My new to me sport trac

[mcarroll02]

On mine, it is rubber from the this connection, all the way to the auxiliary cooler in front of radiator. Top one is hard tube from radiator back. Other hard line runs under core support and changes to rubber to other side of auxiliary.

 

[mcarroll02]

I checked the wire harness connector on coil, it was plugged in(some one previously that changed the drivers vc gasket, broke the lock that holds it to coilpack(probably the same one that lost a few of the bolts on that side)). Got in and it fired right up. Got it turned around and up the driveway to where i keep it parked. Ran smoth, aside for the aforementioned vacuum leak. If that coil pack connecter lock tab is broken, could it move just the tiniest bit enough to cause half the coilpack to go dead? If so, i need to splice a new connector end on.

 

[mcarroll02]

Ok with it running, i gently touched the wiring harness behind connector, and it immediately shut off. I suspect my suspicions about that may be right. Also, does the trans always pump to cooler or is there a thermostatic valve so it only pumps once its warmed up?

 

[mcarroll02]

Well appearantly i wiggled something wrong around the coil pack wiring harness, cause no i have a crank no start, same as it did last night. I had cleared codes and went to start, crank no start. And now scan tool says unable to establish connection...

 

[Todd Z]

Fix the harness, new coil, new pigtail....

 

[mcarroll02]

Already fixed. Out a couple hundred miles on it so far and no more problems

 

[mcarroll02]

What a friggin debacle replacing body mount bushings has become. Got the polyurethane bushing kit in and of course the front and rear ones were ok, but i wanted to replace them all while i was doing it...left front, went to remove nut from topside and snapped the bolt...put a pair of chain grips around upper part of mount to hold it while i tried to remove bolt...bolt snapped again...no biggie, ordered 2 new dorman mounts just for the hardware. Should be here this week. #2 and #3 no problem. #4, broke the lower cup, was seized to upper cup...not available, not as a complete mount, atleast not locally nor online. Spent an hr with my local ford parts dept and found a few upper and lowers scattered across the country. So just an fyi, if your doing you body mount bushings, and there's nothing wrong with the rear, LEAVE IT ALONE! oh and a tip i discovered on seperating #2 and#3, go get about a 5" long 12mmx1.75 bolt, and after you use a torch to heat up the exposed metal cups and get the factory bolts removed, screw the long bolt in from the top and give it some beans. Popped right apart. Much better than having to get under there and screw a hot bolt up into the lower cup and then smack it with a punch from above. Hopefully i wont ever have to do body bushings on this truck again. If i do, I'll turn some body bushings on the lathe from some aluminum and some polyurethane and through bolt them eliminating this crazy body mount hardware design! Makes me really look forward to doing s&b cab mount busings on my 3 obs trucks.

 

[Todd Z]

A lot of people don’t know that the front one is actually really three parts. There’s a nut on the bottom then there’s another nut that goes in between the rad support and the frame and then the bolt goes in from the top. You have to disassemble that one from the bottom.

 

[mcarroll02]

My fronts were from top to bottom, nut, large washer, core support, body shim, threaded upper cup and rubber, frame bracket, lower rubber and cup and then the bolt.

 

[Larry Holmes]

That thought did cross my mind, and if it ever starts to leak i will do that. Theres some kinda thing in the heater hose with a cap on it, maybe to help bleed air, i dont know. Havent had any issue with it air entrapment. Tbh, kinda reminds me of that fitting that used to come in thos prestone engine flush kits they used to have at the parts store.

Years ago Prestone made a T joint to splice into the heater hose specifically to backflush the heater core and the radiator. The kit came with a deflector tube that you'd stick into the radiator fill opening to allow the water pressure from the T joint to be directed away from the the vehicle. The plastic T connected to a garden how and you ran the engine with the water running through to flush every component of the system. As I recall the T was yellow plastic and the cap on it was black.

 

[mcarroll02]

Now that i have my brand new front a rear bushings here, now hopefully i can get the body mount bushings done today so i can quit having to drive one of my powerstrokes everywhere. Hope it doesnt take all day as i would also like to get started replacing the transfercase on my plowtruck.

 

[mcarroll02]

Weather didnt wanna cooperate, but atleast i got the bushings on the driverside done. Maybe get the other side done this coming weekend. Also gotta see where my little coolant leak is. I noticed a small wet spot on the parking lot when i came out of church. In the center, so i suspect its either the water pump or maybe the bypass hose going from the thermostat housing to the water pump. Always something when you buy 20+ year old vehicles.

 

[mcarroll02]

Well i snapped 2 t50 torx bits so far trying to get the front seats out. Really gonna suck when i have to get the interior out to do some rust mitigation and repairs before i bedliner the floor and firewall prior to putting in my new rubber floor. Bet i will ber replacing those 2 bilts with regular hex heads or even etorx.

 

[mcarroll02]

Went on to try and get the right fron mount out...rounded nut off a few weeks ago, so i removed the airbox to get in there with a nut splitter(which didnt work, time to bring out the little zip wheel), anyways and attached to the metal plate that the airbox is attached to there was a 4 space relay block, with one relay inside. Looks to be maybe for the right side foglight, but am unsure. Still mad about having to buy a $30 set of impact star bits for one to snap on the very first use. But granted, i was bowing a 25" long handled ratchet when it broke...so it was definately getting some torque through it. A lot of surface rust under the rubber floor and the underlayment is fairly wet. Probably needs new door seals since apparently the po was prone to locking the keys inside. The right side door seal is fairly chewed and there are a bunch of scratches from someone trying to get in with a coat hanger or something. Really wishing i had bought the 03 i found. 2 years newer and was a 5 spd and the color i really wanted(black), but was almost 2 hrs away and was about a grand more. But it also had a sunroof and i dont want another vehicle with a sunroof, t-tops, or targa top. Ive had all 3 and all 3 leaked.

 

[mcarroll02]

First outwardly visible upgrade. Got my new folights mounted. Nevermind the dingy headlights. I have brand new oe style ones on the workbench atm. Doing an led projector retrofit on them.

 

[mcarroll02]

Havent really done much to my trac as im still working on my little house. Ready to be done with it so i can get moved in. On the trac, a few months back, i replaced all shocks with gabriels, thinking maybe new shocks would stop the clucking and squeaking. Rode a little better but still noisy. Went with cheapos because i still havent gotten around to installing the new lift kit and wheel/tires yet. I have new balljoints, new upper arms, inner and outer tierods, poly control arm bushings and rack bushings as well as new boots on the way. Figure ill replace all that as im doing the lift. I found a wrecked mercury mountaineer 5.0 im looking at maybe buying and doing a drive train swap. That would be sweet! A b cammed 5.0 sport trac!

 

[mcarroll02]

If i dont do the 5.0 swap, I'll be pulling my engine anyway cause it will soon need the timing cassettes replaced.

 

[Larry Holmes]

Havent really done much to my trac as im still working on my little house. Ready to be done with it so i can get moved in. On the trac, a few months back, i replaced all shocks with gabriels, thinking maybe new shocks would stop the clucking and squeaking. Rode a little better but still noisy. Went with cheapos because i still havent gotten around to installing the new lift kit and wheel/tires yet. I have new balljoints, new upper arms, inner and outer tierods, poly control arm bushings and rack bushings as well as new boots on the way. Figure ill replace all that as im doing the lift. I found a wrecked mercury mountaineer 5.0 im looking at maybe buying and doing a drive train swap. That would be sweet! A b cammed 5.0 sport trac!

The squeak is coming from the body bushings. I replaced them all with OEM rubber but some are using composite bushings that don’t wear as quickly.

 

[mcarroll02]

The squeak is coming from the body bushings. I replaced them all with OEM rubber but some are using composite bushings that don’t wear as quickly

Already replaced all body mount bushings with prothane bushings. All new hardware properly torqued.

 

[mcarroll02]

Finally getting around to rebuilding the front suspension. After getting the driver side finished, now the tire is rubbing on the uca, which the right has been doing ever since i bought it. It has factory explorer wheels on it with the wrong offset, thats the reason it rubs. I will soon be ordering new wheels and tires, but cant atm due to some unexpected medical expenses. Would it be ok to run some 5mm or 6mm wheel spacers (the kind that slide on the studs and are hub centric, not the kind that bolt on and have more studs sticking out for wheel to bolt to.)? I dont want the adapter style where i have to cut the studs because then ill have to replace the studs when i get the new wheels. Im not sure on the longevity of this detroit axle suspension kit i got, seems to be decent, but not happy with the fact the passenger side uca is nongreasable nor replaceable balljoint. Had i took the wheels off and looked first, i would have discovered i could have just ordered all 4 balljoints as somone previously replaced the uca's with ones that use press in ball joints....oh well. I'll hold on the these and whenever i need to do this again, ill just get the balljoints.