Project Aspen...

[Cbatzer5696]

Good Afternoon to all!

I Guess its time to start this thread on my 1998 expedition. I suppose some back story could always help! I apologies in advance for the long thread, Terrible spelling, and if I break any forum rules I will try to fix them!!

I bought this thing maybe 2 weeks ago for 1000$ It had some issues for sure. I had a 5 hour drive to get it home, Needless to say, after spending 7 hours in a Harbor Freight parking lot, I had a list of things that needed to be fixed. She has well over 300,000 miles on it, though the previous owner claims the motor was rebuilt 100,000 miles ago. The pcv valve was shot and the hoses were degraded, the front u-joints are shot and the front spider gears are toast. on top of that I had no Tail lights, running lights, dash lights, License plate lights, and the interior lights wouldn't shut off! The drive was terrifying because I know the rear shocks are out and I'm not sure if the front end needs rebuilt but god does she sway and bounce!

Now that it is home I have replaced the headlight switch, a lot of fuses, rewired the license plate lights (which fixed the tail lights and running lights) The interior lights function properly now with the occasional "door ajar" issue. I have replaced the pcv valve and all that hosing (which was a nightmare but fixed a very rough idle) I have also swapped out most of the interior from an 02 Eddie Bauer Expo except for the dash and door panels, the latter being next.

I plan on making new posts as I do more things and try to figure out these electrical issues. The main one I plan on tackling tonight is the gauge cluster lights as they (along with the rear climate control lights and 4x4 switch light) Do not work! I have tested and know my dimmer switch is functioning! Would the overdrive switch being broke cause this? I think tonight I will pull out the cluster and start poking wires with a voltmeter to see if i have power as I do have 3 parts expos to rob things from! Another thing I should add, The previous owner had installed an aftermarket stereo which i have removed for now. I did check the illumination wire there and it seems fine!

I do have a lot of questions and will try to search the forums for answers as to not ask the same questions over and over but I cannot seem to find a single forum that has this issue with the lighting that I have!

I will post later tonight what I find and update everyone! If anyone would like more info feel free to ask as there is a lot about this thing I have not mentioned!

BTW did you know there was an aspen package for the expedition (from a custom shop in Vegas) The main parts expos has aspen leaves and pin stripes, gold ford emblems, and aspen stitched into the seats hints why I dubbed this expo project aspen!

 

[Shaggy]

Good Afternoon to all!

I Guess its time to start this thread on my 1998 expedition. I suppose some back story could always help! I apologies in advance for the long thread, Terrible spelling, and if I break any forum rules I will try to fix them!!

I bought this thing maybe 2 weeks ago for 1000$ It had some issues for sure. I had a 5 hour drive to get it home, Needless to say, after spending 7 hours in a Harbor Freight parking lot, I had a list of things that needed to be fixed. She has well over 300,000 miles on it, though the previous owner claims the motor was rebuilt 100,000 miles ago. The pcv valve was shot and the hoses were degraded, the front u-joints are shot and the front spider gears are toast. on top of that I had no Tail lights, running lights, dash lights, License plate lights, and the interior lights wouldn't shut off! The drive was terrifying because I know the rear shocks are out and I'm not sure if the front end needs rebuilt but god does she sway and bounce!

Now that it is home I have replaced the headlight switch, a lot of fuses, rewired the license plate lights (which fixed the tail lights and running lights) The interior lights function properly now with the occasional "door ajar" issue. I have replaced the pcv valve and all that hosing (which was a nightmare but fixed a very rough idle) I have also swapped out most of the interior from an 02 Eddie Bauer Expo except for the dash and door panels, the latter being next.

I plan on making new posts as I do more things and try to figure out these electrical issues. The main one I plan on tackling tonight is the gauge cluster lights as they (along with the rear climate control lights and 4x4 switch light) Do not work! I have tested and know my dimmer switch is functioning! Would the overdrive switch being broke cause this? I think tonight I will pull out the cluster and start poking wires with a voltmeter to see if i have power as I do have 3 parts expos to rob things from! Another thing I should add, The previous owner had installed an aftermarket stereo which i have removed for now. I did check the illumination wire there and it seems fine!

I do have a lot of questions and will try to search the forums for answers as to not ask the same questions over and over but I cannot seem to find a single forum that has this issue with the lighting that I have!

I will post later tonight what I find and update everyone! If anyone would like more info feel free to ask as there is a lot about this thing I have not mentioned!

BTW did you know there was an aspen package for the expedition (from a custom shop in Vegas) The main parts expos has aspen leaves and pin stripes, gold ford emblems, and aspen stitched into the seats hints why I dubbed this expo project aspen!

I love reading these types of stories, bringing life back into a vehicle! Did you take pics of your progress as we all love seeing build threads. Welcome to the forum btw!

 

[Cbatzer5696]

Thank you!! I'm happy to be here!! I have some pictures and will happily be taking more as I go!!

I do not have access to any pictures at the moment as I am at work! I took pictures as I was replacing interior panels etc but I think i forgot to take a before pic :-( which is terrible because this expo was a work truck and the interior was TRASHED! seats ripped, white paint splattered everywhere, it was bad... This poor thing has definitely been abused but the few days I have been driving it, I can say I love it

O hey another thing to add, all brakes are toast and the rotors are terribly warped, hopefully next weekend I will have all new rotors and pads to put in, while I have the tires off I will check everything that has rubber or effects stability!

 

[Cbatzer5696]

Small update! Still no pictures yet! The drive home earlier today brought forward a major issue, Believed to be a miss fire.... She idles fine but I give her gas while in drive and you can feel it shake and stutter as it tries to get going. The weird part is as its accelerating it will start firing on all 8 and put u back in your seat for a total of a second or 2 before it starts missing again.. its terrible. Feels like your fighting a HEAVY wind With every bearing on the drive train being shot.

I did manage to get dash lights working though! And also found out that my check engine light is on (they REMOVED the bulb on the original cluster!) and will flash at you when driving!(which I believe is misfire warning???) I actually had to spend a good minute swapping bulbs across the original cluster and the donor cluster to get.. well some of the lights working, I think imma buy the led light kit for it.

Searching the engine bay I cannot find any vacuum leak so I am at a loss as to the miss fire. I think I will buy all new plugs, boots, coil over packs and see where that gets me as I do not know when they were changed last.. (this poor thing)

As for a list of things that need to be done (not in order):

• Coil packs
• Plugs
• Boots
• Egr, iac, pcv valves
• brakes and rotors
• Re bend the front bumper back
• install the double din and sub/amp
• rear bucket seat conversion
• led interior lights
• change oil and tranny fluid
• reverse flush the front heater core? and possibly fix the heater gate(whatever that thing is called) (UPDATE its called a blend door!!)
• front sway bar (I checked.. Its toast)
• Rear shocks and possibly that sway bar as well
• Swap interior door panels (and figure out the door ajar issue which I believe is coming from the rear passenger door now!)
• exhaust...
• and probably a lot of other little things

I will try to take as many pictures as possible and update this thread along the way!!! if anyone has any ideas on any of the issues that arise feel free to chime in!! Or does anyone have any ideas on what should be checked and or replaced on a 330,000 mile expo that I'm starting to think wasn't taken care of its whole life????

Also, Enjoy the extra hour of sleep tonight everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ExplorerTom]

Welcome! And I thought I brought mine back from the dead (see link in signature), but I've got nothing compared to you. Mine was in pristine shape compared to yours.

As far as the misfire, you may have a leak of some sort going down into the plug well. A leaking valve cover or maybe a leaking intake manifold gasket. The old, dry, crusty coil boots could be letting the offending fluid into the plug well causing firing issues. Maybe. You'll know when you change your plugs.

Try to buy Motorcraft parts whenever possible. What I've been learning on mine is that you either do it right or you do it twice.

 

[1955moose]

Sounds like the laundry list that Dan Akroyd spewed out about the Cadillac ghost busters car. Wow, they should have paid you $1,000 to tow it out of their driveway. Well hope your a patient young man with deep pockets, or good credit limits on your credit card. Sounds like your gonna need em. My first real car was that 56 VW bug, $50.00 and a box full of engine parts. He's got a wee bit more!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[Cbatzer5696]

ExplorerTom Your expedition is beautiful! i would have killed for the grey leather interior!!! My goal before this one was to Fix my 2002 Eddie Bauer Expedition as it has every package out there (except the airbags were swapped for coils) But I had swapped EVERYTHING electrical short of the ecu And it STILL wouldn't run (OR it would run, you could turn the key, pull it out, and walk away and it would still be idling away in the background!!!) I gave up and decided it either goes to the shop or i get a new one. Later that week my only local shop quoted 1200$ and all of a sudden I was on the hunt for Eddie Bauer expos under that price point.

You make a GREAT point on the mis as while I was replacing the crank case vent hose/nipple (on the back of the intake..) I noticed my inlet hose for the heater core leaks a lot when even slightly moved so now that you mention that, I think antifreeze has gotten into the rear passenger spark-plug hole or maybe more than one! Motocraft is my go to manufacture as well!! and its amazing seeing here on the forums that there is a reason as to why they are the brand to be used in this department, though was the 98 5.4l heads before the head tapping issues?

1995moose I agree completely! The drive out of Denver was scarier than any roller coaster I have been on and the whole time i was regretting the purchase! I think the reason I went for it was because I have 2 parts expeditions And a third that my father is currently rebuilding for himself (it shot a plug and took a nice chunk of head with it leaving nothing to be tapped) Patience has never been my strong point but I am getting better! and I really do want to make this thing pristine! Money isnt as big of an issue as more the timing for it all! My first car was a Nissan altima that I still see driving round here :-( The motivation here is my 98 bmw 528i is AWFUL in the snow and I had the pleasure of driving to work in our first snow storm here and it was.. Enlightening to say the least. The issue is I want to do it right and as ExplorerTom stated I want to do it right and once! Otherwise I would just rob all the parts i can off of the parts expos to make this thing run! The biggest selling point on this truck is that, other than the front bumper issue which I will get pictures of and tackle here at some point, The body is in great condition other than a few spots where the clear is starting to peal (I'm guessing the previous owner had no clue what the word maintenance even is)

Later today I will be installing the rear shocks and the double din stereo so lots of pictures of the truck and those two projects are to be coming today!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bmrisko]

Sounds like a fun project. I've got a '98 Eddie Bauer that my dad purchased new 20 years ago and I got it from him a couple years to use as a weekend warrior truck. I too have learned to use Motorcraft whenever possible, especially on sensors. I spent a while scratching myself with a coolant temp sensor and it ended up being that 3 brands of aftermarket sensors didn't read properly, but the Motorcraft did. Little stuff like that will drive you crazy.

I'd definitely do the tune-up sooner rather than later if it has never been done. Those rear spark plugs are a PITA to get at. Make sure you have a few various extension and joints in your socket set! My last project was the pass side exhaust manifold which will eventually crack/warp on yours if it hasn't already. Be prepared for that one!

 

[1955moose]

I wish I was a 1995 Moose, I'd be 23 instead of 63! I didn't know you had a cornucopia of spare parts in your back yard, that makes a world of difference. Problem is the part you need will probably be different on the vehicle your trying to pirate from. Your 19, I was gung ho to wrench my hands off back then too. Too bad it's a 98, the 99 got the newer heads, and 20 more hp. Should be a fun project, show pics as you go, along with any mods that work better.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[Cbatzer5696]

Sorry for the late update! Life sorta happened and I ended up having to sink some money into the bimmer as its my daily driver! This Wednesday I found and will have a hole tune up kit for the expedition!!! Its 220$ Bucks and comes with 8 coils, boots, plugs, oil filter, air filter, PVC valve, And i believe I'm missing something but its all Motocraft so when that shows up Ill let you guys know if its awesome or a total ripoff!! Still no pictures as the expo has been sitting in the same spot out on the farm for a little while now...

 

[1955moose]

Usually but not always the internet Motorcraft stuff is not OEM Ford. But still works better than the other made in China/India garbage that's floating about. Id install everything but the coils. OEM Ford coils usually last the life of vehicle. Save the coils for when you get a misfire. Be sure to torque the spark plugs, very critical to get tightness right. Too loose they spit out, too tight, and same scenario. Around 16-18 ft lbs is right. Good luck. Now you know why they call BMW, bite my weenie! Great cars, but not cheap on maintenance.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[Cbatzer5696]

Alright Small update for everyone, Picked up some motocraft plugs and some boots from autozone, Managed to fix the antifreeze leak which seems to have soaked the back three coil packs on the passenger side, and fixed a small vacuum leak while i was at it. The truck still runs on 7 cylinders half the time tho!! :-( My guess is either a coil pack is toast or a plug is fouled but she will run on 8 sometimes. the problem is.... the previous owner put anti-seize on the springs in the boot, and not on the plugs!!!!!!!! I CAN'T GET the plugs OUT... I think its time for a shop to give it a try as I don't wanna screw the heads up... Whats I'm hoping is the miss is being caused by a now fouled plug but nothing ever seems to go that smoothly! I will post an update here shortly and if the weather allows I hopefully will be swapping interior door panels and installing the stereo etc etc etc etc Hope you all had a great thanksgiving!!

 

[Cbatzer5696]

OK big question for you guys, on the passenger side of the intake manifold almost direct center there are 3 vacuum lines that all join at this circle shaped piece, one line i know for sure runs to the PVC valve while one runs around the from of the engine into the engine somewhere over in the front, the third i don't know, But what is extremely odd and I'm now worried about is the fact that i pulled one of those vacuum lines and it had liquid in it, possibly antifreeze where could this come from??? I'm wondering if part of the engine running like a dog is caused by the vacuum system having liquid in it....

My BMW died so I am having to use the expo to get to work, Driving on seven cylinders in a vehicle thats known for shooting plugs is quite nerve racking, btw, @1955moose I like to think BMW stands for "Bring my wallet" as my serpentine belt snapped and somehow killed the water pump, power steering lines, and idler pully.. the cheapest of which is the idler pulley at a small 75$ for a small wheel and bearing

 

[Cbatzer5696]

And yet another update! (im just trying to get this thing to run while my bimmer is in pieces!) Replaced a few boots and coil packs last night! (the far back one and the second one back on the passenger side) she ran beautiful for a bit with some shudders every now and then (would my tow-haul switch being broke and possibly shorted do this?)) but this morning on the way to work she started running on seven cylinders at stoplights and when accelerating (half the time she would kick back into all 8 about half way through accelerating) the boots did their job as there was no liquid in the spark-plug wells, buttttt one of the plugs that plugs into the coil over plug looks bad, i have a picture to show but i have no cue how to upload it!!! so tonight i will replace the other two boots and coil packs on that side and try to repin a new plug on that coil pack? I wonder if that spark-plug is fouled and needs to be replaced before she will run right.........



Also I want to apologies for my terrible spelling on all these posts!!!

 

[Cbatzer5696]

She runs!!! So The antifreeze leak coming from the T on the intake side of the heater hoses dripped and managed to knock out 3 coil packs. Numbers 2, 3, and 4. The boots never got wet though! So I replaced all three coil packs and the boots respectively and I'm back on all 8 cylinders. The project is on hold right now as this thing is now my daily driver till I get the bimmer fixed, but at a hefty 16mpg I have a lot of motivation to get the 528i running again. Till then ill post with all sorts of little updates as I research more and more things about this expo!! If any one has any ideas on how I can get this thing to stop driving like a boat in a hurricane I would be most great full!!!

 

[Cbatzer5696]

Just a Small but needed update, Life happened and my parents vehicle died so they have been using the Expedition. Currently it has had its brakes replaces, shocks, sparkplugs, coils/boots, and a few other small things. We still need to get the door panels swapped and a few things like the blend gate for the front hvac etc. I got an email from the forums here and it reminded me to come on and update you guys! once The parts come in for the scion I will be going back to finishing this project!

 

[Cbatzer5696]

I really am Awful about updating this forum and Even worse at taking pictures. But a lot has happened to the Expo sense my last post. The brakes, shocks, front and rear sway bars, Headlights, turn signals, Tail Lights, and any bulb on the truck, have all been replaced and are all brand new. 99% of the interior has been replaced with new used components out of the three parts Expo's and most of it is in really good condition. The Dash wasn't replaced as that is a project I did not want to undergo, I will just touch up the color in the spots where its turned black. The steering wheel still needs to be replaced as well as the center bench seat. I have no motivation to do carpet just yet and the headliner is in ok condition. But this truck really is coming along very well. I am working on replacing the running boards with tan ones off the 02 Eddie Bauer as they look better with the gold trim and I replaced the front grill/Trim with chrome as it looks so good with the Chrome brush guard I have waiting to go on.

My issue is my front passenger frame where the bumper bolts up is bent to hell, I have pictures of that if I knew how to post em. What I think happened is the previous owner managed to hit concrete or something with the front passenger tow hook which bent straight down causing the frame to bend in that one spot right behind the rear bolt of that tow hook mount. The frame behind it is perfectly straight so its nothing bad to anything on the truck EXCEPT where the bumper mounts, I'm thinking a jack and a torch??? jack up the truck from that tow hook just enough to put all the weight there and heat the frame till it straightens out.

My list for this truck is shrinking. The main things left are that bumper issue and the exhaust.

Sadly though the Truck is now a father/Son project as I recently purchased an 03 Navigator and gave him the Expo...