'03 EB problems - long

[Guest]

I'm new to the forum, just bought an '03 Eddie Bauer. I traded in an '01 F150 Lariat.

I have some problems, I am about at wit's end.
9-28, I bought the vehicle, it had 97 miles when I test-drove it. I noticed a continuous rattle in the headliner immediately over my left ear, but only in the morning when it is cold. (I live in Minneapolis, we've had a couple of mornings in the 30's already, but 40's or 50's is cold enough for the noise to be really noticeable.)
I also have a shimmy in the steering wheel at 70mph on the highway. I called in for an appointment. On Sept. 31st the dealer took a look, said I'd need a new appointment for a full day. Fine. I dropped it off on Oct 2nd. They gave me a Focus. I picked up my truck on Oct. 3rd. They had replaced 3 tires (it had Continental something-or-others) and ordered a new wheel.
Here's where it gets miserable:
They had ballpoint inkpen all over the seat and seat back. (I have tan leather seats).
They'd gone through 1/2 a tank of gas, driven it about 100 miles.
The truck was dirty, like they'd driven it through a gravel pit, and then put hand prints all over it.
The worst part? The next morning, the shimmy was still there, and the rattle was still there.

The dealership is Apple Valley Ford. http://www.applevalleyford.com/
They're a huge dealership. They have a (normally) good service department. I've bought vehicles there before. I've never had a problem with them, but this was hard to believe. Inkpen all over my seat? Luckily, there weren't any holes in the leather. Overall? I'd rate that service call as miserable.

The rattle is extremely annoying. Saturday, I drove several friends to a sports event, and was not very happy to have to listen to the rattle all the way there, and all the way home. My friends like the vehicle, but were not impressed with the rattle.
In the mornings, I have to have the stereo at 1/2 volume to not hear the rattle. If I press on the headliner, the noise goes away... which leads me to believe that it's not the factory sunroof. Leaving the vehicle out in the sun makes the rattle go away.

At times, I've felt like driving this down to the dealer, finding the manager, and saying, "Don't call me until you're confident that this thing is "new."

Today (October 14th), I just got off the phone w/ the dealer. The wheel has arrived, they have an opening Tuesday morning, Oct. 21st to fix the shimmy. Frankly, replacing 3 tires did nothing to fix the shimmy. I hope the wheel does it. I don't know what they'll do about the rattle.

I've always bought Fords. I've never had anything like this happen to me with either a new or a used vehicle.

I'm almost tempted to:
Call the dealer/owner and let him/her have it (verbally).
Call Ford and let them have it (verbally).
Drop the truck off today and not leave until someone does something to make sure that I'll be happy sometime this week. Would making a scene at the dealer help? I've never had to make a scene before. But, I've never regretted a new car purchase as much as this one.

I'm just wondering what to do...

 

[Karl in MN]

There is a TSB for the steering wheel vibration:

03-12-7 STEERING - STEERING WHEEL NIBBLE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS - VEHICLES PRODUCED BEFORE 6/13/2003 ONLY

Airlake Ford just did the repair on mine last week. I will be taking our 03 for an extended freeway drive this week and I will let you know if it is fixed or not when I return. They ended up replacing the steering gear per the TSB.

I bought our 95 Explorer at Apple Valley Ford and always had good luck with their service department. We kept it for 7 years until we got the 03 Expedition. Fortunately I haven't really been to their service department for a couple of years so maybe things have changed.

This doesn't excuse poor service but maybe the tech was tired of being boned by Ford. Read some of the pages at flatratetech.com. The techs have been taking a major boning the last couple of years and maybe you caught one who doesn't care anymore and wasn't going to make much off of your repair. This is pure speculation on my part.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

 

[bnvus]

Take it back to the dealer and talk to the service MANAGER...not the service advisor (service writer). Insist they fix the rattle. Ford teaches classes that specfically address vehicle noise, vibration and leaks. As a technician they are trained to troubleshoot these particular problems with a systematic approach. If there is a problem with the vehicle it is the job of the service MANAGER to litigate between technician and customer. Sometimes we (the technician) cannot find a problem that the customer has identified. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

I had the EXACT same problem with my 2003 EB Expy. I took it to Apple Valley Ford, and it turned out that the shaking at 65 and higher was because my tires were out of balance. The re-balanced them and I have not had the trouble since. That was my one and only experience with them. Previously I would take my EXPY to Freeway Ford, where I bought it, but they seem to be very unexperienced and unknowledgeable about the Expeditions. As for the rattle in the headliner, I cannot say that I have the problem, yet......

 

[rwinch]

I had a similar problem on my '98 EB with wheel vibration that quickly cupped (or "scalloped") my front tires to the point that I had to get a new set early. Note, I also had the stock Goodyear RT/S Wrangler tires that folks on other forums had reported much trouble with....

To solve the problem, I went to two different shops and my dealership to have wheel alignment and balancing done. I did not like the dealership and the first shop, as they just put it through the machine, and checked the balance on the tires and said it was in spec. The third shop (private, small, no chain, which is now the only place I go to), did an extremely thorough job, and put it almost nuts on for both alignment and vibration. In all cases it did not help for long (vibration).

This is what I found out, and I have not had ANY problems since. The stock rims simply do not hold the rim weights...they keep being thrown off. I only noticed this by keeping a close eye on the wheels. I can understand one, maybe two, but they all kept getting thrown off, and this was from two shops and the dealership. So the last shop put on tape weights, and rebalanced, and again realigned, and I do not have any issues.

Finally, since my tires were badly cupped, I bought new tires (BG Goodrich), new shocks (Rancho's), and it has been smooth sailing since. Tires are wearing normally, and the ride is smooth.

Moral is I only use tape weights now.

 

[Guest]

I have a 2003 Expy. I have custom 20'in Rim and Toyo tires.
My car shimmy's at 55 to 65 miles per hours. The dealer had my car for about a week they said that they could not find a reason for the shimmy. They put back on the stock rims and Tires and the shimmy goes away. At this point they are tellling me this is as good as it gets. Now I bought these Rims with the Car. A brand new Expy. They said they would credit me back my money for the rims and tires. I bought the car with custom rims and tires. I don't want the car without them. Does anyone else have 20 on the Expey? If so does your car shimmy. Thanks. I love this car........But I can not handle a shimmy.

 

[Guest]

ONAll4Z

There are two things I could think of that could be causing your problem. Keep in mind, these are just my two cents and my experience mostly comes from sports car. I just bought an 2003 EB Expedition, but haven't picked it up yet to have any real life driving experience with it.

Scenario One

I'm guessing the 20 inch wheels are changing your suspension geometry. You say you purchased the vehicle like that with the 20 inch wheels?

You say the problem goes away with the stock wheels, but returns with the 20 inch wheels? I wouldn't be surprised if the dealership didn't bother doing an alignment on your vehicle.

Though I'm not sure on the '03 Expeditions, on the 98 Navigator, I needed alignment done and alignment could not be performed because the vehicle needed an eccentric camber kit (I think that is what it's called).

Anyhow, my guess is that it is an alignment issue. If you return to the dealership and complain about this, they should install the camber kit for free so that they can do the alignment properly (this was done on the Navigators who were luckily to complain about alignment issues while the vehicle was still under warranty).

Scenario Two

How worn are your tires? Is one tire more worn than the others? This could be the source of your shimmy. The more worn tire is going to be slightly smaller in diameter than the others. As a result, it will rotate at a different speed than the others. When the dealership put on new tires, the problem went away because all tires were probably brand new and same in diameter.

How significantly worn should a tire be compared to the others to produce this shimmy effect? It varies from manufacture to manufacture. Also, you can't just replace that one badly worn tire. Why? Because now you have one brand new tire with a full diameter and three tires with different, smaller diameters. Now the other tires will rotate at different speeds. You'll have to replace all four tires. This is what should be done with AWD vehicles (Audi, for example).



So, that's it. Good luck.