Hi all, I've been stalking your forum for the past week since I bought an Excursion on a whim. 2001 Limited, V10, 4x4, 160k. I've always admired the Excursion but this is my first time owning one. My wife and I have taken jobs where we'll be moving every 3 months or so and I've been looking for something to tow a camper around with. I bought it off eBay and drove it 500 miles home. The only problem I've had with it is when I'm in OD and need to pick up speed to climb a hill or pass it wants to sputter if I ease into the gas. If I get into it a little it'll rev up and go. I changed plugs and boots, changed oil and filter, and new oil filter. Drove again, still wants to stutter. When I was changing the plugs I noticed a few of the COPs are cracked on the top, does that mean they're bad? Also, from reading I've realized the problem with exhaust manifold studs breaking. I have a white buildup around my passenger side manifold so I suspect that may be a problem. Could that be causing my problem? My check engine light is not on. I'd like to get Bqnks headers and SPD Y pipe but can't swing it right now. How much damage am I doing if I drive it with broken studs while I save fir the headers?

 

Welcome to the EX forum and family!


Cracks on the COPs doesn't sound good, but you should do some checking to try to determine which ones are bad if any, they do typically live long lives. Try unplugging one at a time while idling and if the engine sound/feel doesn't change on a given COP disconnect, that one is bad and needs replacement. But first you could move it to a different hole and see if the miss follows the COP to verify that it's the coil and not the plug (COP connector plug) which have been known to have the locking tabs break off and leave a lose connection.
The V-10 has so many cylinders that a miss can be missed (did you see what I did there....) until the engine load is increased, like climbing a hill.
The Denso 673-6000 is actually the exact same part as the much more costly Motorcraft COP, Denso is the OEM manufacturer, they can be had for $23-ish on Rockauto.com.
I would throw a new fuel filter on it too, they tend not to get changed frequently.
Leaky exhaust manifolds can reduce your mileage some by throwing off the O2 sensor's reading and fuel trim adjustments if the leaks get bad enough. I don't think you do much, if any real damage from a manifold leak, unless it is really bad.
The Bank headers come with a very good Y pipe, so you won't need the SPD one if you go with those (or the Thorley or Headman) headers. I run the Banks headers and Y pipe on my tow rig V-10 EX, they are top quality stuff!
What size camper are you going to be pulling with this EX? And do you know what gears the big wagon has?

 

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear about the COPs, they wer looking scary at $50 per. That's another question that I have is how much camper I could realistically tow without bogging down to 40 mph on steep hills. I'm wanting around a 32 footer, maybe 7500#s or so. I haven't really looked into what kind of gears are on it, but I'm at around 2400 rpms at 70 mph.

 

You can get quite a few misfires before the check engine light comes on with these. My first step would be to get rid of the cracked COPS. I would also look for a vacuum leak, brake booster hose, intake tract, climate control hoses, egr, etc..... A vac leak can fool with the part throttle running while allowing full throttle to be smoother. Welcome to the addiction!

 

My suggestion would be to purchase an inexpensive ($20) OBDII dongle and Torgue App to see what codes may be lurking.


If the CEL is on, there are codes that may lead you to a specific cylinder to start with. Worked great for me and I had a very similar issue with an intermittent COP.


Be sure and check for "Pending Faults" as well with the Torque App as well. Sometimes they don't actually throw a code.



Good Luck.

 

Thanks guys, I've got a checklist now.

 

Congrats and welcome
To the Family!

4.30 gears from the sound of it!

3.73 gears would have you at about 2100 rpms

Those V10s are stout with 4.30 gears too!

I had Apocalypse's V10 before he had it shipped and even as a diesel owner, I have mad respect for the V10.

 

Congrats and welcome to the forum!