I sold my Thunderbird in 2010. Been casually looking for another one (this time a four-eye Bird with vent window doors) but not doing any really searching. Got married, sold a house, bought another house, just last week sold that house (at a huge profit) and currently looking for another house, this time in the country with a hundred acres or so that I can hunt on.
After the Thunderbird I've had several vehicles: A Chrysler 300 (the Pimp Sled), a Hyundai Sonata (my first brand new car, burned to the ground in my driveway), a 2015 Mustang GT, two Chevy Avalanches, a 2020 F150 SuperCrew 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost, and a BMW X3 35i XDrive (still have the F150 and BMW), an more - those are just the ones worth mentioning and don't include the beaters. Worked at a large used car lot, then a Honda dealership, now a Euro specialty shop (hence the BMW - I don't have to be afraid of it, I can fix it).
Wasnt the volvo the one that burnt into pieces because of a bad turbo ? heck, im getting old...
Maybe you wont believe but it still have all my old vehicles, even the Cougar , in non-running condition.
Still have the ford explorer 96, but i dont drive that truck anymore. Developed a front seal transmission leak and became a money pit, so when i need to drive this, i pour half quart of Mercon Oil, and call it a day.
Still have the old F150 01 , V6. Since its a single cab truck its useful to carry the junk produced for the previous cars.
Bought a chinesse 250 cc bike. Makes sense living in a place where year round we are averaging 85 F. Got 75 MPG.
But since i had 2 previous accidents with the bike (all my fault, nothing very severe) i though of having a car. Wife had a 2010 ford focus with the auto transmission, the same US model, so she gave it to me.
Car is boring....it has very decent MPG (low 30´s) but thats all. In the highway it grows and runs well but i have the distinct feeling of something assembled at gunpoint, hard plastic its everywhere, too much weight in the front. Otherwise traction is fine.
I know this was an entry-level, cheap ford vehicle, but i am reluctant to understand how bland Ford cars become with the time. Torque is not existent at any rpm under 3500, and thats the way the car it is.
I guess tighter smog restrictions made the cars more efficient, more eco-friendly, and very, very boring.
Hi , havent posted a new thread since...well, ten years or so...
I still have my 85 V6 Cougar, however , it hasnt run since 2005, when i had a small crash between the car and a motorcycle.
Now if you done the math, thats nearly 15 years. The last time i started it, was in 2016, and a fire began because i dripped some fuel in the carb and backfired. It didnt do a lot of damage, but i had to remove the intake manifold to clean everyting.
The car is NOT roadworthy, its full of rust and had 4 flat tires.
City hall towed it last year because i had it parked in the front of my parents house. But i recovered it quickly, i simply cant let it go.
Thats the problem, i cant let it go. With almost 20 years of ownership, even in the poorest state it has, i refuse to s it. In rainy days, even with all the paint chipped and dryed , it looks like the first year i had. It is my first car, mom and dad gave it to me and went to the university in it.
So, here i am. Definitively it cant be repaired, but which parts should be recovered for a new project ? engine and transmision are in working condition (and engines are expensive!, i have spent a few thousand repairing my f150 4.2 and realized how expensive everything is !)
Thanks in advance, sorry for my poor grammar, havent write in english for some looooooong time....
Well , we are way older than then. I learnt how to fix my ever-breaking cougar every weekend. I still have it, but i has not run since 2005. City Hall towed from the front of parents house, got them back and parked at the driveaway from dad´s apartment...i simply cant get rid of it, these cars are unforgettable.
So, to speak something, i remember some troublesome guys...
I havent been here when the TomRenzomania was here, but i saw it was pretty controversial...
I remember when Ben (Bird351) was here...he had no problems whatsoever voicing his opinion very loudly...but i liked the guy....
Another kid like me was 84Fila...some troubles he had here with Eric...last time i heard from him he was deployed to the army or So...
But not all were bad guys, i remember too , Eric sent me a copy of a Tiger OSX DVD from Ohio like 14 years ago...it was virtually impossible to get even a pirated copy here at that time..i still owe him the postage stamps...
Mr Burrows (Thunderchicken) helped me to track some problems with my car audio devices which were blowing every now and then...i remember him to want a turbo 5 cilinder volvo some years ago, and that did not go well..
Tom and Scott (Turbocoupe50 and jcassity) helped me to learn about carburetors A LOT and that served me until this day...even that guy named Claude (CougarSE) which did a T5 swap in a 3.8
Thats some to say a few, i remember more members but few names...i m just getting old...
Nice to hear that everyone its still doing fairly well. This is still the only forum i came back every now an then. It looks like some of those old school meetings.
Never read an entire post from that Renzo guy, only knew it was a PITA. It was like our old friend 351Bird (Ben) or something ?
Yesterday a friend gave to me an old battery tester , which he said it worked great until the switch blew. He said when the CCA test its being done, you shouldnt have too much time handling current with the device or it blow up.
I bought a switch similar from a photo from the net about the same device.... the problem is, i dont know how to wire it.
There are
a)One wire from the input ground terminal.
b)2 wires from output of the resistor
c)3 wires coming to the positive terminal.
I can attach 4 wires to the switch, and i need to attach 2 wires to the voltage meter, but i dont know what the order it is.
I am attaching some pictures so it can be more nicely understood.
Well, i checked all the vacuum hoses and all were correct. A friend of mine told me about a place were i could get a new IAC for 50 USD. Went there and installed it.
1.- Yes, the explorer is OBD-2 Complaint. I have a Code Reader "Eqqus Innova 3100A" and the time i have scanned it has no codes, not even pending ones , and all the monitors were OK.
2.-I think i need to double check the vacuum related parts. There are a small tutorial on the net showing how the vacuum leaks can be found with smoke. I will give a try with that.
3.- I have heard lots of info about the water method but no reliable info about exactly how to do it. Any info of this would be appreciated.
4.- I have a propane torch for solder copper tubbing. How i can use this ?
5.- Already did this procedure with starting fluid. I sprayed all the visible piping with no noticeable changes. My Engine it is the pushrod 4.0 V6. Unluckily my code reader doesnt get live data so i cant get real time values, i only can get freeze frame data.
6.- I am going to do this test when i am at home. I am thinking to make a small aluminium part , from a beer can, and put bloking the 2 iac ports. Maybe that will make a change. I hope so. It makes sense.
7.- oopsss, Im going to try a better material, maybe some kind of plastic ? i have some small plastic sheets laying around. Also, i have heard its possible to mess the ECU from a shorted IAC, it will be fairly bad, ecu´s are very expensive here, but i hope this wouldnt be the case.
Thank you. I will post again with my findings. Have an excellent day guys !
Hi all. Since at the explorerforums im far from popular and nobody gives a for me and reply my topics asking for help, im finally here.
Background:
Old Ford explorer 96, 4wd (not working, suspecting hall effect sensors at the transfercase, near impossible to get them here) v6 Ohv engine. Has like 150,000 miles. Recently got coolant on the transmission. Drain flush 3 times and replacing the radiator . It behaves the same as before.
Friday i went to the firefighter station to work, i was a little late so i speeded up a bit. I noticed a little high idle, maybe 1300 rpm in D, stopped. I did not take care very much since i was on a hurry. I ended my workday like 12 hours later, and returned to home. This time, besides the normal 2000 rpm at cold startup, i noticed the idle speed was high all the way to home. I was really tired so i left that day.
Saturday i needed to go to the mall, and the idle got very high instantly, 2500 rpm. i guessed the engine will eventually get a lower rpm while driving, but no, it was really hard, i was doing like 30 mph without any trottle input. Suddendly the engine acelerated itself to 3000 rpm. I killed the engine, and returned to home.
I have already did:
*Trottle cable and trottle body are ok. These are not getting stuck anywhere. it was my first guess. I even had a helper to mash the gas plenty of time, but it looked normal.
*Mass air flow sensor is plugged in.
* Trottle position sensor appears to be working. Minimun voltage is set at .975 volts, voltage at WOT is 4.6 volts. Again, pressing the gas multiple times does not getting any value "stuck", returns to normal.
*No visible vacuum leaks, but i think i need to get this professionally checked. I dont have a vacuum detector.
*Suspecting of the IAC Valve. If i disconect the harness , nothing changes. If i remove the iac valve completely from intake manifold, it starts +and tries to climb+ to 2500 rpm, but less than a second later the engine kills off. At the inside of the iac valve there is an small spring. Its really hard and barely moves. It is not a cleanable part (anyway i tried it to no avail)
* No codes stored at the ecu. All the monitors are OK.
Before i start to throw money into this, its ok to change the IAC, or what i do first? IAC costs here 95 USD so i want to be safe, if i had to buy it, no problem, but im not the guy that only changes parts.
Hi Guys, long time i dont post something here. I check almost daily but since my Cat its not working since 2005 i rarely post here. Well, im still driving and old explorer 96. It´s a good truck, really expensive on gas, but its good.I was surprised how long the truck has been in the last 18 years, and from the last two weeks, its has been a truly nightmare.
First, i did a complete tune up a month ago (i usually do tune ups every 8 or 9 months, depends of my driving), changed plugs, wires, oil, air filter, oil filter, fuel filter , etc, an did a transmission pan drop (i do pan drops every 2 years without problems). Everything went fine, all was good. Engine ran good, tranny shift good, everything well. Two weeks ago i have installed a pair of new headlights, and backed up the truck a bit from my driveaway, and noticed a pink drop at the ground. Been working on cars from the last 15 years gave me a bad feeling about this. Checked radiator fluid and was oily and pink......checked transmission fluid and was from the same color. I inmediately drained all the fluid from the radiator, dropped the transmission oil pan , and removed a transmission cooling line to evacuate all the water contaminated fluid. I even tried to drain the converter, but since the 4r55e doesnt have a plug, i ran the engine briefly until no ATF went from the pipes and the valve body.
I left the truck sat for almost 10 days, until i got a new rad. I know and i have read about how many damage does water inside an automatic transmission, even read a techincal bulletin from ASE about how bad is the water for the clutches (a little surprised.....its really weird when you run for 150,000 miles an auto transmission at temperatures about 100 degrees of more and nothing happens.....but when you run a few miles a tranny with oil mixed with water its completely doomed....but well im not an engineer...) Anyway, my plan consisted on running the engine and tranny a few miles, like 30 or less, with new AT Fluid, drop the pan, remove all fluid, put another filter, put the pan and fill and run till it dies, it may be tomorrow or maybe never....
Well, i did it. The tranny worked normally as before......the bad, was when i was driving at the test drive, (i wasnt driving very fast at the time, maybe 10 mph) the engine shut down completely. Tried to restart and no luck, only spins the engine slow. I opened the hood and the engine was super hot! water temperature gauge did not work! and all the water poured some miles away from me and the truck, because when i checked fluid levels it was completely empty from i dont know how far ! radiator was completely dry because i forgot to clamp securely a cooling hose.
While kicking myself for my stupidity, i went to look for tap water. I left to rest the engine like 10 minutes with the hood opened, and started to add some water slowly to the radiator. I only had a gallon tank, so i have to return walking to the place where i got water like 3 times (fortunately it was not very far from the truck broke down) . It was not easy to start again, i have tried like 10 times (i know, engine got seized from the heat) and finally started. It was rough at first block, but from the way home, it ran fine like before. I was expecting white cloud of smoke from a headgasket or warped head, but it was at night so i could not see very well.
Today i restarted the engine and everything looks normally. No weird noises from valvetrain or white smoke, normal idle, no tumbling, acelerates normally, etc.
Well, now that you know all the story here are the two questions which are killing me right now, and would decide if its worth to spend more money on it, if its going to die soon from engine, trans, or both, or what.....
1.- Did the transmission would have permament damage from the situation described above ?
2.- Did the engine have permament damage from the overheating, what i can expect from the damage if this is the case, blown head gasket, piston rings, cracked head ?
Trust me i have been searching on the net about this, but i got mixed reviews, from the normal "dealer charged me 5000 for and entire rebuild" to the unexpected "i filled all the fluids, restarted, and ran until i rolled down/sold/trashed 10 years after.
Truck is an explorer 1996 V6 OHV 4X4, 4R55E Auto, with like 140,000 miles (odometer doesnt work) in case i have missed something.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
