I met my beauty the other night…put down a deposit and picking her up tomorrow (Tuesday).

2005 6.0 Eddie Bauer with 167000 km (104000 miles)

I’ve been obsessed for the last 4 months…scouring AutoTrader and Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist) about 30 times per day, hoping to find the right Excursion. I thought I was close a few times before, but whenever I messaged the seller it was already spoken for. Not sure about the different parts of the US, but Excursions don’t stay on the market for very long here in Canada.

This past Thursday night at 11pm I was getting ready for bed and thought I’d check Kijiji one last time, and holy ****, this beautiful beast was posted just minutes before. There were only 2 photos, and not much of a description, but from what I could see it looked clean. Very clean.

I immediately messaged the seller to ask about the amount of rust, and for the VIN so I could run a Carfax. I also asked if I could see it in person yesterday (Friday). He lives about 2 hours away, but I have seriously considered buying an Ex on the other side of the country and driving it home, so this was no big deal. He replied right away and said that Friday was no good as he travels for work, so I went to see it today.

All that frustration at missing out on the ones before went away instantly. This thing is freaking gorgeous. Apparently an Arizona truck for 7 years before being imported here, it has a half dozen tiny surface rust spots on the rockers and that’s it. Engine is immaculate. Undercarriage and wheel wells are mostly black with only a small bit of surface rust. The interior is so nice. Looking at Excursion photos for 4 months and almost every driver seat leather was torn at the seam. This is in perfect condition.

Comes with tint all around except for windscreen, and has both winter and summer tires on their own aluminum wheels.

We took it for a drive with me at the wheel, and if I wasn’t in love before I was then lol

The one thing that surprised me even though I was expecting it was the front end wander. I know I’ve seen threads on FTE about how to correct this but didn’t really pay attention at the time, so I guess that’s what I’ve been doing the past few hours. Pretty daunting.

When planning for an Ex purchase I was budgeting for all sorts of eventualities, but this Ex is so nice and clean that I won’t have to do most of them. No need for paint. No need for new leather. No need for anything really as mechanically it’s solid. The only thing I’ll be doing in the near future is getting an Android double din with backup camera and dash cam. Oh yeah, the only option this appears to be missing is the overhead entertainment system, and I have been promising my little girl that she’d have one so I’ll be looking for one o those too. Not sure if I’ll get an overhead mount or one for the back of the passenger head rest.

After a few communications with me the seller knew I was a serious buyer and decided to take down the ad after less than a day, because he was being flooded with messages. He showed me his phone and he must have had 30 or so…crazy. I’m just lucky that I was first.

I've been a member here for a few months, but kinda felt like an intruder as I didn't have an Ex of my own. That changes in 13 hours or so

 

I plan on doing a lot to this beauty over the next year, so keep your eyes peeled

 

That does look pretty clean, good luck with it and I look forward to watching it grow.
I was in your hometown this past May on our loop around Lake Ontario camping trip, we thought that the Welland Canal was very cool.

 

Look good, front leaf springs look like maybe 1/2 of sag at the most. ( check the passenger bump stop )

My red flag is the driver side lower corner of the hood looks like it may have been cleaned as has the degas bottle. You can see where the sticker on the top has recently been removed. The lower plastic of the degas bottle should be clear and yours looks like it may have at one time been full of residue.


Anyhow, I would verify if any headgasket,egr or oil cooler work has been done and if so who performed it. When it comes to the ford 6.0 the devil is in the details.


The reason for cleaning these areas are a blown head gasket or egr cooler will cause the degas bottle to spew white gunk everywhere and look like this.

 

i know what you mean about excursions in canada i had the same deal with the seller of my excursion here in new brunswick i was lucky to be the first person to ask with the cash in hand since he had dozens people lined up. hope everything you got planned for it goes well

 

Pic of sticker that looks to have been recently pressure washed off of yours ( red arrow )

 

Is there a reason you dont have the hood insulator?

 

The whole canal system is really cool

 

Thanks for the info on the sag. I did notice the sway on the test drive and will have my mechanic check out the front end. Any work done there will be my first priority.

Bone stock. No engine work.

Prior to purchase I reviewed the tech folders especially about pre- purchase inspection. I paid particular attention to the degas bottle and the seller assured me that it's Mercer had an issue.

 

Thanks, dude...I love NB!

 

Wow thanks for the photo! I hadn't known about the sticker. The entire engine is super clean, but then again the entire vehicle is.

 

I pick it up at noon. What's the hood insulator? Like fabric of some sort?

 

The black stuff that lines the inside of the hood.

 

IIRC, that was de-contented from the '00-'01.

 

If you really want under hood insulation you can get it in the aftermarket from the sound deadening world.