Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - Excursion - King of SUVs

ATS Leaf Springs

SuperDutyScaler — Fri, 15 May 2026 00:31:59 GMT

Hi all, I have a question on ATS springs. Yes before you say, I know this is the ex subpage and yes I have a 2004 F350...so Im at this point where I want to go somewhat back to a stock truck again. And ATS springs and Ford Super Duty/Excursion go together like PB&J. I want as close to the OEM x-code leaf springs as possible which are 3k per spring or 6k total capacity. Besides OEM (no longer available) the closest capacity is aftermarket around 2,600lbs give or take. So here's my questions...
A) can any of you who have ATS springs, give me the distance between center of the front shock bolts?
(add in engine and extra front weight please)
B) does anyone have ATS 43-812HD springs?

Im looking at two currently
Option 1)
43-812HD this is upgraded "oem" U-code
3 leafs @ .590"
Height 1.8"
Arch 4 5/8"
Cap 2,780lbs per or 5,560lbs total

Option 2)
43-818 "oem" X-code
2 leafs @ .625
Height 1 5/16"
Arch 4 7/8"
Cap 2,630 per or 5,260lbs total

Leaning towards option #1 - three lighter capacity springs for ride quality but together offer closer to OEM x-code capacity. So no sagging in the future AND im looking at maybe a face-lift of a nice winch bumper
And by the way my truck is a F350 5.4 ext cab short bed

Gas tank skid plate (2005, 6.8 V10)

sgc2c — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:15:22 GMT

Is the skid plate (or whatever it's called) that holds up the gas tank in the 6.8 for my 2005 still made new by anyone?
Are the bolts made anywhere and are they anything special or can I get those most places?
It's all rusted like no one's business up there.

2000 Excursion door ajar light stays on

burnoutbronco351 — Wed, 13 May 2026 15:24:30 GMT

Hey guys, I have an issue with my door ajar light staying on while Im driving, and the interior/running board light staying on after vehicle is exited and locked. From the research Ive done, it seems to be a common problem, and it is commonly the door jam switches in the rear hatch. I removed all the interior panels on the hatch and found the switch location. The driver side switch was just missing, the pass. side was there, I took it out, and the little pin thats supposed to move up and down is seized. I tried freeing it up with some penetrating oil, but its stuck. They dont make the particular door jam switch needed for the Excursion rear hatch anymore, or else Id just buy some. I saw one video where a guy just unplugged both switches and it fixed the issue, but that didnt work for me. I also tried jumping both connectors, that didnt work either. I sprayed all the passenger door latches down with WD40, but I suppose there is a chance its one of the passenger doors, I just figured it was more than likely the hatch. Any Ideas? Thanks!

Fast idle and TPS question.

Slothy-poo — Mon, 11 May 2026 15:01:48 GMT

Long time lurker, first time poster. This website has been so helpful with little things here and there I've done to my Ex over the years, but I finally ran into a problem I can't exactly solve.

So, I'm not new to wrenching, but I know where there is gaps in my knowledge and one of those is pretty much anything with the voodoo magic we humans call electrical. I know it either works or it doesn't but trying to narrow down electrical concerns has always been a shortcoming of mine. I can connect wire from here to there and know enough to not kill myself or let the smoke out (most of the time). With that said, I acquired a new to me, 2nd Ex, (V10, 4wd, '03) about a month ago and took care of all of the low hanging mechanical issues, but one that has been on the back of my mind is how high the truck revs at start up cold or hot. Cold im used to, but when its hot it still revs up over 2000-2500 and high idles for 10 or 15 seconds before settling to \~800rpm. My first thought was maybe the IAC, but it doesn't show any other symptoms of a failing valve. Then while driving I noticed that it shifts a little more firm, and at higher speeds than my 2000 v10. Additionally when coasting down a hill it seems to not want to go into fuel cut off. And randomly it will actually accelerate down hill. Then coming to stops it will down shift and pull ever so slightly. Once stopped it will pull like im giving it throttle and then after maybe 3 seconds go back to a normal idle. That last bit is very random. Fast forward to last weekend and I installed an android head unit and finally got the torque app running. I have it connected via USB (same dongel I used for forscan). While I havent monitored it with forscan yet (need go renew the license), I noticed a few things that maybe made me point towards the TPS. First was the instantaneous mpg gauge and current fuel consumption through torque. While I know this is mostly unreliable, while coasting down hill at around 55-60 mph, the mpg gauge only goes to about 35mpg and fuel consumption shows about 1.9 gallons per hour. My assumption is that under fuel cut off coasting down a hill that the mpg should be maxing the gauge and the consumption should be all but zero. So I look at my TPS gauge and it reads about 21.5% at idle and 94% at wot (engine off) and my short/long term fuel trims are trying to lean things out to the tune of -5-7%. While this all seems normal, under any throttle while accelerating or cruising the fuel trims are near 0 where I expect them. Since TPS's are cheap, i replaced it yesterday and noticed i have to rotate it before i install it, like im preloading it. As far as I know the truck has no tune, but it has a k&n kit on it and previous owners have installed everything from subs to car alarms and remote starters so who knows what else they've messed with.. i checked the throttle butterflies and cleaned them. There is no binding and the plates fully close on the stop set screw, which does to look like its been messed with.

Do any of you think im on to something? Where can I start chasing issues? Everything seems to be functioning as designed and there are no real driveability issues outside the very random pulling under braking/decel. This one kind of has me stumped and I don't want to go messing with that idle set screw. I guess I could swap the throttle body from my 2000 to test, but I hate to caniblize my 00' if there might be something obvious to someone here. Sorry for the long read. Appreciate everything.

V10 Overheating

2157 — Fri, 08 May 2026 01:15:02 GMT

2000 V10 that will overheat only when towing and going up a hill. Has 244k and I do know it's still the original radiator. Just looking for some information on the first place to check or where to start.

Receiver rating / class

DustyEx — Thu, 07 May 2026 00:05:02 GMT

What�s the class or rating on the OEM receiver? Curious how much I can tow from it or if I have to upgrade it down the road.

parasitic draw

Hotwire2020 — Tue, 05 May 2026 13:10:09 GMT

Hello
I have a 2001 Excursion Limited with the 6.8L v10 and 175,000 miles. I have recently been dealing with a dead battery. Found out the truck has a parasitic draw of 364 milliamps. According to internet searches it should be around 25 to 40. I have let the truck sit overnight with the negative battery cable disconnected (hood up) and still have 364 milliamps draw when I connect the meter. I have traced it to fuse 15, stop lamp switch, PAT, GEM. When I remove the 5-amp fuse (#15) the draw goes down to 19 milliamps. The only electrical gremlin I've noticed is that once the battery is depleted and I try to start it (it just clicks) after I turn the key off it will try to crank again for 2-3 seconds (just clicking). I originally thought it was the auto start that has been installed. Other than that, I do not notice any electrical gremlins. I know that there is a lot of discussion about this problem and have read a lot of the post and will continue to keep reading them. Just a little impatient and hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
So, my question is this. Is this a faulty gem module or should I do further troubleshooting?
What could be causing the draw, no weird electrical problems?
I know that the gem module is a discontinued part from Ford. Is there a company that will repair these gem modules or an aftermarket supplier?
Thanks.
Brent.

SEAT HEIGHT EXCURSION V F250

DoOver — Mon, 04 May 2026 14:26:36 GMT

So, I love my 2000 V-10 Excursion but I picked up a 2003 6.0 F250 pick up. A Florida truck it has every option but heated seats. Adjusting mirrors and the seat to drive it home and I adjusted the seat and it went up to a position my Excursion never reached. The Ex I always felt I was sitting on the ground.. Do '03 Ex seats adjust high as the pick ups or is this just a truck thing.

Seeing P0360 on my 2005 a lot

sgc2c — Sun, 03 May 2026 21:28:07 GMT

Pretty sure I know why I'm getting P0360, with occasional appearances by P0310 and P0316.
For cylinder 10 -- the one you can barely even see -- the electrical connector to the ignition coil never goes "snap" into the coil plug.
The tab's missing.
Usually it's no problem but sometimes I find it, shall we say, a bit loose on there.
I then get on a ladder, feel around, and press it further into place.

So ... am I forced to replace the whole wiring harness for this or what?
Is there any more modular way to replace the connector itself?
Or a life-hack to hold it in place?
Suggestions welcome.
And if you think there are other problems at work here, let me know.
Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Rear Sway Bar Necessary for Towing?

Deagle12 — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:06:40 GMT

I am planning on towing a 7x16 enclosed trailer about 3000 miles total from TX->CA->TX. It seems that a rear sway bar would be a great benefit, but how necessary is it for safety? It looks like the Hellwig bar is currently over $500, and scrounging up a replacement bar from the salvage yard, finding discontinued bracket parts, etc, is also not super cheap or easy either.

The amount of effort/cost seems high enough that I wonder if I'll be fine without it? Is it really that necessary? Will I be white knuckling it for thousands of miles if I don't put one on? This is a 2000 2wd by the way.

No trailer brake lights - Not Connector

liftinglarge — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:49:17 GMT

Trailer brake light problems. My trailer brake lights do not work. Left and right turns on the trailer work, as do the regular running lights. At the fuse box in the cab, fusebox #13 is good. Under the hood, Fuses 20 and 22 are good. I can test light power on fuse 20 and 22 when the turn signals are on, but not when the brake pedal is pushed. all 3 brake lights on the EX are working. Does the switch at the brake pedal have 2 separate 12V outputs? One for the Ex and one for the trailer? Thanks

New Excursion owner, worried it might be an electrical nightmare

burnoutbronco351 — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 19:43:13 GMT

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!

Found my annoying slow coolant leak

Antonm23 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:03:46 GMT

For like the last two or three years I've had an annoying slow and intermittent coolant leak. Every now and then I'd find a few drips of coolant on the ground, then months would go by with nothing and I'd think it was fixed, then a few drips on the ground again, drove me nuts.

I'm pretty sure I found the root cause.

The coolant lines that feed the rear HVAC run behind the passenger front plastic inner fender and have quick connects in them.

One of the hose crimps (not the actual quick connect fitting itself, but the hose crimp) was leaking. These are probably original 21 year old hoses, so I guess I really can't complain about how long they lasted.

So I cut both of the quick connect fittings out.

Rolled a bead in the end of the hard line with this little wonder tool.

Beads came out plenty good enough.

A little 1/2 inch silicon heater hose and a few traditional worm clamps later I'm hoping its good-to-go for another 20 years.

...

What size battery terminal bolt/nut (�05 Excursion 6.8)

sgc2c — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 18:21:40 GMT

See the pictures I attached here.

I lost the nut that held the terminal tight.
I purchased this other one from Walmart and it�s too big.

What is the right size? The new one (the shiny one in the picture) is just slightly too big.

The one I purchased is supposed to be the �Everstart 923-2W Top Post Replacement Bolts and Nuts, Plated Steel�.

Parking Aid System Sensor OHM reading

billygoat — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 03:43:46 GMT

I do not have a code reader to tell me which one or all of my rear back up sensors are working so I am testing the OHMs. Does anyone know what these should read? I have several used ones from the junkyard that are all over the place. I want to purchase OEM, however, these are about $85/ea.

Thank you in advance