I have never had a problem with my Excursion...until a couple of weeks ago. I was driving home from picking my kids up and my truck was fine, no unusual engine noises what so ever. I got back in 2-3 hours later to take the kids out to dinner and my engine was knocking, while idling a little, and when I pushed on the accelerator. My truck was driven for less than 1/2 a mile before parking it. Took the drivers side valve cover off (with my husbands help) and there was no reason for the knock to be coming from that area. Oil pressure is low. We drained the oil and took off filter today and there were flecks of metal in it.

Back in November it was about 2 1/2 quarts low on oil. We added oil and checked regularly and the level was fine.

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my truck!!! I am a stay at home mother of 3, I drive carpool, I need to get my 4 wheeled baby back on the road ASAP!

It's the V10 and it has 125000 mile on it.

 

Metal flakes and low oil pressure are very bad signs. Probably a rod knock based on the symptoms which requires major engine work and pretty much a complete rebuild. You might get some miles out of an additive like Lucas, but it's really only a bandaid on a heart attack.

 

I get a noise from mine similar to what you describe when the engine isn't really cold but not fully warm either. It happens for a mile or two until it warms up and then it's fine. I believe it to be an exhaust leak, so it really doesn't hurt anything, it's just annoying.

Not sure about the metal flecks and low oil pressure though. Doesn't sound good.

Mine burns about a quart every ~3500 miles. More in the winter too.

How many miles do you have on it, and what engine? 5.4 V8 or 6.8 V10?

 

I was wondering if it was cold related. I know the metal flecks aren't good. Do you think I should put get a new filter and refill with oil and try letting it warm up? It says 5w 20 on the oil cap, should I put that in or something else?

It's the V10 and it has 125000 mile on it.

 

Thanks ExxWhy! If I can get a little more time out of it while I save for a new engine that's all I can ask for.

 

Moved to the Modular V10 - 6.8L forum.

Stewart

 

Thanks Stewart! I was wondering if there was any where else to post!

 

i am rebuilding my motor right now from the exact same problem... if your oil pressure is low them the main crank journal bearings are gone.. do not run it any more.. if your husband cant rebuild it then have a mechanic shop tear into it now.. if you dont run it anymore you may be able to salvage the crankshaft..

but make sure you have the engine vated ( acid dipped ) when they rebuild it of you may have a blocked oil passage that will cause the same problem a few weeks or less after the rebuild.

price wise.. if your husband can do it.. ebay parts without crank your looking at $1100 or around.. with a new crank about another $350. if a mechanic shop rebuilds it usually between $3000-$4000 you can also find long block engines online from $2000-$3000 and just pull yours out and drop the new one in..

i know it sucks but thats whats wrong with the motor no doubt

 

and make sure you use a motorcraft oil filter with the new one... DO NOT USE FRAM. ford are oil sensitive.. and the fram has destroyed many of ford engines

 

the main crank journals when they fail it causes the low oil pressure.. and the metal flakes you see are the main journal bearings being chewed up

 

To check to see if it is a connecting rod bearing that has gone bad I would pull the oil pan off and then one at a time pull the bearing caps off the connecting rods checking for scoring on the crankshaft. The crank should be mirror smooth under the rod caps.

Sure you could throw some Lucas and 20w-50 oil in there to quiet it down, but at most you'll get 1000 miles out of it. And you'll get a nice hole in your oil pan (maybe worse) when the connecting rod finally lets go.

You've got two choices if you want to fix it.

1. new/reman/used motor-some people prefer this route if they aren't comfortable with engine internals. Modern engines are fairly plug and play. Some bolts, some hoses, some wires, some fluids, some filters and you're all done. A quick ebay search showed a 2002 v10 for $1600 + freight

2. there is a possibility you may be able to only replace the crankshaft and connecting rod bearings.

maybe you'll get lucky and it is something simple.
(I wrote this information assuming you have a gas motor since you didn't mention having a diesel)

 

replacing just the crank at this point would be futile.. if there is metal flakes in the oil filter.. then there is more than likely metal flakes in most of the oil passages.. i made that mistake. i bought a reman crank and just replaced it.. 3 weeks later i have my engine back out with torn up crank and rod bearings again because i didnt have the motor acid dipped at a machine shop and clean out the oil passages , so it reclogged some of the passages and cause the same problem

if your going to take the time to tear the motor out then do it right and go all the way.. dont just replace the bad part.. thats a bandaid and that exactly what you will get is a bandaid motor that is on borrowed time

9MPG wrote:
(I wrote this information assuming you have a gas motor since you didn't mention having a diesel)

and yes.. the last line of her post said V10 125,000 miles

 

Thank you reaper, and 9mpg. I was really hoping to find a simple fix and get my truck on the road again quickly. The Ford dealer wants 7k to put a reman in. But...they'd rent me a 2012 Explorer for only $15 a day!

Thank you all for responding so quickly to my original post. I appreciate you sharing your time and knowledge with me. I'll be back to let you know how it goes, and if I have anymore questions.

 

Haha. The last poster when I clicked reply was sunline fan so I hadn't seen that.

 

may try a good mechanics shop ford dealers seem to way over charge.. a mechanics shop could prob do it for around $4000 .. then id say just go rent a car from enterprise rental