Im now on my 2 nd expedition after being awarded a new vehicle through lawsuit against ford's 03 expy. Now have an 05 expy with 5600 miles and I have noted a shaking of the sterring wheel while braking from faster speeds just like the 03 was doing after 15 repairs to multiple problems including brakes. Has anyone had problems with the brakes or rotors on the 05 expy? I have seen the tsb 0514 , but it does not state what the remendy is or if you start fighting with Ford again for proper repairs- please help Thanks

 

You are not alone. I've had the same problem since about 4/5,000 miles on my 05 EB 2WD. Dealer turned front rotors under warranty at about 6K miles, but at 16 K miles the problem is back. Feels like front rotors are warped, or maybe the pads are depositing material unevenly on the rotor. Either way turning them seems to help for a while. This type of problem seems to be fairly common on Expeditions the last couple of years, from what I read on this and other internet sites. I've seen references to the same type of problem on the late model F-150s, too.

I put up with this on two previous Excursions, too. Maybe heavy SUVs don't do well in stop and go traffic. I imagine the brakes get pretty hot with little air flow over them in 20/30 minutes of heavy stop-n-go on the freeways here in SoCal.

Good luck, and if you see any fixes that seem to work - post 'em.

 

Before my 99 EB Expy I bought and drove a new 92 Ford Taurus that warped rotors and damaged brakes as fast as I could replace them also driving the So.Cal stop and go freeways! After many warranty replacements and being accused of poor brake habits by the dealer I was later on my own out of warranty.

The cause of my headaches that the dealer could not find was the power brake booster. After applying the brakes and then releasing them one day I noticed that my foot was able to go behind the brake pedal and I was able to "pull" the brake pedal furthur up than it was releasing on its own!!!! In other words, the brakes were never fully releasing but slightly dragging all the time and overheating causing the warped and damaged rotors/pads!!!! I went to Pep Boys and had them replace the booster. The problems went away immediately and no more brakes/rotors to replace until I bought my new Expy in 99.

Look for dragging brakes in your brake system! Bad booster, bad master cylinder, sticky calipers, that sort of thing is where I would start. Best wishes in finding your brake problem. In my case it was the smallest amount of drag but enough to overheat the brakes on those freeways!

Tom in Colorado

 

I had the exact same problem with my wife's 05 Expy. I took it in this morning and told the service advisor what was happening. He immediately gave me an explanation that incinuated that I rode the brakes entirely to much and at high speeds causing them to get too hot and causing warping. I immediately informed him that my wife drives this vehicle and only goes to and from work, which is at school, and takes our 4 kids. I told him we DO NOT ride the brakes, and rarely do we drive on the highway. We are in the country and about the only time we use the brakes going to and from work is when we pull in the parking lot. It is a straight shot there without and stop signs. I told him that 10,000 miles on a brand new vehicle with the brakes shuddering terribly is ridiculous and uncalled for. He did an about face and said well we'll look at them and turn the rotors. I just picked the truck up and turns out they replaced the rotors per TSB 0514. We'll see how long this lasts. I will not stand for someone incinuating that I caused a particular problem without looking into it first, especially with this low of miles. It would be a different story if there were a number of miles on the vehicle. Be persistent with these people and don't let them bully you around. Good luck and I'll keep you updated as to how these rotors hold up.

 

my 03 had the same issue. but i didn't care. i already new that the stock pads hold too much heat against the rotor which causes warpage. so at about 7,000 miles they got a vibration. so i went and got new oem rotors (free of charge under warranty) and went and got ceramic brake pads for about 80.00. per axle. ford paid for the rotors and labor to install them i paid for the pads and labor. i paid 120.00 out of pocket. ford did not hassle me about it one bit. i just had to do the back rotors and pads last week. cost me 80.00 in pads and 100.00 in rotors. the fronts have lasted 36,000 miles with no issues or brake dust.

 

That's where Ford needs to put on different brake pads and they need to eat the cost, not the owner. Especially with that low of miles. There's no way I'm going to fork out the cost of the pads when it's their problem. If they want to keep incurring the expense to keep putting new rotors on every 10,000 miles, that's their problem if they're not smart enough to try different brake pads.

 

Just a quick update on my continuing saga of brake trouble. Turned my '05 Expedition in for warranty repair of brake shudder at 19,000 miles after having the rotors turned at about 6,000 miles for the same problem. The dealer replaced the front rotors this time, under warranty. Said they checked for brakes dragging,etc.; and found nothing. Interesting. Said the original rotors were heat checked/cracked. I've been really babying my brakes since the repair at 6K miles, but here it is 13k later, and the rotors were wrapped. Go figure.

 

I had my rotors turned and not replaced by my dealer at 12K miles. I told him I'll see you in a while when they heat up and are warped again. We'll I'm at 20K miles now and it has become bad again. So it looks like I'm heading back to the dealer again.

 

I have a 03 F250, my truck had been shuttering for a long time so i went for a brake job and had to replaced one rotor because they said it had got to hot and it wouldn't turn properly, well a few months later the shuttering was back and the brake company says there is something other than the pads causeing the rotors to warp.
What would cause only one rotor to heat up and warp?
At this point I have to go back to the dealer, it would be good if I could figure it out first! I was thinking the caliper is not working right I am still under warranty

 

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To answer your question, I can't think of a single thing except a hanging caliper. Keep us appraised of your experience.

And... Welcome to FTE!

 

Check the brake hoses.

See kn6vv's comment about his 92 Taurus. I had a 93 Taurus with 4 wheel disc brakes that drove me up a wall for about 6 years with the brakes. Pads lasted about 20000 miles on average, the rotors were overheated, warped. I replaced almost the entire braking sytem several times on that car including master cylinder, booster, and all calipers and the problem would be a little better for a very short time just enough to tease me. I finally found a forum where a person alluded to the brake hoses because Ford used a two layer hose. I started with the rear brake hoses and changed the two rear brake hoses and that solved all my braking problems. I felt the difference immediately in that the car suddenly moved effortlessly. What happens is some of the fluid gets trapped between the two layers of hose and when the brakes are released, a blockage is created inside the hose that prevents the brake fluid from the caliper to flow backwards. Fortunately I was dealing with an auto parts store that had lifetime replacement warranty on all parts.