Suggestions and opinions please

I've been looking at buying a first gen expedition for the last couple years. I found a very nice example for sale. 1997 4x4 XLT. 5.4L. The owner has kept up on maintenance it seems. It has a new radiator in 2014. New ac compressor in 2012. New battery last year. Rear different service in 2014. Lower ball joints in 2010 ( not very recent really). Has a new serp belt and new starter.

Here's the kicker though. In 2010 he had a remanufactured 5.4 engine installed. Truck had 149000 miles on it. Now just recently he had a head gasket go. Coolant in oil. He put 60,000 miles on the engine before the head gasket went.

The whole reason I'm wanting to buy an expedition is I want a project. There's zero rust on this thing. New tires. Interior is an 8/10. Everything else works. He has every receipt for all maintenance done. He wants $1,200.

I have the ability to fix it myself. I'm not in a hurry to get it done as this will be an extra vehicle to play with.

I haven't seen any local to me that touch this one as far as condition goes.

What would you do? But this abs do the head gaskets? Move on?

No.

Too old, too barebones, and a fixer upper at that???

Is there coolant in the oil?

Adieu said:

No.

Too old, too barebones, and a fixer upper at that???

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I would assume most are fixer uppers at this point. Seems as though most items have been taken care of minus the head gasket. Condition wise this is far and away in better shape than every other available, similar priced unit. Not sure about bare bones. Looks as though it has leather and all the bells and whistles.

stamp11127 said:

Is there coolant in the oil?

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Yes, coolant in oil. It was parked as soon as the issue came up a few weeks ago.

For $1200 it's not a bad price. Since you're looking for a project, you could do the head gaskets and flip it (if you wanted) since you said there's nothing in the area even close to that condition.

Or keep it. Heck, I have a 2000 that I just spent about $200 on a new radiator (radiator, lower hose and coolant). I've got 208,000 miles on it. I have no immediate plans to get rid of it. Even if you had to put a new engine and transmission in it (let's say $6000 total) you'd have a truck in great condition for $7200. Or you can go to a dealer and spend 2, 3, 4 or 5 times as much or more to get something newer.