Hello all,

Need advice. My 97 Expedition 4x4 EB with 65k miles needs about $1000 worth of servicing and repairs.

My question is should I spend the money to get the work done or put the $1000 toward a new Expedition or other SUV??

I still owe $11,500 on it (bought used)

Factors would be how much life is left in the Expy before it needs major repairs, (spark plug blow outs, tranny, etc)

Would anyone recommend an extended warranty, assuming one is available

Thanks for any advice.

Tony in Alaska

 

Guess the big question is how much is it worth with and without the repairs?

It may be worth more to get it repaired and then trade it against another truck.

You gotta crunch the numbers.

The Kelly Blue book (private party) difference between FAIR & GOOD is $1000.00. The values in your area might be different.

What exactly needs to be done to it?

 

Thanks for the reply,

Most of the things that need to be done are minor or maintenance items.

- 60k miles service (late) = $330

- replace the exteriror trim molding (paint failure, bare metal now) = $500

- fix parking brake, radio interence (no am stations), fix drivers side speaker, pwr window switch, etc = $300 (+/-)

- replace broken running boards = $200 (+/-)

- fix minor paint damage = $250 (+/-)

With the exception of the 60k service and parking brake the rest of the items I could ignore and not fix and there would be little consequence other than being annoyances.

I guess the biggest concern is how much longer will the beast be reliable and how long before I can expect some major issues.

Recently the Expy left my wife stranded as the power cable from the battery to the starter corroded and the expy would not start. This is her car and I don't want things to happen unexpectedly if I can help it.

I'm hoping for another 40k - 50k miles/ 3-4 yrs of trouble free service out of the Expy, but don't know how likely that is.

This rig is the oldest in the "fleet" 97 Expedition, 99 Jeep Cherokee, 01 F250

Well gotta go back to bed now, I was up letting the dog out and checked for any replies. Thanks Monsta.

Tony in AK

 

1000.00 seems like a lot of money untill you compare the price of a brand new one similarly equipped, and 65K is very low mileage for a 97. On trade you would take a pretty good licking on the value on its condition and age. I see many people here paying out 2000-3000 on thier higher mileage vehicles in repairs and seem to think it is worth it. The depreciation on the first two years of your new truck might be about 15 times the 1000.00 you face now.

It boils down to what is practicle to your budget. Today 1000.00 in repairs is pretty minor on a premium vehicle.

 

The loan value of a 97 is at the most 13,000. You would be better off getting the repairs. There are alot of Expeditions running extremely high miles, with no internal problems. You should have quite a bit of Expy left if properly maintained.

 

I think your vehicle will be reliable into the future, especially considering the low mileage....ANY vehilce's battery cable is susceptible to corrosion.

I'd do the service items, speaker and window switch myself and save a couple hundred in labor, have the bare metal condition and parking brake fixed and wouldn't worry about the am side of the radio (I don't listen to am).

If you still ove $11.5K, I'd say your pretty close to being "upside down" on this vehicle (especially if it has another $1,500 in deferred maintenance) so you wouldn't benefit, monetarily speaking, from its sale.

Good Luck.

 

Fix it and keep on driving! I got 165,000on mine and it still runs like a top! Looks brand new, and never had any problems! The key is not to let the stupid little problems build up until you got a rolling peice of junk! I bought my Expy used for 11,500 and I had a nice Ranger 4x4 that was paid for that I traded in on it. I don't regret the trade or the Expy one bit! Fix it and keep on gettin' it!

 

Thanks for the replies, I think I'll fix er up and keep her. I was thinking new Expy or "gasp" Pilot, but both would cost quite a bit more and both are having teething problems from what I've read online.

Now hopefully I'll not have too many problems, the only one that comes to mind is the disappearing spark plug trick , I haven't heard many problems with the tranny or anything else major.

Thanks all,

Keep on truckin