my explorer is burning a little bit of antifreeze.

pull out the 1 plug that fouled,crank over,see if collent sprays out.if so head gasket leak.if nothing.drive it.

I did that, nothing came out, but im adding a gallon of coolant (at least) every morning. water pump not leaking no smoke no wet spots just the smell and the ocasional rough idle and having to add coolant. I pulled the plug i replaced today and it looks good. Still not overheating on temp gauge, but i cant keep topping off the coolant thats expensive. i bought everything to do the job, just waiting til im confident it will fix the prob.

sounds like one of the head gaskets is blown on exhaust side of gasket.when you mentioned ocasional smell,that is a good sighn of head gasket faliure.

A gallon a day? You better pull out your dip stick and make sure it is not a milky white mixture. Head gasket time for sure. No leaks underneath where you park it? Water pump clean? Another spot to look. How old is the pump? Maybe consider replacing it when you pull the heads. Cheapo insurance.