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Old December 24th 04, 01:36 AM
John Riggs
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Had you considered doing it yourself?

A manual on the '92 would give you all the instructions and a list of
the tools needed to do the job. It isn't the easiest job, but if you have a
garage, the tools, the time, the inclination, and half a wit you can do
it....following the instructions. It will save you money, give you
experience, and if you muck it up you have no one to blame but yourself, but
having a kid you know you have to budget, so you figure it. You pay someone
for their time to do it, or you make the time yourself. The way the
economics work, it runs about the same either way. If you aren't comfortable
doing it, definitely pay a mechanic, and be glad.

"g the b" > wrote in message
oups.com...
| First off I'm not a car guy but I can do anything with the right
| instructions so bear with me. Ok this is a long story but I'll try and
| cut it down. Back in this past May I bought a '92 4.0L Explorer with
| roughly 108k miles on it. I needed something cheap that would be able
| to tow around a pop-up camper for the summer. I had my mechanic take a
| quick look at it to make sure it would be able to handle the job and he
| said it should be fine. Well, it did tow the pop-up fine but after the
| summer at about 112k it started to "knock" and stutter when I
| accelerated, idled rough, lacked power, and got even poorer gas
| mileage. No problem, sounded/looked like the plugs and wires needed to
| be replaced. I did so (One plug was bridged with silt and the others
| were fairly dirty as well) and the car sounded better, idled smooth, no
| more knocking, and it seemed to have a little more power. I also
| cleaned the MAF sensor with electronic cleaner since I read that could
| cause some of the same symptoms and it was so easy to do. I also added
| fuel injector cleaner to the gas. I disconnected the battery connection
| to reset the computer settings and I thought I was done.
| A day or 2 later I developed 2 exhaust leaks and some small
| backfiring under the car when I accelerated. I didn't think much of it
| thinking it was because of the cracked exhaust pipes. It was due for
| inspection in a few months so I figured I'd deal with the slight
| annoyance and have it fixed at inspection time. Also at the next time I
| refueled I noticed I was only getting 12/mpg (was getting 15mpg with a
| dead bridged plug) with almost all highway driving. I thought maybe it
| had something to do with the fuel injector cleaner I added combined
| with resetting the computer, but I double-checked all of the plugs and
| wires to make sure everything was ok. It all looked ok and the car ran
| fine. The RPMs were even lower at the same speeds than before the
| plug/wire change. At the next gas fill-up I was only getting 11/mpg but
| the car still ran normal. Maybe a week after that the car's RPMs would
| sometimes shoot up to 2,000 when ever I'd put it in park, but drop back
| down to normal (normal as far as I could tell for this thing since I've
| had it anyway) in any other gear at about 500-750 rpm. This started to
| worry me even more so I did some more rooting around the engine the
| next night. I know basic car maintenance and am not a car guy so again,
| bear with my descriptions here. I found that above the PCV valve there
| is a thin black plastic tube/wire (2mm thick maybe) with a rubber
| L-boot that was cracked in a few places and actually severed 6 inches
| or so down the tube. It is the front facing one, not the one on the
| back which is still connected and traceable. I can't actually seem to
| find out what this is or does in my Haynes manual. I have no clue where
| the other end was to even try and guess where it leads. When I changed
| the plugs I had knocked this tube/wire a few times and made sure it was
| connected fine, but can't be sure that I didn't break it then. The
| sever wasn't noticeable until I actually pulled on the wire/tube.
| Anyway, the next day after class I had planned on stopping by the auto
| parts store, finding out what it was/did, and getting a new one. I was
| hoping it was just a simple sensor wire and was causing all my
| problems. The car still seemed to drive fine aside from the excess gas
| consumption so I didn't see a problem taking it to class.
| The next day on my way to class going down the turnpike I noticed
| within a few minutes my gas had drained over 1/4 tank. I pulled over
| thinking I had a gas leak. There was no gas smell and no leak or smoke.
| I was closer to class than I was to home so I decided to just go for
| class. After class on the way back the gas continued to drop fast.
| Close to home I stopped to get gas. 9/mpg this time. It cost me $33.50
| to go 175 miles highway driving. After that I headed to the auto parts
| store but before I could get there the upper radiator hose burst on its
| top while I was slowing down at a red-light. It was pretty cold outside
| and the car didn't seem to actually be overheating. I still had plenty
| of coolant left too, slightly above the line, and it wasn't boiling
| over or anything. I waited for the engine to cool, cleaned the burst
| hose, and added a multilayer duct-tape wrap to try and get me the few
| miles to the auto parts store. Half way there I tried to climb a hill
| and it burst again. This time I decide to just call my stepfather to
| come get me and go get a hose. I do that, replace the hose, and
| everything looks ok. The coolant is still at the same level, only
| steamed coolant seems to have come out of the burst hose. The car
| starts fine and I start down the road. At first it seemed fine, I was
| taking it easy. Then when I get to another hill I go to press on the
| gas and realize that I actually have the pedal to the floor. Going up
| the hill I steadily lose power. Also there is a rattle that gets
| increasingly louder. It sounded like a metal or plastic washer shaking
| loose, coming from the driver's side area of the engine. The check
| engine light comes on as well. I barely make it to the top of the hill
| and the car dies as I pull to the shoulder. The battery is still fully
| charged. I look under the hood and everything looks ok that I could
| see. I go to start the car again and it starts a little rough but
| smoothes out and idles. As soon as I would put it into drive though it
| died again and kept doing that. $155 in various towing charges later (A
| whole other story) I get a mechanic to agree to look at it. Today he
| called me and gave me the verdict, but I'm not sure I can believe him.
| He said it was a blown gasket. The thing is he said he wasn't going to
| charge me anything and he couldn't do the work himself right now. He
| said it only took him 5 minutes to take a look at it and that he was
| too busy to tackle something that demanding. He couldn't even tell me
| of anyone that could fix it (my mechanic was busy and this guy was the
| third I had called). I had the car towed to his place, costing me
| another $55 towing charge, because he said he could handle it. I gave
| him the full symptom list ahead of time. From what I've read though, it
| seems he really couldn't have tested the head gasket in only 5-10 mins.
| Also, the car didn't over heat or leak coolant. I have a feeling he
| just got in over his head and never even looked at my car.
| Finally the point. Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong, what
| that thin broken tube/hose/wire is, and if this guy is bull****ing me?
| I never would have had it towed to his place if he would have let me
| know he might not have been able to find the time to fix it. Could I
| have screwed up when I changed the plugs and wires? The plugs were
| Bosch Platinum 2s, supposedly no need to gap them. I know this was long
| but I wanted to be as detailed as possible. Thanks a lot to anyone who
| answers. I'm praying it's not a head gasket because I have very little
| money to fix this.
|


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