I previously owned a 2004 Ford Excursion Limited but within one year, foolishly traded it in on another vehicle. I recently purchased a 2005 Ford Excursion Eddie Bauer with 335,000 km (208,000 miles) on it, but I have some questions.

The first one is, can someone provide me photographs of the rear barn doors and hatch, focusing on the seals? I know that some of the seals are missing and I purchased a couple, but I suspect a couple are still missing due to the amount of dust and dirt that rests on top of the barn doors. The one I am suspecting is missing the most is one that runs vertical on the inside of the passenger side door. I have the L-shaped one on the driver side door that runs across and down, but on the passenger side, I just have the one that runs across. The dealership ordered a vertical seal for me, but it did not fit - it had Christmas tree clips but there are no holes on my door for them. The dealership thought that it might be a case that the doors are from an older Excursion because Ford changed the seals. I do not know. (The vehicle had been vandalized according to Carfax and they also hit a deer. Most of the missing seals and lackluster body fit is due to one or both repair jobs. I've found glass under the carpet in the back, so I suspect the vandalism was mainly the windows being smashed out.) Also, is that supposed to be a tight seal at the bottom of the front and rear doors? It gets caked with dirt and mud in there, and I can actually get my finger between the body of the vehicle and the door, without touching the seal - and it's like this on all four front doors. It just seems pointless, so I'm suspecting they put the wrong seals in or something.

This of course brings me to the next thing. Door fit and finish. Like I said, whoever did the bodywork obviously did it at quitting time on Fridays because the barn doors are not lined up properly. The drivers side one has had the paint rubbed through to the fiberglass. The front drivers door, when opens, has actually rubbed through the window seal on the outside, scraping it out. (Paint is also missing on the door.) Is it difficult to realign these? Can I just loosen bolts, try to line things up, and then tighten? (I just realized that it will be even more fun, since I won't actually be able to tighten them when they're in the right position.)

Before I forget, regarding the seals, if someone has a picture of the ones at the front of the hood, I would appreciate those too. I know that one is also missing, leaving the engine covered in bug remains.

I ended up pulling the knuckles and doing the front ball joints, upper and lower, so it would pass inspection. That was quite the experience - serves me right trying to save some money! But they're good now. I did find rusty sludge in the axle tubes though - not a lot, but a little, and the axles themselves were crusted, but I sanded them down and oiled them, and cleaned out the tube. Should I be concerned about some of that sludge in there?

The backup system keeps turning off when I put it in reverse. I remember my old Excursion doing this, but it was under factory warranty. The warranty on this does not cover that. How do I go about accessing those sensors? Can I pop the plastic off the top of the rear bumper? And where is the control unit located, so I can check it out?

Does anyone know if it is possible to pick up just one of the plastic pieces that covers the "arms" on the factory running board? One is cracked and sort of hanging. No other damage though.

When idling, I can hear a metallic rattly sound, almost as if - pardon this horrible example - you had a washer on a bolt and just set it on something vibrating. (Come to think of it, that example could be scary, if it's something similar to that.) It might be some random thing, but I thought I would mention it in case someone goes, "Oh yeah, that's so-and-so part, it does that," or something else well-known.

Okay, I'm getting there... not too much left, bear with me.

I like to let the vehicle warm up for two minutes - it is the 6.0 L turbo diesel and I know that with new engines, etc. etc. but I remember growing up to always warm them up, and I've just stuck with it. Anyway, if I do have to go relatively quickly and do not give it as much time to warm up, I've noticed two issues:

The transmission seems really reluctant to shift unless it really warms up. If I do not let off the pedal for a half-second, I'm sure I could redline the engine and it still wouldn't shift. I do not remember this with my old Excursion. After the transmission warms up, it shifts great, smooth as glass. Is there something that might need replacing? Any service that I should look at doing?

The next thing is again, with the engine not warmed up as much, at highway speed (nearing 60 mph and faster) the vehicle begins to surge, so rapidly it's almost a shudder. If I let off the pedal, then it goes away, but if I try to speed up again, it does it again. After the engine warms up - just a minute or so at these speeds - this goes away and again, smooth as glass.

It's not a real issue to me, but it might be indicative of something else, but I need to crank the engine about one, maybe two seconds, before it starts. Today, it took about three seconds. Again, not a big deal to me, though it is a bit of a concern since it is warm out, and I'm worried about what it might be like in the winter.

So really, that's about it. It's a bit of a list, but I think that it is stuff that I can fix. I do have an extended warranty from an aftermarket company on powertrain, seals (engine, transmission, etc. - not doors - d'oh!), and electronics. I figured it was worth it given the mileage on the vehicle.

The vehicle only cost $14,500 USD and the extended warranty for two years was $1,500 USD, so all in all, not a horrible deal. And I do love the vehicle. The next thing I need to do is replace the fuel filters - I've got them here in the box, just need to get a 35 mm wrench and/or socket. I also need to get an oil change done, as the dealership said they didn't do one, and the sticker on the window had the recommended mileage for the next one to be 10,000 miles -ago-. So it's a priority for me.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, or can offer those photographs, I would appreciate it. I might go take photographs myself and show you the seal situation, so you can see what I'm talking about.

Thanks tons!

 

Ug, hate to say it, but it sounds like you picked up a lot of scary things with that truck. Replace fuel filters, air filter, oil filter, etc. You cannot use a 35mm wrench, sorry to burst your bubble. I was only able to get on there with a 35mm socket and 6" extension. It's in a fun place. Did you test the 4wd functionality?

Crazy canadians...

 

I know that there are several issues at play, but because it is not my daily driver, it is one of those things I can work on when time and money permit. I am more in a situation where I can buy something inexpensive and fix it up rather than buy one that I know is in better shape. I do not mind; I knew what I was getting into.

No worries about the wrench vs. socket - I need to purchase something either way, so I'll just make sure to pick up a larger socket instead of a wrench. Thanks for that piece of information - I already returned about six wrenches after buying the wrong size six times when working on the front end. Oops.

Yes, four wheel drive works. I've tested it both on the ground, as well as with the wheels up in the air, both manually (one wheel at a time while up on the jack as well as with the entire vehicle on axle stands). It engages properly, disengages properly. Quick and quietly. That was actually what I was worried most about when working on the front end, that maybe I would get a seal not fitting quite right or something like that, and it wouldn't get a good seal and lock up properly, but it's working great. Did all of the tests both with the switches inside, as well as locking the hubs manually. Works like a charm.

So yeah, I'll try to get the filters and oil change done this weekend, and then just tackle everything else one at a time. I'd really love to find out what company did the bodywork though and give them a smack. I've seen lazy bodyshops before, but nothing on this scale, nothing so vehicle-wide. I think I am eventually going to have to pull off the plastic cladding and put it back on with proper 3M tape too - this job looks pretty lackluster, with the trim separating from the body in a couple places. Again, it's nothing critical, nothing that is a showstopper, but it looks sloppy.

What is crazy is that I calculated that if the previous owner put this many kilometers on, doing 100 km/h (65 mph), he would need to have driven it 2.5 hours per day, every day, since the day the vehicle was built - which is unlikely since there would be a few days before that and when he bought it. And if he wasn't doing 100 km/h, like in the city, then he'd need to drive it even longer each day, on average, to rack up that kind of mileage. Just amazing. I love driving, but that puts me to shame!

Thanks again for the pointers - I appreciate it!

 

FYI on the barn doors:
They ALL collect dust on TOP of the lower barn doors... (at least the 3 Ex's I've had did )
no seal on the outside edge of the doors/liftgate, only on the inside to keep the elements out of the inside of the coach....

I periodically just wipe the top of the doors down.... it can get ugly in there

 

Thanks! I did not notice it much on my 2004 Ford Excursion, but it spent most of its time in the city. And it is funny; I thought that black showed dust and dirt almost as bad as white, but my new Excursion is red and seems to be the absolute worst for showing dirt.

I'll make sure to keep the doors cleaned then. I've been working on them a lot to work out scratches and so there is a lot of work to be done there in general, not to mention the realigning I touched on earlier. I'm hoping the rain lets up here soon so I can get some of this work done this weekend!

Thanks again. I appreciate the information!

P.S. Regarding the front four doors and the seals at the bottom, do yours press against the body of the vehicle to keep dirt out there?

 

Are yours straight when you close the doors? Are they even around the edges all the way around?

Aligning doors is a PITA and an exercise in trial and error. You can adjust the hinges but don't loosen too much or the door will just flop around. Loosen enough so that when you cloe the door you can push to put the door where you want and have it stay there when you open it back up to tighten the bolts.

Old you...it's a PITA but can be done! I took me about 3 hours to align all my doors. not only did I have to adjust them from the hinges but I also had to adjust the latch as some stuck out a tad too far when closed.

You really, REALLY need to do a fluid swap on everything. The transmission sounds like it needs new fluid and with the injectors running off oil pressure and the known issues with the 6.0L HPOP (high pressure Oil Pump) you NEED to make sure you have clean, correct fluid.

I wouldn't allow any sludge to stay in the axle.

Not sure about the arms you're talking about. Do you have the boards or tubes?

 

The seals look good on all four doors. I wiped them down and then sprayed silicone oil over them and rubbed that in too. I fixed one because one of the pins that holds it on was broken, but it is straight and lays flat. You mentioning the doors sticking out too much brings up a valid point. I've noticed at least one of the doors does stick out more than the others, and it might be that all of them not only need alignment, but need to latch tighter. I think I have another thing to do this weekend. Oops.

The issues with the 6.0L Powerstroke are what have me concerned and asking questions, and it is good to hear some confirmation from you and the others that I am on the right track by fast-tracking the purchase of new fluids for the vehicle. I was reading about the TorqShift transmission too and was thinking of replacing the filter. From the description of its location, I believe that I have already seen it, while working on the front of the vehicle when replacing the ball joints. I read that without an automatic flush machine, they recommend you drain the transmission, fill it, run the engine, then drain again, then replace the filter. I have also read that they recommend replacing the bypass filter with a different setup that filters more than the 10% of the fluid that the bypass filter does, but I am still researching how I do that.

I made sure to drain all of the sludge out of the axle when I had it apart. It wasn't horrible, like a wave of it coming out. In fact, there was so little that it didn't even dribble out. But there was a little, and I made sure to get in there and wipe it all down as far back as I could reach. If it wasn't for having to repress the axle back in, I'd be tempted to pull it out in another few weeks and see if it is still clean and dry.

The running boards I have are the ones that are more like tubes. Chromed, with black caps on either end, and black pads on the top. Almost rectangular than tube-like if you were to look at them head-on. Being a nerd, I call them the "warp nacelle" running boards, like from Star Trek.

Again, I really need to take photographs, but I am on my lunch break at work at the moment. I will try to take some tonight, of everything discussed here, to make it easier. I know it's not fair to ask for help when I'm relying on my horrible descriptions of parts and situations.

Again, I cannot thank all of you enough. I know I presented quite the list of items, but slowly, I'll work through them.

 

I have no idea what that means and how it got there...

 

All else covered. So................I wouldn't worry about the remaining junk in the axle tube. There is a dust seal on the outer ends and a heavier duty seal near the differential so stuff gets trapped in there........no problemo.senior