Hello everyone,
I am a relatively new member here. Joined when I had my old Expedition, a 2001 5.4 Eddie Bauer, but I traded up to a 2008 Eddie Bauer back in November and have some questions.

First, some pics..This was my old one. Loved it. Left it with just under 212,000 miles on it and it had an excellent Flowmaster Super 44 Muffler on it. I will be selling that muffler shortly if anyone is interested.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/a7xbass94/5028388712/http://www.flickr.com/photos/a7xbass94/5028388712/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/a7xbass94/, on Flickr


Upgraded to this 2008 Eddie Bauer with just under 60,000 miles on it. Dark Stone Metallic over tan interior. I absolutely love it..it has almost every option possible and is a fantastic vehicle.





So far no major issues, aside from cracked full of condensation fog lights, leaky rear-washer hose that leaked inside the trunk, and the overdrive plates had some issue that caused a large noise upon acceleration when it downshifted.

I have three questions at the moment.

1 - My passenger side 2nd row seat will not fold all the way up to allow 3rd row entry (as in the position where it is fully compact and raised). It seems that the latch is stuck and will not release..I will be taking it to the dealership soon, but does anybody have any idea what would cause this / an easy way to release it?

2 - I often shift into neutral when cruising down a long hill to save gas. Does this actually save any gas / does it harm the transmission at all to do this?

3 - Will it harm the transmission to 'manually' shift while driving? I love shifting in my other vehicles and therefore do so in the 08 Expedition. I am worried it isn't good for the transmission though. I am talking about shifting 1st-3rd-Drive when accelerating and then downshifting through the gears when coming to a stop. I don't let the revs go too high when I do this, so I am not worried about the engine, just additional transmission wear. I have seen videos of people driving the Raptor offroad shifting like that, but I know that is a much more durable vehicle. I am very curious about this as I want to drive that way...

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your responses!

 

Bump......

 

1. Is the pull cable part broken? Some times the latches get stuck. Have someone push while you pull the release handle. Then spray the latch with WD-40 or similiar.


The following is just my opinion so.....

2. I'm not a fan of shifting into neutral while coasting even with a stick. I dont think you're really saving any gas, the motor is still running regardless. When you take your foot of the gas to coast the RPM's drop relatively low anyway.

3. The tranny in the Raptor is a different spec than the ones in the 07-08 Expys. With the complexity of these 6 speeds I would just let it do it's thing and not worry about screwing it up. It's not a race car ya know


Matt

 

Thanks, Matt! I don't think the cable is broken..it will fold down flat and then down into cargo mode, but will not rotate into the full folded position. Also, when I put the seat back in normal position, it kind of catches and takes 1-2 tries to get it back up.

 

You're not putting it in cargo mode then trying to flip it up are you? Have you tried flipping it up by using the pull strap from the 3rd row?


Matt

 

Nope, I know I am doing it right because the driver's side seat works perfectly. I will try the pull strap tonight...that seems like it may work. Will update.

 

I'm not a fan of putting the truck into neutral for safety. You never know when you'll need to get on the gas to get out of a sudden situation. Under stress what seems like a routine, simple movement or action will often get missed or delayed....not to mention if you do put the truck back in gear, the transmission is always slow and lazy to react which does nothing but cause you precious time you may need to react one way or another.

In terms of manually shifting your transmission and harm. You'll get varied responses from most everywhere you look but I'd to lean more towards the no corner. There are too many electronic safeties and controls for enough harm to be done to the point it will negatively affect the life of the transmission.

 

Thank you! This is the kind of response I was looking for. I appreciate the insight.

 

The pull strap didn't work either. I am just going to go to the dealer soon

 

You still didnt clear up the question of if you're putting the seat down in cargo position when you try to flip it up for rear seat access.

You do NOT put it in cargo position to flip up/forward.



I ran into a problem with the 2nd row passenger seat on mine. First when I got the truck, I would use the handle to flip down the back, then use the handle to flip the seat up...

When putting it back into the seat position, I was incorrectly using the handle. I would put down the base so it would lock to the floor, then use the handle to put up the back. When I did this, the base became partially unlatched from the floor one one of the 2 latches, and then got stuck.



Take a look at the seat that does work. There is an arm, that has a type of slip yolk in it as it needs to get longer/shorter when the seat is flipped up. This can become bent, or kinked which does not let the base floor latches line up correctly and when that happens other seat functions wont work.

 

Sorry for the confusion - I am not putting it in cargo mode. What I meant was that I can operate the seat on the driver's side perfectly; the passenger side one sticks when I try to rotate the seat up from folding it down with the large handle. I will have to look at the arm you speak of; it does sound like something is bent and having issues with the latch. When I raise the back of the seat back up from the folded position, it majorly catches and won't go up unless I try it a few times. The seat also makes a lot of 'squeaking' noises when I drive, but they stop once I fold the seat down. I plan to take it in next week to have the dealer try to diagnose it.

 

This has happened to me 3x. Somehow the seat gets closed with the clasp in the wrong posistion. You have to look at where it locks to the floor and at the same time you are working the handle, use a scredriver to pry the clasp on the seat off the bar that is in the floor. Look at the working seat to see how it goes. It will take some figuring out but you will get it.

 

Thanks for the info! I messed with it more this evening. I came to the conclusion that it is the inner of the two hooks that is not releasing. I was able to yank on the seat and it felt like the outer was releasing, but not the inner. Tried to free it w/ a screwdriver but to no avail. At least now I have an idea to tell the dealer when I take it in

 

Hopefully the dealer can fix quickly for you. Keep us posted.

 

I went there on Thursday and showed the service manager and a technician exactly what was wrong with it and then they checked diagrams to see what could be wrong with it. They then determined it could be one of a few pieces and would need to deconstruct it then order whichever piece they found was broken, which could take a few days. Thankfully the technician spoke up and said that I could just have them take out the seat and leave without it so that I wouldn't have to leave my truck there. So now, I just have a hole that is letting my heat out and a lot of noise in, but I am very okay with that since I still have a truck to drive. Still waiting on word from the dealership.