Soon to be new expedition owner

[gcextreme]

Hey guys.
Im looking to buy a 2005 Expedition with the 5.4L. It only has 95K miles, is in great shape with very little to 0 rust. The spark plugs and all have been done, comes with new tires, new, battery, etc.
Its silver and really nice.
It will be our family suv, and our secondary vehicle.

Just wondering what all to expect and look out on it.

Some people hate the 5.4Ls...ive heard bad things about the plugs breaking. But ive also read they have made new redesigned plugs that are better.

We have my wifes car for good mpgs, and my Ford Ranger, i drive in the summer.
My wife runs a home daycare so i take her car to work alot.
This Expedition will be used for a family suv, and for towing our jetskis and fourwheelers on family outtings.
I expect to put maybe 10k miles or less on it a year.

 

[deweysmith]

Some people hate the 5.4Ls...ive heard bad things about the plugs breaking. But ive also read they have made new redesigned plugs that are better.

The new plugs don't fit the older engines, though. Yours will still break, probably. They've been done, though, so they should be good for another 100k, or 10 more years by your estimation. They might outlast the vehicle at that point.

The other things to hate are the cam phasers, but I'm not certain the 05 has them, and the exhaust manifolds that like to leak.

Other than these common things, they're solid engines that will run for a long, long time.

 

[gcextreme]

How can i find out if the 05 has camphasers or not?

Yeah i seem to find alot of love and hate for these engines.
Some love them...some hate them. But thats true even for my Ford Rangers.
Ive got a white 98 ranger and a red 99 ranger. Both have the 3.0Ls, which many hate and many love. The red one is getting a 5.0L from an explorer soon. And im probably gonna sell the white one when i get this Expedition. The tranny is slipping when you first shift it into D or R in the mornings. Well not really slipping, but not wanting to engage fast..takes it longer to engage. Once its warmed up, it drives fine.

Anyway, this will be my first big SUV. And i just wanna learn as much as i can about it, its engine, transmission, and electrical stuff.

 

[deweysmith]

They introduced the phasers on the 05 model year for the Expedition. Most of the wisdom on these shows up on the F-150 forums, but engine changes sometimes lagged a bit behind on the Expedition/Navigator, even though it was the same engine for the most part. They introduced the VCT version of the Triton V8 in 04 for the F-150, for example. Expedition was also the last to get the 3.5L V6 EcoBoost, in 2015.

I believe they fixed most of the phaser problems in 08 or 09 and released updated parts that fit the older engines as well, so if you do need it done eventually, make sure you use Motorcraft parts. Also, if it's been done recently it probably won't need to be done again, from what I've read. There's still some service advisories out for even the last version with the 5.4L (like mine) but they say to replace the solenoids, not the phasers themselves, a much easier job.

Side note about your transmission in your Ranger, a transmission fluid change would probably clear that right up. That sounds like old fluid that is thinning out, not moving the hydraulics as quickly as it should.

 

[gcextreme]

Thanks.
I just dont want to drop a down payment and get tied up into a loan and then this Expedition shit out on me.

I test drove it and put on about 50miles, it seemed to run smoothly and idle nice.

As for the Ranger, i will try changing out the tranny fluid. But i know the tranny has over 250-270k on it.

 

[deweysmith]

A lot of people will tell you with that many miles NOT TO CHANGE IT (in all caps like that) because it will CAUSE slipping, but what is actually happening is so much of the friction material has worn off into the fluid that the fluid is actually helping it maintain grip, sort of like a friction modifier. It only exposes this wear and probably would have started happening anyway in a few thousand more miles.

 

[gcextreme]

Yeah ive heard that too. Im just not sure what to do with it.
I rebuilt the 3.0L engine about 3 years ago.
Its just a winter beater really.

My red 99 is having a Turbine Input shaft sensor issue, not wanting to shift properly. And im done dumping money into that engine/tranny, so im working on rebuilding a 302 5.0L from an explorer for it.

 

[gcextreme]

Do you have any info on the part#s and costs for the solennoids? Or the newer parts? Is it something i can do in a weekend?

 

[gcextreme]

How hard is it to change the oil in these? How many qts? What oil do u recommend, specially for cold Minnesota winters?

 

[deweysmith]

Definitely in a weekend. FordTechMakuloco is a great resource for these engines, he has a 4-part series on doing the whole timing system, and that's what he recommends. If you're gonna do one thing, might as well do it all while you're in there. It makes it easier too, you don't really have to worry about getting the camshaft in the EXACT right spot and keeping it there while you pull off the phasers, etc.

If not, he also has videos of doing just the phasers. The solenoids on yours are accessible without even removing the valve covers, so that is a much easier job.

To be honest, if you don't hear the classic knock ("dieseling" some call it) then I wouldn't worry. Here's a short video showing before and after. Don't get distracted by the clicking, that's the injectors, and they sound totally normal. It's the heavy knocking that's abnormal.

 

[deweysmith]

Oil is easy. I do it in my driveway without a jack, I can fit under there comfortably if I park on a slight incline with the nose up. I usually use ~6.5 qts of 5w-20 Mobil 1 full synthetic.

 

[gcextreme]

Ok cool. I use Mobil1full syn in my rangers and my wifs Pontiac. Im really meticulous about changing oils at about every 3K miles..give or take my work schedule.
My wifes car is now about 150 miles over, but im gonna change it this weekend.

 

[deweysmith]

I keep mine changed when the computer says, usually ends up being 7500-8500 kms, about every 5,000 miles. Could probably do two computer intervals with the Mobil 1, I'm gonna send a sample from this current change for analysis and see what they say.

 

[gcextreme]

The dealer is wanting $8k for this.
They have put on new tires, did the plugs and coils, and other stuff, and hes shown me they have put about $2300 into the vehicle.

Some say $8k is too high, but in my area, they seem to want close to that for rusty ones with 200K on them.
One guy on FB sent me a link to one on craigslist that has an 05 with 135k miles and bad tires and they want $4500 for it..with no info if the plugs have been done or anything.


So if buy this..then in 3 years after im done with my loan, and itnhas about 130k on it, maybe i can sell it for about $4,000 and use that $4k as a down payment for a much newer one.

 

[deweysmith]

$8k is a lot. NADA says $6,950 is expected for "Clean Retail". I don't see the value of it dropping much lower than about $4k in any case, so maybe for the work they've done it's reasonable, but I don't think that's my problem if they paid too much on trade-in and had to put too much work into it to make it sellable. I'd offer them $6,000 and let them talk you up.

Honestly, it'd have to be in really REALLY good condition and come with some warranties to convince me to pay that much for it. They probably have more wiggle room than they let on. I test drove one before I bought mine that I really really wanted but the guy wanted about $7k more than book value. I told him I liked a different one better and tried to negotiate him down about $5k where I'd feel comfortable and he countered with $500 lower. I bought the other one. His is still listed on kijiji.ca (6 months later) and BELOW the price I offered him.

 

[sjwelds]

Make sure to use only a Motorcraft oil filter. They have the anti-drainback valve.

 

[gcextreme]

Yeah im getting a 1 year 12k mile warranty.
And yeah as soon as i get it, im changing the oil on it as soon as i can.
Whats the Motorcraft filter part #?

 

[Flexpedition]

Whats the Motorcraft filter part #?

Motorcraft is FL-820S. Its currently $3.19 on Amazon

Many, many oil filters have a anti-drainback valve. For example, Fram HM2, HP16, PH2, TG2, XG2 . But the Motorcraft will be fine.

 

[gcextreme]

Ok thanks. Ive akways ran MC in my rangers

 

[JExpedition07]

Never use a Fram EVER!! Their anti drain back valves commonly fail and the filter media has hardly any glue... cheap junk. A lot of the time they don’t even filter and the oil just goes through the bypass on those.