Sorry for the delay on any updates, it has been a trying month or so without the truck problems.
Good news is that the explorer seems to be running great. The last time I reported I had just found the compression readings to be low on cyl. 6 and 7. In the midst of this I swapped the coil packs and found them to be working just fine. Again, took it to a "friend" who ran a leakdown test on it and came to the conclusion that the valves (2) were bad, valve job=$$. His suggestion was to look for a good used motor and swap it out.
I tracked one down at a local salvage yard, some of you may know your way around the internet when looking for parts, but I found this site to be very helpful;
http://www.car-part.com/
It allowed me to look at many sellers in my area very quickly. The used motor had been tested, great compression, only 110,000 miles, and had not been rolled over. Motor cost $300, this "friend" charged me $500 to do the swap.
So, new gaskets, seals, and my already existing new manifold and tube, it seems to be running great. He also discovered one of the electrical connections from the motor to the transmission to be loose and scarred, replaced that as well and the transmission no longer "slips" and the flashing O/D off light has vanished.
I have run it for about 2 weeks/ 500 miles and it seems to be great!! I am thankful to all of those that helped me as I muddled through this process, my skills do have many limitations. Also, I would like some feed back as to the cost of the motor and the install. Is this fair, did I pay way to much? I felt comfortable with this "friend" and did not seek other pricing.
Thanks again
