I scored a 94 4dr explorer for a $100. yeah for me. It has bad head/gasket at 170K tranny and body good. What do you all do with these motors?

Found reman heads for $200 but 170K on lower end?
Pay $400-600 for a used motor 120K+?
Reman motor $2400+?
302 swap?
Rebuild origional 4.0?
or just swap gaskets and run til puke

Anyways, I prefer to keep on the cheap but may become DD so reliability may be a concern. Thanks for any insight

Good question, I would just throw a used motor in it and call it a day. These motors are good for 250k+ easily but they are prone to cracking the heads if you overheat them, other than noisy worn pushrods and oil leaks there really isnt much else that goes wrong commonly.

Normally that is what I would do but I have heard of so many 4.0L with head/ head gasket problems. If I buy used then most likely I will have the same problem. Is there a fix or upgrade? Should I change gaskets on used? Head bolts? Are they torque-to-yield? If I need to do that perhaps I should change heads and go through origional motor.

BTW I am a chevy guy but have acquired four Ford trucks in the last year or so Thanks:)

id say just do the heads and head gaskets on the stock motor. if you take care of it it should last a long time. and it it doesnt you wont be out that much money and you can still sell the motor.

Normally that is what I would do but I have heard of so many 4.0L with head/ head gasket problems. If I buy used then most likely I will have the same problem. Is there a fix or upgrade? Should I change gaskets on used? Head bolts? Are they torque-to-yield? If I need to do that perhaps I should change heads and go through origional motor.

BTW I am a chevy guy but have acquired four Ford trucks in the last year or so Thanks:)

The reason you have heard of so many is that they are very prone to blowing the gasket and cracking the heads if overheated, if it wasnt overheated ever I would not suspect cracked heads. In that case I would still get them checked out. The bolts are TTY and do need to be replaced, the 4.0 ohv is a simple motor and pulling the heads is not extremely hard. Just remember to buy good gaskets, especially for the lower intake and valve covers if you got that route.

Thanks for the input I thinK I will go that route. I know the motor has overheated because the heater control valve is blown to pieces. The motor runs fine but overheats in 10-15 mins. I found reman heads for 200 guy says never installed but been sitting for a while. Other than possible warpage is there a year break or design change I need to know about?

The only design change was a change in castings in the 93 model year IIRC, the newer 93tm castings are stronger and are interchangeable. But you can use any ohv head.

You know, you could do something else. Swap in a 96-newer explorer v8 and tranny. A wiring harness as well will make things easier. Its very common on www.explorerforum.com where people blow a gasket and just swap in a newer V8, and the 4r70w is a strong tranny, better than that pos a4ld.

If you need a 5.0 motor and tranny as well as a full wiring harness its yours for 500.

Thanks for the link. I am checking out the swap but probably out of my price range.