Loved you while it lasted... literally... off to a clunker tradein.My expedition was pretty darn solid for the first 90K... but it has been a nightmare trying to keep it running on all 8 eight cylinders after that. One COP after another.Finally on the 11th anniversiary of ownership on family vacation came the final straw - ran terrible 5-6 cylinders only. When I was able to get it home I still wanted to fix it and run it longer as I really need the vehicle capacity for 6 people and two dogs and lots of gear. My mechanic found another bad COP - OK had a box of spares, a bad fuel injector - ok not too expensive. The final piece was I had a broken valve spring causing one cylinder to not fire at all. By design... that valve sping is real hard and expensive to get to - don't really want to put that much money into the motor and still have a 165K oil burner. OK - new engine 3400 from Jasper(better than a ford reman) I was ready to do that until I found out how much the installation cost (including a body off frame). That is the final straw where it just isn't worth fixing. I am so pissed at some of the expedition design issues where maintenance cost and repairability for the owner simply was not a Ford Priority.Add Ford to my list of manufactuers I will never buy from again along with Chevy, Chrysler (OMG what junk). I really wanted it to work out... I cannot be accused of being unpatriotic as I have put untold $$$thousands in repairs into these american manufactuers, management and union employees personal economies for over 30 years. I am off to go to the dark side of Honda and send my money to the fine US Honda employees and their Tokyo owners to buy - OMG I can't believe I am doing this.... and Honda Minivan.

 

If it has the 17" wheels I WANT THE SPARE!!!!

 

Got a real nice set of Original Eddie Bauer 17 Inch wheels with low milage Michelon tires. Spare has never been used. If you guys can part this out for more than I can get in tradein/clunker - have at it... decent shape except... baby snakes ate my motor!!

 

Nice of you to register just to post this. Have fun with your new Honduh.

 

I am guessing a 98 - if you decide to part it out, I may be very interested in some parts....

 

Unless I misunderstand the trade in requirements, you should strip/swap out as many good parts as you can before trading in your vehicle...the dealer won't give you much more than the rebate for the "salvage" value. So put on the bald tires, rusted rims, torn seats, and anything else that you can sell/swap with someone else before taking it to the dealer.

 

JohnPVB,

I have thought of that - mine is very same EB (color too) as yours. Might try to do that as it has fresh tires and battery. Don't know if I will get the time though.

dan

 

I bought a '98 Eddie Bauer new and loved it. Many cross country trips. lots of snow covered roads ,even muddy mountain roads. Great car. At 125,000 I traded it for a VW Vanagon (which went "Kablooey!).

Great vehicle.

 

I got 185k miles on mine, just changed a couple of COPs and all the plugs and she's like new again, wouldn't trade her for anything... and definitely not a honduh!
but hey! to each its own!

 

My thoughts exactly.

Tim

 

I was unaware that the body must be removed to change a motor, that's news to me!!!!!!

 

Same to me....I swore the Expedition's motor could be swapped without moving the frame. You just gotta find a reallly skinny southern guy that's a mechanic...you know, like the ones in Alabama in them movies.

 

It can, but I believe the intake manifold has to come off first. I'm not sure if it's mandatory or if it just makes removing the engine a whole lot easier.

Some places like the dealer lift the body up to change an engine or to work on replacing cylinder heads, but you need a lift to be able to do it.

http://www.denlorstools.com/autoblog...oval-body-off/

 

Taking the body off is the easiest and most cost effective method to replace the engine. Naturally... not believing that I did some checking... sure enough there are many refererences and pictures with instructions on this procedure on the internet... it can be done done without taking the body off... but it will take more man hours and ultimately cost more. Looking at 9-10K to replace the engine was a sobering reality for me and ultimately I listened to my wife to not throw more good money after bad. Really wanted to keep it, most of my kids are very disapointed we could not get the truck fixed, as am I, but gotta move on. My plea is for our guys to get their heads out of their you-know-what and build a better vehicle product. The expedition is pretty darn good in many areas, but it is that last 10% of the design and the corporate decisions made simply to save money and boost short term profits that is getting us killed by the Japanese, Germans - want to comtemplate the prospects in the near future of adding the Koreans, Chinese and even Indians? My Expedition has been clunker traded for $4,788 (including scrap value) for a very unsexy and unmanly (but reliable) HonDUH. I really wish all you other guys the very best of luck keeping your Expeditions in great running order longer than I could!

 

Considering the financial dire straits the auto companies are in, it would seem they cut corners to survive more than they do to make profits. What is killing the American Car companies is the Auto Union. The foreign companies you mentioned do not have to pay their workers $30 an hour (including floor sweepers) plus full benefits.