I recently bought a 1996 Eddie Bauer Explorer (5.0 V-8, Allwheel drive). First off I would like to say, I love this SUV. It is also my first ford, but im only 18 (3 other cars.) Ok on to my questions!!

1. What should probly should i watch out for befor they hapen to me? Example, cracked heads...bad trannys...so on.

2. Where can I get after market parts for this thing...(Sleek and fast)not (tall and go-anywhere)
Example, grills, tail light, head lights, different ground effect kits, interior accessors.

3. If I was to take out the factor sound system, could I still control the system with the rear control deck? and head phone jacks...

4. What do recommend me NOT doing to this thing.
Example, Droping it, raiseing it, spinning the tirers... (i do plan to do none of these by the way.)

 

>I recently bought a 1996 Eddie Bauer Explorer (5.0 V-8,
>Allwheel drive). First off I would like to say, I love this
>SUV. It is also my first ford, but im only 18 (3 other
>cars.) Ok on to my questions!!
>
>1. What should probly should i watch out for befor they
>hapen to me? Example, cracked heads...bad trannys...so on.
>
>2. Where can I get after market parts for this
>thing...(Sleek and fast)not (tall and go-anywhere)
>Example, grills, tail light, head lights, different ground
>effect kits, interior accessors.
>
>3. If I was to take out the factor sound system, could I
>still control the system with the rear control deck? and
>head phone jacks...
>
>4. What do recommend me NOT doing to this thing.
>Example, Droping it, raiseing it, spinning the tirers... (i
>do plan to do none of these by the way.)


Congrats on your EB X. I own a 97 EB V-8(virtulaly the same) so I have some good info for you.

1) The only thing That I know of is if you have the auto climate control then your "Blend Door" might fail,a "Blend Door" controls the amount of hot/cold air through the vents. It's known to go out with a whole lot of explorers including my own costing me $750.00 for repair. Thats it! Keep up on your routine maintinance and you should be home free.

2)Aftermarket parts:
http://www.jcwhitney.com
http://www.summitracing.com

3)I don't know to much about the audio system.

4) Your best bet is to leave the height alone, There are not to many companies that specilize in explorer suspensaion kits(raising or lowering) and could cost a pretty penny to alter the height. As far as spinning the tires,try it and I'll bet you can't unless your in snow or mud. I can't spin the tires in wet or dry weather at all.


My EB X has 52K trouble free miles on it and I tow and use the AWD alot messing around(hit mud holes as I see them), you should have fun with yours, I have fun with mine. I hope I answered some of your questions and gave you some great sites to check out.

Greg(MR XLT)

http://www.geocities.com/red90ranger/mypage.html

 

Ford4 Life covered the basis - there is a lot you can do.
There are many other places to get the products for better prices. As far as your engine, '96 and early '97 models came with a different 5.0 than the later models. Yours has regular GT-40 heads and a different EGR setup, whereas the later have GT-40P heads. That can make a difference when finding some parts like headers (you can get them for yours, the later can't).

I would look around this site for ideas. There are alot of useful information and people willing to help you.

Oh yeah - if you change head units, the rear radio controls will not work with aftermarket radios.

Good luck and keep up posted !!!