Second Round with Expeditions

[bring_em_on]

Hi everyone. I just picked up a 2021 Expy Limited. It has the HD towing package. This is the second one I've owned. My last one was an '05 XLT and it cannot compare to this new one! While I loved my '05, there were too many issues with it that soured me on the Ford brand. Namely, issues with phasers, the debacle with the spark plugs, corrosion on the liftgate, defective black cladding...and a laundry list of little ticky tack items. None of which Ford had ever issued a recall over. I also always felt that the 5.4 was underpowered given it's displacement.

So for the last eight years I've been driving Ram Trucks. I really liked those trucks but my wife and I often talked about how much we missed having a large SUV. So I began looking into them again. As I said, I was sour on the Ford brand and was looking at Tahoes/Yukons mainly. But I had noticed that one Ford dealer in the sticks had this one Expedition Limted on its lot for quite some time (at least a couple of months which is unheard of in the area I live in). So I drove out and took a look at it. Needless to say, I'm in love with this vehicle. I can already tell this little 3.5 blows the doors off the Hemi's I was used to (and my last Ram truck was thte Sport model with 3.92 gears and an 8 speed xmission so it was set to tow). And the Limited package is nicer than I was expecting.

So hopefully Ford has all of the bugs worked out of the powertrain by now. But in that vein, are there any things to keep an eye out for that I need to know about?

I'll try to get some pictures of soon.

Thanks.

Keith

 

[TheDoug]

Congrats on new ride! I have 18 4x4 platinum with HD tow and love it.

Issues to look out for are the cam phasers and turbo wastegate rattle. I had cam phaser done before 20k.... hopefully the 21s don't have the issue.

I love mine and will probably drive it til it's dead.

 

[bcb97]

Hi everyone. I just picked up a 2021 Expy Limited. It has the HD towing package. This is the second one I've owned. My last one was an '05 XLT and it cannot compare to this new one! While I loved my '05, there were too many issues with it that soured me on the Ford brand. Namely, issues with phasers, the debacle with the spark plugs, corrosion on the liftgate, defective black cladding...and a laundry list of little ticky tack items. None of which Ford had ever issued a recall over. I also always felt that the 5.4 was underpowered given it's displacement.

So for the last eight years I've been driving Ram Trucks. I really liked those trucks but my wife and I often talked about how much we missed having a large SUV. So I began looking into them again. As I said, I was sour on the Ford brand and was looking at Tahoes/Yukons mainly. But I had noticed that one Ford dealer in the sticks had this one Expedition Limted on its lot for quite some time (at least a couple of months which is unheard of in the area I live in). So I drove out and took a look at it. Needless to say, I'm in love with this vehicle. I can already tell this little 3.5 blows the doors off the Hemi's I was used to (and my last Ram truck was thte Sport model with 3.92 gears and an 8 speed xmission so it was set to tow). And the Limited package is nicer than I was expecting.

So hopefully Ford has all of the bugs worked out of the powertrain by now. But in that vein, are there any things to keep an eye out for that I need to know about?

I'll try to get some pictures of soon.

Thanks.

Keith

Congrats! You'll love the 3.5 coming out of a V8 truck. It's just no comparison and most people who talk down about the ecoboost have never driven one. Also, the cam phaser issue TSB covers engines that are older that Nov. 30, 2019. I have not heard of people with newer engines having cam phaser issues both on this site and the F150 site I am on so your probably good. My wife's expedition is also newer than this date by only a few months so I am keeping my fingers crossed I'm ok as well. Other than a clunking downshift from the Transmission, we haven't had any issues out of our 2020.

 

[John I]

For future forum readers, the cam phaser issues continue. According to my dealer they have performed the repairs on 2020 & 2021 models.
But there are certainly plenty of 3.5L EB owners that have not experienced this problem.

 

[bring_em_on]

Thanks @John I. I was wondering if Ford has ever done a root cause analysis on this problem with the phasers?. Is it materials? Design? Recommended maintenance insufficient?? C'mon Ford. The world wants to know!

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

The phaser issue has reared its head again, but I think it's too early to tell if it's going to be a common issue with '21s as well. The peeling paint issue was never resolved. Ford just keeps updating the TSB to add new model years.

 

[pgonza2723]

For future forum readers, the cam phaser issues continue. According to my dealer they have performed the repairs on 2020 & 2021 models.
But there are certainly plenty of 3.5L EB owners that have not experienced this problem.

I've been lucky enough to be hit with it twice...once at 65kish miles and now at 88kish....

 

[Trainmaster]

The railroad here has a dozen of these SSV trucks. All have phaser or turbo problems under 30,000 miles. They are dumping the lot and replacing them with V-8 Tahoes. Also moving away from their F-250's because of a high incidence of engine reliability troubles.

Looks like Ford may be losing its commercial base. The commercial market has no patience or loyalty where dependability is concerned.

 

[bcb97]

For future forum readers, the cam phaser issues continue. According to my dealer they have performed the repairs on 2020 & 2021 models.
But there are certainly plenty of 3.5L EB owners that have not experienced this problem.

I honestly don't believe it. I haven't found one documented case where someone with a 2020 or 2021 has the cam phaser issue. The VCT part was updated and started to be installed on trucks Oct. 1, 2019. Getting cam phasers fixed is a huge expense for Ford so they will not let an issue like that keep going. Hence they fixed it and moved on to new issues. I understand you are going off of one person at your dealer but that person could be easily misinformed.