Congrats Joey! If I were local to you, I'd bring the beer!!!

 

I went back and looked at page 1 and now to know you have it back on the road, OUTSTANDING job! Congrats!

 

Now that she has some miles on her, it was time to tackle some other things...

Since how I didn't bother with the ESOF system, I swapped over the Mile Marker hubs from the truck. After another highway drive, 90% of the vibration was gone. Something was apparently wrong with the factory deals. The remaining vibration is probably the U-joints and/or flat spots in the tires.

The next item was to get the power windows working. I can't be driving around in the summer with no AC and windows that won't roll down. I was missing the whole driver door switch panel, so I bought one off of an Ebay vendor. I got it cheap because is was missing the mirror switch (I figured I could find that later). Hooked it up and... nothing.

Traced it down to a blown fuse. I put a new fuse in, but as soon as I turned the key, it blew. I took the door panel off to investigate, and the whole window mechanism/motor is GONE. Instead of unplugging it, they cut the two wires and left them shorted together. I separated them and put electrical tape over them, then hooked the switches back up. I now have three working windows... but not mine...

Looks like I'll need the motor pigtail, the motor and the regulator. Probably around a hundred bucks or so if I buy new (based on a quick Ebay search). I'll hit the boneyards up first, but I'll probably have to wait awhile, as I'm on spring break and don't get paid when I'm on break. At least I can "palm" the window down.

Other than that, everything seems to be going good with it. I'll run the codes again tomorrow and make sure nothing has changed.

 

CONGRATS!!! I'm SO happy to hear it's up, running and driving!

 

Joey, I still have those tow mirrors if you want/need them. Shoot me a PM with the address and I'll finally get them heading your way.

 

Man. So glad to hear it is driving now. Good job man. On both the truck and school

 

7April15 to 19May16 and all is almost good as new. Great thread, great persistence keep it going SemperFi. Thanks for the mid-day reading enjoyment. Thanks for your service.

 

Update-

Got the interior cleaned all the way to the front seats before by scrubby thingie plum wore out (okay, I did get the center console and dash). All I really have left to clean inside is the front seats and then the glass. I'll probably end up cleaning the carpet in a few days. You really don't know how BIG these things are until you commit yourself to scrub the interior!

I then moved on to the issue with the front brakes hanging. I'm still unsure why the passenger side was hanging, but I went ahead and disassembled it, inspected it, cleaned it, then lubed the pins and sliders. Dry testing it on the jackstand showed it releasing just fine.

On the driver side, however, I have a piston not wanting to retract. It looks like the edge of the piston has some sort of impact damage that mushroomed and cracked it. I've got it in a box ready to go become a core. Should have the new caliper on in the morning. I also cleaned and relubed everything on this side.

I figured while I was at it, I may as well disassemble the Mile Markers to clean and relube those as well.

Then it rained, and rained hard...

 

Congratulations Joey! This is an amazing accomplishment. Rebuilding from a fire, rewiring the whole thing and running across every challenge imaginable--down to the key is really something to be proud of--and doing while going to school and not getting shot at by your neighbors.

 

Looks like I forgot to update a few days ago...

Brakes are back together and operating fine- except, of course, the ABS code for the LF wheel speed sensor. That sensor had melted wire damage on the wire attached to the sensor. I had cut out the bad and soldered in new, but I knew that sensor would be a 50-50 shot. Looks like I just need a new sensor, but it doesn't seem to be causing me any issues, other than that dash light is bright as heck.

No progress on the LF power window- that has to wait until I have funds again. I also seem to have an issue with the LR window switch- it just won't work. I swapped the rear switches, and the problem follows the switch. Took the switch apart and cleaned it, but still no go.

Moved on to the misfire issues- I had rampant misfires on cylinder 1, and occasional misfires on 5 and 8. Actually, this issue dawned on me while eating lunch one day- just like on my truck, the injector plugs no longer snap in place. So I did the same thing to the Ex that I did on the truck- I took small plastic zip ties and secured the injector plug to the body of the injector.

Not only did that completely fix all the misfire codes, it also cured the remaining vibration!

The next thing I have to look into is the P0113 code (air intake temp). Isn't that measured in the MAF assembly? My issue might be that I'm running the assembly from the 5.4 truck. It doesn't seem to affect anything though.

 

Joey, the IAT is part of the mass air flow sensor on your V10 so if you have one from a 5.4 on there I'm pretty sure that's the issue. If you try and find a new one, please don't buy an aftermarket. We have had nothing but trouble out of aftermarket MAF sensors.

 

Yeah, not only is it from my 5.4 truck, it was also an early 99 truck. I figured it might be the issue. The short wiring harness that plugs into the MAF sensor (inside the housing) and ends at the harness plug has a different plug externally from the truck to the Excursion. The plug at the sensor end was the same, so I just removed the truck's MAF harness and replaced it with an Excursion one.

Believe me, when it comes to stuff like that, I tend to stick with Motorcraft. I've learned with my truck to skip over the cheap aftermarket stuff on parts like that. I've been having the same argument with myself over the LF wheel speed sensor- the Motorcraft part is substantially more expensive, but I know my history with the aftermarket stuff on SD's and Exes.

Will it hurt anything to run it like this? I've clocked a little over 150 miles so far, and it seems to run better and smoother than my truck ever did.

Something else may have been wrong with the truck- The Ex is heavier and has two more cylinders, yet it is getting noticeably better MPGs than the truck did (not based on scientifically figuring MPGs, but rather how far a 20 dollar bill will take you in the gas tank).

 

One more quickie-

Does anyone know the part number (OEM or aftermarket) for the bulb sockets for the reverse lights? They're the only lights left not working- because I don't have the sockets.

I've scoured the boneyards for Exs and vans, but none had them.

I'm considering modifying it to take tail lamp sockets, as I have extras of those, as well as the harness plugs for them.

 

Latest update-

I found out I had a leak somewhere in the power steering system- either in a return hose or in the PS cooler. All I can find is slight moisture, but no evidence of the massive leak that makes the steering howl after about 30 miles of filling it. For a temporary fix, I took the hoses off of the truck and put them on the Ex. On the truck, the previous owner looped the return to eliminate the cooler. I never fixed it because... well... I simply forgot about it.

At any rate, the Ex is running without the PS cooler now, but it isn't leaking PS fluid any longer. I'm going to remove the cooler and pressure test it- if it's good, I'll reinstall it with NEW hoses.

Still getting intermittent misfires on a couple cylinders. Inspection shows that both cylinders have aftermarket no-name coils on them. I'll be pulling all eight (relatively new) Motorcraft coils from the truck and moving them to the Ex. The Ex does have a few Motorcrafts, so I'll pick the best two for the remaining cylinders.

Took her on her first family outing yesterday- a day of hiking and sightseeing at the Mississenewa Reservoir. No problems other than the random few misfires and me having to "palm" my window up and down.

 

Another update (man, they just keep coming, don't they?)

So today, I pulled all eight of the relatively new Motorcraft COPs out of the truck and put them in the Excursion. Out of all the leftover COPs I had left, I tested all of them and selected the best two to round out the set. I also pulled all the plugs (they looked practically brand new- the previous owner had put them in right before the fire), checked the gaps and put it all back together.

FIVE of the COPS I removed had cracks in the tops of them!

Result- the misfire codes are TOTALLY GONE! And when I put the hammer down, this thing scoots like a scalded dog! (Don't laugh- I came from a 5.4 in an extended cab long bed, remember?)

I also threw a pair of off-road lights on the top of the front bumper. Not sure if I like the look, but at least I can say I did a mod now...

The only codes she's throwing now is the P0113 (IAT sensor), P1000 (I assume because of the IAT), and a pair of codes for the LF wheel sensor (C1155 and C1233).

I'm thinking of cutting the wheel sensor wire right where I made the solder repair and testing the sensor by spinning the wheel with a multimeter hooked to it. That'll tell me if the sensor is actually bad or if I need to dig into it deeper.

Other than that, I need to stop by a dealer at some point and have the cruise recall done. I'd really love to have the cruise back.