1998 Ford Explorer Expansion Freeze Plugs

[modiol]

I have a 1998 Ford Explorer with the 4.0 engine. The freeze plugs on the side of the engine block are leaking. I was able to knock them out, but can't seem to press the new metal ones in (bad angle to hammer them).

I went to the store and bought some rubber expansion plugs, but the rubber seems to bee too thick, when I put them in the hole, the back of the expansion plug hits the piston wall, and the plug never fits all the way into the hole. When I tighten down the screw, just the lip of the plug catchs, then the plug falls out of the hole. Did I get the wrong expansion plugs? They are 1 1/2" expansion plugs. Can anybody help?

[BroncoJoe19]

I have no personal experience with them, but know that my dad used to pull them and replace them sometimes in our boats. He olny pulled the ones he could easily replace. ahem.

OK... I don't know how much force it takes to get one to pop in. Is it possible to put something like a small socket in the center of it, and use a lever to force it in?

Here is another thought.
If you were to try strike it with a punch, the punch would slide off of the center because of the angle. What if you drilled a hole in the center, and put a screw in it, then used a punch positioned against the screw so that it wouldn't slide. You might be able to get enough vectored force to punch it in.
Then just screw the screw in to close the hole, maybe put a little permatex around it first.
Good luck.

[modiol]

I went to Home Depot and bought a long metal rod that I used to knock the freeze plugs out. I bent the top end of the rod to hit the angle on the freeze plug that I needed. I used a socket on the end so I wouldn't damage the plug. It worked like a charm.

I had to replace two plugs on the passenger side. The first one came out without any problems. There was plenty of room in the block to put in the rubber type freezee plug, unlike the driver's side of the block.

The 2nd leaking plug is behind the motor mount bracket. There is no way I am going to get to that one without lifting the engine. That one only had a pinhole leak, so I cleaned it up and put some JB Weld on it. I will find out in the morning if it holds.

Hope this information helps others.

[BroncoJoe19]

My Dad taught me its OK to be destructively creative when fixing things.

For example he once had an inboard-outboard engine in his boat, and he needed to pull the starter. The engine had to come out to get to it. So instead, he drilled a hole in the bottom of the boat to gain access, and later repaired the hole.

Last week I replaced the intake manifold on my Crown Vic, and there is one bolt that would have required me to pull out the wiper assemblies, and the black cowel that holds them. Instead I chose to drill an access hole through it (in an under the hood section) and duct tape it back up. That saved a lot of time.

A number of Bronco owner's will cut an access panel to get to the fuel pump, instead of dropping the tank.

OK enough of stories.
Hopefully you can come up with something, or that your JBWeld holds up.