We are about to pull the trigger on an '05 XLT Expedition and wondered about a few little things. Maybe you guys know more about these than I.

1. At freeway speeds, 65-75 mph (never went higher), the steering wheel has a pretty good shimmy left to right. I'm thinking tire balance but wondered if there is anything else to look at.

2. Also at freeway speeds, the truck seems a bit skittish. Seems to want to react too quickly to steering input. Kinda touchy. Doesn't seem "planted". Maybe shocks? This may be me going from a big heavy super duty diesel that has a heavy front end.

3. Subtle air leak sound from under passenger side dashboard. Comes and goes. Most likely related to HVAC, but seems to still do it with HVAC off. Another member said that it might be a vacuum hose that worked loose. Fairly common?

I'm a little concerned with the spark plug issue. I'm pretty sure the plugs haven't been changed out, but I have no proof. Any recommendations on this? Should I not deal with plugs until I absolutely have to? The truck has 76,000 miles. I'm worried about a $1000 repair when/if they break off.

Is the rear air conditioning controlled by a seperate condensor/compressor? Seems like the rear air is not as cold as front. Maybe just how I had it set?

The dealer is taking it to his mechanic in the morning to check out the high speed shimmy/tire balance and look over the front end real well, so I will know by tomorrow. In the meantime, I would love your input.

Thanks

 

I would have the dealer fix everything that you listed before I would buy the truck. If it isnt fixed then just walk away. No need to buy a truck that you have to keep taking to the dealer to have fixed and have a bunch more money to have to put out. If the dealer wants to really sell the truck he will fix it all.

 

I'd vote with fixit5561 on this.
My 2004 has never had the types of issues you are describing. Even with a bad ball joint there was never vibration or skittishness (just sounded like badly cupped tires).
For the kind of $ most likely involved here, you should be getting a SOLID, no-excuses vehicle. You can see from the "how many miles" thread that these trucks will run practically forever, should not have a bunch of "issues" at only 75K miles. Maybe you can find another one if they won't fix it right.
On the spark plugs, a lot will depend on how many miles you will drive and what your abilities and/or bank account look like. There is a long decriptive thread here where the guy had good results doing the job himself with the special tool... and other "nightmare" stories. Before I found out for sure that the 04s have the 2V motor, I was considering just leaving the plugs in until there was evidence of NEEDING a change - my last 2 sets of 100K mile platinum plugs looked pretty good.
The rear air (at least on the 04) has 2 sets of controls - 1 in the o/h console up front and one in the 2nd row seat. Either can effect the temperature of the rear a/c and heat.
Best of luck to you.
Mark
04 Red Fire EB 5.4 (2V) 4WD - 108K miles and counting

 

What brand of tires and how many miles? My 2003 had a shimmy when brand new and it took several tries to get the OEM Conti's to balance. No problem whith Michelin and the front end feels more planted too. My bet is the issue is tires.

The hissing in the passenger footwell is normal and related to the a/c. Might want to make sure the a/c system if fully charged.

Rear a/c works off the same compressor as the front but does have a separate evaporator. If the front is cold and the rear is less cold it may be the blend door motor issue that is common to break in the rear (one door motor controls roof vs. feet and the other controls hot vs. cold). Not too hard to fix, the part costs about $45. Lot's of posts about this issue. There are separate controls for the front and rear.

Can't help on the plugs, never did them myself but there are lot's of posts on how to do yourself.

 

Well, we ended up buying another Expy. I just felt uneasy about the other one. Even with rebalancing the tires, there was a little shake but it also developed a big shake on braking. I think the mechanic torqued the wheels too tight and messed up the rotors.

Anyway, we ended up finding an '03 EB, same mileage as the '05, but has all the bells and whistles and it is a clean one owner vehicle.(Turns out, according to the GPS, it was owned by a neighbor!) Small world. It was 30 minutes before closing and they had only sold 2 cars all day. Let's just say they were motivated to sell it. This one feels so much more planted and stabile. We really love it.

I'll get some pictures up soon. I'm sure i will have lots of questions in the future.

Thanks for the help.

 

Update when you got the pics. You can't have a thread like this without pics of the new baby .