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Thinking about it a bit more, I remembered I have a bunch of pipettes, having purchased a bulk amount on eBay a few years ago. I just got done squirting some ATF into the cylinders using a pipette, it was absolutely perfect for the job. Each cylinder got 6ml (0.2oz) which should be enough.
A while back, I installed one of those Magnefine filters in a transmission cooler line on another vehicle, naturally spilling some ATF in the process. This was on the passenger side of the vehicle, behind the headlight. Couple weeks later, I noticed a moist area on the driver’s side. It was the spilled ATF, it worked it’s way over and started creeping down the frame.
That’s why I chose ATF for the cylinders, it has excellent capillary action that should help it creep around. It also has a fair amount of detergents, it might help clean the cylinder a bit. Anyway, the oil will sit while I work on other things. Might go out tomorrow and see about rotating the crank a few times.
I’m a ways from actually cranking over the starter. The battery cables are pretty crusty and the transmission needs to be buttoned up before running the engine. So, whatever I put in will be sitting for at least a week, likely longer since this is a low budget side project kinda thing.
I figured I’d get some oil in somehow, loosely thread the spark plugs in so moisture & dust can’t get in and then work on the rest of the stuff. A few days after putting oil in, I’ll get a breaker bar on the crank bolt and rotate the engine and distribute the oil. I’ll probably add a little more at this time. When the work is done and I’m ready to fire it up, I’ll pull the plugs, jump the starter solenoid to crank the engine over to build oil pressure as well as get rid of excess oil in the cylinder. Plugs go back in after being cleaned & gapped and then turn the key.
I just don’t know if a thinner oil is better to creep around and start breaking down any surface rust and carbon or if a thicker oil is better so it will hang on surfaces longer.
My other question I totally forgot about is… what about the gas? I ran the fuel pump a few times with the toasted battery and it builds pressure. The gas that comes out of the shrader valve is pretty stanky. There’s not a ton of gas in the tank, it’s pretty close to E on the gauge. I don’t feel like dropping the tank out of a vehicle I don’t even know runs. Being so empty, would buying 5 gallons of premium gas and some stabilizer added be ‘good enough’? Then run the fuel pump a few times to cycle it through the system (it is a return style)? Or, another option would be to disconnect the fuel filter and run the pump to drain out as much as possible?
To someone with little mechanical knowledge, many aspects of working on a vehicle can be very daunting. The vehicle I have now needed quite a bit of repairs, I knew that going in since it’s purpose was more of a 4×4 winter and a secondary vehicle. Before getting it, I had at most changed oil 2-3 times, that and some minor small engine work was the extent of my mechanical knowledge. I was extremely blessed that I am friends with the guy that sold me the vehicle and he knew my abilities and frankly, my confidence shortcomings. He’s also very mechanically inclined and knowledgeable.
The first major thing to be done on that vehicle was ball joints, it needed tires badly but scraping together $600 and putting new tires on bad ball joints wasn’t an option. I had purchased the ball joints and let them sit on my shelf for a month or two, thinking about the repair in my free time. I was very uneasy of jacking the vehicle up for an extended period of time and unsure of what to encounter. Keep in mind, this is an older Explorer, with I-Beam suspension, you gotta take off axle components, the caliper & rotor and get the knuckle whacked out of the beam to work on it. But my friend nudged me into it and said “let’s do it this weekend”. I couldn’t say no.
I won’t go over the process since that’s not what the topic is about but while it was more work than I thought, it went a hell of a lot smoother than I had imagined. I think there’s 2 reasons for that; having a knowledgeable helping hand guide me and when you don’t know much about something like that and don’t have any experience, you tend to build it up in your mind into this insurmountable obstacle, at least I do anyway. We ended up doing more than ball joints, there were spindle bearings and axle u-joints, brake hose, bearing packing and maybe another thing or two I’m forgetting. In the end though, when I could look back on it, I was surprised I did that. It gave me a lot of intimate knowledge in how the front end works and a heck of a lot of confidence. Sometimes you just need that nudge to push you forward, maybe out of your comfort zone and to learn something new. You can feel the confidence building before you even finish the job, when things are going back together and you can do it by memory. When everything just slides back into place and it feels right, there’s no missing or left-over parts. You may be all greasy and have a couple knuckles bleeding and other battle wounds but, man… that confidence building feels so good.
I’ve since done more repairs than I ever thought I would, the biggest of which was removing the engine to work on it. Looking back on that project, I didn’t fully know what I would encounter but I fully knew what had to be done and I had the confidence to know that, one way or another, it would get done. Having done that and having the engine fire right up after putting everything back, it’s even more confidence. Once you get that initial nudge, each subsequent project is a learning experience and confidence booster, even if it’s a small project, it helps a lot with your mentality as a whole.
I think a lot of us that have a desire to work on our own cars need that initial nudge to say “it’s ok, you can do it”. For a lot of people, your videos do just that Eric. In a way, your videos our confidence builders for us DIYers. We can see the process and know that it’s ok if you hit a wall, if that stubborn bolt doesn’t want to play. To know that there’s more than one way to solve a problem, it gives us more confidence and more knowledge to see someone else go through that process. Thank you for providing that Eric, you’re not just entertaining, you’re a teacher.
I didn’t expect you to reply on a holiday but thanks for reading my question 🙂
I rambled a bit but I guess my question is; are there strict reasons that you have against using anti-seize and the CRC product or does it just boil down to doing what’s worked for you?
I really hope I didn’t come across as a know-it-all, I’m just eager to learn, it’s why I like your videos 🙂
Great series and a great cause. It’s inspiring that you offer your knowledge and services to help people out directly like that.
I just finished watching the last video and a question kept coming to mind; why don’t you use more anti-seize? I realize that you have light-ish electric impacts and now a lift and can get angles of attack on things that us at home DIY’ers can’t so you don’t necessarily need ease of fastener removal. Sure, a lot of these vehicles may die completely before needing a particular part you serviced to be replaced again. But do you have specific reasons as to why you don’t use anti-seize?
Personally, I usually use anti-seize on most every fastener. It can make for messy hands but the times I’ve needed to take things apart again, I can get away with hand tools, occasionally resorting to a breaker bar or cheater pipe if they were torqued down. I don’t have a shop (or even a garage) and only recently got an air impact gun but it can be cumbersome and my small air compressor needs time to build back up. Even still, it’s nice to know I can get a ratchet into a tight spot and not have busted knuckles.
Also related to the question but not the videos, why is your preference for silicone paste on brake components? It was taught to me to religiously and liberally use CRC Synthetic Brake Caliper grease. Does the silicone paste ever ‘run’ like dielectric grease does? Especially with brakes, that would be a big concern of mine. The CRC stuff is pretty thick and knowing that it’s graphite, molybdenum and teflon, it won’t melt or run. I know there’s a million ways to skin a cat and in this line of work, experience tends to drive your decision but I’m just curious if you’ve compared the two and wondering why you have stuck with the 3M silicone paste.
Pretty sure I figured out the issue, or at least the major one. First though, doing a balance test on this engine is awkward. The coil pack fires in pairs so if you disable one, you’ve disabled 2 and on this V6, that’s 1/3 of the engine’s power. Accessing the injectors on the driver’s side is pretty impossible but the passenger side is doable. I guess a guy could pull a plug wire and then ground it to the engine to just bypass one cylinder but that doesn’t seem exactly ideal.
Anyway, the misfiring got so bad the other day that I could feel it in the floor while cruising down the highway. At that point, I had enough and when I got home, I pulled all the plugs with the engine warm. I was hoping to see a leaking injector or some fouling on a plug or… something. All the plugs looked identical at first glance. I’m not sure what made me think of it but I decided to test the spark plug wires via ohms test. #6 wire had absolutely no continuity on any ohms setting. Bingo. I put on one of the old ones in it’s place and have driven it the last 2 days, it’s running much better.
There’s still an occasional slightly rough idle but I did end up doing a KOER test and it came back with an EEC-IV code 13 for ISC/IAC issues. It’s got the original IAC motor/valve on it with 230,000 miles and even though I cleaned it, it’s probably due to be changed.
The thing that irritates me is that I purposefully bought premium spark plug wires, Belden from NAPA, and installed them less than a year ago. Because of this, I didn’t suspect them. I was hoping by stepping up and getting quality parts that I wouldn’t have to worry about them. Oh well, least I got a lifetime warranty. Lesson learned too, check the simple things first.