Maybe Boogered up my Engine ?

[Josh B]

My Explorer with a good 4.0 been sittin for about a year, and I'm not sure when I even started it last.
The AC clutch was bad and I had a fan belt that went around it, but moved that to me Ranger a good while back, so this just set.

I got a second short belt and thought I'd start that motor and see if it would start.

The dash all lit up with the key on but the starter wouldn't bump with the key.
I used a screwdriver and jumped the solenoid and it turned the motor ok. I jumped across it 3 or 4 times and let it spin about 30 seconds each time to get some oil pumping in it, then left the key on and jumped it across the solenoid.

The engine started but it looked and sounded like a wild horse trying to kick its way out of a stall.

I'll have to pull it down to see what kind of damage was done but thinking I might have really messed up

 

[RonD]

No, I doubt you messed anything up

You can run cold engine without fan belt for 1 to 2 minutes, just no alternator or water pump

Spark plugs probably need to be cleaned
And the gasoline in the fuel lines and gas tank quit being "fuel" 6 or 7 months ago
Gasoline lasts 4-6months in a SEALED container, if there is air in the container(gas tank) then it doesn't last as long
I would siphon as much "gas" out of the tank as you can
Remove fuel filter and put a pan down under it
Cycle key on and off a few times, that should drain/siphon off the worst of it, at the bottom of the tank
Pour 5gal of fresh gas into tank
Cycle key on and off 3 more times
Put in new filter, get 2 of these

Try to start engine, it will run very rough until fresh fuel can get to the engine
Get a fan belt, unplug AC compressor, usually the pulley/clutch itself is OK
Add a can of seafoam to gas tank
Try to drive it around to warm up engine
Go to gas station and fill up
Change fuel filter again after a few weeks of driving

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Agreed with RonD. You've got bad gasoline. You should be able to smell it, at least in the exhaust as the engine tries to run.

 

[Shran]

I bought an Explorer that sat for 10+ years and after cleaning out several mouse nests in the engine bay I attempted to fire it up on old gas. It did start and run but sounded like it had a bad knock and a horrible lifter tick and it smoked like crazy. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I let it sit and idle for about half an hour. After a couple minutes it cleared up and ran smooth and quiet. Super weird. It was a good runner after that too... They are very durable engines, doubt you hurt yours.

 

[Josh B]

Aw man, you guys are life savers. Thanks so much Ron, Mark and Shran'
Actually it had a bad AC clutch and I had a belt that detoured the AC, then I used it on the Ranger, and several reasons kept me from wanting to swap it back on much. I finally got another one last week and had put it on there to see what the engine was looking like.

It still has 3/4 of a tank in it and I never figured a way to siphon or drain it without cutting into a hose somewhere. I also have a new filter for both the Ranger and the Explorer but never had any luck getting either one of them off. I believe that came down to them having two types of filter release tool and me having the wrong one.

About 6 months in to that year I poured a whole bottle of some gas boost stuff but I'm not sure which kind, it wasn't Seafoam. but more of a fuel tank treatment stuff I think.

Before I parked it the front seal had blown on the transmission. I managed to coax it on home but it stayed parked ever since. I started it fairly regular before putting that belt on the Ranger and since then It has hardly been messed with until now. I took it off the road and just left it parked thinking I'd swap the motor into the Ranger which has going on 350K now. Are the 96 Explorer differentials good for anything? That's about all that will be left of it except the air bags, I somehow wonder if that would make it desirable for someone to use the body to replicate one of theirs that got wrecked

I'm really hoping to get the other transmission patched up, it was cocked in there somehow and wore the spline ridges down and now I'm hoping my cousin will patch it up or something, I'm not sure where that might go, he's a great mechanic but a busy man, works at Ford and has a shop at home too.

I need to get started on a frame to pull those engines with that should be plenty stout to pull motor and transmission together if I choose to do that

Once again, thanks so much for your encouragement there.

Ahh, one thing I left out, that transmission might have been near locked up, so I also wondered if that could be part of why that thing was kicking around so hard

 

[Josh B]

I'm sure hoping you guys are right, I'm going to proceed with the swap and check it out along the way. That will at least get it away from that old gas while I'm sorting it out