Hi,
Very new here - my second post. My first post was regarding my left rear caliper completely failing at 48K miles - right rear fine.

Here just 2 weeks or so later and I was driving along in a neighborhood going about 20-30mph and the car stopped. The engine was still running, but it was as if it slipped into neutral although it did not say so on the display, etc. and the automatic shift handle was still in drive. The orange tool light came on and said 'check manual' but no code. I tried switching it around to R, N, etc. but that didn't help anything. My 5 year old son suggested turning it off, so I turned the engine off, restarted, and it drove fine and I got home. I am taking it in tomorrow. Anyone else have an experience like this? Obviously I'm very concerned - I have 4 youngish kids and had we been on the freeway I am afraid to think what would have happened. I'm thinking about just trading it in tomorrow - 2 major issues in 3 weeks on a 3 year old car seems odd.

I have noticed something else strange maybe with the transmission - when I am backing out of my garage, I put it in R but lately I feel it has not been going into R right away - or I'll have to fiddle the shift around a bit to get it in. I thought maybe I was just being distracted or something, but now wondering if something is going on and this is related.

 

Could be the switch itself or something as minor as adjustment of the shifter to the switch. Or you could be having a trans problem.

Given the frozen pins in the rear caliper, is there any chance your Expy may have been in a flood? Or maybe operated in a lot of mud or salt bath conditions? Those things come to mind as causing sticking mechanical parts like the caliper pins and maybe messed up etronics under the car.

In many cases, when you buy a used vehicle, the prior history and care that the vehicle received is more important than the brand of vehicle. Consumer Reports rates the 2015 Expy as "much better than average" overall with almost every area including brakes and transmission as "much better than average".

You say the truck is an XLT....was it a rental fleet vehicle? (Many used XLT's were rentals--I have reviewed carfax reports on numerous XLT's when I was in the market.) If so, even a short period like a week or three of vacation time with a destructive renter could cause a lot of damage--say someone who decided to "test" the offroad or water-fording capability of the truck. Some people pride themselves on trying to destroy rental vehicles (short of having to pay for any damage). And many rental agencies have their own repair facilities which mean that damages may not be reported to carfax and such services...

If I were to buy a used Expy 2-3 years old, I would personally seek a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicle and would prefer buying from a Ford dealer (there are 2 or 3 local dealers who have given me excellent service in the past, and face time with service managers can make a big difference). It sounds like you have no warranty(?) so I sure hope you just have a couple weird isolated problems as opposed to a truck that has been compromised by trauma in its early life.

 

Anything is possible....we did get it on auction last jan -first time doing that -and the guy we worked with was a family friend who is a dealer and has gotten cars for all his family, etc this way- but he had a hard time getting what we wanted. In the end we never got to see the listing specs on this particular car but he said he never buys anything 'under a 3'. I think it came from kentucky. I We live in salt lake so we do have salted roads a lot, though never been an issue with my other cars. By the time we got the car we already owned it and i was afraid to look up the car fax etc. should i?

 

Of course you should check the carfax. Being afraid that you will have a cancer diagnosis is not a good reason to avoid being tested for it. Buying a car "blind" from auction, with no warranty, can be Russian roulette.

That said, I don't mean to scare you either. I would have the trans problem fixed, and have someone who knows Expeditions well inspect it thoroughly for signs of abuse, flooding, etc. You may have a couple fluke problems that, once they are fixed, will give you a wonderful and dependable vehicle. You've had it for a year(?) and if it has been primarily OK, it may really be fine.

I would buy a used 2015 Expy with the expectation that I could take it to 200k miles. I have owned blue chip foreign brand vehicles also, and have done just as well with Ford trucks. Look at any list of vehicles that go over 250k miles and you will find Ford trucks there as well as Toyotas and Hondas.

George

 

Sounds all reasonable advice, thanks for your input. Yes we've driven it for a year with no major issues. I took it in when we first got it because I wanted to get the oil & fluids changed, etc. and the back washer fluid line was spraying out into the back cargo area rather than out the back window like it should. That day I took it to the Ford dealership. but they seem to not know WTH is going on over there, so I have been afraid to go back. The only other strange issue it had was when we got it the shift cover (the little black rubbery panel that covers the open area around the shifter, was kind of disintegrating in one spot - a hole of sorts. After a few months it was falling off in pieces (maybe one of those got down inside the vehicle parts somewhere?) and so I had to have that cover replaced. I just wrote that off to 'cheap plastics' that I have read about with this particular car.

We did pull a camper trailer with it last spring, and we were having some hitch issues and the camper guy thought there was a strange stalling feeling when you backed it up. But I really haven't noticed that since he mentioned it last March, and that was with a trailer behind it.