Expy newbie!

[Eric]

Just switched over from my 95 Tahoe which I drove for 15 years. Even though it was still going strong I decided it was time to upgrade. Always being a Ford fan (owned several 65 Mustangs and a Ranger P/U) and liking that power 3rd row seat for the kids, I decided to buy the Expedition. I picked up a gently used 2005 XLT in Oxford White with just over 43,000 miles on it. After a weekend of cleaning the interior and complete exterior detail I have what looks like a new vehicle!

Anyway I'm back in a Ford and all the little nuances of a Ford vehicle have come back to me. I love the seats as they are like my old Ranger super comfortable. Mine has the premium sound system which is quite impressive sounding for a OEM system. The only gripe I have so far is the idle. For some reason the 5.4 engine has a shake at idle when in drive. If I switch to neutral or park is smooths out, seems the idle is set too low by the computer or it's too lean. In comparison my old Chevy 350 with 177,000 miles on it was smooth as silk.

I had the local dealer run an engine diagnostic on it before I bought the vehicle and they said there were no codes and all tested fine, the technician stated this idle was "normal" for the 5.4 Triton. The prior owner told me the idle was smooth when the vehicle was new but started to shake like this around the 20,000 mile mark, so not sure the "normal" comment is warranted.

I guess I will have to live with it until whatever is causing it finally fails or makes itself known. In the meantime I enjoy the vehicle and the kids and dog love all the room. Now just need to set it up for towing the boat!

Looking forward to chatting with other Expy owners and I will need lots of info from you all as I'm the kind of guy who likes to fix things myself.

Cheers to you all!

 

[jeff1998]

Welcome to the forum Eric. My 98 5.4 liter with 135000 on it has the same "shake" or stutter idle. I guess it is normal. Mine only does it when in gear also and not in park or neutral.

 

[walnuts4x4]

welcome aboard...............

 

[MMasz]

I just bought a 2006 Expy with 41K. The exterior is clean an it runs pretty well (about 18.5 mpg where I live- semi-rural). It too has the rough idle you mentioned. I usually shift it to neutral during long traffic red lights and it smooths out.

I'm Auto-Rx'ing the engine, tranny and p/s. I'll report my findings at a later date.

 

[Eric]

I spent several hours over the weekend searching for a possible vacuum leak, nothing found. I also put a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the last fill-up, I'm sure it won't help but figured it could not hurt. If anyone has other suggestions for the rough idle let me know it would be helpful. Just find it hard to believe this is "normal" as Ford says since this idle condition seems to come on between 20,000 and 40,000 miles.

The search continues...............

On a positive note, sure love the power of the 5.4 on the freeway, I can make some incredible power up pass moves that my old Tahoe never thought of doing!

 

[Eric]

Well the bottle of Lucas fuel injector cleaner has been run through and did not change anything.....no surprise here but thought I would share anyway.

I'm getting more used to the rough idle, just convincing myself it's like my old Mustang with the racing cam, you know that muscle car hotrod sound and feel.

 

[KWT2000]

welcome to the forum

on the rough idel check the pcv valve and line from the valve cover all the way to the intake this is a very common cause... in the how to section po 171 and po 174 thread has pictures of this problem and the new part numbers

post some pics when you get a change

 

[Eric]

Checked the line, my 05 looks a little different from the photos, from what I can see the lines look fine I sprayed starting fluid (either) over the vaccum lines with no change in idle so I don't think I have any vaccum leaks.

Once I figure out how to attach a photo I will.

 

[cwshakey]

you could try cleaning the MAF sensor. Listen to the injectors to make sure they are firing right? I am not sure exactly. My 2006 expy was having a rough idle and power loss and it ended up being the combination of bad coil boots and plugs which fixed my rough idle, but brought attention to my power loss which was bad o2 sensors and clogged CATS.....you could pop off a couple coil pack boot and see how they look. My 2006 had water in sand in there somehow and they were all corroded to hell. Hopefully it is something minor that is just being hard to find........BTW after replacing everything my EXPO runs idles and drives smooth so maybe it is one of those things on yours.

 

[Eric]

When I have time will give it a try, but i don't hold much hope for it. I recently had Ford run an engine diagnositc due to the rough idle and their analysis was everything was working as normal.......so who knows, it's like "snipe" hunting.