4 Wheel Drive/SUVs/93 ford explorer

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Expert: - 9/20/2007


Question
While driving, i lost all oil pressure, drove for about 5 minutes like this, got home, parked it, had smoke coming out my vents out the back, and under the hood. Had a trail of oil the whole way home. Opened the hood, had oil everywhere, and antifreeze going everywhere, have any ideas where to start?? Thanks

Answer
Andy,

First, driving it for any length of time without oil pressure is not good.  It sounds like you lost a drain plug, had an oil filter come loose/split open or blew an oil seal or oil line.  Start by getting some engine cleaner, and clean the engine compartment as well as you can.  From there, you can look the engine over, and see if you can find out where the oil leaked out.  If you're lucky, you may have just lost the filter or drain plug and didn't ruin the engine.  If this is the case, you can simply replace the filter or plug, add new coolant and oil and see if the engine will start and run.

If you had that much oil leak out along with the antifreeze all over, it's a good assumption that the engine got extremely hot, and will need to be replaced, or rebuilt.

Carl

4 Wheel Drive/SUVs

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Carl Brandt

Expertise

Will discuss suspensions, lifts, lockers along with tire suggestions. Trail ratings and possible requirements needed for specific type of trails. Safety equipment and what you should carry with you. Certified off-road instructor. I am not a mechanic, and 4-Wheeling is a hobby, so if I can't answer a technical question it is due to my mechanical knowledge being related to vehicles that I have owned, or have worked on. I do not have manuals on all vehicles.

Experience

40 plus years of 4 wheeling in a variety of vehicles. At the present time, my major off-road rig is a 94 Jeep Wrangler with a spring over and a 1 1/2" suspension lift. This gives me a total lift of 7" or so. I have lockers front and rear. I have removed the track bars, and sway bar for maximum articulation. I am running a stock 2.5 ltr 4 cylinder with a Jacobs ignition along with a cold air high flow filter. It has 4.56:1 gears with a Dodge NV4500 transmission along with a 3.8:1 Atlas II transfer case. This gives me a final ratio of 105:1 in low gear/low range. Other vehicles I own, are a 96 Ford F-250 with a 6" lift, posi rear end, 36" Hummer tires, 5 speed with a fuel injected 460 ci engine, an 87 Samurai with an 8" lift, Ford 9" rear end with a spool, Chevy Dana 44 front end with an electric locker, 5.88 gears, 16% reduction in high range and a 6.5:1 low range with 35" Baja Claws, and a stock 2003 Grand Cherokee Overland. Trails I have run are the Rubicon (10 times), Dusey Ershim, Fordyce Creek trail, McGrew trail, several trails in Moab, Utah along with local monthly runs.

Organizations
Lost Coast 4x4's Cal 4-Wheel Corva UFWDA Blue Ribbon Coalition

Education/Credentials
Certified off-road instructor - Certificates in engineering/electronics

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