Looking at buying a 2011 XL Expy: anything to be wary of?

[John D Wright]

Title says it all. Looking to buy a 2011 XL Expy. Carfax is clean, but I know that only tells part of the story. I have been lurking here on the forums, but dunno if there is anything specific to this model year. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

thanks

John

EDIT: Should have mentioned that I am looking at the Expy as a tow vehicle for a lightweight camper and hauling a track toy.

 

[1955moose]

Best thing is see if they have repair records, in particular, the service intervals. That and you might want to pay an outside mechanic to give it a thorough examination. If anything pops up, that can be your bargaining chip. Or if real bad, you can walk away. Better to pay a little now, than a ton later. Overall your year is a good one, with very few bugs.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[John Schwab]

Paint defects on trunk lid, hood, and around the doors

 

[John D Wright]

Thanks for the tips! The carfax for this one rather suspiciously shows no service records in the entire span of original ownership, but maybe it was a guy like me with a home lift and did all the maintenance himself.

Any tell tale signs of a neglected motor? I saw posts about clicking/ticking noises and I suspect that any seedy dealership worth its salt would clean a neglected motor extremely well.

 

[1955moose]

The ticking you read about is failing cam phasers, and oil problems on top end. Those were mostly in 05-08 models, but later ones like the 2011 aren't exempt from them. Seems like most of the problems were from members that either neglected oil changes, or bought theirs from a previous owner that did. I'm sure your fine on this year, but as I said earlier, have the whole vehicle checked out. Is this selling dealer offering any kind of warranty? Or is it buyer beware, like a lot of used cars?

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[Jamo]

My dealer/friend told me to watch (listen) for ticking at the back of the exhaust manifolds. I guess the bolts at the rear of the EM can rust out due to the fact that salt and crap can collect in a low spot back there? He said they are tough to get at and at times the heads need to be pulled to get them replaced.

I'm going on what I remember him saying (grain of salt/sand/crap here) and if you are upper east coast, might be helpful to you.

I'm looking at a few '11 EL's too, hoping for newer though.
Good luck...

 

[Eagle 71]

Title says it all. Looking to buy a 2011 XL Expy. Carfax is clean, but I know that only tells part of the story. I have been lurking here on the forums, but dunno if there is anything specific to this model year. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

John, I will never buy another CARFAX report. Here’s why:

On 20 Oct 2018, I purchased a CARFAX report for a 2013 Ford Expedition, which I ultimately bought on 29 Oct 2018. One of the selling points for this vehicle was the fact that the 20 Oct CARFAX report stated there was NO damage or accidents to this vehicle. On 10 Dec 2018, I re-ran the CARFAX report on this same vehicle just to see what additional info was listed since my purchase/registration of this SUV. For some reason this new (10 Dec) report listed “Damage reported”, and the date of this ‘damage’ was ”08/04/2017” (this 2017 date is over a year PRIOR to my purchasing this vehicle, and my running the orig report thru CARFAX!).

My complaint to CARFAX: Why was this ‘damage’ listed on the current report on this vehicle, when it wasn’t listed on the 20 Oct report that I purchased from them? I am still in litigation with CARFAX, and as of this post they have failed to answer my concerns. BTW, the dealer selling this vehicle provided a free AutoCheck report on this vehicle. This report also showed that there have been no accidents or damage reported to AutoCheck for this vehicle.

Bottom line, use Moose’s advice per his second response to your post above. You will get more/current/accurate data that way. And treat your CARFAX report with a grain of salt. Anyway, hope this helps, and good luck with your purchase.

 

[JimmyM]

I've got an '11. I've had it from 39k miles to now. 120k mi. I've had an O2 sensor go bad. A blower resistor. Those were just recently. I've always been on top of oil changes. I do have a tick on startup at lasts maybe a second. It could point to a well known cam chain tensioner oil seal. My phasers tick lightly. I've got a lot of paint bubbling on the rear hatch. I tow a 6500lb hyprid camper with it. It tows well with a weight distributing hitch. My tires have a max PSI of 51. I increase the rear pressure to 45 instead of 35 when towing. It makes the rear end more stable. I found the stock brakes to be a little "light". I swapped to Hawk LTS pads. The brakes are much more "authoritative" now. Excellent pedal feel and no fade.
Trans fluid was changed at 100k. Appeared in good shape when it came out. But I find now that you should ignore the Ford recommendations and change at 60k. I've also read in several places that you should run 5w-30 instead of 5w-20 if you use it under high load like towing. I use Castrol Synthetic Extended Protection 5w-30 and a Ford Racing filter.

 

[monkstr6100]

Check the rockers. On my 2011 the power running boards were both stuck in the UP position when I got it. That helped to hold snow and salt up there against the rockers I assume. Rotted mine pretty bad. Didn't hardly notice when I got the truck cause the boards were up and blocking my view.

 

[Menard LaDouche]

Great vehicle. 105k on mine, 4 wd, driven hard with lots of rugged offroad. Feels like it is about broken in. No rattles, very quiet. Repairs to date (all under warranty): power steering hose, front drive shaft bearings, fan speed control switch, rear latch, brakes all around (rotors, calipers). Tranny made noise from 3rd to 4th, changed fluid, noise now gone (change at 60k, as mentioned). Wish this car had a filter for the cab. Tows big loads great. Lifted 2" and added big tires a while ago - monster offroad! Get a skid plate. I don't hear any engine ticking noises and haven't seen bubbling paint. Mileage at 65 about 22, decreases with speed accordingly. Sync system robot is an idiot, but if you just make phone calls, it works good enough - fidelity is good.