Greetings all. I just traded my Expedition with the 4.6 V8 for an '02 2WD Excursion with the Triton V10 @ 108K miles. I have a travel trailer and the Expedition was really struggling with it. Hoping the V10 will handle it with ease. My new X is in GREAT shape, but I have a few things to address as we're heading out on our first trip in 2 weeks.

1. I've got a "stutter" at mid-higher speeds when I push it. It cruises smooth as silk when I set it at speed but if I'm accellerating from around 40-60 like getting onto the highway, I can feel it "miss" a bit. I'm planning on taking it in for a lube, oil, filter and a full vehicle check ASAP. Is there anything in particular these motors are known for?

2. I had a trailer brake controller added to the Expedition (I removed it before trading it). Do I need to install it in the X or is there a tralier braking controller built in? I'm guessing I need to add mine.

3. Is there anything in particular I should know before I hitch up the first time? I've been towing with the Expedition for years, so I'm not a novice...just wanted to know if anything stood out as an issue with the X.

Thanks all!

 

Hey, and welcome. Your miss could be a few things. The most common ones are a cracked coil boot or a bad coil. There usually is no code because it is a slight miss. It has been stated on here that if you go to the dealer, they can do a misfire count on your computer to see which cylinder is the culprit. I'm sure some of the senior members can explain this better than I am doing.
You will need to transfer your brake controller to your X. The plug should be the same. It is located in the center of the dash at the bottom about where the radio is. It is pretty well hidden up there. I think it is a brown (?) plug.
If you have towed before, I assume you have a WD hitch. Just make sure that you readjust it to your X. There are many many mods to do to improve your towing. I'm sure that you will read about them many times on here.
If anyone wants to expand or add to anything I have said (or correct me if I mis-spoke) please jump in.
Good luck and enjoy.

 

Thanks! I was thinking COP as well. I had the same thing on the Expedition. Is it just a bad Ford design, or what? I replaced all 8 on that motor pretty easily. Can only a dealer check for misfires with a C.E.L. or can any place that does diagnostics?

I do have a WD hitch (trunion style) and I'm on RV.net right now reading on the setup procedure. The dealer we bought the RV for setup the Expedition. Doesn't seem to hard...maybe just tedious. I was really having some bad sway issues with the Expedition the last couple of times out. Sure hoping to get that worked out.

I want to find a local weigh station I can use. From what I read, I hook up and weigh it, then take off the WD and weigh it, then weigh just the truck. Anywhere I can see the breakdown of how this plays into the setup? Should I go through the hitch setup procedure first or will the weights matter?

Maybe I can figure out why the CD's that seem to be stuck in the 6-disc wont eject while I'm digging around for that plug . Do I need to take any dash parts off to get to it (plug) or should I be able to get to it from on my back?

THanks again!

 

Water in the spark plug hole will do the same thing.

 

Sorry don't know if anyone else can check the misfire count. I can only report what I have learned.
I have an Equalizer hitch. Yes the weights are important. But also check your ride heights before and after hooking up the camper. If you have too much tongue weight, your nose will be too high. You want to try to keep your truck as level as possible. I measured to the top of the fender well over the tire. You find a spot that you are comfortable with that you can get to easily. You want to try to get the before and after measurement as close as possible. There is someone on here that is a big poster on RV.net. If he reads this or if someone knows who I'm talking about maybe they could be more helpful.
You will need to remove the panel below the steering wheel to get to the plug. Then you will need to dig around to find the plug. Mine was buried up in there pretty good. You'll still need to get on your back. Run the drivers seat back all the way to get more room.

 

X2 on the COP. I replaced all of mine with cheap aftermarket ebay ones. What a mistake that was. I have had 2 fail in the first 4 months of install, and it feels like a 3rd is coming up. I kept all of the motocrafts, and am slowly changing them out as they fail. It took like 4 months for my CEL to come on when my first one failed(stock motorcraft). I replaced the one with an ebay one, then bought all 8 from there. Changed all plugs one day and decided to throw on all the new COP's, what a mistake that was, junk, pure junk, not even worth sending back for the lifetime replacement that seller offered. Anyways, everytime the CEL comes on from a bad COP, it throws the 0720 code, which is OSS failure. IDK why, it just does. I changed it the first time just for good measure. Mines the 5.4, the 6.8 COP's are a little more time consuming to change when you get to the back 2. But it's easliy attainable. Good luck!!

 

So do you have a brand recommendation on the COP (not cheap ebay ones I assume)? How about a plug recommendation since it only makes sense to do it all at once.

 

Why do them all ?????????

 

Brake controller plug.







Unless you know for a fact that the plugs are NOT the original ones then I would replace them all with Motorcraft plugs. You probably don't need to do all the boots but it's cheap insurance. Well..it's not that cheap so let's say it's good insurance.

Personally, I would only use Motorcraft COPs...but it's your call. Congrats on your new truck!

 

I will probably do plugs and boots and the COP culprit. not a ton of extra $ to do all of the COPs.

Thanks all!

 

So Monsta,
If I get a brake controller, it plugs into that brown plug? It looks like it's plugged into something already. Whats that?

 

Yeah, just stick with motorcrafts. Rockauto has them for $45. PGE is like $49.

 

No you plug into the grey plug that the brown plug is plugged in to. In that picture, the brake controller is already plugged into it.

 

Cool thanks. I don't tow anything that heavy now, but might someday.

 

Good call! I'd do them all at once so you know for fact that they were done and done correctly. I think we even have a writeup for it sonewhere...

Anyhow, enjoy your new truck, you'll never know it's back there till you look in the mirror...