i own a 79 ford 4x4 so im not familiar with explorers. my dad is wanting to buy a 92 explorer 4x4 leather and power everything with over 200,000 miles motor doesnt smoke and the only thing wrong that we see are some leaking boots or somthing on the front axle assy. is this suv worth $1300??? i think it is but i wanted some input from some explorer guys. cuz all i deal with are trucks right now

 

My 93 Explorer has 220K miles on it right now. I bought it with 191K and it was my first Ford ever. It absolutely won me over. I've been impressed with how easy it is to work on and how reliable it has been despite only minor maintenance. I've used it to haul trailers back and forth across the country and I've never had to hesitate just jumping in and taking off. Even though it has more miles than anything else I have ever owned, I have more faith in this vehicle than any other. The leather seats in my Explorer more or less shredded shortly after I bought it, despite looking great when I first got it, but that's cosmetic and to be quite honest, my four kids and I are kind of rough on interiors. The motor and trans are still running strong, the 4X4 works great, etc. In my opinion, $1300 is a steal!

 

Be sure and check the 4X4 out. It probably has the electric 4wd shifter, and these are known to freeze up from a lack of use. If it is frozen, the motor probably just needs cleaning (there are some nice write ups on this fix), but you could use it to try and bump the price down.

 

Find out if the automatic transmission has been replaced yet. They tend to go out around 175,000 miles. You are looking at about $2000-$2500 or so for a rebuilt, installed. If it has manual locking hubs on the front that's a plus too. The auto-hubs are prone to failure. Another bargaining chip? I'll bet the leaking fluid in the front is from the power steering. Some Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak should slow it down to a slow drip.

I have a '91 with a little over 200,000 miles on it. I drive it daily on rough dirt roads. I expect to still be driving it 10 or 15 years from now (as long as I can still get parts for it). I also have a '92 (wife's car) with about 275,000 miles on it. It runs extremely well. The leather seat (it's an EB) on the driver's side finally split so now it has seat covers. The paint is not looking real great so I'm considering getting it painted. It's not an easy decision to put money into a car with so many miles but I've read several claims of 350,000 miles on these things.

My '91 is the only car/truck I've ever owned that I bothered to keep fixing. I've had it since about '94. I can't see any reason to buy something else. I'd be afraid it would not be as good.

For the most part I agree with FordGirlie that's it's fairly easy to work on except two of the spark plugs are tricky to get at.