Brandonian
Active Member
Howdy Again Everyone!
Well - here I am again for some friendly advice. 2016 Expedition EL XLT with 3.5l (that's all they made for these years anyway) -
Coolant temperature readings have become erratic (it appears to warm up fine, temp creeps above the "C" mark on the gauge when I run it via remote start for a few minutes - I get in, drive the kiddo to school, normally by the time I get home from drop off a mile or so away the gauge is reading to temp. However I recently noticed that driving it my temperature appears to fluctuate wildly - I.E. on a downhill my gauage drops drarmatically, going uphill it gets back up to temp - then driving it more it goes down a bit. Sitting at Idle in front of my garage - it was fine (I even revved it a bit to see if I could fluctuate it at that point) and it didn't fluctuate.
Now - I normally didn't watch the temperature gauage - but I've never known this to be normal activity by any means. It's not overheating, it's not overcooling - just an odd fluctuation.
For informational purposes - the secondary water pump was replaced when I purchased it by the dealer, I replaced the primary water pump 2 months after buying it because it was leaking badly - and I threw in a new thermostat while in there (this was all last summer).
I wouldn't say it's cold enough here to really do anything of this nature wise, it's low 30s these mornings. My heat works fine (I have to turn it all the way up when the kiddo is in the vehicle, she's a wee little one and says she's cold lol) - when I turn it back to auto on say, 72 degrees, it helps with the fluctuations - checking the reservoir I don't see a loss of any coolant. Which is why I'm believing stuck open thermostat related - but if the thermostat was stuck open I'd have an issue with heat and it wouldn't go back to normal temp just sitting there idling?
The one person I could always call on to help is no longer walking this plane - and my knowledge of general mechanics thanks to him allows me to follow procedures and repair most anything - however sometimes I really get stuck in a diagnostic phase. He could put his ear to a screwdriver on the parts and tell you what was wrong haha .
Also I dislike working on these Ecoboosts - while not mechanically difficult, everything takes longer and is a pita because of the turbos and so many vacuum lines, electrical - i am really contemplating trading this in before any other issues stir up and getting just a normal V8 burb to work on. I'll work on my Wife's V6 Ram all day because of it's lack of turbos, but when it comes to the Expedition, ugh. I would rather own a Ford than a Chevy - but jeez. Anyone else have similar experience - takes them that much longer to do things on this?
Well - here I am again for some friendly advice. 2016 Expedition EL XLT with 3.5l (that's all they made for these years anyway) -
Coolant temperature readings have become erratic (it appears to warm up fine, temp creeps above the "C" mark on the gauge when I run it via remote start for a few minutes - I get in, drive the kiddo to school, normally by the time I get home from drop off a mile or so away the gauge is reading to temp. However I recently noticed that driving it my temperature appears to fluctuate wildly - I.E. on a downhill my gauage drops drarmatically, going uphill it gets back up to temp - then driving it more it goes down a bit. Sitting at Idle in front of my garage - it was fine (I even revved it a bit to see if I could fluctuate it at that point) and it didn't fluctuate.
Now - I normally didn't watch the temperature gauage - but I've never known this to be normal activity by any means. It's not overheating, it's not overcooling - just an odd fluctuation.
For informational purposes - the secondary water pump was replaced when I purchased it by the dealer, I replaced the primary water pump 2 months after buying it because it was leaking badly - and I threw in a new thermostat while in there (this was all last summer).
I wouldn't say it's cold enough here to really do anything of this nature wise, it's low 30s these mornings. My heat works fine (I have to turn it all the way up when the kiddo is in the vehicle, she's a wee little one and says she's cold lol) - when I turn it back to auto on say, 72 degrees, it helps with the fluctuations - checking the reservoir I don't see a loss of any coolant. Which is why I'm believing stuck open thermostat related - but if the thermostat was stuck open I'd have an issue with heat and it wouldn't go back to normal temp just sitting there idling?
The one person I could always call on to help is no longer walking this plane - and my knowledge of general mechanics thanks to him allows me to follow procedures and repair most anything - however sometimes I really get stuck in a diagnostic phase. He could put his ear to a screwdriver on the parts and tell you what was wrong haha .
Also I dislike working on these Ecoboosts - while not mechanically difficult, everything takes longer and is a pita because of the turbos and so many vacuum lines, electrical - i am really contemplating trading this in before any other issues stir up and getting just a normal V8 burb to work on. I'll work on my Wife's V6 Ram all day because of it's lack of turbos, but when it comes to the Expedition, ugh. I would rather own a Ford than a Chevy - but jeez. Anyone else have similar experience - takes them that much longer to do things on this?