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New Excursion owner, worried it might be an electrical nightmare
Hello all, my name is Zach and I just bought a 2000 Excursion! It's a 2000 Limited 4x4 V10. Ive always wanted one, and Im excited to learn some new things. Its the first 3/4 ton vehicle of any kind Ive ever owned. I picked it up from a guy who owned it for 8 years, in pretty decent shape, for a pretty decent price. It has its issues, misfires being one, of course, but Ive owned plenty of 2V 5.4s and 4.6s so Im no stranger to changing spark plugs, coil packs and upper intake manifolds. No check engine light, but obviously misfiring on a couple of cylinders, but ran good enough to drive it home an hour from where I bought it. Its got 2 different kinds of Amazon coil packs on it, and I bought another set of cheap-o's to throw at it (they had good reviews, haha) If they dont act right I guess Ill break down and buy Motorcraft ones. It rides like a horse and carriage, I assume some of that is to be expected with a 27 year old 3/4 ton, and some is probably the super cheap tires on it... but I feel like Ill probably be rebuilding the front suspension. No biggie. Previous owner had it wired for an amp and subwoofer, so Ive got freakin wires everywhere in the back Ill have to get rid of. It also has the issue with the switch in the back hatch, so I get a constant door ajar light and dome/running board lights that take forever to time out. Ordered a new one and will replace. I have a squeal coming from the right front wheel, and that hub feels kinda loose, previous owner said the hubs have been replaced, so thats something else to look into. Ive got my work cut out for me.
Ive had it for a week, and Im also finishing up an engine swap on my 1986 F150, so I havent done much to it yet. First thing Ive done, and its got me a little worried, is wire in new tag lights. Previous owner had Ranch Hand front and rear bumpers and took them off and replace the factor ones before I bought it. I noticed there were no tag lights or lenses. Bought some off of Amazon (LED... I hate LED) and wired them in. Hope I did it right, the 2 wires for each tag light were both black. I wired them in and turned on the lights and the worked, albeit the were oddly dim for LEDs. Immediately after I go to lock the doors with the fob, and noticed my horn barely honked when hitting the lock button twice, before it was loud as it should be. Also, the next time i started it up it was very weak to start, and when it did it ran even more rough than it did before. Might be a coincidence, or I might be in some electrical mess. Im terrible with electrical stuff, so maybe I wired those tag lights backwards or something, but its just a weird situation. Any insight would be appreciated. Obviously I can spend a lot of time and research it, but thats what is great about forums, is maybe one of yall has experienced something similar! Thanks for reading!
It is a leaf sprung suspension, they do ride a bit ruff .
billion shocks will help the ride , as well as a moderate tire pressure , I run 45 psi in a 99 super duty , V10 .
wiring mess from some one else is always a chore , keep with it , patience is your friend . Are you sure both plate light wires are black ?
I will look at my super duty , should be the same , but doubt you have them wired in reverse , as they work .
enjoy .
I don't have a schematic in front of me, but I would definitely disconnect the new LED lights and see if it goes back to normal, as it was before & should be. If so, connect one light at a time & test after each one; that should tell you if one or both of them are wired incorrectly. If weirdness reoccurs after one or the other, switch the wire connections on the problem LED. LEDs are polarity dependent (positive & negative/chassis wires matter), where the original incandescent were not.
