ok, so there's no explorer forum i can find, and i imagine you guys could help me out, so here goes:

i have a 94 explorer. it was my father's and was very well taken care of. now here's the problem: all of a sudden it started overheating. and once there was steam coming out of the engine on the driver's side of the hood, in the front. i opened the hood and there was a lot of steam coming out near the coolant resevoir, and i imagine it was just the coolant that was steaming.

now, i took it to one mechanic who i trust pretty well and he said: it's either a blown head gasket or a cracked cyllinder. either way it's at least a $1000 repair which is not much more than the car is worth because it's a salvage title. they didn't charge me, but i surmised it wasn't worth fixing.

i ONLY want to fix the car to sell it, i do not want to keep it in the long run

it has aboue 150k miles on it, and other than these issues, my dad has taken care of it meticulously.

then i took it to another mechanic, and paid $100 for a diagnostic. they said nothing as serious as a head gasket, but talked of various repairs to the cooling system, etc. sounded a bit fishy to me as they were saying: "well, we'd do this, and cost you a couple hundred, then maybe we'll need to do this...blah blah". so i left and am not going back, don't trust them.


now here's the thing: i'm moving back to california at the end of the month (from colorado), and i want to drive the explorer there. ideally, i wouldn't want to spend more than $500 repairing it. i can sell it in CA, i cannot sell it here as it's a rear wheel drive 2wd and no one would buy it.

so long story short: what do you think? it doesn't make any weird sounds or anything, so i'm hoping it's not as bad as a blown head gasket; my initial impression was that the coolant was simply not getting through the engine.

i know very little about cars. i'm going to take it to a third mechanic tomorrow. hopefully i can find a good one.


i have to turn the heat on, and fans all the way to keep it from overheating even accross town, a distance of maybe 10 miles. the air from the engine smells bad when i do this; perhaps coolant or maybe exhaust. i roll all the windows down but it gives me a headache.

the car has some cosmetic blems like scratches in the ceiling, but it got repainted recently. it's also missing the driver's side door handle and the driver's window is "broken". the window itself is not broken, but when i tried to roll it down on a freezing day something "broke" and the whole pane fell into the door-well. i can pull it back up.

basically i'm just weighing how much i can sell it for and how much it would cost to fix it. really the only point in all this is money. i want to sell the darn thing. it would also be useful to get me back to california, but there are other ways to do that.

thanks

Not enough info to comment on the cooling problem. Better to have a third mechanic look at it. You probably need a coolant pressure test, a compression test and just a good look at everything.

If you want a rust free 4Runner it would be better to wait until you get to California.

I used to have an Explorer and they are freaks just like us T4R guys and gals. Try this link, it should get you headed in the right direction.

http://www.explorer4x4.com/

Stacy

Try removing the thermostat and see if it still overheats. It will cost you nothing to remove, so it's worth a shot.

Dude, if you saw steam, then there is a high probability that there is a leak. With the engine cold, fill the radiator with water until full. Then, start the truck and watch the temp gauge. When you begin to see steam, try and pin point the exact location of where it is coming from (take a pic and post it here so we can see). Make sure you are still watching the temp gauge so that the vehicle does not over heat!
From your vague post, it sounds like a cracked radiator or hose. If steam is venting through the reservoir, then your radiator cap is faulty or the thermostat is stuck in the closed position.
If you do in fact have a bad head gasket, then coolant would be leaking into the engine crankcase or into the cylinders. You can verify this by draining the oil. If the oil is milky in color, then it is leaking into the crankcase. If you pull your spark plugs and the igniter is covered in a white ash, then coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

How do your plugs look? Any sign of coolant getting in the combustion chamber (white/green buildup)?

I had a '92 I drove for 165k. the 91-94s had some problems with the block cracking between the water jacket and the middle cylinder on the passenger side. Something about the blocks being poured in Brazil.

Steam wouldn't indicate a head gasket to me. Water/heater hoses OK?

BTW, my Dad's Gen 2 had a thermostat that failed in the closed position. Somewhere between Flagstaff and Albequerque. Big fun changing that in a snow storm.