Howdy folks,

I come from a GM family, and have previously owned a 2003 Escalade EXT, 2003 Sierra Denali Quadrasteer, 2001 Yukon Denali, 2000 Tahoe Z71(GMT 400 chassis), and '92 1500 Z71 with the 6.2 diesel. To be honest they frequently let me down with nagging issues.

Recently I bought a 2012 VW GTI, and am absolutely in love. Its basically a poor man's Porsche, but I did not plan on beating it up on the salted winter roads, or taking it on road trips to tailgating and Colorado. I decided to start shopping for a "cheap" Full size truck/SUV that didn't sacrifice on comfort, and wouldn't let me down. I wanted to spend less than $5000.

My first thought was the 2000 and up Tahoe/Yukon. The few I looked at in my price range just weren't holding up too well. I tried going a little older but the GMT 400 chassis rode like a truck from the 50s. The Dodge pickups I perused all seemed to have previous fixed motor or tranny problems, along with lots of rust issues.

Then I recalled a friend of mine who had an Expedition given to him by his father after 220,000 miles of traveling for business, and never had to touch the drive train. It was a black Eddie Bauer and very attractive. I just never gave it much consideration since I was a dyed in the wool Chevy guy.

My search yielded a surprisingly good selection in my price range. The one I settled on is a 99 Eddie Bauer Edition with the 5.4 V8 and no air suspension. I have named it Blue (hence my handle being an omage to the movie "Old School"). It came from a 20+ year Ford Mechanic who bought it from the original motor on trade in when a plug popped out after a tune up. Along with that repair he went though every single fluid on the truck, replaced the ball joints, new tires, and an alignment. I imagine he made a little money on the deal but it was well under my budget. Has 119,000 miles, and the first 500 have been flawless. Still has the original window sticker, which states the truck was almost 40k new.

In many ways I like it better than my Escalade which was worth quadruple the Expedition. The ride and road presence is more pleasing to me, and the comfort is certainly on par. The Escalade air ride made the road feel too detached, and was troublesome to keep up. The 6.0 Vortec was a great motor, but I don't feel like I'm missing a whole lot in the Expedition. I'm also very impressed with the factory stereo. It sounds better than my 2012 VW.

I'm in strange new territory so I'll probably be posting here with odd questions. Searching the forums hasn't yeilded any big trouble spots with these or anything preventative I should do, so I just plan on driving and enjoying.

 

Welcome to FTE. Hope your new ride gives years of trouble free driving, I also have been looking at a 1999 Expedition but just cannot give up my Bronco "Just love it".

I have always owned Ford blue and have worked at Oakville Assembly for 29 years.

 

I'm going to go ahead and tell you, Have your windshield pulled out, and resealed. These year expys are only sealed about 50%.

If you don't follow my advice, you will eventually find out, when you start having all kinds of electrical problems. Trust me, I know.

I'm sure there are a few others here that will say the same thing, Better yet I'll post a link to the thread about it.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/4...-insanity.html

 

Fear not, for we have our share of those as well.

 

Welcome to the Blue Oval side and may your "new " ride give you many carefree miles.

 

Double post, sorry.

 

pictures ?

 

You've seen one you've seen them all.

 

Very nice, welcome to FTE...

 

Nice, clean truck. The windshield leak is a known issue; what happens is that water leaks down, hits the GEM, and then takes your perfectly wired truck and converts it to the equivalent of Lucas electrics.

If you don't understand that joke, check this out: Lucas - Prince of Darkness - Lucas Electrical Humor Jokes

 

I've owned a Jaguar so the Lucas reference doesn't whiz over my head.

The truck has a cracked windshield that I plan to replace. Should I get a new seal or is there another way to prevent this?

 

Yes, get a new seal, and glue. It would be worth the extra 30 (give or take a little) in the long run!