Ok so the Mustang is going up for the winter and I need to buy another winter beater or else im gonna be walking everywhere this winter. My uncle has a mid 90s explorer that hes asking $500 for but he said it needs work. He got an estimate from his mechanic and the guy told him about $1500 for all the parts and labor. Yet all it needs is a new power steering pump and it has a gas leak. Gas leak would be really cheap if its just a line and even if its the tank that would be like 100 bucks for the tank at most and I know how to replace that. The thing is i dont know how to put in the new pump and I would assume for a new power steering pump it would be a couple hundred bucks for that but i dont know how extensive the labor would be. Theres also no rust on the vehicle so it would be good to go after this. Am I right to assume $1500 for this is way over priced??? Lol.
Is the the OHV or SOHC 4.0, and is it the 95+ body style? How many miles? The pump wouldn't be that bad of a job. The gas leak, you definatly want to fix that correctly and not skip a penny on that. I am well aquainted with the 95+ body style Explorers and they are very solid... Problem areas include the 4.0 SOHC's with timing chain/tension problems (recall), and it's a hit or miss with the 5 speed auto's behind those motors to if they will last or not. I prefere the 4.0 OHV/4 speed auto setup. I had a 95 with that setup and 3.73's and it wasn't fast, but it moved well enough for it's size and has been ROCK solid. $1500 is fair if the entire SUV is in good shape, and it just needs those problems fixed... I'm a Jeep guy though, and you can find Cherokee's for between $1500-$3000 (you'd be at 3k if you $1500 fix est. is right) that have decent-high miles on them and are in good shape. That would be my choice, but that is me. 4.0 I-6 backed by an auto is bombproof in a Cherokee.
