I'm new to the Escape world, but I came across a deal that was too good to pass up. I found this 01 with 121k miles on it for $1500. The catch; The batterly wouldn't hold a charge, it ran like crap with an obvious misfire, a CEL and the smell of unburnt fuel out the tail pipe and a noisy power steering pump that was missing a cap and was out of fluid. It was previously in an accident and has a salvage title, but the cosmetic damage has all been repaired, save for a couple small unrelated dents and scratches. After a fluids check I hooked up my Bluetooth scan tool and found a P0135, O2 sensor code and figured that could be the culprit for it running like crap. I did not get a misfire code however.
I probably should have talked him down, as $1500 could be considered too much for the vehicle described above, but the guy had a newborn baby that he could really use the money for so I paid him what he was asking. I went and bought a battery and some power steering fluid and looked it over a little closer. Upon further inspection of the Escape, I unplugged the wires to the front bank of cylinders to check their contribution. #4 & #6 were not contributing, so I tried switching the wires, and lo and behold, the engine started running smooth as butter. After a little more searching, the #1 O2 sensor on rear bank was unplugged and the front two were not tight in their boss. On the way home though, it must have went into limp home mode. Fortunately I only had to drive it a mile and a half to get it home. I got to looking at it and I couldn't figure it out. The temp gage was on the low side and the radiator overflow reservoir was full. What I learned is that with these capless radiators, that there has to be fluid in the system for it to create enough vacuum to pull back the overflow coolant. I found that the oil filter cooler had corroded and was leaking coolant, so I bypassed that for the mean time. I replaced the thermostat just for assurance and filled up the system and so far it seems to be holding fluid and pressure, with the exception of a hose that had a bad hose clamp and the upper radiator hose came loose. So I fire it up and bring it up to operating temperature, and the oil light comes on. Oil level was fine, so I changed the sending unit, and no more light. After some power steering pump research I came across some advice to try ATF instead of power steering fluid. Worked like a charm. The very first time I started it up after draining the power steering fluid I previously added, the noise was gone and has not returned (yet.)
With less than $1800 into it, including purchase price and keys and remotes, I now have a raodworthy (fingers crossed) 2001 Escape, that will be my wife's daily driver. We've got about 30 in town miles on it so far and things seem to be holding together. The interior is in great shape and has the Mach stereo that she likes.
It still has a couple issues that I need to get fixed. The air bag light is on. I haven't dug into that one yet. It needs a new lift gate actuator and the moon roof motor struggles to close, although it acts like there my be some binding in the regulator or something because it catches on something, and I push on it with my hands and it frees itself and closes the rest of the way no problem. The brakes are a little spongy, I'll bleed out the system and see how that fares. Other than that, it drives great, I have no new codes and the AWD has already gotten a little test. I haven't got it out on the highway yet as I want to get more close to home miles on it in case something else pops up.

If anyone has any advice or lessons learned that I should know about with these, I'm all ears. This is the biggest project of a vehicle that I've ever taken on, and so far so good. Thanks for reading.

 

I never run across deals like that, everyone around here thinks they just need a wash and wax and are worth about 8500.

 

Sounds like you troubleshot and fixed quite a few things already! Good going!

My FWD experience with Ford only starts with 2010, so I really won't be of any help on yours, but there are lots of other people here.

 

I'm really learnig the value of troubleshooting a problem istead of just trying out parts. It's amazing what you can do with a $20 bluetooth OBD2 adapter and the Torque app. It has saved me hundreds of $$$.

I have noticed on days when it's 20° or colder, the tranny slips a little when you first put it in gear. I plan on doing the tranny fluid in a couple days. Hope that helps.

 

The plugs in these are rated for 100,000 miles so they might need changed if you do I would do the upper and lower intake manafold gaskets and the pvc valve. Other then that there pretty good rides I have 195,000 miles on my 01.