Various problems

[DeliciousKeki]

I bought a 1994 ford explorer that had 238,000 miles on it for 500 bucks, since then I've been using it as a daily driver and it's now up to about 242,000.

When I bought it the engine seemed to shake a lot every few seconds for a second or two when idling, when it started it ran real quick with no hesitation. It's always been a bit rough when accelerating also

Now I'm a bit worried because it's having trouble starting, It's yet to simply not start, it's always worked within 3 tries but here are some of the troubles so far.

The first problem: Trying to start strong, didn't sound weak at all, worked after giving some gas

The second: Weak start, as if there was a dead battery but the battery was perfectly fine

The final: a loud knocking when starting, it fades after idling for a few seconds but just sounds horrid to start and sometimes takes a couple tries

It's always been pretty hard to accelerate also. It feels like the original power is still there but it's just covered by some other not so great higher pitched sounds. I can't expect too much out of something with this many miles but I'd like to be able to take it to the 300 mark before killing it, which has been the goal for about all the cars I've owned.

As far as fluids, I've changed everything except the transmission fluid although it is still red.

I've also did some harder steering courses on it when I first bought it and noticed that with some fair to hard steering the power steering goes out for a few seconds, I've also had an air sound coming from the rear of the car, the same sound like when a hole is punched in a basketball or something.

I would also like any recommendations of what I could get done to make this truck be able to take a few long distance trips here and there, the furthest I'd be going is about 2000 miles. So far the furthest I've taken it is about 70 miles in the rain.

Thanks in advance, also emailing me would be really helpful, because I check that a lot quicker than this.

knakai767@gmail.com

Thanks!

 

[Anime]

Since you got it for 500 bucks, you probably don't want to throw a lot of money at it fixing stuff, but you can spend some money in the right places and a little bit of time, and have a much more reliable and better performing Explorer.

Get a can of carburetor cleaner, or, better yet, air intake cleaner in the spray can. Clean the Mass Airflow Sensor a few times. You might also consider taking off the air intake tube and cleaning the throttle body, being sure to clean the butterfly valve and inside and around it, plus the accelerator cable.

Check the air filter. A dirty air filter hurts power, torque, and efficiency. Replace with a new one if it's really dirty. A decent filter from Purolator or FRAM is fine.

Get a replacement fuel filter and install it. They are rather inexpensive and a clogged or otherwise dirty fuel filter can impede fuel flow and make for hard starts, rough idle, and poor acceleration and performance.

If a fuel filter doesn't improve anything, you may want to consider dropping the fuel tank and inspecting the fuel pump, probably replacing the pump itself or the whole fuel pump assembly. You can get an assembly with the pump for around $100, which is worth it given how critical the fuel pump is to performance. It'll be amazing if the stock pump is the one still in there and lasted 240,000 miles. Usually they rust apart and need replacing well before then. It may be that the pump was replaced with something cheap and is slowly going out. Not a cheap or easy fix, but worth it.

If it's not the fuel filter or pump, the other thing in the fuel system is the fuel pressure regulator. These aren't cheap either, but are fairly easy to get to and replace. A defective regulator will result in the fuel pressure being lower than it should be, also resulting in hard starts and poor running.


I'd also say check the battery, you should really consider springing for a brand new one if the one in it is old or looks even slightly questionable. You can get brand new Autocraft batteries for ~40% off with online coupons from Advance Auto Parts, they are well worth the price for the peace of mind. Spending $60-70 on a new battery sure beats getting stuck with a vehicle that won't start because the battery died when you were quite a ways from home.

Also, get underneath and check the exhaust. If it still has the stock exhaust on it, the muffler may be rusted to heck and not flowing as well as it could. Sometimes bolting on a new aftermarket muffler improves things quite a bit.

 

[Centaurious]

Clean BOTH ends of Both battery cables. I watched a neighbor replace 3 batteries and 2 alternators when you could look down and see that the ground cable was loose on the engine. I didn't tell him 'cause his dog kept waking me up. It all starts and ends with the battery so it only makes sense to start troubleshooting there.

 

[DeliciousKeki]

Clean BOTH ends of Both battery cables. I watched a neighbor replace 3 batteries and 2 alternators when you could look down and see that the ground cable was loose on the engine. I didn't tell him 'cause his dog kept waking me up. It all starts and ends with the battery so it only makes sense to start troubleshooting there.

Yes I've actually replaced the terminals and stripped cleaned and rewired the wires, as I said the battery is fine it's one that I bought only about a year ago, another reason it was only 500$ was that it came with no battery I had to jump it to get it home.

Since you got it for 500 bucks, you probably don't want to throw a lot of money at it fixing stuff, but you can spend some money in the right places and a little bit of time, and have a much more reliable and better performing Explorer.

Get a can of carburetor cleaner, or, better yet, air intake cleaner in the spray can. Clean the Mass Airflow Sensor a few times. You might also consider taking off the air intake tube and cleaning the throttle body, being sure to clean the butterfly valve and inside and around it, plus the accelerator cable.

Check the air filter. A dirty air filter hurts power, torque, and efficiency. Replace with a new one if it's really dirty. A decent filter from Purolator or FRAM is fine.

Get a replacement fuel filter and install it. They are rather inexpensive and a clogged or otherwise dirty fuel filter can impede fuel flow and make for hard starts, rough idle, and poor acceleration and performance.

If a fuel filter doesn't improve anything, you may want to consider dropping the fuel tank and inspecting the fuel pump, probably replacing the pump itself or the whole fuel pump assembly. You can get an assembly with the pump for around $100, which is worth it given how critical the fuel pump is to performance. It'll be amazing if the stock pump is the one still in there and lasted 240,000 miles. Usually they rust apart and need replacing well before then. It may be that the pump was replaced with something cheap and is slowly going out. Not a cheap or easy fix, but worth it.

If it's not the fuel filter or pump, the other thing in the fuel system is the fuel pressure regulator. These aren't cheap either, but are fairly easy to get to and replace. A defective regulator will result in the fuel pressure being lower than it should be, also resulting in hard starts and poor running.


I'd also say check the battery, you should really consider springing for a brand new one if the one in it is old or looks even slightly questionable. You can get brand new Autocraft batteries for ~40% off with online coupons from Advance Auto Parts, they are well worth the price for the peace of mind. Spending $60-70 on a new battery sure beats getting stuck with a vehicle that won't start because the battery died when you were quite a ways from home.

Also, get underneath and check the exhaust. If it still has the stock exhaust on it, the muffler may be rusted to heck and not flowing as well as it could. Sometimes bolting on a new aftermarket muffler improves things quite a bit.

I wouldn't mind spending money to fix this thing up because if this one blows I'd just be buying another one and then swapping parts, I just love the 94, I also liked the 05 which I had as a replacement car when one of my others got wrecked for a little while. But I'm also cheap so I can only spend so much

The air spray and filter replacement is an easy fix, glad you pointed that out I can get that done today

The fuel assembly replacement would be good along with probably a new tank, the current one is rusting really badly so likely I'll have a fuel leak soon anyway. I can do this when I get a new rear end, the original leaf springs are still there and are completely rusted and cracking as well.

Yes the stock muffler is on there and is rusted as I remember, it probably has a leak too, replacing most of the exhuast and air flow will be my first fixes since they are easier and cheaper.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Turdle]

I'd recommend a new set of spark plugs also. Autolite platinum.

When removing the old ones lay them out in order, then take a picture of them up close. You can tell a lot about what is going on inside an engine by reading the spark plugs.

 

[DeliciousKeki]

I'd recommend a new set of spark plugs also. Autolite platinum.

When removing the old ones lay them out in order, then take a picture of them up close. You can tell a lot about what is going on inside an engine by reading the spark plugs.

Yes that was one of the first things I did when I bought it besides changing the fluids, the ones that were on there were pretty dirty, cant remember exactly. I just put on some bosch plats and duralast wires just to get them changed asap

Also here is the new terminals

 

[Turdle]

Yes that was one of the first things I did when I bought it besides changing the fluids, the ones that were on there were pretty dirty, cant remember exactly. I just put on some bosch plats and duralast wires just to get them changed asap

The bosch plugs are most certainly some of the problem you are having. Get a set of autolite platinum

 

[DeliciousKeki]

The bosch plugs are most certainly some of the problem you are having. Get a set of autolite platinum

Is there a specific one that you would recommend?

 

[acschilling]

Careful with throwing inexpensive, after-market parts in the first gens.

 

[Wolfie_85]

I have had far better luck with Autolite or Motorcraft plugs than any others. Those are the only ones I'll use in my Explorer.

 

[natenkiki2004]

There's quite a few that use NGK plugs as well. Personally, I'd only trust Motorcraft or NGK. Autolite can work but they're getting junkier, like Champion.

Motorcraft can be expensive and harder to find in double-platinum, that's why I went with the NGK PTR5F-11 plugs.

Also, just replacing the ends on the battery cables doesn't do much. If they're the factory cables, they are LONG overdue for total replacement.

 

[DeliciousKeki]

There's quite a few that use NGK plugs as well. Personally, I'd only trust Motorcraft or NGK. Autolite can work but they're getting junkier, like Champion.

Motorcraft can be expensive and harder to find in double-platinum, that's why I went with the NGK PTR5F-11 plugs.

Also, just replacing the ends on the battery cables doesn't do much. If they're the factory cables, they are LONG overdue for total replacement.

I've seen a lot of NGK, I was wondering about those, the cables don't appear to be factory ones, they are old, but I don't believe they are 21 years old, the terminals before these had some corrision and that led about 3 inches down the wire, I got rid of that and replaced the tubing for that bit, replacing the whole thing is a possibility, but I think it's highly unlikely

 

[natenkiki2004]

Have a look at mine looked like once I got them out of the vehicle and stripped:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3309529&postcount=75

 

[DeliciousKeki]

Have a look at mine looked like once I got them out of the vehicle and stripped:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3309529&postcount=75

http://gyazo.com/80f5de31a4a6646743633dee113a4fdb

that's what mine looked like on both negative and positive, some of that corrosion on all the points, that black is scary, I know I didn't have anything that looked like that.. wow

 

[natenkiki2004]

That's not too bad. I'd still recommend putting it on your to-do list for the future. Corrosion can also enter through the negative cable at the frame.

Keep in mind, my cables, as bad as they were, didn't create any starting issues. I only replaced them because the clamp broke and while sticking a new clamp on, I saw how much corrosion there was. Your starter, alternator and computer will thank you though.

 

[Anime]

I'd suggest using ONLY Motorcraft platinum plugs in the Explorer.

Bosch plugs have issues, Autolite plugs have issues even though they are a sub-brand of Ford, and while NGK makes some nice plugs, the Motorcrafts seem to be the best for a do-it-once-and-forget-it job on a 4.0L OHV.

Set the gap to spec and change 'em every 50-60,000 or so.


The fuel tank is plastic. It doesn't rust. The fuel pump rusts away on top of and inside it, though. The straps can rust, but usually you can sand or wire brush and re-paint them, but you can buy new straps if needed.

Leaf springs don't usually crack. The plastic spacers may crack and fall apart, the shackles may crack and rust apart, but the springs themselves usually wear or distort before ever cracking. If they are cracked anywhere though, I would get replacements ASAP.


If you have a welder or just want to fab something up with pipes and clamps, you can get the 2 inch front/rear pipes for the 93/94 and then get a universal 2" in/out muffler like a Thrush Turbo at Advance for $20-30 and have a decent exhaust. I'd beware of many of the stock replacement mufflers since they are pretty restrictive even though they fit really well.

Dynomax still makes a Super Turbo muffler and cat-back for the 93-94. Might be worth buying if you want a bolt-on exhaust and can spend $150+

 

[1992explorerMi]

Dont ever use bosh

Bosh plugs are by far the worst waste of time for anyhing i get people saying "i just tuned it up now it wont start" bosh plugs last about a week in most cases and dirty engines such as the 1st gen 4.0 are the worst

 

[OneofMany]

I think you certainly have an ignition issue, possibly timing. Sounds like pre-ignition. Also check your vac lines. It's probably easiest using a vacuum pump/ hand pump. Check the vacuum tree at the back of the intake. One of those leads to the trans vac. modulator that likes to fail. CHeck that hose for trans fluid. Another of those hoses goes to the canister purge valve that also likes to fail.

 

[Centaurious]

Will the canister purge valve throw a code or is it another hidden problem?

So far my hidden problems list is:

1) ICM
2) Fuel pressure regulator or weak fuel pump