Any experience with 5.0 Explorers/Mountaineers?

[Stangman701]

Hey guys, I've been considering picking one of these up to replace my ranger as a dd. Just wondering if anyone on here has owned or driven one before and what your impressions were. Thanks

[Viper_ed]

I have had a few as rentals / loaners over the years and it seems to me like the late 90's Explorers were of better quality and reliability than the ones Ford makes today. Just something about the "feel" of the vehicle.

[Killercanary]

My parents had a 5.0L mountaineer, I think it was a '98.

My mom's ran well, but I can't really compare it to anything for you. They liked it as did I and it went great in the snow. They never had any problems with it.

[03 OW SVT]

My old boss had a 2000 limited with the 4.6 and it ran real well. It was the AWD version. I drove it alot and to my knowledge he still has it and its got over 100,000 miles on it.

[J-rod]

biggest problem are the tranny's. they like to go out. i put 2 in my old Xploder.

[Chris00GT]

My parents had a 95-98 Explorer Limited with a 5.0 with all wheel drive. The thing was rock solid and very nice. They bought it new and put 80,000 miles on the it and never had one problem with it. For some reason I always felt that they had some of Fords best build quality. The leather(or pleather) on the seats were very thick and never in all the years showed signs of wear. Never had any squeaks or rattels. It did very well in the snow and I even pulled a friends car out of a ditch in winter time with no problems. My cousin had the last year of the Probe GT's and we raced from a stop and the Explorer slowly pulled on him, it was so funny. Now the bad, they get bad gas milage. I think the computer read out it had said something like 14mpg for every day driving.

[5k#Eaton]

I agree my mother in law gets a new explorer every 2 years and the past 2 have had tranny troubles she said best ones were the 5.0 ones

[Stangman701]

Thanks for the input guys. I really like my ranger, but it's so S-L-O-W. I looked into swapping a sbf into it, but it's a pretty involved project on the 4WD trucks. I saw a 5.0 explorer for $3000 a while back and that kind of peaked my intrest a little since they can be had for such little cash. I broused an explorer forum yesterday for a few hours trying to get an idea of what all I could do to one. It looked like if you free up the intake and exhaust you can get 20 mpg out of them. I haven't decided for sure if I'm getting one yet, but if I happen to find a good deal on a black one I may just pick it up.

[Chris00GT]

Ours had a K&N drop in filter that was the same filter used in the 96-04 Mustang GT's. They installed some aftermarket offroad Y pipe and a borla cat-back. It had a very nice sound to her on the street. One thing you know is the 5.0 is a reliable motor and parts can be found all over e-bay for a good price. Plus you can sell the heads and intake to somebody for a good price and then pick up some better heads, intake and maybe a cam

[Stangman701]

Ours had a K&N drop in filter that was the same filter used in the 96-04 Mustang GT's. They installed some aftermarket offroad Y pipe and a borla cat-back. It had a very nice sound to her on the street. One thing you know is the 5.0 is a reliable motor and parts can be found all over e-bay for a good price. Plus you can sell the heads and intake to somebody for a good price and then pick up some better heads, intake and maybe a cam

That's kind of what I had planned for it. Do you happen to know if the computer can be tuned with the usual 5.0 tuning software like tweecar? I would really like to drop in a cam and put some flowmasters on it to give it a nice rumble and I'm sure I would have to tune for those things.

[Viper_ed]

That's kind of what I had planned for it. Do you happen to know if the computer can be tuned with the usual 5.0 tuning software like tweecar? I would really like to drop in a cam and put some flowmasters on it to give it a nice rumble and I'm sure I would have to tune for those things.

This isn't your Cobra Ray, it's a SUV! A basic 5.0 is really just tuned with timing (Just bump it to 16*) and fuel pressure (bump it up about 4#) and forget about it. No need for anything like a tweecar or chip

[9002stang]

are you keeping the rims off of the truck? If they are not pitted I may be interested in them.

[Steve-0]

That's kind of what I had planned for it. Do you happen to know if the computer can be tuned with the usual 5.0 tuning software like tweecar? I would really like to drop in a cam and put some flowmasters on it to give it a nice rumble and I'm sure I would have to tune for those things.

I would imagine so, there really isnt much different in the computer systems at all, just a different anti theft system and such.

[Chris00GT]

I'm pretty sure they offer computer chips for them. The only down side is the 5.0's are awd and most shops can't tune them, unless you settle for a mail order tune. One thing to remember is the 5.0's, atleast my parents didn't have a distrubutor, but had coil packs like 96-98 Mustangs have. So you can't play with timing unless you have a chip. I'm not sure if their fuel rails have a removable or adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Ford started to make the FPR part of the rail and non serviceable on later year cars and trucks.

[Stangman701]

This isn't your Cobra Ray, it's a SUV! A basic 5.0 is really just tuned with timing (Just bump it to 16*) and fuel pressure (bump it up about 4#) and forget about it. No need for anything like a tweecar or chip

If I get one I'm gonna go all out man, heads , cam, etc. and I wanna get the most out of if, so I'd like to have something to tune it

[Stangman701]

are you keeping the rims off of the truck? If they are not pitted I may be interested in them.

I'll let you know man. I think they can still clean up pretty well, I'm just too lazy to do it.

[FineLineMtrSprt]

Yeah they suck for gas. I had a 97 AWD 5.0 Explorer with a K&N intake, 2.5in exhaust with 40 series dual chamber flow and a basic chip..nothing major. I ran a assload of buzzbomb ricers in that thing. One was a Interga gs with the too loud buzz bomb exhuast all slammed and stickered up. I had 4 people int he truck including me and we raced to about 75mph..he couldnt get within half a car of me no matter how many times he redlined it shifting. In the snow they seriously rock. You dont even need very agressive tires to get around. I ran yokohama Geolander At's and never aired down in ocean city or nags head to hit the beach..never had a single problem. I really really miss it. PLugs are a pain in the ass to change. But then again its got factory explorer/cobra intake...basically same off 94/95 cobra as you all know...along with gt40p heads...stock. So they adapt well to mods. And lets not forget the Saleen XP8 Explorer's.