As you can see I am new here so i'll start by saying whats up??

I am thinking about buying a 98-99 explorer. I know I want a four door, all loaded up including heated seats and sunroof, and a powerful engine. is the 8 cylinder much more powerful than the large 6? Which model do you guys recommend?

Is there any problems you guys can warn me of with these years? Is there much performance aftermarket for these?

any other info you can tell me or warn me of is greatly appreciated thanks guys.

 

I've got a 98 xlt loaded (but not heated seats).

Got around 100K on it (drive around 30k/year).

I've replaced the brakes, new set of plugs... and just a few days ago, the starter. Other than just getting the recall stuff done....no problems. I've really enjoyed it thus far. Mileage is around 19 city...23 Hw.

Some folks have problems with cam chain guide noise on the SOHCs (which has a 100K replacement warranty)... but I have not.

The 6 cycl. SOHC cruises well. It is a bit sluggish on steep grades...but it has on over drive on/off button. Simply taking it out of OD makes it pretty zippy up hill.

Don't know how the V8's compare.

 

i have a 97 302 v8 and i can tell you thay are MUCH faster in every way from the v6 and get almost the same MPG.. if you want heated seat's you are proly goin to have to get a E.B. or limited

i have not incountered any problems with 98-99 explorer's

happy hunting..lol

 

If you want 4x4, then there is an additional facot to consider in the 8 vs. 6 cylinder debate: what kind of 4x4 do you want? The 8 cylinder 4x4 all came as "all wheel drive." The transfer case doesn't lock, and there is no low range. If you will ever wish you had a locking transfer case or the torque reduction of a low range t-case, you may consider one of the v-6's over the v-8.

 

The only time I need 4 wheel is when it snows out I wont be doing any mudding. Is it full time AWD?? Or can it be engaged and disengaged?? I am looking at a 98 XLT V-8 with leather and CD. Will this truck have many options?

 

If you cant decide between a 5.0 and a 4.0 take them both for a spin. The 4.0 OHV (old style) is pretty doggy compared to the 4.0 SOHC. The 4.0 SOHC feels at least as fast as the 5.0, especially with the 5 spd automatic that the 4.0 has. The 5.0 has more torque for towing though.
In my opinion the 4.0 SOHC with the 5 speed auto is one of Ford's best feeling combinations.
I dont believe that heated seats were available until 1999 and those are quite rare too.....at least where I live.

 

i can tell you from fist had experance you can really tell the diffeance from the SOHC and the 302 the v8 has much better pick up and is better off the line and to me the v8 feel's ALOT stronger + it has a stronger tranny

i had a 01 sport trac SOHC and i dogged!!compared to my 97 v8 awd

yes the awd in the v8's is FULL TIME you CAN"T turn it off it's allway's there but it's not to noticable i got used to if very fast

 

If you are going to pull anything you will want the V8. I can't say the mileage is the same though as mine gets 14-16 mpg. It is a 302 V8 AWD Mountaineer with a 3.73 limited slip rear end. I think some of the V6's come with a different rear gear.
Greg

 

DON'T GET A SOHC ENGINE, DON'T GET A SPORT TRAC, BETTER YET BUY SOMETHINGELSE. Only reason I bought mine cause it was clean lady owned and she just wanted money for a down-payment on a bigger truck. I got this thing cheap.
If I can't buy wholesale, I don't buy!
'97X Sport 4.0 NON SOHC 5sp

 

I have a 98 XLT with the V6 SOHC. It has about 91000 on it, with about 62000 on a 2nd engine. The 1st engine was replaced due to the camshaft chain problem. My own opinion is that the V6 has enough power for this vehicle. I towed a 1400# boat from Fl to NY with no problem and still got about 15 MPG. Re MPG, I see about 20-22 on the highway and 16-18 around town. My real pet peeve is the 4WD system. There have been two times that the 4WD Low would not disengage. Had to take it to the shop and have it done. I also do not care for the AWD. It works great (sometimes too great). I do notice a substantial change in MPG when the 4WD is working and you can not go to a 2WD only mode. The AWD is good for some city-type person that does not know when to use 4WD and has crap tires, but for someone out in the country and aggressive M/S's are run all year long, I would much rather tell the truck when I want 4WD.

Also, beware of the infamous Ford Stereo display problem.

 

I'll have to disgree there. There's no comparison between the V8 and the SOHC 6. I've driven both, with mods and without.

I would suggest you buy a V8. There are a ton of mods available for V8's and, if you bought the SOHC 6, you're ceiling is much lower in regards to performance. In other words, you can do a heck of a lot more, and get a heck of a lot more out of, the V8. The horsepower difference between the 2 is not much: SOHC = 210hp/240lbft and 5.0 V8 = 215hp/288lbft but the torque is what makes all the difference. Add an intake and exhaust, like I have, and the difference is even more apparent.

I wouldn't reccommend AWD unless you need it (bad weather). Your mileage is a mile or two per gallon lower with AWD. I get a consistent 15.5-16mpg city (I don't have AWD) and 20 mpg highway.

Personally, I wouldn't have bought an Explorer without a V8 unless I got an unbelievable, couldn't pass it up kind of deal.

I'll put it to you this way: I've heard plenty of SOHC owners say they wish they had the 5.0 V8 but I've never seen a V8 owner who wished he had the SOHC.

 

I currently have a 98 exp with the pushrod 4.0 v6. If I had to do it again, I would get the v8 hands down. The small loss you will see in fuel mileage would be worth the additional torque for towing from the v8.

If I didn't do any towing, the v6 would be more than sufficient for me. It just depends on what you want to get out of the vehicle.

 

actually the awd does very well in snow,mud,sand whatever you can throw at it i went threw 3 1/2 foot of snow last year and dident skip a beat and i was really skeptical about the awd but it has suprised me the onlt thing i would like to have is low range for the trail's but it does ok

im not gettin to bad of MPG im currently getting about 15-17
i was thinkin i would get horrable MPG but it has supprised me there also

 

I would get the V8 if I had to do it over again. But again, for the casual boat hauler, the V6 does fine! My main reason for the larger engine would be to get away with the problematic SOHC engine. The tech that replace mine said the FORD guys tell him that the problem my '98 had can not happen. He has proven this wrong on about 10 of them.

My AWD also works great! Unfortunately, I would rather have the option of selecting 4WD myself. mine has 4HI and 4LO switch as well. LO works excellent, however, there has been two times that we could not get it out of LO. I believe the switch needs to be replaced.

My own humble opinion is that the auto companies are putting too much emphasis on power and not enough on efficiency. I know that this will upset some people here, but come on and be honest, how fast do you need to accelerate while towing a boat/load etc. My '89 dodge 1/2 4WD pickup has the 318 cu in engine that produced 175 HP. Now with over 200K miles on it, it still gets 15 MPG on the highway and can haul 2000 lbs easily. Granted, I can not accelerate like a sports car, but then again THIS IS A TRUCK! One of the big problems that FORD got into with the Explorer was making it too car like and having new SUV owners think that they could drive it like a car. My own parents questioned me when I bought mine. I said "Look, it's a truck! If you drive it like a truck, you will have no problems. If you drive it like a sports car, then you better hold on to your butt!"

Enough ranting for one day.

 

It has nothing to do with how much I NEED to tow or how fast I NEED to accelerate. It has to do with how much I WANT to tow or how fast I WANT to accelerate. If I pay $34,000.00 for a vehicle, I want power and performance and I feel that I get that with mine. So, I would've never bought an I6 Explorer.