*%&[* Ford Expedition!!!

[sammyb]

Okay -- I HATE our 1998 Ford Expedition. Let's get this out of the way: I got the thing for free, but I still hate it.

Here's the latest reason: My wife goes to start it today to meet me for lunch, and it won't start. Why? Because it's out of gas...

...actually, it had a quarter of a tank indicated when I was driving it yesterday, but parked nose-down in our driveway (not really that steep,) it won't pick up the gas.

I had about 1/4 of a gallon left in my can, so I dumped it in. It started, I went to the gas station to fill up.

It took 23.1 gallons.

It has a 30 GALLON TANK!!!

It had 7 GALLONS LEFT!!!

Piece of Junk...It has been nothing but trouble, and it rides like crud, it has no power, it's uncomfortable, rattles, shakes and corners like Shamu on a toothpick.

I'm buying a Toyota Avalon.

 

[Guest]

Although I'm a Mustang fan, when it comes to modern cars there is hardly anything that Ford builds that I like these days, especially the Explorer. Never been a fan of that model. When it comes to vintage iron my blood runs Ford blue, Mustangs, Galaxies, Torinos, Fairlanes, etc.. Modern stuff, the Mustang of course, I kind of like the Focus, and the SVT models, especially the Lightning. The Explorer has always been down around the bottom of my list when it comes to not only Ford models, but domestic SUV's in general. When my wife wanted a truck we went and looked at one because one of her friends had one, it felt very cheaply built to me. We ended up with the Jeep Grand Cherokee and I think that was a good choice for us. I've riden in several explorers and they all felt like rattle traps to me, but my Jeep still feels as solid as the day we bought it.

I'd be PO'd to about the gas thing to, no excuse for Ford to not design a fuel pickup that can't get at 7 gallons of gas, thats inexcusable.

 

[sammyb]

What's worse is that I only got 220 miles from those 23 gallons

 

[waltesefalcon]

I know where you went wrong Sammy, its one word, FORD.

 

[Steve_S]

I've owned three fords between my wife and I (Ranger and 2 explorers) in the past 10 years. They have all been fantastic vehicles and a good value for the money. Only problem I ever had was an electrical glitch in a '95 explorer which was an easy fix.

FWIW

 

[GregW]

I’ve also had 3 Ford’s, only one was in the shop once. That was to get a new clutch and replace a differential seal at 106,000 miles. Not too shabby. The ’97 Taurus SHO was a fun car. I wished it had a manual tranny though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

 

[Bruce Bowker]

[ QUOTE ]
Because it's out of gas...

...actually, it had a quarter of a tank indicated when I was driving it yesterday, but parked nose-down in our driveway (not really that steep,) it won't pick up the gas.

[/ QUOTE ]

I doubt it was designed that way. I would check the gas pickup tube/fitting. 7 years old. Not original owner. Who knows what might be there.

 

[sammyb]

I believe this is actually a design flaw. You'd be surprised on how many inherent design flaws are in the first-gen Expeditions.

-The heater hose runs right along the cylinder head, so it gets too hot and tends to crack. When it cracks, it drips coolant on to cyl 3...which causes it to misfire, and corrodes the coil pack. (Just had that fixed -- the coil pack actually failed when I was in Portland.)

-The windshield wiper arms connect via a tiny plastic socket, which wears easily. The plastic part is not replaceable...you have to order the whole motor/arm assembly from your local Ford dealer ($165!)

-The six-disc changer is mounted vertically, although it wasn't designed to be mounted as such. So it has no tolerance for any dust, and cannot read any disc cleaner!

 

[Dave Russell]

[ QUOTE ]

Piece of Junk...It has been nothing but trouble, and it rides like crud, it has no power, it's uncomfortable, rattles, shakes and corners like Shamu on a toothpick.
I'm buying a Toyota Avalon.

[/ QUOTE ]
I would just give it to someone you don't like & be done with it.
D

 

[Basil]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Piece of Junk...It has been nothing but trouble, and it rides like crud, it has no power, it's uncomfortable, rattles, shakes and corners like Shamu on a toothpick.
I'm buying a Toyota Avalon.

[/ QUOTE ]
I would just give it to someone you don't like & be done with it.
D

[/ QUOTE ]

Or you could donate it to charity and take the tax write off. Last year I donated a 96 Saturn SL2 afther it spun a bearing for the second time. Casa Esperante here in New Mexico is a Center that helps families of kids with Cancer. They either fix the cars and give them to needy families or they sell them and use the cash to support Cancer families. Either way its a win-win situation.

Basil

 

[Radford]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe this is actually a design flaw. You'd be surprised on how many inherent design flaws are in the first-gen Expeditions.


[/ QUOTE ]

I have always heard that it was the rear end that was bad on these Expo's. Is that fact or fiction?

 

[Bret]

Sorry to hear about your vehicle woes.

Don’t know if there is a time limit on issues like yours for an older vehicle, but don’t you have lemon laws up there in Washington State?

As for myself I think I’ve been pretty lucky overall with Ford vehicles. Problems have been few and far between. We purchased my wife’s 1995 Explorer new fully loaded (you name it – it had it) XLT and had it for more than ten years without any too serious. Never had to take it back to the Ford dealer for anything from the day we drove it home. In fact the most expensive problem we ever had was replacing the transmission a few months ago when second gear went south. Other than that not counting consumables (tires brakes wipers etc.) I replaced one rear brake rotor, the driver’s seatbelt locking receiver and the turn signal/wiper lever stock on the steering column. Not too bad for a 10 year old vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it.

In sharp contrast there’s my wife’s new GMC Envoy Denali that we’ve owned for a few months now. We’ve had to take it back to the dealer 6 times already and in one case they actually sent someone out to address our issues. In fairness our 05 Envoy is the first year for the Denali package on the Envoy platform. First runs are notorious for having a few bugs. But the old 95 Explorer was the first year of the new body style. All this has me thinking that we won’t have as much luck with the new vehicle as we did with the Explorer or some of our other Fords.

 

[aeronca65t]

Basil's suggestion is a good one, but I would caution that not all of these "donate-your-car" charities are equal.

It sounds like Basil was familiar with the charity that he gave to...and that's the point. Know the charity before you give!

A few months ago, a guy I work with gave away a pristine one-owner, '79 MGB to a "donate-your-car" charity. I was sort of bothered, because I felt he didn't investigate the charity and was in a rush (he'd bought a new Miata).
I looked up the charity he named and it was one that had a lot of "overhead" (in other words, not much of the money gained from sales of the donated cars actually goes to charity). In the MGB case, the tax benefits may not have outweighted the option of selling the car outright and simply donating the funds to a legit charity (and deducting that money from your taxes).
Also, many ordinary, well-respected charities will take a car. You don't have to seek out a special "donate-your-car" charity.

All I'm saying is to be careful.....at least a few of those "donate-your-car" charities are quasi-scams.

Here's a list of some of the most-efficient charities in the USA:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.fourstar.htm

 

[frankenstang57]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gifI'm not a big fan of the Expedition either. One of my co-workers had one. Nothing but problems. Smart guy, he went and traded it in on a '92 Audi Quatro wagon... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Well atleast he's getting better mileage! I just got rid of my wife's '99 Exploder. It was a pretty decent car for what it was. I will admit the electronic shift controller for the 4x4 sucked. Other than that, and a new O2 sensor, no problems. My tow vehicle is a '96 F-250. 212k on it. Even though I bought it with 170k on it, it was a work truck up in the mountains before I owned it, it still runs great. Needless to say, IMHO Ford makes a decent product for the most part. On a side note, on another board there was a discussion about Ford dealer's charging $100 to scan the ECU to retrieve the keyless entry codes on Expeditions.(say you bought the truck used and you didn't get the code for whatever reason) That's all fine and good for an hours labor, but there is a sticker under the dash with it printed on it. It takes about 10 seconds to look for it! Talk about some wizzed off people! Though I like the product, I can't stand dealing with the Stealerships! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[sammyb]

I have heard about problematic rear ends on Expeditions, but I think it's a ring and pinion problem that I haven't had. I actually have a shock mounting that is torqued -- kind of weird.

There's also a problem of the car spontaneously bursting into flames due to a constantly hot circuit that can short. Ford still hasn't done a full recall.


AS FOR THE LEMON LAW---

The Lemon Law in Washington State, as in most states depreciates a vehicle over a "useful life" of only 100,000 miles. In other words, the vehicle is fully depreciated once it hits 100,000 in the eyes of the law. The Lemon Law was put in to protect dealers, not consumers. This is why dealers often will drag their feet on Lemon Law issues, because the longer they wait, the less the car is worth!

 

[Bret]

[ QUOTE ]

There's also a problem of the car spontaneously bursting into flames due to a constantly hot circuit that can short. Ford still hasn't done a full recall.


[/ QUOTE ]

I am more than a little familiar with that particular recall. It concerns the cruse control deactivation switch on a number of Ford vehicles where the switch remains “hot” (powered up) all the time even with the engine shut off & the key removed. Several vehicles where destroyed by fires that emanated from under the hood in the general location of the suspect switch.

But in fairness Ford did issue a recall notice in January of this year (05) for about 800,000 Trucks & SUVs possibly affected by this. Of course I’ve read that the NHTSA had to do a little arm twisting.

Here is a link: Ford Cruse Control Recall

Anyway when I was informed by Ford that my 2001 Supercrew could be one of the vehicle years affected by that recall I starting checking into it. Went to the recall website and after submitting my vin number – the system couldn’t say for sure, so it recommended that I contact the local Ford dealer to confirm whether or not my vehicle is affected on not. Set up an appointment and luckily my truck didn’t have the defective switch so I was in the clear.

Don’t know if they have a fix yet but at the time of my visit – Ford didn’t have an action plan to resolve the issue other than to disconnect the switch until a fix could be found. Given the amount of driving I do for my employer I think I would have been pretty PO'd if I had to drive my truck without cruse control for an extended amount of time.