Explorer 1998

So there is this one 2 gen Ford Explorer. I am not from US and i was thinking about buying it. I want it to be my DD. I am not choosing between different explorers, just this one (pic related).
It's 1998 4.0 AT with only 130k miles on it. What potential problems it might give me? What is general reliability? How bad is gas mileage?

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Also, how do i know which engine it has? Wiki says there were two 4.0 engines.
Ford Cologne 4.0 L OHV V-6
Ford Cologne 4.0 L SOHC V-6

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They're pretty durable and parts are available easily in burger land, idk about there tho. The 4.0 v6 is a weezing boat anchor, and gets terrible milage. But it's reliable at least

bump

This, but that 4.0 actually wasn't that bad. I mean it's no racecar but it isn't nearly as bad as lots of other SUVs from that time. I used to race riced out Civics in mine with the V6 all the time and beat em pretty gud.

They're straight. On any SUV that old, you want to test the 4WD if you think you will need it because that shit goes bad sometimes since it isn't used much and people kinda neglect it. Other than that, I had the same thing but 1997 and owned it from like 75k miles to 175k miles. Around 100k, it needed some wheel bearings, at like 120k needed an alternator ($120 part and 10min job because of where it's located, super easy), and then by like 150k the suspension was getting real boat-like so coulda used some shocks and struts. But overall it was a great car if you don't mind getting 12mpg city and like 16mpg highway. Never had any issues aside from the typical stuff that goes wrong on any car between 100k and 150k.

I've read some opinions that Explorer has terribly stiff suspension which is great on pavement, but is unbearable on gravel roads.
Also, people say that engine is solid and unlikely to bring any problem, but the transmission, however is weak and breaks a lot. Is it really that bad?

What type of 4wd it has? Some say it's automatically distributing momentum to front wheels depending on how hard you press accelerator. So you can't just turn it on and have constant front and rear axle momentum distribution?

For the trans, never really heard complaints. I had the auto and it made it to 175k just fine with like zero maintenance.

And all SUVs from that era had stiff suspension because they are trucks. But when the suspension gets old, it starts to drive like a boat. But I mean that's about the same with any older and heavy car, shocks and struts along with some bushings and shit are a good idea between 100k and 150k. 3000lb econoboxes do it too, but not to the same extent as a big 4500lb sedan or SUV.

And I think there were a couple different 4wd systems. My Explorer had the knob where it's 2WD (RWD) or regular driving and then you can turn it to 4WD High for snow driving and stuff or 4WD Lo for locking everything up and climbing out of a mud pit. Worked fine on my car even when it was old, but I just hear about problems with those 4WD systems on all sorts of older SUVs and trucks and most people don't fix it because the RWD works fine for normal driving and it's not work spending $3000+ on a car with 200k.

Ok, that's helpful. I was hoping for comfy land yacht that can go over picrelated at a good speed.

About suspension, Exp has torsions in front and leafs in back? Is that correct? I am guessing if true that means options for smoothing the ride are non existent...

99 V6 SOHC Limited here:

MPG is about 12.

Reliable? Yes. I'm an absolute idiot, and have kept mine going with no issues.

I had to rebuild my transmission at 130k.

Radio display will fade due to overheating and poor soldering for the power supply on the LCD. This is an easy fix.

Ride is rough, and you will learn how to easily avoid any holes and bumps. The flip side though is gravel is extremely smooth to drive over.

Get the V6 SOHC. This engine can take lots of abuse and keep going.

Enjoy your leaking intake manifold gaskets and zero oil pressure

Gas mileage is meh
interior is plastic fantastic dog shit
only problem i had with mine was a blown thermostat. Took me like 1 hour to make it to the dealership to get fixed, pegging the heat gauge for most of it. Wrecked it a few moths later. The 4wd was surprisingly good with proper tires.

The third gen explorers have had trans. But the second gen explorers are solid iirc

2nd Gen Explorer was pretty great. I regret wrecking my '97 on a daily basis.
My '08 (fourth gen) is a piece of shit please kill me.

Was the 08 that bad?

People always shit on the 3rd gen (was that like 02-05?) but my bro had a 2006 for a minute and it wasn't too bad. I like the look of the newest Explorers but if I can get some cash together I want a new Grand Cherokee.

I suspect that I am not a normal case. Just about anything that takes fluid has exploded on me so far. I also don't really care for the unibody design compared to previous gens, which were body-on-frame.
I'm just keeping it running at this point. I just want it to last me long enough for Jeep to hurry up and release their new pickup.

People from UK buy shitty old explorers? Gas is more expensive and a c class cost the same or even cheaper over there.

They sold right hand drive 'sploders to the UK iirc. Parts will exist

I have a 99 ford ranger which is basically the same truck. I have the 4.0 ohv with the manual transmission and while it's not fast it gets out of it's own way. It's been a great truck and still runs strong with 156k miles. If you look under the hood I'm pretty sure it will say 4.0 SOHC if it's an SOHC.

I am from russia, not uk.

So i just got back from watching the car and it is 4.0 DOHC with 5 speed AT. The mileage is legit, it was unused for 6 years. Owner already rustproofed it. Overall it looks really fresh for 19 year old car. The only thing is that i saw oil grease on the front of engine, might be seal leak.
He gave me a ride and while great on pavement it was sort of bearable offroad. It feels like a big street car more than offroader.
So the only thing i am afraid of is AT or transfer case failure.

There is no DOHC, it would be SOHC. The 2 engines are both reasonably reliable but the SOHC has one timing chain up front and one in back. Timing chain tensioner failures are not extremely common, but they have been known to happen. When that happens it's an engine out ($$$$$) repair. Make sure there's no timing chain noise.

I had a 2002 with 4.0L lasted 250k before the water pump went and I decided to get a new car

I had a 1996 Explorer (nearly identical to the picture). With one that old there may be suspension issues but nothing a trip to the shop can fix. Had it from 03-10 and never had any major issues with it. Handles amazingly in the snow with the 4x4

Yeah the whole three chain thing kinda scares me, should I listen to it while it idling or when driving?

Which 4x4 you had? Part time or that one with friction disks in the transfer case?

Also I feel like headlights are complete trash, is there replacement for them?

The second gen ford explorer is the greatest vehicle ever produced by Detroit. I had a 95 V6 XLT, now I have a 99 Limited V8.

My 95's 4.0 SOHC was rock solid and retired at over 210,000 miles. The transmission on the other hand was super problematic and had to be rebuilt three times.

>only 130k miles

That's a lot. I wouldn't pay more than $2k

It will tend to be noisier at idle. Listen for clacking or rattling to the rear on the drivers side.

I own two 1998's one V6 and one V8
Generally both very reliable but here are some problems I've had to deal with
1. Radio display stops working (just inconvenient)
2. Replaced the transmission at 215,000 km, transfer case went shortly after
3. Catalytic converter around 200,000km
4. Parking brake
5 Cooling system replaced

I like them alot. Lots of space, decent off-road. A bit slow especially the v6. Gas mileage on the 6 isn't terrible, the v8 though is terrible with it.

I am sort of freaked out by everyone telling they had transmission issues.
So it goes for every transmission 2 gen Expl had? As far as i understand this one has 5R55E AT.
What are the reasons for at failure? I mean is there anything one can do to prolong it's life?
By rebuilding transmission what exactly do you mean, replacing friction disks? How expensive it was (parts)?

>only 130k miles
That's a lot. I wouldn't pay more than $2k

Well don't apply usdm prices to where i live. This very Explorer is 8500 usd and it's like the cheapest SUV i found considering it's condition. We have lots of 4runners but they all well past 200k miles and prices start from 10k for sketchy ones and can go up to 14500 and higher. And considering 4runners terrible interior it's inferior to explorer in every way except for parts availability and "toyota quality".

Mins wasn't a replacement just a rebuild. I can't remember what was replaced and I can't find the receipt at the moment. Came out to about $900 with labour to get it done. I'd expect with that high mileage on yours it's going to need a rebuild soon as well if it already hasn't had one.
That being said they are very nice SUVs and I enjoy mine a lot.

The 5R55E is trash. The V8 explorers have the 4R70W which is much more durable.

>What are the reasons for at failure?
I burned my first one out driving too fast up a mountain. I dont know what they did to rebuild it, but it cost me like $1800 USD. They warrantied it so when it failed again 10 months later it didnt cost me anything to fix. I guess you can prolong the life be driving easy and flushing the fluid.

>So it goes for every transmission 2 gen Expl had?
No the auto transmission on the v6 models are the most problematic out of these.
Ideally you want to get a v8 explorer which comes with the 4r70w and that is the same tranny they used in the f150/expeditions at the time. the 4r70w is much more reliable that the v6 5 speeds.

If you're going to get a v6 try to find one with a manual trans.

>As far as i understand this one has 5R55E AT.
:^x
>What are the reasons for at failure?
excessive heat buildup

>I mean is there anything one can do to prolong it's life?
a good mod for 5r is adding a transmission cooler from a v8 explorer. All v8 explorer came with a factory trans cooler, but not all v6 did. Go to your local junkyard and pull one off a v8 explorer.

change your trans fluid

If you are going to do any towing try to install the largest transmission cooler you can, these transmissions run hot AF. I currently have a v10 f250 trans cooler installed on my v8 explorer. its a tight fit, but it fits non the less. trans temperatures stay nice and cool while towing now

t. 2 second gen exploder owner with 317k miles and 98k miles

>5R55E
That's an update of the older 4R44E that traces its history back to the Bordeaux, France built C3 of the Seventies through the A4LD of the Eighties and the 4R44 and 4R55E of the Nineties. All of them had durability issues since they were light duty transmissions put in vehicles that were basically too heavy other than maybe the Pintos.

Anyway, by the time of the 5R55's most of the problems in the main stack had been fixed so you just get random material failures of various seals and bearings instead of multiple instances of pattern failures like GM's 4L60E's had in the Nineties and early 2000's. That said Ford did fuck up by using steel servo piston shafts directly on the aluminum case bores where they should have had a copper bushing. This resulting in the bores wearing prematurely and creating weird shifting issues due to internal leakage. Early on, the only repair was a new case for thousands of dollars. After a few years Ford issued a tool kit that allowed for the install of a copper bushing that should have been there in the first place. Unfortunately this still required trans removal and overhaul to accomplish. This is still the "official" method but the aftermarket has stepped up with servos that have o-ring grooves cut into the servo shaft allowing for mere replacement of the servo to correct bore wear and that can be accomplished with the trans installed.

>correct bore wear
Actually, I should have said "accommodate for bore wear"

Dude, that's helpful, thanks for clarifying things!
That's like a lot of money for repair considering cost of car in us.

This guy know what hes talking about.
listen 2 him

Huh, so basically any of the 5r55 will have issues unless copper bushing is installed? Any idea how much for the parts and where to get it? Like what i even google to find this kit?

/me googles "5R55e Servo Bushing"

sonnax.com/parts/2207-overdrive-intermediate-servo-pin-bore-sleeve-kit