Made a deal to buy this '99 Explorer Sport. Been sitting about 6 months. Put a hot battery in and it fired right up. Needs servicing, came with a couple of tires that need installed. Right nerf bar/step is rotted out but rest of truck is solid. Better than average interior. Shifter is sloppy. More info when I get it home.

 

Drove home the Explorer this afternoon. Had taken the battery with me when I put money down on the truck and charged it. Wound up having a dead cell and Walmart replaced it. Coolant was only low fluid, so topped it off after installing new battery. Put in 2 gallons of fresh gas and drove it home. Maiden voyage was 20 miles. Temp and oil pressure good . No weird sounds from engine compartment. Trans shifted out good. Tires flat spotted from sitting a year, and at least one has cord showing. PO gave me 2 really good looking tires already mounted on some more Explorer rims. They are chrome steel wheels and 2 replacements are just a little different design, but I can run them like they are while I work the bugs out. About 12 miles in the drive home, left off gas to go through a S turn and battery light came on, went back off when I gassed it. Then when it hit overdrive light came on again, so I turned off OD to bring RPM's up for the rest of the trip home. Could see that the amp gauge was showing discharge. PO had said he thought alternator needs replaced, but I was hoping the dead celled battery would be the culprit. Column shifter is sloppy and will need repaired. Will post up some pics later.

 

Removed alternator this morning and carried with me to work so I could have it tested at parts store afterwards. Went to Oreillys and they had wiring harness to hook it up, but didn't have bracket adapter to mount it on tester. They gladly told me the replacement cost, but couldn't I.D. whether a 95 or 130 amper. I found the info pretty quick online and I have the 130. Going by Advance tomorrow and see if they have the proper tools to test it.

 

Nice looking Sport. For the shifter look under the dash where the cable bracket attaches to the column there are 3 torx bolts that tend to work loose. Keep an eye on the coolant the 4.0 likes to crack the heads between the valves. I put a set of aftermarket heads on my 2000 for this very reason.

 

Thanks! I haven't noticed this color of blue on any Explorers and I like the mono chrome look on the grill.

Appreciated the advice. Will look for the torx bolts. Found a leak on passenger side radiator, these are affordable. Brother bought one for his '98 for about $85.

Advance auto parts tested the alternator and output was 12.24. Ordered one from Amazon for $78 w/tax and free shipping. Bolted the old one back on so I could move ES out of way until new one arrives. This has to be the easiest alternator to change, I also own a couple of Escapes and they are a PITA.

Checked out lights, power windows, locks. Everything working except driver's side lock won't stay in the unlocked position. Ignition key doesn't fit door locks. Is this a single or dual key system? Ignition switch could have been changed.

 

Here's a few pics. Got a couple of tires with the deal.

 

Hey Tnfordblue: If that is four wheel drive do not mix different sized and brand name tires as it will cause severe transfer case problems ! They are very critical as far as outside diameter being same from front to rear on the tires !

 

Thanks Richmo, it's 2 WD. Put new alternator on and cured charging problem and battery light went out. Sat for about a week while waiting on alternator and noticed rat poop on top of the new battery, and now see that the plug wires have been nibbled on. Don't know if the rodent came with truck or out of my field, either way it sucks but I'm sure a good set of plugs and wires would do the truck some good.