Hey all, it's been a while since I've posted, but yesterday we finally found an X for my wife. It's a 2000 Limited 4x4, V10, satin green with grey leather. Very nice condition, 79k miles, and looks to be very well maintained. In addition, it already has a bug shield and vent visors installed (the wife noticed that while I was scoping the mechanics of it), and the previous owner had a custom exhaust made for it. It looks to be a Flowmaster 50 series, single inlet, and dual outlet with two tailpipes exiting behind the rear wheels. There's a custom exhaust shop here in the NE, Lou's, and this system looks like one of his. Not too loud, but enough to make it noticable. I thought the wife would hate it, turns out she loves it! Gotta love a woman like that.... Later in the test drive, I got out to check out the undercarriage, and there's a brand new set of Edelbrock IAS shocks on it too. I know those aren't cheap, I had priced some out for my Suburban a while back. Price on the truck is 13,995, but it's been there since last November so I think I can talk it down some. Put a deposit on it, and we're haggling over price now. Even at their asking price though, this is a hell of a lot of truck for the money.

My questions:

-The truck feels a lot stiffer than other X's we drove. The only difference I could see were those Edelbrock shocks. I know they're supposed to be great, but could they be making the truck ride too hard? Anyone have any experience with them? As I said, they look brand new (not even any dust on them), so I'm sure I could install a softer shock, and sell the Edelbrocks.

-The truck makes a clunking sound in the front end, on both sides. Hard to explain, but it seems to happen more at low speeds when the truck is bouncing from side to side (like when going over uneven terrain or pavement). My guess, from past experience, is stabilizer endlinks, ball joints, or tie rods. Is this a common noise or problem area for these trucks? The dealer, of course, is going to repair whatever it is before we get it, but it never hurts to know a common problem of a vehicle.


Aside from these two things (which are minor, in my opinion), this truck is perfect.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Bob

 

That sounds like a great price to me. My wife and I just picked up a 2000 Limited with 52,000 miles and gave $15,900 for it. I'm curious about your clunking noise because mine makes that too.

 

So does my 2000 XLT, but I haven't investigated that yet. Still working on more important issues. Sounds to me like you are on the right track with your ideas. Those are the same places I plan to start looking on mine.

 

as for the clunking- look at the swaybar bushings, both endlink and the bushings on the bar itself. Pretty common problem with the Ex and the SD pickups. Many people spend a lot of time trying to find the problem with their body mounts only to find the problem in the sway bar bushings.

 

I hope all of you find the noise to be in the sway bar, end links, or tie rods. Perhaps the 'clunk' in my '01 4x4 X was different than yours. Only heard it in certain conditions, angling over a speed bump, transversing a ditch, going up and over a curb (at an angle), etc. Every few weeks or so, I pushed & pulled on everything up front associated to the suspension. I jumped up and down on the bumper. When I decided it was time to replace the shocks, I was hoping it would go away or I'd find it then. But nothing could be found. The clunk did not get better, nor did it ever get worse, for almost 5 months. We finally put the X on 4 floor jacks and really worked the suspension over. It didn't take long to find some play in the left front hub assembly. Turns out the bearing was going bad. I may have not had to replace the whole assembly if we had found this earlier, but the mechanic says I would have had to do so anyway. But the bearing & hub assembly seem to be a single unit (or so I was told). A single $500 unit, to be a little more emphatic. So, as I said in the beginning, I hope all of you find the noise to be in the sway bar, end links, or tie rods. Good luck.

 

This might sound like a dumb question, but I don't know the answer. If it is a problem with bushing, how is it corrected? Replacement, greasing???

 

Replacement. Energy Suspension makes a poly' bushing set for the SD/Ex front sway bar.

Indeed the bushings are a common problem.

I'd snag that truck for $13K out-the-door.

 

I put the Edelbrock shocks on my 04Ex v10 at 15,000 miles. The ride was not harder than stock, but better in corners and over wash board roads (they are law in Pennsylvania). Overall, I thought the truck felt more secure and tighter, but not harsher if that makes sense. Glad I switched. They cost about $78 each on line. Yours might feel stiffer because you were comparing to worn stock shocks.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

I spoke with the dealer today, and he lowered the price to 13,500 for us. A great deal made better. Also, it is in their shop now, and they're going over it from front to rear. They hadn't done that yet when we drove it, however all the fluids were extremely clean, and everything seemed to be in order. Whomever owned this truck was an enthusiast, and I'm pretty comfortable with thinking that if they put the best parts on it, they must have maintained it well also. At least, that's how I do things, so I'm assuming they would too.

The dealer, of course, is going to repair anything that needs it before we make the sale final. I told them to take as much time as they needed, because we're not in a rush to get it. If anything doesn't seem right, I won't take delivery until they make it right. We'll have an opportunity to drive it for a couple days before the paperwork is signed. Because we are buying the truck in MA, and live in RI, they're putting a dealer plate on it so that we can take it back to RI for a VIN check and registration, and then we'll head back to the dealer for the final paperwork. Plus, by law they have to warranty it for 30 days or 3000 miles. I plan on going over it myself when we have it for the VIN check. I do all my own work, and rebuilt my Burb from the ground up, so this sort of thing is not uncommon to me.

We'll have to see how the shocks work out. I liked the ride, the wife didn't really complain, but wanted to know why it was so stiff compared to the other ones. I tried to explain the concept of worn shocks vs. performance replacement shocks, but she had already moved on to find the seat heaters and remote start.

I wholeheartedly agree, at $13k this truck is an absolute steal. We looked at another one at a different dealer, that I would have been embarrased to show if I were them. It had a massive skip, the trans slammed into 3rd gear, and was in OD with the converter locked up at about 35 MPH, causing major shuddering. Felt like a torque converter gone south, as well as other issues. When I mentioned this to them, they commented that their mechanic stated that it needed "a couple of spark plugs, and a trans filter change". Needless to say, we ran away from that one, and it was priced $2k lower. Something about a place that will replace only two plugs on a V10 worries me.

 

Update on the clunking:

Turned out to be the swaybar bushings. The dealer replaced them, and it doesn't clunk, but now it creaks when stopping and accellerating from a stop. I looked under the truck, had a buddy bounce it up and down, and it's coming from the new bushings. I'll try greasing them, that usually works.

I also felt a vibration in the endlinks when bouncing the truck, perhaps resonating from the bushings, but I'll most likely just do the endlinks and grease the bushings.

We officially picked up the truck today, and did the VIN check and registration, and it's officially ours. Wifey loves it, I love it, the kids love it. Definitely a good deal!

 

Might be the body mounts. I had the same problem, can you can feel it through the floorboard right below your feet? I took mine to dealer and they replaced some front end parts then realized it was the body mounts. They tried some different things and couldn't get it fixed. They finally made a call to ford and they said to used a shim in the body mount. I think it just alleviates the friction, it worked. It's worth a check. BTW, congrats on the new X!

 

I'll have to check those too then. I can feel it in the floorboards, it's really bad on the passenger's side. Thanks for the tip!

 

I think you found a great deal. I love my 2000 4x4 limited. I have had two coil packs go out and it just blew a spark plug.. But I still love it. I have that clunk as well and just replaced all the tie rods and sway bar bushings but still have the clunk when O initially brake.. ?? weird. If it is the hub I hope it lasts a bit longer so I can save up for the assembly.

 

Well, it turns out that it is the body mount bushings that are making noise. I can see very slight shiny areas on the frame mount where it's moving a little, and I sprayed them with WD40 and the noise went away.

So, it's off to th the dealer on Monday to get some new parts.

Looks like the bolts come in from the top, so I'll be taking the carpet out as well I suppose.

Still a good deal on the truck though....

 

Hope you get it all worked out. The shims they put in mine were a special order, they hadn't heard of them before. The WD-40 probably won't last too long. Good luck!