1996 Explorer 4.0 EB NEED HELP!

[tdorgan]

Okay guys, so i just bought this truck for 700 bucks in hopes of fixing it up and making a profit on it or maybe just keeping it for myself (its alot nicer then my 1994ranger haha). I was hoping to get some advice on the known problems before i dig into it too much. Its got a slow coolant leak coming from somewhere near the firewall thats dripping down onto the transmission. Any ideas? heater core maybe? Hopefully not a head or cracked block. The other issue is the speedomter and odometer both dont work, the guy i bought it from said the truck has about 124,000 on it but the odometer stopped at around 99,000. Im pretty sure these are electronic and have the speed sensor on the transmission but would that effect the odometer as well? The guy I bought it from also said the transmission was rebuilt at 60,000 miles. possible culprit of speedo problem? Any advice on either of these two problems would be greatly appreciated. Other then that the truck is awesome, runs and drives fine and is in really good shape cosmetically. Hopefully I can fix it!
thanks in advance
Trevor

 

[7111127]

have u drove it? does the tranny shift right if it does then its probly the speedo/ohm gauge broke mine when out in my 95 at 60k miles i just picked whole cluster off ebay for 50 ur gonna wanna get one off a 95-97 not anything newer its diff wiring u can check the speedo senor its on tcase right where the drive shaft hooks up pull it out and spin it with a drill it should read ac volts off it as for the leak i would check the lines going 2 heater core and to the tranny for leaks

 

[JTothII]

check the heater control valve the diaphragms tend to go bad and drip fluid

 

[AgPete139]

1.) Heater core.

2.) Heater core lines & connections.

3.) Heater control valve.

4.) (Other issue...heads or something.)

 

[The_Dealer]

check the heater control valve the diaphragms tend to go bad and drip fluid

My ranger did that and it took me forever to figure out where the coolant was going

 

[tdorgan]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll be tearing into it this weekend hopefully, I'll post something on here if I get snagged.

 

[tdorgan]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll be tearing into it this weekend hopefully, I'll post something on here if I get snagged.

well I didnt get to work on it this weekend. I told my friend I'd help him with a body lift on his truck on saturday and it became a whole weekend project. Did get to take the explorer for a ride though, seems to shift right and the speedometer magically started working! haha but now I suspect the fuel gauge to be broken because it went from a quarter tank to empty within 10 minutes of idleing in the driveway. Odometer still doesnt seem to work. Replace gauge cluster?

 

[AgPete139]

Interesting. Something is loose behind your cluster. Take out those driver's side pieces to get to the gauges and check your connections. A speedometer and gas gauges just suddenly pop in & out of working, randomly like that.

Push all of the connections in, and see what happens.

Use the bolts to put it all back into place. You should have no leftovers.

 

[tdorgan]

Alright, thats what I figured. hopefully I can get to it next weekend without distraction.

 

[tdorgan]

got to work on it a good deal today. with the help of my dad's new telescoping worm camera gadget I was able to find the coolant leak. Turns out it was a bad freeze plug just under the passenger side valve cover at the back of the engine. The plug wasnt popped, I think it just went bad and developed a small leak around the outer edge. Looked like there was pretty much no hope of getting it out without either pulling the engine or cutting a hole in the floor pan so I decided to clean it up real good and JB weld the crap out of it. I guess we'll see in 24 hours if it worked. Hopefully getting into the gauge cluster tomorrow if time allows.