[[email protected]]

My sons owns a 1994 Ford Explorer and this past Dec. his car began to
run very bad and it was determined that he had a gasket leak in the
engine and the engine was shot/ gone. He then had a salvage yard put in
a used engine that had 88,000 miles on it. He got the car with the
new/used engine in late Dec/early Jan and last Friday his check engine
light came on. On Saturday we opened the hood and found that the
anti-frreze overflow container was empty.
I filled it up and now on Monday it is again empty and there have been
no visible anti-freeze on the ground underneath his car before the
check engine light went on, or now after i filled up the overflow
container.
Does this indicate that the used engine that was put in his car came
with a leaking gasket or some other problem and that the anti-freeze is
leaking into the engine/cylinders???
He has a 60 day warranty on the engine and is taking it into the
salvage yard tomorrow and do you believe that the shop should
fix/replace the used engine he had, or did his vehicle have some
pre-existing condtion that casued this problem.
Im not knowlegable about cars/engines so any help anyone can offer
would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any
help/information you can offer.

 

[Searcher]

Well with two engines I would not say that his truck per say has an inherent
problem. Have you checked the oil in the "newer" motor? Since the AF is
leaking, it HAS to be going somewhere! Check the passenger area floorboard,
is it wet? If so you may have a heater core issue. I am not sure if that
year motor had any issues but I am sure a google search may come up with it.

Searcher

 

[Ulysses]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> My sons owns a 1994 Ford Explorer and this past Dec. his car began to
> run very bad and it was determined that he had a gasket leak in the
> engine and the engine was shot/ gone. He then had a salvage yard put in
> a used engine that had 88,000 miles on it. He got the car with the
> new/used engine in late Dec/early Jan and last Friday his check engine
> light came on. On Saturday we opened the hood and found that the
> anti-frreze overflow container was empty.
> I filled it up and now on Monday it is again empty and there have been
> no visible anti-freeze on the ground underneath his car before the
> check engine light went on, or now after i filled up the overflow
> container.
> Does this indicate that the used engine that was put in his car came
> with a leaking gasket or some other problem and that the anti-freeze is
> leaking into the engine/cylinders???
> He has a 60 day warranty on the engine and is taking it into the
> salvage yard tomorrow and do you believe that the shop should
> fix/replace the used engine he had, or did his vehicle have some
> pre-existing condtion that casued this problem.
> Im not knowlegable about cars/engines so any help anyone can offer
> would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any
> help/information you can offer.
>

Is not unreasonable to expect that BOTH engines could have a head gasket
leak as they are common on this particular engine. Another coolant loss
problem common to these engines is a leaking intake manifold gasket. It can
leak internally or externally. If it's external it should be easy to spot
with the amount of coolant loss you've described. Also check below the
heater core for anti-freeze (just below where the front passenger's feet go)
and of course the hoses etc.

Like Searcher said find where the coolant is going. If it is overflowing
from the reservoir it might be a leaking head gasket or cracked head. I
have two of these Exploders ('91 and '92) and both were losing coolant out
the reservoir. A new radiator and a little stop-leak and they are both
fine. Both have had the intake manifold gaskets replaced too.

As far the the engine being "shot" how many miles did it have on it? These
engines generally go a LOT of miles before they need to be completely
rebuilt or replaced. By a LOT I mean 350,000. Maybe more. Someone out
there is probably approaching 400,000 by now. I have over 200,000 on one
and it runs great. I have over 275,000 on another and it runs fairly close
to great. The one with 275,000 miles was recently pronounced "dead" by a
mechanic and after a little work it easily passed the California smog test.
I'm expecting it to last at least another 75,000 miles.

As far as should they replace the engine again are they willing/able to
replace the head and manifold gaskets and determine why the check engine
light is on? I suppose it's possible that the engine could have internal
wear causing uneven compression at only 88,000 miles if the previous owner
drove it really hard. My guess is that the engine ended up in the salvage
yard because the previous owner crashed it. If you drive an Explorer like
it's a sports car these things can happen.

 

[Charlie Bress]

Just checking and filling the overflow container is not a sure bet. If the
radiator is empty, you have to fill it by opening the pressure cap, filling
the rad and then add to the overflow container.
It might just be that the rad had nothing to put back into the overflow
container.


Charlie

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> My sons owns a 1994 Ford Explorer and this past Dec. his car began to
> run very bad and it was determined that he had a gasket leak in the
> engine and the engine was shot/ gone. He then had a salvage yard put in
> a used engine that had 88,000 miles on it. He got the car with the
> new/used engine in late Dec/early Jan and last Friday his check engine
> light came on. On Saturday we opened the hood and found that the
> anti-frreze overflow container was empty.
> I filled it up and now on Monday it is again empty and there have been
> no visible anti-freeze on the ground underneath his car before the
> check engine light went on, or now after i filled up the overflow
> container.
> Does this indicate that the used engine that was put in his car came
> with a leaking gasket or some other problem and that the anti-freeze is
> leaking into the engine/cylinders???
> He has a 60 day warranty on the engine and is taking it into the
> salvage yard tomorrow and do you believe that the shop should
> fix/replace the used engine he had, or did his vehicle have some
> pre-existing condtion that casued this problem.
> Im not knowlegable about cars/engines so any help anyone can offer
> would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any
> help/information you can offer.
>

 

[Ashton Crusher]

On 31 Jan 2006 14:47:58 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

>My sons car had 180,000 miles on it when it was checked by mechanics
>who said that due to the gasket leak that it would be too expensive too
>replace due to the labor costs, so he got this used engine with 80,000
>miles on it for $1,2000 installed from a salvage yard. The car has
>run fine since the used engine was put in and hasnt run any differently
>since the check engine light went on.
>Im just wondering what the salvage yard will say and if they will be
>willing to do any repairs if the problem is a result of the engine
>being installed.
>If the radiator/heater core had issues is that something that should
>have been noticed when the used engine was installed engine.
>I checked the passenger side floorboard of the truck and it was dry

You might consider taking it to a regular repair shop for diagnosis of
what's wrong. The $100 invested there, along with their report if
they find a real problem, might make your conversation at the wrecking
yard go smoother. It's also possible they will find some relatively
minor problem that can be easily fixed.