My 2005 Money pit

[helimd]

I know there will be a lot of hate responses on this one, but maybe there are a few owners going through the same thing. We have 230,000 miles on our 05 King Ranch Expedition. This thing has been a beast and cost so little to own that I feel the need to keep feeding her. The car is absolutely rust free and is in near perfect condition. This has always been my wife's car and, as such, I have made her responsible for the minor maintenance. This is where the craziness begins.

I had a chance to drive the car to pick up hardware one day and, much to my dismay, this thing was all over the road. It truly felt like all of the front suspension components were destroyed and the tires were flat. So I took it in to my favorite shop for a bid and, $3500 later, we were back in good shape. She love's this car and I really didn't mind spending the money. Like I said in the beginning, it has been a very inexpensive machine to own.

This is where it gets bad. Two weeks later, she calls me from work saying the engine quit just as she pulled into her parking spot. I met her at work to discover that the engine appeared to be locked up. Trailered the old girl home (not the wife, the Expedition), got on the old interweb, and came to the conclusion that the chain guides and phasers had failed. So, I tore into the engine and, sure enough, most of the right side chain guide was gone, either in the oil pan or wedged into the crank sprocket. I spent over a grand on all of the oem parts, rebuilt the front of the engine, and was quickly patting myself on the back. She ran like a top, although I couldn't get rid of the white smoke. Thinking this was just assembly lube and an excess of oil, I drove it for several miles to just make sure everything was OK.

About a week later, I jumped in to take it to the shop to have the AC recharged. Upon startup, it shuddered for a brief moment then started knocking badly. I got out the stethoscope and located the knocking noise coming from the passenger side valve area, somewhere around #2 or #3. I'm done with this engine.

I know this has been long and drawn out, but based on current used car prices, I really think I want to put a new crate motor or, at worse, a good quality reman engine in the girl. Any opinions on who has the best remans that use oem parts? I know this is stupid but we really do like this car.

 

[Hamfisted]

I think most shops will go with Jasper motors. They have a long history of good service. You might want to go ahead and grab a transmission while you pull the motor and then you'll have the confidence the whole assembly will be reliable for another few hundred thousand miles.

 

[helimd]

We had the trans done about 20K miles ago. One of the reasons we bought the Expy 10 years ago was the need for a rig to tow our trailer that is used for the Boy Scout troop we founded back then. Probably ten thousand mile towing that thing around finally took it's toll. FYI....Jasper was one of the ones I was looking at using. Thanks for the advice.

 

[CAKD07]

I had an '05 Expy (pictured, haven't bothered to update) and it lasted until 330,000 miles. I had driven it coast to coast, and all over Texas sever times as my son attended UT in Austin (5 year plan) plus back east for family trips. The last couple of years I was doing Uber in between jobs and I've got to tell you aside from the normal stuff you'd expect on a car with that many miles and of that age, it gave me quality service! When the engine/tranny finally gave up at 330k I decided it was time to say good-by. I donated it to "Cars for Kids" here in Dallas (2nd time to do that with a car), got a great tax write off, and found a great 2016 model on a dealer lot. Sometimes you just gotta say good-bye. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BlackCoffee]

My 2003EB 5.4L, 270K is great, but can be a little troublesome. You said you had no rust. If you like doing stuff yourself, you can save a lot of money. I just did my whole front end, upper control arm w/ball joint, lower ball joints, struts, and ABS sensors for about $650. But, a 20 year old car is A 20 YEAR OLD CAR. A lot of little annoying stuff goes bad, and finding a replacement can be difficult at time. With the age of your Expo, the insurance company will never repair it to the condition you have now. If you have an accident, it will go to salvage. You have to accept the fact that based on state salvage laws you are about $4000 away from them taking the car. I just hit a dear in 2003, bumper cover, grill, lights, hood, and paint. $3200 estimate and they wanted the vehicle. I talked them out of it, but that won't happen again.

So, that is the first thing to consider. The second thing you need to worry about is just the ability to repair. I do a lot of junk yard trolling to find parts and it is getting harder and harder. The worst are the electronic parts that technology has made obsolete. Sometimes you can be lucky and find a remanufactured module, but you can't count on it.

I can't make a recommendation, it is really up to you. I am keeping my EB running until I can't fix it anymore. Unfortunately, that may be another deer or it may just be an ECU that doesn't exist anymore. What I am saying is that it is not the Expy anymore, it is all the little stuff that my bite you in the end. If it has to go, you can sell it part by part and probably recoup all your sunk cost. So, with a little work and eBay, it is probably not a financial decision.

 

[helimd]

I appreciate your replies. I have spent the last 12 months looking for a decent, low mile engine for the Expedition. No luck, at least so far. Parting it out would work for most, but my HOA would own me if I ever tried to do something like that. Another thought would be to just sell it as is. That just breaks my heart. But I never thought about donating the car. Might just check into that. Thanks, again, fellow Expy owners.