My wife drives a 93 Explorer with a 4.0/automatic she was asking how long it should last...now how in the world would I know...soooo, what do you all think?
We change oil at regular intervals,serviced the trans at about 80,000 now we are putting ball joints and transfer case motor on it.The body is in very good shape so my only wonder is will the motor last?

Thanks.
Mike.

 

I've had three 4.0 liters. One died at 180,000 the other two are still running. One has 70,000 and the other has 175,000 miles on it.

 

We started with a '94 explorer that now has about 175K on it. It is now being driven by our daughter. need to fix the valve cover gaskets and the front end alignment, but other than that, is in great shape. We did have to do the transmission and the little bearing inside the auto hubs. You can take apart the transfer case motor yourself, if you are handy, and give it a cleaning. I did that, and it worked like new. It is built just like a wiper motor.

 

There is a thread stillactive on "how many miles do you have". lots of different numbers up to 300K.

My 93 has 170K and with the right maintenance, still runs like it is new - or better.

 

From everything I've read I'd put the life expectancy at about 350,000 miles with the original engine but with one or two transmission replacements. This is assuming, of course, normal routine maintenance and repairs.

My '91 has 200,000 miles on it and I'm expecting it to last another 150,000 miles. My '92 has 273,000 miles on it and it may last anywhere from about another 10 miles to 100,000 more miles.

As exploranger said the transfer case servo motors can be taken apart and cleaned. They get very little use as far as motors go so it's unlikely to wear out. I had good luck just spraying WD-40 in one but the other required complete disassembly. I cleaned it with carburator cleaner and lubed the motor bushings with motor oil and vaseline on the gears and it's better than new now.

 

Your kidding me. 350K? That means I'm only 1/2 way there and it took 13 years to get there. I was wanting the engine to fail so I'd have an excuse to rebuild it with a bigger cam I found on the Competion Cams web site. Then I could take better advantage of the SCT chip I just got. So you're telling me I've got another 13 years before I can start this project? Well I guess I should get started on the backyard landscaping then. 1 year looking at dirt already so I guess that takes priority....

 

LMAO. Unfortunately with your abilities and maintenance schedule it might last a lot longer than some of the others ;-)

I think I read more than one on the "how many miles do you have" thread that claimed 350K miles and one Mazda Navajo that claimed 450K but it was on it's second engine replaced at 350K). I don't know if the Mazda had the same 4.0 V6 EFI engine though.

Landscaping can be fun too. Just plant a tree in a good spot and in 13 years you'll have some nice shade to work under while you rebuild your engine.

 

I have a 93 Navaho. It was built on the same assembly line as the Explorer Sports just different badges. Its all Ford under the covers, same 4.0 liter and same crappy auto transmission. At 180K I had to have the heads done because the valves burned up but I think that was due to the leaking auto trans. vacuum kickdown vavle sucking fluid for a long while. I've had two transission rebuilds, one at ~80K and the other ~160. I've had the normal maintenance items everyones had, bushings, balljoints,TPS,MAF,FPR, and recently a new radiator because the originall one had a crack that finally split open enough that I couldn't keep the coolant topped up. Its been a decent truck. I think the next vehicle will be a pickup or jeep with a manual transmission, automatics suck. I can rebuild a manual myself.

 

I hear you on the auto's. My 93 has a manual. The Durango has an auto and it just had the tranny rebuilt. ~$2,500 worth of work, under warranty. I might get ride of it before it hits 70K and hte warranty is up - too much liability.

Yes the Mazda Navaho's are the same truck as Explorer Sport but with slightly different trim. I guess Ford's payment for the Mazda tranny was to give Mazda a new platform to market. Ford owns some 25% of Mazda anyway.