Internal pics: 2002 Ford Explorer 4.0 - M1 & PP

[Mighty HD]

I had to get a rear main seal and the upper/lower oil pan gaskets changed on my 02 Ford Explorer 4.0. The vehicle has 101k

A lifetime of M1 and Pennzoil Platinum have served it very well. The vehicle mostly sees short trips and yearly mileage ranges between 4,000 - 7,000 miles/year. The oil has been changed every 2,000-4,000 miles, depending if there was a lot of interstate driving versus very short in-town trips.

The past year we have averaged about 12,000 and OCI's were extended out to about 4-5k.

Once the oil pan was off; it looked brand new. The last OCI was 3000 miles before the pan was dropped.

Looking up, the rear crank/rear main are at the top of the photo

Oil Pan

Standing where the transmission was, looking towards the front of the vehicle

Hopefully the timing chain guides will hang in there so I don't have to pull the motor.

 

[xxch4osxx]

That looks like new in there!

 

[Kuato]

Nice!

 

[demarpaint]

Nice.

 

[bigt61]

Certainly clean. Are those motors known for rear main failures? How bad was the leak?

 

[EricG]

IMO, with 2k to 4k mile oil changes, conventional oil would give similar results!

 

[friendly_jacek]

with synth oils and short trips (i have one of those), one oil change per year is sufficient.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: EricG
IMO, with 2k to 4k mile oil changes, conventional oil would give similar results!


That wasn't the case with my 00 Century. I had posted pics a few years ago of 3K OCI's with brand name conventional oil. This was from a vehicle purchased new with about 80K or so miles on it at the time.

 

[Oregoonian]

Originally Posted By: EricG
IMO, with 2k to 4k mile oil changes, conventional oil would give similar results!

+1....totally agree. Your OCI intervals are completely OVERKILL....

IMO, you could double your OCI's (with synthetics)....and your engine would not be the worse for it.

 

[EricG]

My daughter drives a 03 Century which has been fed every 3 to 4 thousand miles, a diet of Supertech conventional, or whatever 5w30 conventional was on sale for the last 145K miles. The only time I saw anything but clean internals through the oil fill cap was when the lower intake gasket started leaking coolant in the oil. The rocker arm area is easily visible through the oil cap, and is a good indicator of the internal condition of the engine. The color of the components may be slightly darker than the picture, but no hint of sludge. I little coolant in the oil will really make a mess in there though!

 

[jj51702]

2-4K oil changes on M1 and you were expecting it to be anything but super clean? Do you know why the rear main and oil pan gaskets went bad? I'd expect M1 to keep them conditioned well especially at those intervals.

 

[B320i]

Nice seeing a clean engine.

I do often wonder whether varnish is detrimental at all on the top and bottom end.

 

[SR5]

Wow, that is clean.

 

[Mighty HD]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
Certainly clean. Are those motors known for rear main failures? How bad was the leak?


Not to my knowledge.
The leak was a drip here and there. It was eating me alive so I had to get it taken care of.

 

[Mighty HD]

Originally Posted By: EricG
IMO, with 2k to 4k mile oil changes, conventional oil would give similar results!


Even with such short trips and the engine not reaching to temp?
I have always figured it was simply cheap insurance keeping the oil changed. Now that I have installed a "Stahlbus" oil drain valve, it makes virtually no mess and really made changing the oil a piece of cake.

 

[Mighty HD]

Originally Posted By: jj51702
2-4K oil changes on M1 and you were expecting it to be anything but super clean? Do you know why the rear main and oil pan gaskets went bad? I'd expect M1 to keep them conditioned well especially at those intervals.


I really did not know what to expect to be quite honest?

I'm unsure but I am having one [censored] of a time with the rear main seal leaking now. The transmission has been pulled and the seals replaced twice now. I just looked a few days ago and it is leaking again.

Using ford motorcraft seal/gaskets and having the same problem. No indication of oil leaking from the rear engine cover or valve covers.

 

[BrocLuno]

The crank may have a small score mark that will wipe the lip off the seals... Something is going on... Need to figure that out. Just tossing seals in is already old and it's not working