When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I bought this 2003 Excursion v10 4x4 in July last year, and am just getting to baseline the vehicle to my liking. It currently has 245K miles on it. In the past month, either I did or had my regular shop do some of the work as I do not have the proper tools.
Replaced all spark plugs (Motorcraft) & coils (Denso)
Replaced exhaust manifold gaskets (Fel-Pro)
Replaced manifold bolts. One was already broken causing a slight leak. I ended up breaking more while taking out the rest.
There was a significant improvement in the drivability of the Ex after this. A couple of weeks ago, I drove up to NJ, from VA with an empty motorcycle trailer and brought 2 motorcycles back to VA. This was the weekend of the heavy snow and ice here in NE. The morning of my return, I found the wheels buried about a third of the way in the snow/ice and had to switch to 4wd to get it free. As I started driving after putting it back in 2wd, I heard a loud bang. It sounded like a piece of metal that was under strain released. I looked around and did not see any broken parts and since the vehicle was drivable, made the trip back to VA without any incidents.
FF:
Since coming back, I’ve been driving the truck almost every day and have driven over 800 miles since the above listed work was done. Out of the blue, earlier this week, I started feeling a lot of vibrations. It does feel like it is coming from the driveline and everything inside the vehicle is just resonating the vibrations. And, as I kept driving it, the vibrations got worse. It is vibrating at a level that my hands go numb driving 20 miles to my work place, my ears start to ring from all the noise. After 2 days of this 80 miles of jarring, I stopped back in the shop and had them diagnose it. I was told that my front tires had to be replaced.
I was not very happy with the BFG KO2s anyways, and was holding off till summer. Instead, I got all 4 tires replaced today with Nitto Dura Grappler in the same size, 305x70x18 (35x12.50x18), Load Range E. I had these tires on my previous Ex (thanks to the recommendation from @WE3ZS ) and loved their performance. The vibrations have become much lesser than before, but the saga still continues in finding the source of this.
I plan to replace the 4x U-Joints and grease the rear driveshaft next. If those don’t fix it, I will probably have to locate a shop that can check and maybe rebalance the rear driveshaft. What are other things that I need to check & fix/replace? I have to get this fixed within the next 2-3 weeks before a multi-week long distance trip pulling a trailer is scheduled on the calendar. Appreciate your inputs, as always!!
Edit: Forgot to mention that the vibrations occur only during acceleration, and not while coasting or when I take my foot off the pedal.
PFA:
Last edited by unleashd; Feb 14, 2026 at 06:23 AM.
BTW, I have found a new favorite place to buy tires from: Tire Agent . This site came up in my Google search. Their prices were far lesser than others. I very skeptically placed the order at 6.45am this morning, tires were delivered at 2.45pm, and my local tire shop had them installed by 6pm.
Hey Prakash, I did love those Nitto Duras!
Since this all started after switching into 4x4 I would verify that the front hubs unlocked when switched back to RWD. Easy enough to do by reaching in behind the front tires and rotating the u joint inside the steering knuckle, if truly unlocked the joints should spin fairly freely. While spinning them feel for any excess clunkiness in them too.
You also might want to check if the front driveshaft is turning while the truck is driven forward, that shaft could be the source of the vibration if out of balance or a bad joint and the shift motor didn’t release it when shifted back to RWD.
Hey Prakash, I did love those Nitto Duras!
Since this all started after switching into 4x4 I would verify that the front hubs unlocked when switched back to RWD. Easy enough to do by reaching in behind the front tires and rotating the u joint inside the steering knuckle, if truly unlocked the joints should spin fairly freely. While spinning them feel for any excess clunkiness in them too.
You also might want to check if the front driveshaft is turning while the truck is driven forward, that shaft could be the source of the vibration if out of balance or a bad joint and the shift motor didn’t release it when shifted back to RWD.
Are you referring to #41 in this picture?
But, if it was stuck in any way, wouldn't that cause pulsing and noise when making full turns? I am not feeling any of that.
Last edited by unleashd; Feb 14, 2026 at 01:18 PM.
No it would not necessarily cause those symptoms. Mine was bad once and I had no vibrations or pulsing. It manifested itself in stiff steering that would not return to center
Spent a few hours yesterday and
- Checked all the U-Joints on the front driveshaft. These are the non-greasable joints. I did not find any play in them. There's some rust and a lot of road grime on them, but they are looking good, to me.
- Checked all the U-Joints on the rear driveshaft. These are the non-greasable joints. I did not find any play in them. I could turn the driveshaft about 10* back and forth. There's some rust and a lot of road grime on them, but they are looking good, to me.
- Checked the U-joint in the steering knuckle, all dirty & grimy. They spin by hand, but that took a little effort.
- Checked under the rubber boot covering the slip joint and felt it was a little dry. Added some grease to it.
- Lifted both front wheels to check for any play and they were all tight.
And, yet, the shuddering, jarring, vibrations still continued.
Searched for a Driveline specialist shop near me and found one about 10 miles away that had great reviews from thousands of people. So, I took it over to them. Shop was busy and requested to leave it with them and they'd get to it later. I got a call around 9pm to say that my driveline components are good. According to their scanner, at least 4 cylinders are misfiring and the count is in the high hundreds. All 10 spark plugs, coils and boots were replaced by the previous shop about a month ago. This shop will dive deeper into this on Monday to identify the cause of the misfire.
I have not faced this situation ever in any of my vehicles before, and now, I am reading this up . Most of the posts say that the misfire should be clearly felt at idle. But I don't. I am feeling the vibrations only when accelerating. When i let off the skinny pedal, it smoothes out. The Ex starts and Idles smoothly. I do get a few minutes of white smoke from the tail pipe in the early mornings while idling which I am assuming is from condensation building up overnight due to the cold nights here recently.
Update for 2/16:
Shop #2 called to let me know that they found Injector #1 to be bad. According to them, this is causing the entire Bank 1 (5 injectors) to also misfire. Advised that I replace all 10 injectors and connectors. Estimated Cost $5,750+tax. When I asked them to provide documentation of what they had found, they said it was what they can see on the scanner and they can’t print/email that info. Told them that I was not going to authorize the work without proof.
In a text interchange with @Toreador_Diesel , he suggested the possibility of bad gas. On my way back from NJ on Jan 27, I had filled up the tank on I95 at the Sunoco (I forget if it was the Maryland House/Chesapeake house stops). So, it was a good possibility. I had filled a half tank of 87 from Costco on Friday. I went back and pumped 20 more gallons of 93 and poured in 4 bottles of Berryman B12 (I had purchased this already on Razzi’s advice). While driving out to Costco, I realized that ForScan Lite on my iPhone wouldn’t pick up any injector info. So, I went to shop #1 (my regular shop) to ask if I could borrow their scanner.
Tony and I then spent the better part of the next hour scanning the truck in a variety of ways including taking a pretty extended test drive. But, after all that, Tony was unable to find any issues with the injectors 😮 When we got back, he threw up the Ex on the lift, and shook every joint on the front end pretty violently to find the mechanical culprit. We found quite a bit of slop in the passenger side tie rod end and the U-joint at the knuckle on the driver’s side. I've left the truck with him as he also suspects something else is happening with fuel delivery to the engine, and possible vacuum leaks among other things. Since the wheel assemblies are going to come off to replace the u-Joints at the knuckles, I might also have them change out the ball joints.
I had to have all of the moving front end parts replaced on my Excursion,
turn to the left at almost full turn, and the front end would Lock Up.
even with the hubs unlocked.
I still have STIFF steering issues, bought the XRF kit, need to get that installed.
the shop used cheap *** ball joints @#$%^
Is your check engine light flashing while driving or accelerating? That’s the sign of a current misfire in real time. If it’s not flashing you don’t have a consistent misfire. Is the light on solid? If not, then the ecu hasn’t logged any currrent misfires. Injectors in the gas engines don’t go bad very often at all so I’m hesitant to condemn one, much less 5.
i’d remove the rear driveshaft, put it in 4wd and go for a drive and see if you’re still getting the vibrations. If not, then that’s the problem. Often the u joints can be dry under the caps and cause a vibration. Also, while you have the rear DS out jack up the rear end and spin your pinion yoke by hand back and forth and see if there’s a lot of play. There shoudln’t be. Spin it around in one direction a few times too and see if you can feel anything in your hand which would indicate a rear diff issue.
Lastly, I had a vibration that I chased until I accidentally fixed it when I upgraded to a manual transfer case. Apparently a bearing in the TC was bad.
No CEL. The u-joints for both front and rear drive shafts are good. The broken parts are ahead of that - tie rod ends, u-Joints in the knuckle. Since the shop is going this far into it, I am also having the 4 ball joints replaced as a precaution. Looking at the parts on the truck, all of these seem to be original, and so have 247K of wear & tear on them.
No CEL. The u-joints for both front and rear drive shafts are good. The broken parts are ahead of that - tie rod ends, u-Joints in the knuckle. Since the shop is going this far into it, I am also having the 4 ball joints replaced as a precaution. Looking at the parts on the truck, all of these seem to be original, and so have 247K of wear & tear on them.
how do you know the u joints are good? You already replaced them? If yo have no check engine light and no codes you don’t have a misfire and don’t need injectors.
Visual inspection, no slop/play when turning them by hand. Yes, I can replace them to remove a variable, but holding off on simply throwing parts at it without proper diagnosis.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalyptic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
