1997 Explorer XLT

[ExplorerTom]

Shayne (accordranger) mentioned I should have my build thread on this forum. Why not. So here it is. This is just copied straight from explorerforums.com, so it's interesting to see my initial stated goal and what it's become now.

Here's my registry. It's not going to really serve as much of a build log or anything, just to help keep track of the (minor) things I do to it along the way.
This is my 1997 XLT. I bought it on 10/13/2010 with 117,500 miles for $2000. It has the SOHC V6, 3.55 rear end and the "Controltrac 4 wheel drive".
This is basically as it was when I brought it home:

Interior shots:










Features:
side-step boards
6,000 lb receiver
Ford mudflaps (removed)
hood wind/bug deflector

This Explorer wasn't abused- just a little neglected. The interior is in good shape. The paint isn't in horrible shape- some dings and scratches here and there. All-in-all, good shape for a 13 year old vehicle.

Issues:
cracked and pitted windshield (fixed via post 61)
inoperable 3rd brake light (fixed via post 68)
inoperable fog lights (DS housing is smashed on backside and button on dash does not illuminate) (removed)
poor heater output (fixed via post 3)
coolant temp gauge not moving much (fixed via post 3)
pulsing front brakes (fixed via post 2)
slightly sagging rear end (fixed via post 7)
weak hood lift struts (fixed via post 5)
weak glass lift struts
weak tailgate lift struts
broken driver's seat recline handle (fixed via post 8)
leaking rear transfer case output seal (fixed via post 23)
worn shocks (fixed via post 7)
alignment out-of-whack (fixed via post 12)
lack of engine power (fixed via post 3)

So basically from here on out, this registry will be dedicated to how I have breathed some life back into this thing and some adventures along the way. I've already addressed some of the issues mentioned above. I'll try to post as many pictures as I can, but I know I've already failed on some.

[ExplorerTom]

10/14/2010
New front brake rotors and pads.
I've been a fan of Autozone's Duralast brand for quite a few years. The parts seem to be pretty decent quality. I went with a set of Duralast #54035 rotors and Duralast Gold Cmax #DGC652 pads. The Cmax pads are ceramic pads that come with all new brake caliper hardware (the thin metal clips and whatnot). The Cmax pads also come with a lifetime warranty. I'm not a huge fan of brake pads that last forever (they are wear items afterall) but I decided to give these a try. While I was in there I made sure to clean and lube the slider pins.
Old brakes:

The old rotors did not come off without a fight. I think I need a bigger BFH.
New brakes:

Worn front rotors- notice the groove on the outer edge. The old pads still had plenty of life but with the pulsing pedal and grooved rotor, it was time to reset the clock.

So far, I've been happy with the brakes. They seem to grab quite well and are very smooth. I come from a motorsport background, so I think I know good brakes when I see/feel them.
The ceramic compound of the pads have lived up to their low dust reputation so far. I know ceramic isn't the best material for brake pads since ceramic is an insulator and is fairly hard, but these seem to be working great so far.

[ExplorerTom]

10/15/2010

I've basically got the mindset that everything on this truck is original except for gas, oil and tires so I decided to change the spark plugs. What a PAIN! Thoughts of broken plugs and stripped threads danced in my head as I wrestled with getting them out. Once out, I was pretty sure these were the factory plugs. Most of them were worn to about .090" or so.


I put in a set of Autolite double platinum plugs #APP103 gapped to .052". I also decided to put in new plug wires for good measure. For those I went with a set of Duralast #4677 wires. The Duralast wires seemed to be a hair thicker in diameter than the factory wires I pulled out as they were a little stubborn to get into the wire clips around the engine bay.

As a result, the engine seems to respond to throttle inputs MUCH better and accelerates faster.

I also tackled the thermostat and coolant on this day. As mentioned in post 1 in my issues, the heat output was crappy and the temp gauge didn't really seem to move much. When I opened the thermostat housing, I found out why:

The plate on the right was laying in the bottom of the thermostat housing. I've never actually seen a thermostat break into 3 pieces before. Surely this thing was original as well. I replaced it with a #13649 from Autozone (don't remember what brand).

The coolant was also flushed. I cringed at the sight of what came out:


I refilled with a roughly 55/45 water/coolant mix with a small splash of Red Line Water Wetter. It's no surprise that the heat output in the cabin is great and the temp gauge works like it should now.

[ExplorerTom]

10/17/2010

Changed the PCV. What a pain! Used the boiling water trick to get the plastic tee off the top. I had to grind down the barb on the new PCV to prevent the plastic tee from cracking.

[ExplorerTom]

10/22/2010

New hood lift struts. No more hood slowly closing as I work under the hood.

[ExplorerTom]

10/24/2010

Changed the fuel filter with a Wix #33296.

No real reason. Just figured with the history of this truck, wouldn't hurt.

Also took on the messy job of dropping the transmission pan to change the filter and replace some of the fluid. I know the inherent risk of changing the fluid on what's very likely 117,000 mile fluid. The transmission was running fine before and has continued to run fine so far (118,420 miles as of this posting) afterwards. I put in 4 qts of new Mecron V ATF and a 10 oz bottle of Lubegard friction modifier (per Glacier's recommendations).

Sorry, no pictures. I hate ATF. Crap gets everywhere.

The plan is to do it again around Jan/Feb of 2011 and again around Aug 2011 and then stick to 30,000 mile intervals. I'm also planning on adding an external filter and an additional aux cooler soon.

[ExplorerTom]

10/29/2010

The rear of my Explorer was sagging about 1-1.5" from the front. In the future I'd like to tow a popup camper trailer so I'd like to add some carrying capacity to the rear, while getting a mild lift. I got a Pro-Comp add-a-leaf kit.

Sorry, no pictures.

Install was pretty good- just messy. Lots of dirt and silt under the truck. I mostly followed this thread http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97676"]HERE[/URL] for the install.

While I had everything apart, I installed some Rancho RS5000 shocks front and rear.

Also no pictures, sorry.

I also did a little TT up front to match the small lift I got out of the AAL in the rear. Afterwards, I had about 33" from the ground to the fenders. Overall ride was stiffer as a result of the AAL and new shocks, but it's all stiffer in a good way.

[ExplorerTom]

10/30/2010

The lack of ability of recline the driver's seat finally got to me. I searched the forums and found that some people have tied a rope around what's left of the broken handle. This sounded like a decent alternative to getting either a junkyard replacement or an expensive redesigned part- either of which could also break.



It works. It's not great, but it works and the rope can be tucked out of sight.

[ExplorerTom]

11/2/2010

I installed an Amsoil EaA122 nano fiber air filter.

I like the fact that it's a reusable dry filter. I've run K&Ns before but the washing and reoiling can be a pain. And Amsoil seems to be pretty confident that this thing filters better than anything out there.

No pics. It's a stock sized, drop in filter that's got blue filter media. Use your imagination.

Low end response seems to have been increased. I plan on modding the airbox but wanted to get used to this before I went off and changed that too.

[ExplorerTom]

11/3/2010

NEW TIRES! I love the smell of new tires!
I went with 30x9.5r15 BFG KO T/A tires. I also upped the pressure from the door sticker 26 psi (I guess it never got the updated sticker) to 35 psi.
For the past several years with my previous car (2003 Mazda Protege) I've been using summer tires in the non-winter months and winter tires in the winter. These BFG tires come pretty highly regarded and have the snow-flake symbol on them which means they should work better in the snow than a normal all-season tire. Even though I've now got 4wd, I've always had 4 wheel braking and braking is usually where you get into trouble in the snow. Plus they'll go off road.

Switching for a P-rated passenger tire to the LT-rated light truck tire and increased air pressure has made the suspension feel a little more stiff, but it's all good.

I can't wait for it to snow!

The old Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires weren't worn out- they still had 8/32" of tread remaining They were showing some signs of dry rot cracks though. They were kind of old- molded in the 19th and 20th weeks of 2007. I sold them on craigslist for $100 90 minutes after I originally posted the listing. I got 2 calls and 1 email in that time.

[ExplorerTom]

11/5/2010

Got an alignment. The steering wheel wasn't quite straight while driving and I thought I noticed some odd wear on the old Goodyears. Since I got new tires, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to ruin them prematurely.

Turns out the right side toe was out of spec.

Now the wheel is nice and straight and everything is within spec.

[ExplorerTom]

11/10/2010

New Radiator cap.

The old one (Motorcraft- so again, likely original) didn't seem to be sealing anymore. I've been losing coolant slowly since I bought the truck. The cap didn't seem to sit really tight and the underside of the lip would be wet and the smell of hot/burnt coolant seemed always present.

The new one (pic to follow) immediately seemed to sit more securely.

[ExplorerTom]

11/12/2010

Took it to a local 4x4 repair shop to get the rear transfer case seal replaced. I tried to do it myself but I couldn't get the nut on the output flange to break free. My air tools are weak.

Shop calls around 1 with bad news- appears there is a bunch of play in that shaft and there was metal in the fluid when they drained it. Now that I've done some forum searches, it appears this is somewhat of a common problem on the 4405 transfer case.

Crap.

I told them to tear into it. Won't hear back on it until Monday. He said worst case scenario would be like $1,100 and best case would be $500. Sounds like it will be done one way or another on Monday though.

And they said my lower ball joints have some excessive play. I'll do those myself.

[ExplorerTom]

11/16/2010

Got the truck back today. Finally.

Unfortunately, it was worst case scenario and then some. $1,485.

Ouch.

Basically they said that the rear output shaft bearing was free to move in and out along the output shaft. I'm not sure if this is how the factory design is or not. But as the bearing slid back and forth along the raceway, it scored and pitted the raceway pretty bad in the rear transfer case half.
Their solution- get a re-designed rear transfer case half. The new design prevents the bearing from moving in and out. They claim the transfer case will be problem free from now on. They filled it with some kind of fully synthetic Castrol 5w30 transfer case fluid. I have a 24 month/24,000 mile warranty.
They said the rest of the truck is pretty solid though.

(I should have gone with a manual transfer case swap......)

[ExplorerTom]

11/28/2010

Airbox Mod

I was outside waiting to see what/if the Bronco game flyover would be. I live on the south side of the metro area and that's usually where the pre-game flyovers stage. Today it was 4 F-16s. Last time it was a B-2 bomber.

Pulled out the airbox. It was seriously stubborn to get the front lower plug out. And it was SUPER filthy. I washed it inside and out.
Then I broke out the 3/4" drill bit.



I decided to leave the "horn" in place and only drill 2 of the 4 sides. I think I may come back in for a second attempt and add some reflective insulation to the engine sides. I've also been known to wrap the intake tube.

No driving impressions yet- Bronco game is on.

[ExplorerTom]

12/7/2010

Front Differential Fluid Change

I was only able to get about 24 oz of fluid out (of about 56 oz). I bought some stupid siphon bulb thing at O'Reilly (recommended by the guy at the store) and I wasn't impressed. Harbour Freight has a suction gun that I'm going to give a try. I refilled it with new Red Line 75w90 gear lube. The color of the fluid that came out was nothing like what I put in- it was black. The Red Line fluid is a see-through amber color.

I'm going to do the rear on Friday (day off!!). I'll try to get pictures.

Sorry, no pics. I've added gear lube to my list of hated automotive fluids. That stuff is nasty!

[ExplorerTom]

12/10/2010

Rear diff fluid change.

Yuck.

Again, in my quest to freshen up what I can on this truck, I decided to tackle the rear diff. The fluid was pretty dark but I thought I saw 2 different colors of RTV on the cover so it's possible that the fluid has been changed. But there was some fluid weeping out of the bottom of the cover so it was time.

Here's the cover after I took it off:


Open Diff "goodness????......":


I decided to paint the diff cover something subtle. Unfortunately I didn't really plan ahead and had to rely on what I already had. Gloss black is subtle, right?:


Eh, it'll work.

I filled it with some Red Line 75w140. What a PITA filling the diff is. I spilled some. OK, I spilled alot. I need to get a better funnel before I do this again.
*Also, I photobombed the first post with some interior shots. Nothing special, but probably enough to make Joe Dirt break down crying.

[ExplorerTom]

12/24/2010

Transfer case is leaking again. Gonna call the shop on Monday. Should be covered under warranty. It only seems to leak when stopped on an upward incline.

[ExplorerTom]

12/28/2010

Got the truck back the other day- the VSS was leaking. And not leaking around the o-ring, but the sensor itself was cracked...... probably from when they were servicing the TC last. They didn't charge me labor, just for the part. $66.21 and it was mine again.

The shop also said my ball joints were "really bad- dangerously bad" this time. So I bought the Moog's from Advance Auto and rented the ball joint press. I followed the sticky (LINK[/URL]) and it went pretty well. I wasn't able to seat the new ball joint using the floor jack, but I could configure the ball joint press to press them in.

[ExplorerTom]

12/31/2010

Well, we got our first significant snowfall of this winter season- 4-5" or so accompanied with some bitter cold. The Explorer did fine. I took it out for some donuts at the local high school parking lot. Good times!

The BFG tires- honestly, not terribly impressed. They have the "mountain snowflake symbol" but they still aren't as good as actual dedicated winter tires. My Saturn VUE with Michelin X-Ice tires or my former Mazda Protege with Hankook iPikes are both more confidence inspiring in the snow than my Explorer with the BFGs.

Oh well, just slow it down when it gets slippery.