MohamedAli
New Member
I feel kind of stupid for never bothering to google expedition forum before, you are all my people! Where I live, I have the oldest vehicle of anyone I know and it seems like everyone I know trades their new car in for a rock in the tread and I'm over here just trying to keep my tires on. My truck is a 2000 xlt, I bought it for $8k 7 years ago and on the way home from the dealership the motor blew. They wouldn't agree to pay for the tow so initially I towed it to my house because I was on the highway and a ma state police officer showed up and said because I was driving on their dealer plate but had ripped off the paper that was from the dealer on the window I was driving unregistered and uninsured. In MA, a state police tow at that time cost $90 to hook, $3 a mile. They cop kept telling me how lucky I was that he was not arresting me, probably because I was crying and holding a reciept for $8000 paid in cash and my truck was smoking and all her fluids where pouring out. It ended up being a $690 tow, 3 weeks later I appeared before a judge with a $500 lawyer and beat the charges. I didn't know you needed the sale paper to drive on a dealer plate and no one at the dealer was answering the phone. So now I have this truck in my driveway, not running, and I'm calling the dealer thats hundreds of miles away and no answer. So I work for a major truck rental agency, I regularly have to transfer trucks all over the state, normally I would take my vehicle on an auto carrier, drop the truck and drive home. So in the next few days I need to bring a truck past Boston in the next town from where my truck is from, so I load that ***** on an auto carrier by myself pushing it with a 16ft box truck and I drive all the way there. As son as I get there, theres no cars for sale when before there where hundreds, and the sales floor is cleared out of furniture. Theres one guy in service and he tels me their parent co puled all their cars but they are working it out and they had electrical problems so service has been closed. Im real skeptical but I have no choice. I drop my 24' and take 2 bonanza buses home. 2 weeks go by, no calls, I've talked to a million ppl even the cops, I decide to go get my truck. I bring a 24 box truck with a full sized auto carrier, every strap and chain I can find and my 74 year old master mechanic from my job. We hammer down and roll up around 2pm, theres no cars and a closed sign. No cars in the parking lot, I can see my truck in the service bay, it's the only vehicle. I go next door and talk to guys in the autobody shop, they say that dealership screwed everyone and then split. I call the cops. Me, my mechanic, the cop, and 3 guys from next door stand outside for about 30 minutes talking. The owner is gone, has warrants and a host of unpaid employees. As we are walking I start trying the doors, 3rd one was unlocked. The cops says he's leaving and I should take my truck and leave, gets in his cruiser and drives away. So I go inside but cant open the huge door, my mechanic and the autobody shop guys try to f with their compressor but the power is off so they end up manually pulling the door up with the chains I brought and then I backed the box truck right under it and the 4 of us pushed my truck onto the autocarrier. They closed the door and I brought my truck home. So I kind of feel like the cops helped me steal my own truck back. I'm already in another grand in fuel and the police tow. So I think I'm slick and I buy a complete 99 navigator with a blown air ride w 49k no title for $2000, thinking I could just switch every part forever. So they toothless shrew I got to swap mototrs said I didnt want the nav motor because the wiring harness was diffrent and that I didn't need to do the tranny too. Boy did that come back to bite me in the ass, I traded the entire drivetrain from the navigator for a used 4.6 with supposedly 69k. As soon as it was in it was wicked apparent that I needed something in the transmission. It's like jesus is kicking my truck in the ****** at 44mph. If you shut off od it gets better, and it's not as bad when it snows. I did my trailing arms by myself all at diffrent times, e.i. when they rotted completley thru. Thats kinda a hard job for someone with no mechanical still whatsoever. So now I have done, upper and lower trailing arms, tie rods, ball joints, the used motor but every seal replaced on it, hub assemblies, heater cores, every single break line, some again and again, coil packs, mass air sensor(using the one from the nav on the 4.6 was horrible and ****ing dangerous)tires, every window regulator, batteries, alternator,starters, pitman arms, exhaust. I've only driven this truck 19,000 miles in 7 years, is mostly broken. I sometimes just bring it to work with me on an autocarrier to pretend I have a vehicle that runs. I'm also currently is ******* rear wheel drive but drove everywhere in 4 wheel high for 2 years, both suck. My rear doors don't open from the inside, my speed cluster only works if you punch it while talking dirty to it. I have rot along the door bottoms. Tonight fluid started pouring out of the gear box from the power sterring.My steering somehow went from sailboatish to tight right after I pumped $90 in fuel, maybe from weight? The heater cores I bought on ebay didnt fit so I still got no heat, no ac after multiple recharges. I don't know where to go from here, if you took the time to read my mini novel, please advise. Where do I go from here.
They wouldn't agree to pay for the tow so initially I towed it to my house because I was on the highway and a ma state police officer showed up and said because I was driving on their dealer plate but had ripped off the paper that was from the dealer on the window I was driving unregistered and uninsured. In MA, a state police tow at that time cost $90 to hook, $3 a mile. The cop kept telling me how lucky I was that he was not arresting me, probably because I was crying and holding a reciept for $8000 paid in cash and my truck was smoking and all her fluids where pouring out. 
It ended up being a $690 tow, 3 weeks later I appeared before a judge with a $500 lawyer and beat the charges. 
There's one guy in service and he tells me their parent company pulled all their cars but they are working it out and they had electrical problems so service has been closed. 
I'm real skeptical but I have no choice. I drop my 24' and take 2 bonanza buses home. 
I call the cops. Me, my mechanic, the cop, and 3 guys from next door stand outside for about 30 minutes talking. The owner is gone, has warrants and a host of unpaid employees. As we are walking I start trying the doors, 3rd one was unlocked. The cops says he's leaving and I should take my truck and leave, gets in his cruiser and drives away. So I go inside but can't open the huge door, my mechanic and the autobody shop guys try to f with their compressor but the power is off so they end up manually pulling the door up with the chains I brought and then I backed the box truck right under it and the 4 of us pushed my truck onto the autocarrier. They closed the door and I brought my truck home. So I kind of feel like the cops helped me steal my own truck back. 
That's kinda a hard job for someone with no mechanical skill whatsoever. So now I have done, upper and lower trailing arms, tie rods, ball joints, the used motor but every seal replaced on it, hub assemblies, heater cores, every single break line, some again and again, coil packs, mass air sensor (using the one from the nav on the 4.6 was horrible and ****ing dangerous), tires, every window regulator, batteries, alternator,starters, pitman arms, exhaust. I've only driven this truck 19,000 miles in 7 years, as it is mostly broken. 
