Picked Up An Explorer
#1
10-16-2011
Picked Up An Explorer
It's an oldie... 1994 with about 126k miles.
I needed a vehicle to keep in Louisiana for work and had about 2 grand to spend. I can't believe how much people want for used cars these days. I looked at a TON of absolute crap cars and everyone thought they were sitting on a gold mine or something.
So I finally found this Explorer and it is very clean and runs well, good enough. The transmission was supposedly rebuilt about 25k miles ago, seems to shift very well. Everything works except the 4x4 which is pretty typical. At least I'm familiar with it, this will be the fourth 4.0l I've owned.
I cleaned it up today, rain-x on the windows, new wipers, changed the coolant, new air filter, tightened up the throttle cable etc. I still need to change the oil, check axle/transfer case oils, adjust the head lights, diagnose and fix the 4x4 and probably tint the windows. In November I'm driving aaaaall the way to Louisiana where it will sit most of the time. Lol
It is nice having another vehicle around the house though, sometimes it sucks putting miles on the nicer cars just to run around town.
I needed a vehicle to keep in Louisiana for work and had about 2 grand to spend. I can't believe how much people want for used cars these days. I looked at a TON of absolute crap cars and everyone thought they were sitting on a gold mine or something.
So I finally found this Explorer and it is very clean and runs well, good enough. The transmission was supposedly rebuilt about 25k miles ago, seems to shift very well. Everything works except the 4x4 which is pretty typical. At least I'm familiar with it, this will be the fourth 4.0l I've owned.
I cleaned it up today, rain-x on the windows, new wipers, changed the coolant, new air filter, tightened up the throttle cable etc. I still need to change the oil, check axle/transfer case oils, adjust the head lights, diagnose and fix the 4x4 and probably tint the windows. In November I'm driving aaaaall the way to Louisiana where it will sit most of the time. Lol
It is nice having another vehicle around the house though, sometimes it sucks putting miles on the nicer cars just to run around town.
#7
10-16-2011
#9
10-16-2011
Nothing new on that truck! (unfortunately)
Well I just got it back from the body shop after two separate people hit me. Lol
I guess I do have a couple of boring pictures from a trip I took a couple months ago.
Now that I'm back in the northwest I'm already wishing I would have bought a smaller and lighter pop-up camper. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to drag a kayak around next summer.
Well I just got it back from the body shop after two separate people hit me. Lol
I guess I do have a couple of boring pictures from a trip I took a couple months ago.
Now that I'm back in the northwest I'm already wishing I would have bought a smaller and lighter pop-up camper. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to drag a kayak around next summer.
#14
10-17-2011
I bet you would!
Have you seen/heard of the Point 65 martini kayaks? Check it out. It's a two piece kayak that can be solo or tandem, saw one at REI last week. Its shorter than what I really want but I could literally throw it in the back seat, and have an extra center section to make it a tandem if the wife came along.
Have you seen/heard of the Point 65 martini kayaks? Check it out. It's a two piece kayak that can be solo or tandem, saw one at REI last week. Its shorter than what I really want but I could literally throw it in the back seat, and have an extra center section to make it a tandem if the wife came along.
#16
10-17-2011
I bet you would!
Have you seen/heard of the Point 65 martini kayaks? Check it out. It's a two piece kayak that can be solo or tandem, saw one at REI last week. Its shorter than what I really want but I could literally throw it in the back seat, and have an extra center section to make it a tandem if the wife came along.
Have you seen/heard of the Point 65 martini kayaks? Check it out. It's a two piece kayak that can be solo or tandem, saw one at REI last week. Its shorter than what I really want but I could literally throw it in the back seat, and have an extra center section to make it a tandem if the wife came along.
#18
10-17-2011
It looked to be decent quality, I don't know. Ive been wanting more of a day touring kayak (13' or so) that would be a little quicker on the water, but the recreational kayak might be nice to play in the rivers.
#19
10-17-2011
I can hear a series of relay clicks when I push the 4x4 button, so I'm now assuming that the switch and 4x4 module work. I guess the most common issue is the "stop" bushing on the shift motor...? I would take the motor off and go through it but I don't have the time to dick with it. I'm actually considering buying a reman shift motor and seeing if I get lucky. Lol
It looked to be decent quality, I don't know. Ive been wanting more of a day touring kayak (13' or so) that would be a little quicker on the water, but the recreational kayak might be nice to play in the rivers.
It looked to be decent quality, I don't know. Ive been wanting more of a day touring kayak (13' or so) that would be a little quicker on the water, but the recreational kayak might be nice to play in the rivers.
#20
11-20-2011
Well I ended up replacing a few things. New battery, new radiator and cap, new radius arm bushings and a reman transfer case shift motor. It has been starting great, no longer losing coolant (leaked between the plastic and aluminum parts of the radiator), 4x4 high and low work. I didn't get a chance to do anything else other than oil and filter, and air filter. I did run some marvel mystery oil in the gas (who knows if it helps), and have been running premium.
I left Oregon last Saturday morning for the drive to Louisiana. Initially it was pinging a bit under load, I started thinking that I should have replaced the plugs. After a while it cleared up and started running great. Maybe had bad fuel, maybe just been sitting for too long. After a few hours into the trip it is running awesome. I ran up the mountains at 70-80 mph in overdrive, torque converter locked like it was nothing. Now I remember what I liked about my old ranger with the 4.0l OHV, low end grunt.
The gas gauge is broken so I stopped often for fuel at first. Every calculation for the trip came to 20-21mpg. I thought it was a fluke at first but it did great.
I drove through Boise, south to salt lake and crawled in back for a short nap. I80 was closed through wyoming due to weather, so I went south toward Provo Utah then headed east. Absolutely beautiful out there. I ran though snow in the mountains for a few hours, then it cleared up as the sun came up. I was greeted with an awesome sunrise in the high desert, sun hitting the tall rock cliffs everywhere. I continued right past arches and canyonlands national parks, which was painful for me. I'll be back there soon to explore.
I stopped in Moab for coffee and continued on, pissed off that I didn't have more time. The drive through new Mexico and Texas was dirty and boring, and the drivers in new Mexico were horrible.
So I finally pulled into Lafayette Monday around 6pm and checked into a hotel.
I think the explorer will treat me well down here. I did notice a small coolant leak last night from the heater control valve but that will be a quick easy fix.
I left Oregon last Saturday morning for the drive to Louisiana. Initially it was pinging a bit under load, I started thinking that I should have replaced the plugs. After a while it cleared up and started running great. Maybe had bad fuel, maybe just been sitting for too long. After a few hours into the trip it is running awesome. I ran up the mountains at 70-80 mph in overdrive, torque converter locked like it was nothing. Now I remember what I liked about my old ranger with the 4.0l OHV, low end grunt.
The gas gauge is broken so I stopped often for fuel at first. Every calculation for the trip came to 20-21mpg. I thought it was a fluke at first but it did great.
I drove through Boise, south to salt lake and crawled in back for a short nap. I80 was closed through wyoming due to weather, so I went south toward Provo Utah then headed east. Absolutely beautiful out there. I ran though snow in the mountains for a few hours, then it cleared up as the sun came up. I was greeted with an awesome sunrise in the high desert, sun hitting the tall rock cliffs everywhere. I continued right past arches and canyonlands national parks, which was painful for me. I'll be back there soon to explore.
I stopped in Moab for coffee and continued on, pissed off that I didn't have more time. The drive through new Mexico and Texas was dirty and boring, and the drivers in new Mexico were horrible.
So I finally pulled into Lafayette Monday around 6pm and checked into a hotel.
I think the explorer will treat me well down here. I did notice a small coolant leak last night from the heater control valve but that will be a quick easy fix.
#22
11-20-2011
#25
11-21-2011
It's the same job I've been at for 6 months actually, I just needed to get my own vehicle down there. I fly down once a month, pick up the car at a hotel and drive to the base I work at for two weeks. Then I drive back to the hotel, stay the night, fly home in the morning and have two weeks at home.
