Does anyone else almost wish they bought something else? I have had my Expy for two months now. I have to say I am beginning to hate it, sadly enough. I traded in my sports car, 98 Trans Am GT, for this truck.
I have had it to the shop more since these two short months of owning it than any other vehicle I have ever owned before. Just dropped it off tonight for a appt. tomorrow to have a new torque converter put in, amoung about a dozen other things...no kidding...

Signal mirror reflective foil backing peeling and cracking.

Check engine light is ON.

ABS don't come on...almost hit a deer and slammed on the brakes and wheels locked up and skid leaving four skid marks.

Weather stripping rippling on doors letting wind noise in like crazy.

Emergency Brake light on dash INOP when brake is set.

Window/door mouldings faded and discolored on all 4 doors.

Engine knock/pings/rattles on start up...piston slap...just got a call on it from dealer...

Well, there is lots more and has been since day one. I have never owned a ford before, I have always had Pontiacs. Two different Grand Prixs and a Trans Am. Between the three of them I have only been to the dealer w/them 4 times all together. So obviously I am having mixed feelings on my Ford. Feelings like thank god I bought the extended warranty and feelings like boy I miss my Trans Am right about now....
Someone, anyone....is this the normal ford life???? Because I am ready to trade already!!!
Caryl

 

It sounds like you bought a used "X". The weatherstrip ripple, moulding discoloration, and "slap" are all common problems to early models. The other problems sounds like someone got rid of a lemon and you bought it.

Maybe your dealer can get everything fixed. We love our "X". The only non-appearance service was for a faulty 4x4 selector switch. Unless you count the time we were rear-ended by a Buick going 50mph... we got a new swaybar and differential cover plate.

Neal

 

Is the truck new ?

Make sure you work with a dealer you trust. Ask to talk with the regional rep if things are getting fixed to your satisfaction. Also make sure that you call the 800 number and let Ford know you are not satisfied.

Make sure you have EVERYTHING documented.

Back in May of this year, I made Ford buy back my 98 Cobra. In 5 months of ownership it was in the shop for 34 days. (6,500 miles) They had replaced over $8,000 in parts and the vibration was still not fixed.

This Cobra had more things wrong with it then all of my other Fords combined.

Bottom line, I am a true Blue Oval man, but just happened to get a bad one.

Good Luck !



[This message has been edited by FordBigFoot (edited 11-22-1999).]

 

YES, IT IS A USED EXPY. I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD BE OKAY THOUGH SINCE I BOUGHT THE EXTENDED WARRANTY AND IT WAS STILL IN THE FACTORY WARRANTY. LITTLE DID I KNOW I WOULD BE UP THERE SO MUCH W/THINGS WRONG WITH IT. I HAVE HAD IT FOR 2 MONTHS AND HAVE BEEN UP THERE 10 TIMES HALF OF WHICH FOR THE SAME PROBLEM THAT THEY DIDN'T FIX. NOW WE FOUND AN OIL LEAK AND THEY SAY IT IS NOT LEAKING. THEY DEGREASED IT ALL (BETWEEN THE BLOCK AND THE HEAD) AND SENT US HOME W/IT. NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO DO THE STRESS TEST WITH THE DYE IN THE OIL, JUST SAID IT WASN'T LEAKING AND WE COULD GO HOME WITH IT. WELL, WE GOT IT HOME AND SURE ENOUGH, OIL IS LEAKING OUT OF THE HEAD WHERE THEY HAD TOTALLY CLEANED IT ALL OFF, SPIT SHINED IT JUST ABOUT. SO WE TOOK PICS OF IT WITH THE DIGITAL CAMERA AND ARE NOW DECIDING HOW WE WANT TO GO ABOUT TAKING CARE OF IT. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO GO BACK THERE TO THEM, THEY UPSET US SO BAD WHEN THEY SAID THERE WAS NO LEAK WHEN I HAVE THE DRIVEWAY TO PROVE IT ALSO AND THE WHOLE BACKSIDE OF THE MOTOR COVERED WITH OIL. THEY TRIED SAYING IT WAS FROM CHANGING THE OIL. WELL, SORRY BUT THERE IS NO WAY IT IS FROM CHANGING ANY OIL, EVEN IF A MONKEY CHANGED IT, THE OIL WOULD NEVER GET ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE BLOCK BETWEEN THE HEAD AND THE BLOCK. THE WORST PART OF ALL OF IT IS BEFORE I BOUGHT IT, IT HAD WORK DONE ON IT AND THIS PARTICULAR HEAD WAS R AND R. (I HAVE THE HISTORY REPORT OF THE VEHICLES REPAIRS FROM DAY ONE OF IT'S WARRANTY OF THE PREVIOUS OWNER, THE DEALER GAVE IT TO ME) IT TURNS OUT THIS IS THE SHOP THAT DID THE HEAD WORK TO BEGIN WITH AND NOW IT IS LEAKING....WHAT A BUNCH OF MORONS! I SHOWED THEM THE REPORT THAT THEY HAD GIVEN TO ME REMINDING THEM THAT THEY DID THE WORK THE FIRST TIME AND NOW THE OIL IS LEAKING OUT OF HERE, THEY ARE IN TOTAL DENIAL.

 

DEFINITELY find a different shop. Even a Lincoln/Mercury shop will do the repairs. In fact, they might even be better at fixing it than a Ford shop. L/M mechanics have to go to school before the dealership can sell the Navigator, so someone there should have a clue.

Sorry to hear about all your problems, but it really sounds like your shop is full of lying @$$holes.

 

Yes, I do agree that it is time to go to a different dealer too. They are buttheads there...for sure.
Thanks for your support Nomo...

 

I think that once your service problems are solved and your X is "fixed", you'll really like it. I know that both my wife and I enjoy her vehicle a lot.

Neal

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1997 4x4 Expedition- 4.6L, true dual exhaust w/glass-packs, K&N air filter, SuperChip, airbox mods, Edelbrock shocks, 285/75R16 BFG ATs, Optima "T-Bone" wheels, and Clarion In-dash CD player. Just added Smitty Bilt push bars and nerf bars!!

1993 4x2 F150 Reg. Cab LWB- 5.0L, cat-back dual exhaust w/glass-packs, K&N air filter, Superchip, fresh paint, and Line-X bedliner.

2000"other"
http://members.visualcities.com/NoMo

 

You've got all my sympathy. Our brand new 99 F150 leaked from day one, on the passenger's side between the block and head. Replacing the head gasket (third visit, second dealership) stopped the leak but resulted in erratic, harsh shifting which ended up causing the transmission to slip and driveline to clunk on accel/decel. Ended up replacing the transmission and driveshaft after reprogramming the shift module didn't help, and the problem was as bad as ever.

So why am I posting this with the Expy stuff? Because when the A/C stopped working the next week, I drove it to the dealer where I had to pay over five grand to trade it for a year older expedition with twice as many miles on it. At least they got to charge me for an extended warranty.

The 98 drives great. Yes it knocks on cold starts, and yes the service guys are NPF'ing me again. (No Problem Found, essential lingo for new ford owners). I'm on my fourth Ford service department in the Kansas City area, and after cleaning up all the KY I've decided to spend an extra hundred bucks a year to cover up the piston slap problem with Mobil 1 oil, and keep 89 octane in it to keep the clattering to a minimum. Well worth not having to deal with any of those Ford guys any more.

So why not write Ford Customer Service? I did: notarized, certified mail, copies of EVERYTHING, everything documented. Nothing over the phone. Their reply was a half page "we received your correspondence" letter encouraging my to contact my dealer if I had not heard anything from them or the regional office within five days. That was over two weeks ago. They should have at least included a free tube of KY if they expected me to speak with my dealer again.
I'd call the consumer affairs rep who wrote me the letter, but guess what? No phone number, no address, just that ugly Blue oval at the top of the letter. How convenient for THEM.

Thanks for listening - I'd say get RID of the vehicle now before it consumes any more of your time and effort. Life's too short. I still don't believe in lemons, but I do believe in the scarcity of capable service technicians who can isolate a problem and fix it without creating ten other problems. You obviously haven't found a capable one either. Good luck.



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Ex-99 F150SC 4x4 ORP 5.4/3.73 Leaky Clunker
Now-98 Expedition 4x4 XLT
5.4/3.73 Slapper

 

Last Thursday I was talking to one of my wife's college roommates who's married to a Ch*vy tech. She was telling us about how all these "problem" people came in and bothered her hubby with complaints about noises, missing, intermittant electronic failures, etc. but her husband (and all the other "techs") could never find any codes in the computer that said there was a problem. Finally, just to shut the customer up, they would take the vehicle out and drive it. The worst part was when she said her hubby FOUND a problem in this one guys car, but didn't try to fix it because the car was a Sunbird. Told the owner that if he wanted a good solid car, he'd have to spend more money!!! She (& he) just couldn't believe that someone would expect a $15,000 car to be built perfectly.

She had no answer when I asked her why the bolts on 15k car shouldn't be as tight as those on a 40k car.

NPF isn't just a Ford owner's lingo.

 

Amen Nomo!

 

Okay, it is me again, this topic starter...gp9196...
Here is the scoop now with the oil leak prob. that I was referring to in the above post:
After having a yelling match w/them the first time I took it to them complaining of a oil leak and being sent home because they said there was no leak without even putting in the dye to testit, I brought it back the next morning screaming at them telling them to put the dye in it cuz it just leaked more oil on a different spot of my driveway the night before right after they sent me home. Well, yesterday they had it to check for leaks after I put some miles on it by using the black light under it. They called me and said, "Oh, it is leaking oil from the head gasket and your power steering pump is leaking too." I was like NO *****!!!! So they got a great big IN YOUR FACE! from me and I liked that. They were all sorts of sucking up because they know they screwed up. They just didn't want to be told by a girl that there was a doubt in one of their mechanics' findings, in this case lack of...
So now my thoughts are this: Do I trust them to do the work? They are the dorks who did the work the first time before I bought the truck. (#3 Spark plug backed out and so it was only being held in by a few threads and the compression blew it out ripping the threads right out with it in which case they had to R&R the head.) This is the same head that is leaking from the head gasket now. So I feel like they are dorks and if they would have done the work the right way the first time I would not be in this boat now.
So like you said "Nomo" once all the problems are fixed, I think I will start to like this truck better finally.
GP9196

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1997 Eddie Bauer 4x4 Expedition, 5.4 engine, dual exhaust, headlight covers...more to come soon.

 

Well, they finally acknowledged that there's a problem and, in doing so, confirmed that you know what you're talking about. Maybe they'll do better in an effort to not look stupid again. Or, maybe not. I've changed shops twice because they pissed me off.

There is one thing to keep in mind: Ford put out some heads (even in NEW trucks) that had a flaw resulting in an oil leak. You might have gotten one of those. This doesn't make the shop any better for not checking, but at least they may not have actually screwed up the installation.

What about all of your other issues? Have they taken any steps to correct them yet?

 

Nomo:
I had to bitch, of course, but I have had the mirror replaced and they paid for it/covered it...whatever it is referred to as, it was $300, they gave me a whole new mirror not just the glass. I had to convince them that it was not totally cosmetic like they thought it was. I explained to them that it was producing annoying reflections at night and the LED signal was really dim.
The rest of the problems are fixed for the time being like the brake light, etc. so hopefully this oil leak will be the last of it. The only thing I could not get them to take care of is the mouldings being faded. The warranty company won't cover them, I am on my extended warranty now, that stinks but they have come a long way since I started being nasty to them and called Ford Customer Service and reported my crappy trips up there with no outcome. I will most likely shop for a different dealer after the head gasket is repaired, hopefully they replace the head if they see the need for it.
Caryl

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1997 Eddie Bauer 4x4 Expedition, 5.4 engine, dual exhaust, headlight covers...more to come soon.

 

I think someone here was posting about the piston slap problem in one of their trucks, search older threads about that, there's a lot of stuff on it. I think ford is replacing engines with them... also search for Trinton46's web page, he has a sound file on what the piston slap sounds like. I think I remember reading that the new engines were like brand new and elminated the problem...
hope that helps.

 

I don't like the sound of your experiences, guys. My wife's 99 5.4EB has 7500 miles on it, never been back to the dealer. The Expy is fine-BUT I put a Vortech S trim blower on it and thats another story. I have been debugging it for a couple of months now. It seems the kit was for a 97-98 but Sean Hyland Motorsports said it'll fit the 99. Wrong! After Sean Hyland took a month and half to send a replacement pulley I started dealing direct with Vortech. 4 or 5 calls later I have it running but I still don't have a bracket to remount the power steering reservoir required on air suspension models. It did wake up impressively, but it was only "bolt on" in somebodies dream -or nightmare.