Ugh...alot of problems

[Bmwz389]

So, needless to say I'm not exactly in a good mood.

Winter came and hit us bad. I got stuck in the snow and was trying to get out for almost a 30 hour, finally got out and saw that I leaked out probably an 8th of a quart of tranny fluid.

Any idea's to what that could be? I know it's a complete shot in the dark but it's cold and snowy, so it's hard to get under there and look.

Plus, my girlfriend drove my truck about a 2 weeks ago, and the parking brake was on because I was parked on snow on an incline(I forgot about it). She drove a good 14 miles before she found out it was on, the light never came on saying brake!

So now, ironically, the light has come on and will not go away, as well as the rear anti-lock light.

Any clues to what that could be?

Thanks guys!

- Brandon

P.S. - these are the pretty much major problems, I'll list the others later if yall want.

 

[JDraper]

I'm guessing you tried to rock the vehicle back and forth to get it out...If that's the case, you probably slightly overheated the tranny and it puked fluid out the vent tube. I'd just check the level and top it off, and then keep an eye on it for a while.

As for the brake light...check your fluid level and the condition of the brake shoes. They may have worn down enough to lower the fluid level and trip the light.

 

[Bmwz389]

K those sound good. I didn't know transmissions had a vent tube, then again I don't play with transmissions because they are complicated and very expensive if you were to bust a part lol.

I'll check both fluid levels and keep an eye out for leaks.

How do you know if it's time to replace the shoes? I've replaced the shoes on my Monte Carlo because one of the wheel cylinder's sleeves broke so I replaced all internal hardware. Is there like a penny test or a measurement of some kind, or maybe the look of the shoe?

 

[Bmwz389]

So I topped off the brake fluid, and both brake lights went away!

Awesome, one problem solved =)

Also, I checked the fluid level on the transmission, with it hot and idle like it says, and it's full. So I dunno what the problem was with the transmission, it still feels kinda funny so I might have it checked out so I can make sure there are no problems building or getting worse.

Now onto the smaller problems.

I need a driver's side window motor, and I believe I have it covered. My buddy can get a discount at O' Reillys for a motor for 40, so that ain't bad.

BUT, I need two new or good condition door panels for the front doors for a worthy price. The driver's side is completely busted and the passenger side is well on it's way.

The roof is now leaking and I believe it's all the rivets that have wiggled loose over the years. So to replace these I need to drop the headliner, because when I drill out the rivets the centers will drop onto the headliner, as well as a bunch of shavings.

So I know that it's a task to drop the headliner, but I need to. I'm sure there is a post on how to remove it. So if anyone can point me to that they can, otherwise I can search for it.

But I'm thinking while it's down I'm gonna Second Skin the roof, and have the headliner relined.

Also, The rear wiper motor is actin funny. It works sometime's and sometimes doesn't. Know anything about this? I have the back panel removed, waiting for a solution. I've had it like that for a while haha.

One more thing, now that I'm thinking about it.

Recently, I've been noticing a bright light coming from underneath the driver's side of the dash. It seems like a spark, if you will. I don't see the direct source of the light, as it only happens while I'm driving. I have a Viper Alarm brain under there, does anyone else have this same problem? I haven't gotten a chance to look at it because I'm busy with school and work all the time, and the days I'm off of work always seem to be colder than day old dog ****. Pardon my french lol.

Anyways, those are the small problems. If anyone can help me out at all I would be extremely grateful!

Thanks already yall!

- Brandon

 

[91exploreron37]

About the brakes if you dont have a leak then the only reason the brake fluid would be low is if the pads were low so I'd get them checked out before you dont have any left.
What was wrong with the window motor? Did it just stop working completely?

 

[Payneful13]

As for the "sparking" under the dash, when does it happen? When you hit bumps? When you turn? Is there any circumstances that are the same each time you see the spark? My thought is the Viper. Find the brain and follow all of the thick guaged wires and check their connections. It sounds as though one of the power/ignition/accessory wires are losing and remaking contact. That could end badly if you don't take care of it. I would take it back to who installed it and have them check it out if you don't have time.

 

[Bmwz389]

As for the window motor, the factory ones burnt out a while back, and I didn't know about the bushing kits so I bought eBay motors. The worst idea ever in my book. They lasted 3 months and they started getting unadjusted so every 2 weeks I would have to take the door panels off and tighten the 3 bolts down. Well one time when I was adjusting it the back of the motor casing just blew off the motor! I just dropped my ratchet and started laughing because I saw it coming haha.

But I tried finding the old motor and just replacing the bushings because I learned how, but alas, the motor got tossed by my mom one day. Damn.

As for the spark, it happens mainly on bumps. So that would make sense, and that's what I figured as well.

But yeah, Best Buy installed it sadly and I have problems every now and then with it, so I'll take it back to them this weekend and have them deal with it because it's their problem.

I also have an ignition problem, I brought up a thread a while back about it. But you have three modes in your ignition cycle. Accessory, On and Start.

Accessory doesn't prime the fuel pump, On does and Start obviously starts the truck.

But if I turn the key back the fuel pump gets primed. Someone said something about wires maybe rubbed through and are circuiting, and possibly the ICM box could be burning out. But I don't know how to remove the panels to check the wires. Anybody have an idea?

So so far we have these:

Brakes (Lights) - 3/4 of the way solved
Transmission - Seems ok, will rest on it
Window Motor - Solved
Door Panels - Unsolved
Rivets - Unsovled
Roof Panel Removal - Unsolved
Rear Wiper Motor - Unsolved
Spark - Getting checked Saturday
Ignition - Unsolved

I'm just keepin a record for myself haha.

Thanks alot for the advice and help so far. I'm pretty much gettin ready to sell it if I don't get these problems fixed. And the funny thing is I don't want to sell her cause the truck is awesome!

- Brandon

 

[Bmwz389]

Anything else guys?

 

[91exploreron37]

Here's the only thing I could find about the headliner, It doesnt seem that hard to remove.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143107&highlight=headliner+removal

And you can check the for sale section and look for people parting out their explorers to find some cheap door panels.

 

[LXNavajo_94]

You can reline the head liner your self. I have done several although none on an ex its usually been GM products and one Heep. It doesnt take long and if you take your time it will turn out quite nice.

 

[Bmwz389]

Yeah I hear good and bad things about the headliner. Some say once you pull the fabric, it leaves a wake of hell from the glue that it's impossible to relay anything.

That's why I'm scared to do it. I'd be SOL if that happened. Not really a big fan of the liners held up by staples XD

Thanks alot yall!

I'm takin these ideas into consideration for spring. That's the best thing. Spring cleaning, get rid of the old stuff, in with the new =)

- Brandon