What could be going on with alignment on this 2010 Expedition?

[Annwn]

Hello, new poster. Looking to upgrade our '06 Explorer to an Expedition - we need a larger towing capacity for a camper. Our family has had great luck with Fords and we've always liked what we've gotten with the Explorer line-up. The Expedition seems like a natural move. I have been looking at 2010/2011 models since they seem like a decent set of years. Ran across a 2010 Expedition that looked good and was priced decently, but it had an interesting carfax history.

Here are the entries -
6/21/17 - 33765 miles - sold to owner #2
8/29/18 - 59696 miles - Rear pads & rotors replaced
5/31/19 - 74820 miles - Rear pads & rotors replaced
6/6/19 - Alignment checked
8/31/19 - Alignment checked
9/11/19 - Alignment checked
1/3/20 - Alignment checked
5/20/20 - Alignment checked
5/26/20 - 91208 miles - offered for sale
5/27/20 - 91210 miles - PDI, tires balanced & rotated, alignment
6/4/20 - sold - owner to owner #3
7/6/21 - tire checked
9/2/21 - 113097 - offered for sale

I left out all the other servicing, but what struck me as odd is that there could be something going on with the alignment. Presumably those visits could be mislabeled and are actually tire balance/rotating, but the interval is a bit fast for that - you're looking at 5 visits in 16k miles or less. Then the alignment at the dealer on top of that. Also the rear pads/rotors being replaced within 15k miles previously. Makes me wonder if they were looking to solve some sort of problem. If so, owner #2 may have decided to sell it just 6 days after the last alignment visit.

Is there any sort of known issue or issues with the '10 Expedition that I should look out for on this that might present itself as some sort of alignment problem?

 

[tommyddsr]

Maybe he took it to the same dealer each time and they suck at doing alignments? It happens. Or the owner had a perceived issue that actually did not exist. Also happens. Since owners 1 and 3 didn't have the issue i'd say owner 2 was the actual problem. Just a hunch......

 

[Motorcity muscle]

Strange, did you run carfax or is this maintenance list from a dealer. Even the third owner did not keep it long.

 

[Annwn]

Strange, did you run carfax or is this maintenance list from a dealer. Even the third owner did not keep it long.

The carfax was available on the dealer's listing page - has a ton of other service entries, but seem pretty standard. I just copied the concerning bits.

Yeah, the 3rd owner was ~22k miles and ~15 months. Bit short, not necessarily concerning to me by itself, except because the 2nd owner only had it for ~23 months and the odd brake/rotor & alignment entries.

Maybe he took it to the same dealer each time and they suck at doing alignments? It happens. Or the owner had a perceived issue that actually did not exist. Also happens. Since owners 1 and 3 didn't have the issue i'd say owner 2 was the actual problem. Just a hunch......

Possibly. People can be weird, but the close together brake/rotor changes & 5 different alignment visits - maybe it's the owner, but the selling dealer also doing an alignment seemed like it may not be the owner. Guess that doesn't preclude a bad shop doing the alignments. The carfax doesn't list who did the alignments (except the last with the selling dealer), but there's a few service entries from the same place before that which suggest they had a regular mechanic they took it to, so I'd guess it might have gone there. Not sure how places would like a call asking for any notes on potential issues with just a vin though. I skimmed some threads - there's some suggestions of some possible suspension looseness issues in Expeditions of this age & I read someone who had some pulling issues not solved by multiple alignments, but no idea if those are one-offs. I'm going to look at it Mon or Tue, just wanted to educate myself first for potential issues to look for.

 

[Adieu]

Look at the wheels and the suspension

Maybe a previous owner was a compulsive modder

 

[mjp2]

These trucks have factory-set camber that's not adjustable without a installing an adjustment kit. Might have needed the camber set but the shop was unable to. Also completely possible that the lower control arm bolts are rusted in place, which means cutting them off and replacing the LCAs to install the alignment kit.

At that age it's likely time to replace some parts anyway. It's not terribly expensive to do if you turn your own wrenches.

 

[bws2015]

I'm willing to bet it was a bad tire and the owner kept insisting the dealer do an alignment to correct, I have had this happen when a belt separated on an otherwise almost new looking tire, fortunately for me the shop I went to were pretty salty and knew it was a tire after they checked the alignment.