New to me Expy, already having problems

[ChrisOIFdoc]

I will be a Henry Ford and Cast Iron Charlie Sorensen man till I die "Merica!", but it is a fact that this engine had multiple major failures resulting in class action lawsuits. When the camphaser issue is so prevalent that there's an after market "lockout" kit for it, well Houston we have a problem. Mine only had 50K when I bought it and 60k on it when I finally dumped it. My current 99 has 195k and still going strong. Strong enough to shoot #3 plug out of the head and strip it..LOL, but that's another story. Hope I'm not offending anyone, just wanted to share my experience to maybe save someone else the pain. I think Glenn said he paid 3k for his 05 expy and will probably be another 3k in to repairs for a total of 6k. That's alot of k's for a 12yr old truck.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

I bought my 05 in 2013 It had 119K miles on it I drove and put 27K on it without doing anything to the engine except changing the oil regularly. The main reason I traded it in was rust issues and we take a couple of long trips during the summer, the longest of which is about 7-1/2 hours of driving and I just didn't feel comfortable taking that long of a trip in it anymore. I'm sure it would have handled it with no problem I just didn't want to take the chance of breaking down hours from home and having to deal with people I didn't know. If was going to just drive around town and do short trips I would have kept it longer.

 

[Glenn B]

I think Glenn said he paid 3k for his 05 expy and will probably be another 3k in to repairs for a total of 6k. That's alot of k's for a 12yr old truck.

It's an '06, but yeah about $3k for it, and we're another $2k into it two months later. Really starting to feel like I inherited someone else's problem.

Glenn

 

[ChrisOIFdoc]

It's an '06, but yeah about $3k for it, and we're another $2k into it two months later. Really starting to feel like I inherited someone else's problem.

Glenn

I feel for ya buddy. Whatever decision you make I hope it works out for ya.

 

[Glenn B]

I feel for ya buddy. Whatever decision you make I hope it works out for ya.

Spoke to Dale at the dealer today. Solenoids did not fix it. He says he could spend days and lots of my money trying to find the problem or drop a new engine in it. Looking at 5 to 7k for that kind of job.

Sigh.


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[ChrisOIFdoc]

That sucks. I would dump it and by a 99-2001 for 2k, but I'm not sure how committed you are to suffering through. If so, go out to the truck and on the front of the right head ( left facing it ) disconnect the wiring harness that goes to the camphaser sensor and see if most of the problems go away. It's been a while since I've had to do this but I remember only needing to disconnect the one side. You might be able to find a you tube video of someone doing this. I'm not saying this is a fix, but it may help you suffer through or atleast give you a definitive answer on getting out of it and taking the loss. I'll try to do some searching to refresh my memory in the meantime. Let me know what happens and I'll do what I can to help you further.

 

[ChrisOIFdoc]

Never mind. The truck is probably at the dealers. Right?

 

[Glenn B]

Never mind. The truck is probably at the dealers. Right?

Right.


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[ChrisOIFdoc]

Gothca. Well when you get it back disconnect it, and see what happens. I wouldn't spend another dime until you eliminate the cam phasers ability to retard the timing. Later

 

[theoldwizard1]

Spoke to Dale at the dealer today. Solenoids did not fix it. He says he could spend days and lots of my money trying to find the problem ...

This is a dealer saying that they can NOT diagnosis the [problem ! Time to go to a different dealer !

 

[Glenn B]

This is a dealer saying that they can NOT diagnosis the [problem ! Time to go to a different dealer !

He didn’t say he couldn’t diagnose the problem he just didn’t want me to put a lot of money into something that may be better served by replacing the engine.


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[theoldwizard1]

He didn’t say he couldn’t diagnose the problem he just didn’t want me to put a lot of money into something that may be better served by replacing the engine.

Yeah using the "parts canon" is expensive !

 

[ChrisOIFdoc]

I'm not going to say you don't need a new engine, because I don't care for that generation of engines anyway as I stated a few posts back, but if you disconnect the cam phaser sensor from the truck and see how it performs it might give you a better idea of what needs to be done. It may be all you need is a cam phaser lockout kit. You will have a check engine light when you disconnect because of it, but so what. I drove mine for almost a year with the sensor disconnected, but at least it didn't stall or run like crap anymore. Has the dealer even tried this yet? Of course not. I'm speaking from experience. Did they clean the throttle body? I'm not trying to over simplify things, but it's the simple things that get overlooked. Look for videos on you tube to help you. It's what helped me a few years back.

 

[Glenn B]

Ford place came back with a quote of $9800 to replace the engine, plus there was some other work that should be done while they are in there. Truck is just not worth it, so I've wasted 3 months and $6000 on it. I also can't afford to replace it, so I guess I am screwed all around.

Glenn

 

[theoldwizard1]

Take it to South Main Auto Repair in Avoca, NY
(607) 566-2225. I guarantee they can fix it and probably for a whole lot less money.

 

[Glenn B]

Take it to South Main Auto Repair in Avoca, NY
(607) 566-2225. I guarantee they can fix it and probably for a whole lot less money.

6 hours away. I doubt the Beast would make it half that far

 

[theoldwizard1]

6 hours away. I doubt the Beast would make it half that far

It is worth a phone call to South Main Auto, just to see what they think it might cost, even if they "shotgun" the whole cam drive system (new chain, tensioners, phaser, etc).

Couple hundred to rent a trailer and truck for a day. Might be worth it !

 

[ChrisOIFdoc]

 

[Adieu]

Did you buy it for good interior and electronic doodads?

If so, forget new engine get a barebones low miles messed up interior truck, swap everything over, and sell yours with the crappy interior as a mechanucs special/parts car


Interior swaps on expys can be done even by a halfwit noob first timer like I myself was, in one day or less.

 

[Glenn B]

I bought it because we needed transportation with a lot of room inside for camping gear. Sure it looks good, but in three months the repair shops have driven it more than I have. Salvage yard said it was in good shape, a mechanic said it was in good shape, both lied, now I am $6000 poorer with nothing to show for it. At this point if I could unload it for what I paid for it, I'd be happy. I'm not pouring any more money into this waste of metal.