The final verdict on my 1997 ford explorer eddie bauer

[Stinger357]

I sunk 1500 dollars in getting my truck fixed. Front end aligment and plugs and wires done correctly this time, the rattling under the car has been fixed. got the ac unit fixed. and upper and lower intake manifolds rebuild. seeems a little better now. But the bad news is the compression test found that 2 cylinders where not up to snuff they are not producing compression like they should. So the mechanic said dump the truck asap. He also said to fix that is a complete engine rebuild, which for a 3000 dollars truck aint worth it. So I am going to drive the wheels off it until it dies. Is there a better way to fix 2 cylinders rings without having to rebuild the entire engine? I made a bad trade for this truck but at least it gets be from point a to b. Any suggestions on what I can do to make it last 1 to 2 years more?

Thanks,

 

[Facimeor]

nothing you can do except go easy on it.

Having said that, One thing that would be helpful to know is where the compression loss is coming from. If your mechanic just did a dry test and found compression loss he needed to follow up with a wet test.

A wet test consists of the same compression test after putting a couple teaspoons of oil right into the compression chamber. If compression returns to normal at that point then the problem is bad rings, if the compression remains low then the problem is bad valve seats and that would be fixable without a complete rebuild, and can be done with the engine still in the vehicle.

Lastly, these 4.0 motors are EVERYWHERE! A cheap alternative to rebuilding is finding a good compression used motor. If you bought a complete setup from a junkyard and then sold all the external parts off your motor (intake, sensors, maybe even heads if they are ok) you would come out with probably only another 4-500 bucks into it.

 

[SoNic67]

I used, on mine, some Restore additive in oil and seemed to work.

 

[Facimeor]

Just say NO to engine rebuild in a can. Any measurable effects are a temporary mask at best and some even bad for your engine at worst.

 

[Stinger357]

Well I kind of like the engine in a can fix since there is nothing worse that can happen to it at this point. My HP went from 230 or so to about 100 HP so I get no get up and go! Eleaborate on what I can do to bandage this thing for 1 to 2 years until I can dump it for a newer explorer. the cost of a engine would outweigh the cost of a good used explorer imho.

 

[Stinger357]

Will it completely ruin the engine running on 2 bad cylinders? I am going to take it back to the mech and do the dry and wet test and see exactly what is going on. He told me that eventually the HP would go down and down until it ran like a yugo. so if it is a dry test and from what I am understanding it can be fixed without taking the engine out. right? experts please chime in and let me know what my next step is on this explorer.

 

[Beargap]

nothing you can do except go easy on it.

...
Lastly, these 4.0 motors are EVERYWHERE! A cheap alternative to rebuilding is finding a good compression used motor. If you bought a complete setup from a junkyard and then sold all the external parts off your motor (intake, sensors, maybe even heads if they are ok) you would come out with probably only another 4-500 bucks into it.

+1 on the replacement engine. We dropped a duplicate V6 into a minivan that had blown its engine and the total cost was under $400, partly because all the accessories stay on the donor engine and save lots of time in the replacement. Alas, the "Cash for Clunkers" destroyed LOTS of the 4.0 V6 engines that were perfectly good, but there ya' go...

=Vic=