oily stuff came out. Also, the next day white smoke came out the tail pipe. Water was going everywhere the day before, could it just be steam? I will try to put some pictures of the brown oily stuff on here.

 

[peties3]

Sounds like you got it hot enough to crack a head or block.
Where is the water coming from?
Mark

 

[90ranajo]

• Smells bad when running and after running
• Clicking noise beneth car; oil is full

Does it kind of smells like burnt hamburger? Also is it a clicking or a ticking or a knocking?
If it smells like burnt hamburger than chances are good that you overheated it. The clicking or ticking could be a bent valve.

Also, the next day white smoke came out the tail pipe.

If you have white smoke coming from the tail pipe then you have water going into your cumbustion chamber.
What does your oil look like? Does it look like oil or does it look like mud? By mud I mean it has a some what milky look and its a light brown/tan-ish color.

Chances are you've probably either blown a head gasket and/or cracked one of your heads. I doubt that the block is cracked. If it keeps shutting down on you after a short drive then what is happening is that the bearings and crank or cam is heating up and seizing. After a couple of hours of cool down the toloerances loosen back up enough to turn over again for a short while.

 

[Dolphins39]

The water came from the hose that we were using to flush the radiator. The oil is exactly what you described: light brown, milky color. I thought it might be a cracked gasket or engine block, but hoped not. I didn't think it was overheating until i looked at the radiator because the temperature gauge never went past normal, but i guess it did . Any suggestions to check to make sure it is a cracked head or gasket before i do anything else? And what can i do about the oily stuff in the cooling system?

 

['97 V8]

THe ouily stuff your going to have to flush. Replace the head gasket and pray that it was a blown head gasket and nothing else major. After that drain the old oil, put in new oil and drain it again (i like to be sure all the old stuff is out) And fill it up with some good oil. Refill the rad with the proper antifreeze to water concentration and see how it goes.

 

[Dolphins39]

Ok, are there any tips you can give me to help replace the head gasket? I have the Haynes repair manual and I was going to follow that step by step. Also, what order should I follow? Flush, Gasket, then oil or something else?

 

[shamaal]

I just replaced both gaskets last month. Same problem overheated engine white smoke, oil in water.
You will need a head gasket kit it comes with all the necessary gaskets - I used Feldpro ($108), there may be better. You will also need a torque wrench and a number of specialty sockets, read all the instructions in Haynes before starting, ask questions if there any you do not understand. If you can turn a wrench it can be DIY.
If you have the Haynes you will be in Chapter2 Part A section 9 - assuming you have an overhead valve engine; if not totally disregard my following comments. Steps not commented on are self-explanatory.
9-3. Remove valve covers - you'll need a 10mm deep socket for the single studs on each cover. There's a wire harness attachment on the rear of the drivers side unwrap or carefully cut tape.
9-7 The air conditioning compressor hoses are pretty flexible and the compressor can be moved out of the way without disconnecting.
9-9 I did not have to move the steering pump
9-14 Remove exhaust manifolds see section 8. How easy this sounds it took the entire weekend.
8-1 The bracket is held on by a bolt, the dipstick tube itself does not remove.
8-4 Remove exhaust pipe from manifold. I did not have to do this. The bolts are accessible from underneath withh long extensions. After I knocked the passenger side ****-eyed it leaked and I did have to remove reseat and reattach.
8-5 Remove the bolts and the manifold. This was a killer. Yoy may want to try this first before step 2. Remove the inner wheelwell to access bolts on passenger side. Impact wrench works best. Barring that use a breaker bar with a six point socket and place squarely on bolt. Additon of a sixteen inch cheater bar (pipe) also helps. Any slippage and bolt will round off. Use liberal amounts of PB Blaster, it worked better than Liquid Wrench - let sit overnight if practical. Make sure you get in in the bolt hole (the bolts are three of four threads short). The bolts will not break free and be easy to turn, they will hold torque all the way through extraction. That snap you hear is the socket breaking. I had almost 30 degree of twist in bolts and tools making it very difficult to remove in limited space. The lower ones were easier to get out than the top, because my heads were leaking oil at the gasket. I ended up cutting off three heads because I rounded them off. The extraction tools at O'Reilly were not designed for this much toque. You may be able to leave the heads on and remove attached to the exhaust pipe if you removed the flange bolts in step 8-4. On driver side resist urge to lean on brake cylinder reservoir.
9-15 The roller tappets in fig 9-15b do not interfere with removal.
9-16 These are heavy. Your concern is clearing the half inch dowels that are outboard on block are outboard (fig 9-15b). If you can raise the cylinder head a half inch you can slide it inboard if you left any of the exhaust manifold bolts on. (Experience)
9-17 Give serious consideration to taking heads to machine shop. For a low fee they will clean and rebuild, give them the valve seals that came with kit. Inspect heads for cracks See pic at http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158163 for mine. Note crack only showed when cleaned and DRY. Both my heads were cracked. Cracks may also go between water ports and top of cylinder. When you get this far, if there are questions of what to do they can be addressed in this forum. I'll post pics of valve spring disassembly later.
9-21 Install cylinder heads and new cylinder head bolts, Yes, you must use new bolts
9-22 Apply sealer. Illustrations are clear and the sealant does go around the water port.

As long as you have the lower manifold off disassemble the fuel rail and replace the injector o-rings, they are in the kit. Use motor oil to lube them before they go in.

After assembly, turn key on several times without starting engine, you will hear the fuel pump pressurize system. Inspect fuel rail for leaking gasoline, it will be obvious. I neglected to lube my injector o-rings.

If done methodically it can be done. Do a search on head gaskets in this forum. Read the Haynes sections thoroughly and if you have questions ask. I can tell you what I did and others can tell you the right way.
Good Luck!

 

[Dolphins39]

Where did you buy your head gasket kit? Do you know the number or what came with it?

 

[shamaal]

Both O'Reilly and Autozone have the Fel-Pro kit at the same price ($108). Tell them the make and year of automobile and they will provide the right kit. For a 91 Mazda Navajo the kit number was HS9724PT-1. Note the kit does not contain the head bolts - ES72794 ($34?)

 

[Dolphins39]

I am having a really hard time getting the first couple of bolts off on the alternator and the ignition coil. The wrench wont even move, even when i put it on a pipe and hit it with a hammer. I noticed that it was making indentations in the bolt instead of doing anything so i decided to stop. I was able to get one of the bolts off of the ignition coil, but the one that is on the top and closer to the rear I am having a problem reaching. Any ideas? Oh, and I am also soaking the bolts in lubricant and trying again tomorrow.

 

[shamaal]

I use a 14 in breaker bar and have a 23 inch cheater pipe. Assuming I have leverage this either turns the bolt, breaks the socket or snaps off the head. Use socket extensions as necessary.
The bolts sound seriously overtorqued or rusted. I use PB Blaster to loosen, it worked better for me than Liquid Wrench. Be careful not to get it into alternator.

 

[Dolphins39]

I found a better socket that also happens to be longer so it works both ways. I drenched the bolts and z-gunk and they seemed to come off, granted they still put up a fight. After that, I can't seem to find the wiring harnesses on the valve cover, I'll look a little harder later it was getting dark last night.

 

[shamaal]

All but one of the wiring harnesses are visible. They are held on to a plastic holder, usually with tape; the tape comes off easily and the plastic is brittle. If you don't see them don't worry about them. There is a comb on the back of the driver's side valve cover for the spark plug.
The not easily visible harness is on the rear of the driver side head and is the wiring that goes over the transmission to the O2 sensor. You can feel it with your hand when you get that far.
When you remove the rocker arms and pushrods, follow the instructions. The reason that you only do turns at a time is to prevent the rocker arm from being bent by spring pressure. Label and store in an out of the way place.

Don't worry about disassembling the springs at this time (sect 5.5). You'll be lifting the entire head off and it will be done more conveniently on the kitchen table.