Had the check engine light come on, code for the Cam Position Sensor came up. Ordered a new one from RockAuto on Monday and it showed up today. Pulled the old one out and found it was destroyed itself. Cleaned out all of the parts and put a little oil down the synchronizer to keep the bushings happy. Replaced the sensor and all is good! $37 & 30 min repair.

 

Today I picked up a set of factory teardrop wheels with tires for $150 that will get me through summer. Gave her a quick wash and swapped the turn signal relay for a LED friendly one and changed all front markers/turns to amber LEDs and amber LEDs in the rear turn signals.

Washed my dads 99 and put his summer wheels on, had to get a pic together.

 

That's a fair price for a set of those factory wheels in decent shape.
Two weeks ago I paid $35 for one of those without a tire at a salvage yard.

 

So in late April she developed a bad exhaust leak, I parked it figuring it was a manifold. It was actually the EGR tube, so I replaced that last Friday. Really need to recharge the A/C! But she's back in rotation for daily driving duties.

 

Lookin' good Russ!

 

Recharged the A/C today, blows ice cold now! In the 70s it was unbearable haha also washed it up along with a few more in the driveway. The Excursion sure makes it look small.

 

I took the Explorer out to Girdwood, AK this weekend. 75 miles round trip, first time I've taken it out 30 miles from home. Cruise control set and she just cruised perfectly. Met up with another couple, he drove his Porsche got a pic of them together at lunch.

 

Dumb question Russ, but when did you get that big Ranch Hand bumper on the front of the Excursion? Am I getting off-topic? Sorry!

 

Haha, no problem! That was back in January after I took out a stop sign with the stock bumper. It's actually a Fab Fours bumper but same idea. I'm gonna paint it tan to match the bottom trim color eventually.

 

I've had a set of Maxxima yellow LED fog lights to install since March, I just got around to doing it today. They need a little adjustment still, but since I haven't had to use headlights in a month or so it can wait until the midnight sun goes away...which I'm not looking forward to.

 

A year ago today I saved this explorer from going to the junk yard, I don't know many people would have put the money into the rebuild of the transmission to put this truck back on the road.

I haven't driven it as much as I hoped I would, that will hopefully change as time goes on. I have so many plans for it but this summer has been a whirlwind. I plan to get the bodywork done in the next few months, not much else to do during the winter anyway lol

but since March it's been insured and I've driven it randomly. I can't wait to see it become what I have pictured in my head.

 

Thanks for the nice photos!

I wish I had gotten the 5.0 version instead of 4.0 back in year 2000 when I got mine. The 4.0 is fine on flat land but it's missing the lower rpm torque when driving up steep mountain highways and you really need to step on the gas to maintain speed.
IE. It has plenty of power but it's at a high rpm.

The body looks fine in your 97 and I would just repair problems & maintain it, but hey that's just my opinion.

Cheers

 

I would never own another 4.0 Explorer. The 5.0 is my favorite drivetrain ever put in them.

I'm planning a full custom pain job but in the mean time there is damage to the passenger side quarter panel and rear door that I'd like to address, along with dents in the hood and light surface rust from body repair it had back in 2000.

 

Sure, I agree for the reason I stated in my post above.
However we have now close to 240,000 trouble free miles on my 4.0 Explorer and the engine is still in very good shape!

The only engine repair work done was new water pump, passenger side exhaust manifold, oxygen sensor, air mass sensor and of course the camshaft chain adjuster recall when the truck was still new.

It's not a secret why the engine has lasted so well - change the engine oil & filter every 3,000 miles! Oil is cheap, new engines are not!

 

Had a CEL come on for a rear O2 sensor, replaced them and all good. Looks like one was damaged when the transmission came out. Also did an oil change with mobile 1 synthetic, my dad started running full synthetic in this truck at 47k miles and the lady who bought it did the same. This was my first time to really spend time under the truck, she's rust free thanks to the undercoating done when it was new.

also I am amazed what 55mph highway driving can do for MPG. Almost 200 miles not even half a tank!