Hi All,

I think I might have a problem. I'm experiencing Excursion Acquisition Syndrome (EAS). I think its a thing...

Anyway, I was innocently perusing Marketplace, and an ad came up for a 2000 V10 Excursion. Having a 2002 7.3 Excursion and a 2003 6.0 F250, I always thought of myself as more of a diesel guy. However, I know that there is a loyal following of V10 folks here, and I'm willing to keep an open mind.

The Excursion has 233k on the clock. Owner has had the truck for the past five years and 100k and has receipts for work done (and some of the records from the guy he got it from). Priced at 3k. I asked some questions, asked my wife. An hour later both of us and our kids were in the truck for a 1 1/2 drive to see it.

I was told it hadn't run in about 6 months and would need a battery to try it. As luck would have it, I had the driver's side battery of my 7.3 out since I was in the process of changing a power steering line. So I took a battery with me. Drove though thunderstorms and got there as it was getting dark. Not the best time to look at a vehicle, but I had my flashlight and crawled around and looked at things.

The Good:
Fired right up. No strange sounds from the engine bay (that I am aware of)
No pull when applying brakes
Repair record (brake lines, alternator, exhaust manifold are a few things he mentioned)
Fairly clean inside (back seats are in great shape)
Newer Superduty rims
Newer radio


The Iffy:
Needs new tailpipe/muffler (was gone just past the muffler)
Typical rocker rust (my other one has it too, I need to learn some welding skills)
PO hit a deer (clipped the driver's side front). New blinker assembly needed. Bumper might be slightly bent down at the corner. I'm sure the deer got the worst of it.
Needs new bottom seat covers in front
Interior electrical needs some help (upper console/computer, dome lights, popped out vent covers, video screen)
4x4 engages manually only
I think it has a mild lift? I'm not sure (see photos). The back shocks were yellow, making me think bilstein perhaps?

A lot of these sorts of things I have dealt with on my 7.3. I'm at 375k on it after getting it at 350k. 20 year old vehicles are going to need some attention. I'm not worried about doing a little work, especially if I can do it myself.

The owner was very nice and forthcoming answering my questions. I didn't think 3k was an unreasonable price. Thoughts and commentary are welcome/appreciated.

Thanks!

 

For $3K you can hardly go wrong. There's more than $3K in parts that can be sold if you need to.

As for keeping it, sure, it needs some TLC, but it doesn't sound like anything more than most 20 year old vehicles need. I've got a 2000 V10 Ex with 165K on it. It doesn't get the fuel mileage that the diesels gets, but I'm a fan of the gassers and intend to keep it. It's highly unlikely that I can replace it for what I've got in it.

 

Thanks for the feedback! I know money doesn't grow on trees and the old saying that vehicles are a poor investment, but for the price, I don't think I can pass it up. Having another vehicle that can haul around the family and cargo is never a bad thing, either.

I did ask about the spark plug blow-out, since this is a known issue on the earlier V10's. The owner hasn't had any issues since he has had it. I suppose checking the torque on these will be one of the first things I do.

 

Definitely get it if you have a place to park another excursion. Would be a fun project truck that you could always turnover for a profit if needed.

You didn't think any of us FTE enablers would tell you not to buy it, right?

 

It runs.......for 3 grand, buy it.

 

😆. No, I suppose I didn’t expect anyone to wave a red flag, but it is always a good feeling to know others think it is a good call! Thank you. I like tinkering with things. It will be interesting to have another one to compare to.

 

Thanks for the vote of approval. I’m sending off a deposit and waiting on a new title to come back from the state (old one was apparently misplaced). I’ll give some updates once I get it back home. Hopefully doesn’t take weeks on end, so many places seem to get backlogged with paperwork!

 

For three grand, I wouldn't let it get away.
My 2000 V10 has 170,000 with many similar issues that one has. I paid $5k but it has all new brakes, exhaust manifold studs already rebuilt, and transmission was re-built 30k miles ago.

If you want replacement front side marker/turn signal light, a neighbor has a set he's trying to sell from a 2002. PM me and I can help.

 

The V10 motors are also highly rebuildable, and fairly easy to find, anyone who has good experience building a mod motor, aka 96-2010 mustangs, F150s, and countless other vehicles, can work on a V10 easily, its just 2 extra cylinders and a balance shaft that are different from the 2V versions, and a lot of the parts carry over from the 4.6 and 5.4 world.

I just had my V10 fully rebuilt, all new rotating assembly, pistons, etc, except for the crank which was turned and came out perfect, bored over 030, high volume oil pump, all 10 cylinders timesert'd to prevent plugs ever blowing out, and even custom painting to Ford Blue on everything except the water pump, valve covers, and oil pan, water pump was painted black, and the valve covers and oil pan were painted Ford Red. They installed a new all aluminum radiator i sent in with it as well. The Out the Door cost was $4500. And i have a very pretty, 0 miles motor.

 

3000 is a cheap price i would say... i just bought a 2000 ford excursion today for 5500$! about 107k miles on it.. gave it a look around .. rocket panels rusted mostly on left side and a bit less on right side.. but under the car theres much more rust.. i dont maybe some sanding down can fix it and make it look more pretty but i dont know yet what to do.. if a shop should do it or i should.. the owner only had it for 3kish miles/1year and selling it because he got another car! he just had new exhaust put on.. brake lines changed he said and ac refilled and oil etc..
well the ac stoped working so theres a leak the car had some wet stains under engine / trans bay but didnt think it was serious because nothing was dripping! after driving 1.5 hour home and shut car off for a break then continued the rest way home..

the car started to smoke.. i believe it got a trans leak and was hitting the exhaust and started to smoke.. i barly made it to shop driving 2-3 mile up the road. i hope its not serious.. only 107k miles ugh what i get myself into!!!!

 

You have a very nice looking Excursion. Something to strive towards!

I appreciate the positive feedback on the engine. Hopefully with proper care it won't have any major issues, but it's good to know that repair work can be done affordably. Certainly less than what some of the diesel issues wind up being. Knock on wood, I haven't had any major problems with my 7.3 or 6.0. I bought my 6.0 F250 out in Arizona before I moved back to the Midwest. It's been a great truck too, though there is a short somewhere in the wiring harness that requires some wiggling once every year or so to make the engine fire up.

Looking forward to learning more about the V10 and what it can do!

 

Sounds like a good deal, too. Transmissions make me nervous, perhaps more so than engines. I did a flush after I bought my 7.3 Excursion and read the horror stories of 4R100's that weren't maintained. That was more of an ordeal than I would've liked, especially not having a good place to work at the time. But I did it with Mercon V and a new filter following the write up in the tech folder. No problems so far. Hope it stays that way.

Previous owner didn't mention anything about transmission work done. The Ex shifted fine during the test drive, but a fluid flush will be on my list of things to do immediately.

 

If you end up needing a motor, or deciding to have it rebuilt, talk to "The Engine Builders" in Glendale, Az, and if you do, have them pre-emptively timesert all 10 plug holes to prevent ever having a plug blow out, it barely adds to the cost and will save you a ton of anger and frustration of ever having one blow out.

Reference my truck if you call them, they are likely to remember it, not many Ex-Law Enforcement excursions out there with a custom Red and Blue engine. If you get the truck to them, they will return it done and ready to drive away. If you can't deliver it to them, or have it delivered, i know some people ship them a core engine and they ship back one ready for install, yourself, but i think the warantee is different since they wouldnt be installing it. I had them pull mine, and install the new one themselves, all included for 4500 bucks.

 

So I just brought the Excursion home. After picking up a battery at Napa, we made the 1 1/2 hour drive to pick it up. After sitting for an extended period of time, I was fairly satisfied with how it ran coming home. Engine seemed smooth enough, good brakes, 4R100 transmission shifted fine (seemed smoother shifting than in my 7.3, I wonder if V10's tend to have a smoother transition between gears or if it just depends on the particular truck one is sitting in).

I didn't have any turn signals, so it was good to have a tailing vehicle behind me! I imagine that the damaged front blinker has something to do with this (when I activated the turn signals, either direction, the lights stayed constant on the dash). I'll start by replacing the lights themselves and see if that takes care of the problem. I've had a multi-function switch fail on me before too. Not too hard to replace, either.

A few minor things needing attention (loose shifter, door lock switch, upper console, one window doesn't roll down, new exhaust, etc.) but nothing too crazy so far. Oil change and trans. service are in order. I couldn't find any record of the transmission being serviced since previous owner bought the car.

Incidentally, I had specifically asked about any blown spark plugs, nothing was mentioned to me. As I dug through the receipts, I found one for the repair of #7 last year. Oh well, so much for accuracy in advertising. I suppose I'll be checking the torque on them before I get too far along.

I'll take a few more pictures in the daylight. Once I have some time to get organized, hopefully I can start a thread about what gets done. I see dollar signs adding up, but at least the initial investment wasn't much, so I figure there is some justifiable headroom for maintenance/upgrades. Certainly cheaper than a new, comparable SUV (not that one really exists at this point).

 

Mine seems to shift poorly when I gently, slowly accelerate. When I'm more aggressive, it shifts smoother.

That right there is the key.
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