Common Xplorer Problems/Fixes?

You got to tell G to stop abusing that poor door!

Just kidding. The striker on the door's frame could have got pushed further in. You need a big honking Star or Torx bit to loosen it properly, though vice grips can work, but you will need to file down the teeth marks afterwards. There is a pretty good range of movement on the striker bar on the frame. Usually the door bushings wear out, causing door sag meaning the door catch is too high to catch the striker bar. See if lifting the door when closing it helps. If so, loosen the striker bar and move it down a few mm. Run a sharpie around it beforehand so you can see in which direction you move it. Pretty easy adjustment really. Hardest part is finding the right size torx Bit to fit proper, but the Vice grips work pretty well. Try and tighten it so the teeth marks are not on top of the striker bar/ stud.

Says the guy with teeth marks on the top of the striker bar.....

The lock mechanism on the door catch itself has this weird plastic junk on it, originally to reduce noise or something. It gets all tore up over time and does not allow the door to close properly. I had to spend time with a razor and a pair of needle nose vice grips to remove it entirely and allow free movement of the mechanism. White lithium grease or some graphite spray on the mechanism a few times a year will be necessary.

The fuel sending float could have gotten stuck. On newer GM vehicles one possible cure is putting a Bottle of Techron in the tank to free the mechanism. This worked on my Dad's '06 Audi A6 too.

Do check the connection at the fuel tank. Does the temp gauge operate in the normal range? If not there is a voltage limiter in the dashboard cluster than can be replaced. When it goes bad or feeds the wrong voltage, usually both fuel and temp gauges will either read high or low together, or not at all. If the temp gauge reads normal I'd not suspect this.

The incline or decline starting issue could be related to the fuel gauge and if so, points to the connector at the fuel tank as a likely culprit. It should be facing forward up near the body near the top of the tank. There is also a ground for the pump on one of the cross members in the area, be sure to unscrew this, file all mating surfaces shiny and retighten. Its location is there on an unmodified Dodge anyway. Pull the connector apart, and look for corrosion or heat damage. Lots of light needed to see for sure. Helps to clean things up as there should be some dielectric grease stuffed in the connector, but since you had a few different people replace that pump a few years back, maybe they forgot the grease and corrosion has ensued.



See if turning the key on and off a few times before cranking the starter affects this hard start behavior when on an incline/decline. Could be the check valve in the fuel pump assembly. There are aftermarket check valves you can install elsewhere to hold the fuel pressure for easier starting. You can install these anywhere on the feed line. Do not have to drop the tank to do so.

Good luck, feel free to call.

tylerdurdeno9 wrote:
Awesome, thanks for the reply!
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Do you happen to have leaky rear windows on your xplorer? If you have one.

I don't have a Xplorer, but I have worked on several older Dodge, and Ford vans.
My reply was just from experience.
Sorry, can't help with the windows.

tylerdurdeno9 wrote:
Awesome, thanks for the reply!

Do you happen to have leaky rear windows on your xplorer? If you have one.

If it's a Dodge chassis, and has the single big rear door & window... My '99/'00 Roadtrek developed a leak at the rear. It turned out that most or all was because the rear door gasket had come loose at the upper passenger's side corner. There were some small plastic pins (yellow, IIRC) that protruded from the gasket and were supposed to locate & hold the gasket in place. On mine, about 5-6 pins on thet upper corner had come out of their holes in the metal, allowing the gasket to get out of place. I found that the pins would hod, so I added some 3M yellow gasket glue. Cured most of it.

Jim, "If it's called tourist season, why can't we hunt them?"

Awesome, thanks for the reply!

Do you happen to have leaky rear windows on your xplorer? If you have one.

Fuel gauge: Bad connector on sending unit , or some kind of short in the wire from sending unit, or bad sending unit.
Hard starting on a hill: Bad fuel pump.
Door, hard to say with out seeing it.
Pick up a Chiltons manual for your van if you are going to do the work yourself.