My 2011 Expedition EL Limited

[CVguy]

I've decided to start a thread documenting the ownership of my Expedition, I don't want to bore you guys with the entire backstory so I'll keep it as concise as I can.

The story begins in April 2024, I'd wanted an Expedition for about four or five years at this point. I'd look for them on and off every once in a while to see what prices are like and if I'd find any deals, but never saw anything tempting enough to go look at. That is, until one popped up for sale locally. It had higher miles (257K to be exact), but it was an immaculate one-owner car.


April 12th 2024, the day I bought it @ 257.4K miles.

Its condition is incredibly deceptive about the miles, you'd think it had half the miles. It was owned by a wealthy older couple up near Granville, OH (Columbus area) and they took extremely good care of it. All the maintenance was done on time, regular fluid changes, etc.



I instantly fell in love with this car. It ran and drove beautifully. For the most part, it didn't need any repairs, but naturally it needed some things replaced. Fortunately, it's nothing serious, typical things for a used 13 year old car.

It was only in need of super petty stuff, the cigarette lighter was missing, the spring for the center console lid hinge was broken, and it needed new puddle lights. Since I'm pretty particular about my cars, replacement pieces were sourced from a local junkyard, and LED puddle lights were purchased online.

Here's some of my parts haul from the junkyard: a console lid hinge,
cig lighter (never-been-used), and a 2v mod motor ignition coil for my brother's F150.











New puddle lights! The driver's side spade connectors were super corroded,
simply fixed by cutting them off and crimping new connectors on for the lights.

 

[CVguy]

April 24th, 2024. Mid-spring in southern Ohio, and a great day to get out on the lake and kayak!


May 20th, 2024, I drove out to Indianapolis for these wheels and had them installed the second I got back in town. They are low mileage take-offs from a 2022 Expedition. My stock wheels were pretty corroded, and I like this style more.
The AVS rain visors were also put on somewhere around this time


May 24th 2024, replaced the power running board motors and hinges.

New wheels, replaced interior pieces, new puddle lights, and functional power running boards are all this thing really needed to be 100% sorted! My OCD was finally satisfied...

...or was it?

Yeah, it'd be silly to stop there and call it a day. 2011 was the first year Ford discontinued the monochrome grille for the Limited trim. Some Royal Red touch up paint and 2K clear on a cheap paint-to-match grille took care of that issue.


June 6th 2024, installed the new grille, new serpentine belt, new engine air filter (Wix) and performed my 2nd oil change since purchasing this car, 260.9K miles.

 

[CVguy]

July 2nd 2024, retrofitted an OEM Ford ambient lighting kit. This consists of a Mercury Milan ambient light kit, spliced together with a Ford Accessories kit, and 2015 Expedition Limited cupholders. Unfortunately, my installation was not documented due to installing everything at night.



There are a total of 11 individual lights added. Two for the rear seat footwells, two for the rear cupholders, one for inside the center console, two for the front cupholders, and four for the front footwells.

About this time, I purchased a Marti Report for my car, since I was curious to see its production details.

Turns out this car is one of 88 Royal Red on Charcoal Black EL Limited 4WDs for 2011.

 

[CVguy]

July 30th 2024, installed a transmission dipstick kit @263.7K miles. I'm preparing to do a transmission fluid/filter change (not a fluid flush, just a pan drop) and replace the stock pan with a Dorman pan w/drain plug. A proper dipstick should facilitate easier maintenance and periodic fluid checks.

Other than all the items listed above, the car's remained largely unchanged. I've been putting it to work hauling large bulky items like pallets, scrap lumber, an engine, go karts, furniture, all sorts of stuff.

Naturally I make sure to use a tarp to protect the carpeted cargo area.


It gets regularly washed and waxed, as of right now, it has about 265.6K miles. I've put 8,000 miles on it in four months, should be close to 300K by this time next year.

I'll keep updating this thread as more work and maintenance is performed on this car! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

 

[BigOleFordFan]

Congrats on that find, enjoy !

it looks like a carbon copy of my 011 EL, except mine is all white & only had 1-owner with 67,723 miles on it in April 21...

I did have to replace my power running boards also, some relays in the fuse box, and a few other minor things, but to date, I've only put an additional 13k on it and it's running like a champ...

Unfortunately, my son had it out a few weeks ago & decided to play chicken with Bambi or Rudolph or Donner or Blitzen somewhere along the highway..... Fortunately, there wasn't any structural damage & it only tore up the lower 1/2 of the front bumper wrap around/cover piece, but he will soon be getting a $3k body & alignment shop bill that he's not gonna like, and thankfully we have good full-coverage insurance

 

[bloodhound]

And I thought I was the only nut to paint the chrome grille body color (on my black 2014 Limited). That thing is incredibly clean, but especially given the mileage. The real question is, has it had the timing overhaul done?

 

[CVguy]

The real question is, has it had the timing overhaul done?

No, timing is all original. It's always had regular oil changes and there are no symptoms of bad timing components yet (knock on wood). I'll likely end up going through it all around 350-400K miles.

 

[Gary Waugh]

Sounds like my expedition, I bought it new in 2008, it now has just over 250k miles, always had oil and filter changes (Mobil 1) every 4000 miles, transmission, transfer and diff oil changed every 70k miles (with spark plugs) and it still runs beautifully. Only failures have been a starter motor, one motor that raises/lowers the entry step on drivers side, warped front brake rotors, drivers window mechanism (steel cable rusted and broke), and a leakin T piece in the coolant system!! It went through the usual consumables, tyres, couple of batteries, etc, but it has been fantastic and I hope it will run for at least another 100k before it needs anything serious doing to it..

 

[Joann D]

View attachment 81983
April 24th, 2024. Mid-spring in southern Ohio, and a great day to get out on the lake and kayak!

View attachment 81984
May 20th, 2024, I drove out to Indianapolis for these wheels and had them installed the second I got back in town. They are low mileage take-offs from a 2022 Expedition. My stock wheels were pretty corroded, and I like this style more.
The AVS rain visors were also put on somewhere around this time

View attachment 81985
May 24th 2024, replaced the power running board motors and hinges.

New wheels, replaced interior pieces, new puddle lights, and functional power running boards are all this thing really needed to be 100% sorted! My OCD was finally satisfied...

...or was it?
View attachment 81986
Yeah, it'd be silly to stop there and call it a day. 2011 was the first year Ford discontinued the monochrome grille for the Limited trim. Some Royal Red touch up paint and 2K clear on a cheap paint-to-match grille took care of that issue.

View attachment 81987
June 6th 2024, installed the new grille, new serpentine belt, new engine air filter (Wix) and performed my 2nd oil change since purchasing this car, 260.9K miles.

I miss my 2010....

 

[ExplorerTom]

Awesome thread!