So a few months ago I purchased a 2002 with about 185000 miles on it from craigslist for $400. Story I got was her mechanic diagnosed it with a bad head gasket do to water found in the oil so she parked it for about a year. Prior to this it had all four brakes and rotors done, 4 new studded snow tires, intake manifold, and numerous other things all of which I got service records for. When I went to look at the truck it started without a problem. No odd noises or anything. No trace of water in oil or any other signs of a bad head gasket. Just to be safe I had it towed back to my house instead of driving it. Had to replace one window in the back door due to it being busted ran me about $10 at the local salvage yard. I have now but nearly 5000 miles on it occasionally driving it to work (130 miles round trip) and around town. Figured I would leave the studded tires on as long as I could before buying new. Was able to get a free brush guard from work that was taken off of an 06 so slight mount modification was required but it was free so worth it. Because winter is Basically over and I will be moving to Florida soon I decided it was time to swap out the tires. Was able to barter with my old boss for a new set of BFG AT KO2's and a set of black steel wheels. Also ordered one of the ebay 3 front 2 rear lifts for it for $120. I have also upgrade all the front lighting and reverse lights to LED bulbs and replaced the three seals in the rear differential. As far as i could tell by looking over the service records for the truck it was very well maintained and I do not believe there was ever a head gasket issue but more of an incompetent issue. The intake manifold was changed the week prior to the head diagnosis without the oil being changed after. and the diagnostic from the head gasket states that a slight amount of water was found in the oil while changing it leaving the mechanic to believe there was a blown head gasket. Just though I would share my story of how I got my Explorer. Hopefully this one turns out better than my 05 that I rolled in 08