Looking to get a used Explorer and am numb from all the info out there.
All the generations. Which V8 is best? Which had noisy timing chains? Bad tranny's. SOHC or pushrod? Whew!
Here's my needs: mostly town driving but do quite a bit of dirt/off road. Am in Cheyoming so snow/ice/mud & high elevations are real. Will pull atv trailer-maybe 3000 pounds. Will take it hunting, fishing, etc. Like to have room to sleep in back. Exterior spare would be nice. Not a cream puff but not a beater either. Reliability. I'm a driveway mechanic.

 

Best V8: 5.0 by a wisker. More power from the 4.6 but the 4.6 is harder to work on, and comes with the questionable 5 speed automatic.

Noisy timing chains: 4.0 SOHC. Early models, up to maybe 2004 had weak tensioners. All are potential time bombs. Some eat it at 50k, but some--even early models--have gone over 250k.

Bad trannys: A4LD is hated by some, seems to work ok, but seen as weak. 5 speed automatics '97 and up need regular fluid changes and have some design features that cause failure.

SOHC or pushrod? Later SOHC with excellent maintenance history is a safe bet, pushrod motors are down on power but seem to run almost forever, but those ended 2001.

Early models can be found with 5 speed manual transmissions even in the 4 door models. Probably hard to find.

Serving suggestion:

2000 or 2001 loaded V8 AWD. If you must, you can put the 2 speed transfer case in it if you like a challenge. But for mild offroading, it should work fine.

There are others here who will chime in.

Hey, I got a clean '99 4x2 stripper with the pushrod motor if you want to build your own 4x4....

 

Hard to argue with 85e150six4mtod, so what I'm saying should not be construed as an argument, just some things I've noticed that have absolutely no valid statistical basis whatsoever. I have looked for over a year (bought one, but looking for another).

I have noticed a number of 4.6s for sale where the owner has admitted it has bad bearings in the motor (rod knock, usually). Can't say if this is a solid indictment against the 4.6, but it's something of concern to me. Ease of maintenance also weights heavily for me. Given those two reasons, the 5.0 wins by more than a whisker. I'll admit that I am completely biased toward the pushrod motor in either V6 or V8 flavor. I'm old school, a late-adopter, a dinosaur or whatever you'd like to call it.

I see lots of Explorers for sale with auto tranny problems and most seem to be the 5 speed. Either they won't go into reverse, won't go forward or slip between gears. I could probably find 4 right now in my local craigslist ads. Also, there are a lot with rebuilt trannies - usually the 5 speed behind the V6.

I found a '98 with a manual and pushrod motor and there is/was another '98 for sale in my area with a manual and pushrod motor. It's been up for sale since before Christmas. It appears no one wants a manual anymore. I haven't seen any others lately. Those later models like mine with the manual seem to be strippers - steel wheels, no power windows, door locks, mirrors. Mine doesn't even have a roof rack. I was OK with that, but I've noticed that since they are so rare, it's hard to find interior replacement parts in the junkyard. Also, the factory service manual doesn't provide coverage very well for the non-powered interior stuff. With something this old, you WILL be going to the junkyard as Ford stopped supporting them years ago.

Other things that I considered when looking for an Explorer. I wanted something that had R134a refrigerant and OBDII. I didn't want the first year that either was introduced. The torsion bar independent front end is nicer than the TTB, but the Explorer still is kinda squirrelly in bumpy turns. That's OK with me.

85e150six4mtod's serving suggestion is spot on motor-wise, in my opinion, especially if towing 3000 pounds in thin air. It's a proven motor that's been around a long time. I'm not a bells-and-whistles guy, but lots of Explorers with V8s come loaded so you may not have much choice. You could also go with a Mountaineer, but they're hard to come by in the junkyard. Lots of Explorer interior parts will fit, but they may not match.

I've come to the same conclusion as 85e150six4mtod and AlaskanEx. For me, my next one will be a '97 - '01 5.0 V8 (the later part of the range is preferred), hopefully without a sunroof and without leather, if that's possible. I reluctantly accept all the interior power stuff only because you can find plenty of parts for them in the junkyards.

 

So that pretty much encompasses the 2nd generation with 5.0. Ah . . . the 302 . . .good engine.

 

I've had a 2000 Mountaineer with the 5.0L and a 2004 Mountaineer with the 4.6L. I'm curious what the above posts constitute as "easier to maintain" or "harder to work on"? I did all my own work on both, as well as all my maintenance. And for routine maintenance, the 4.6L is MUCH easier to work on. Spark plugs on the 4.6L are all done from the valve cover area and with Coil on Plug ignition it took all of about half an hour to change out the spark plugs. The air filter was easy to get to as well.

I really had no mechanical issues with either V8 and therefore no reason to dig deeper in to either engine. Both are solid engines, and the 5.0L has a lot of history behind it, but the 4.6L has been used widely enough now that it's pretty well understood as well. So I'm not arguing that you anyone should seek out the 4.6L over the 5.0L, I'm just curious why the folks above feel the 5.0L is apparently easier to work on. That does not align with my first hand experience.

-Rod

 

YMMV.

If you have to change the timing chain on either engine, you will be done with the 5.0 long before you even get started on a 4.6. (high mile vehicles you know...) Plugs--probably a toss up. Head gasket, or anything internal, the 5.0 can be done by a child, the 4.6 requires a lot of reading in advance.....

jmo, probably none of this is relevant...

 

Yeah, I'm trying to find out the good/bad years for the Explorer.

 

I'm subscribing...want to see what the high milage waekness of the 5.0 is.

We are sitting with a 180k 5.0 auto, 2wd with little more than an a AC compressor at 80k and water pump at 125k.

 

This is more what I was alluding to. I should state that this type of activity isn't "maintenance", it's "repair" but when you buy old stuff with relatively high mileage like I do, you have to realize that you might be doing something like timing chain, head gasket, etc.

 

Having owned a 98 5.0L Limited, I found that it was a great automobile.
I drove it to 256K without an oil leak or major problem. Had to replace
the radiator and grille when I hit a duck, but couldn't dodge it. Routine
maintance kept it on the road and running like a new one until 2010.
That was when a 4 Runner decided it wanted to make a U-turn in the
middle of a two lane, at night, in a construction zone. Totaled the new
4 Runner, but alas, lost my 98.
Was stressed until I found a 2006 4.6L 3 valve with low mileage, Eddie
Bauer, and have put over 140K on it in 4 years. Yeah, I drive a lot. No
real concerns but one. Had a cam follower start ticking on one back last
year, popped the valve cover off and found the problem, fixed it and back
on the road.
Again, maintance is the key. After working for Ford at the dealership level
most of my career, I find they build a pretty good vehicle.
Oh, also own a 2004 Supercrew.