After alot of looking and searching I have found what will hopefully become my new car. It is a 1999 Ford Expedition 4X4 Eddie Bauer 5.4L V8. I have done some reasearch on it, but can't really find any information about true cost of ownership or long term tests. I have checked the regular places, MSN autos, Edmunds, NADA, KBB.

I found some info at MSN Autos, but not really what I was looking for. They had some good user reviews, but lacked professional reviews.

Has anyone heard anything good or bad? Or know where I can find a professional review or long term test? I understand that the 4WD module and the coils have some inteminent problems on the 5.4L V8 engine. Is there anything that is more substantial than this that goes wrong on a consistant baises.

I know that there have been some smaller recalls, is there any way that a dealer would check to see if these were preformed, do you know what the cost would be? If by some chance that this vehicle was affected by a recall, and it wasn't performed, how would I go about getting it done, would it be preformed for free.

 

Anyone?

 

The only thing I remember about the Expedition was the sometimes leaky windshield. Random wet spots inside the vehicle would appear and in some cases certain electronics would get fried because of it. The 5.4L didn't have too many problems. I know a fellow who has over 200,000 miles on a 97 F-150 and hasn't had hardly a problem. The cost of ownership would be decided on the gas mileage, insurance, and maintence costs.

 

I have, in the past, been able to find a report on the average cost of ownership. They drive the car for a few years and update information all of the time. They then estimate the cost that the average person would experince. They incluse things like gas, insurance, tires, repairs not covered under warrenty, and the other joys and expenses of car ownership. I would like to find one for the Expedition, I found one for the Sport Trac and Ranger, but no Expedtion.

 

The 5.4's have a nasty habit of spitting out spark plugs.

The aluminum heads have very few threads for the plugs. It is critical that you properly torque replacement spark plugs and use anti-seize on the threads. They are also "100,000 mile" replacement schedule, but nobody in their right mind would wait that long.

"Some" of the 5.4's came with cast iron heads, which don't have the spark plug spit-out problem. I believe those were "flex fuel".

My son's 2000 Expy was trouble free, aside from the cruise control brake switch recall. He took it in for the recall and they didn't have the new part. Bozos disconnected the brake master cylinder pressure switch and didn't tell him. He took it back the next day because the cruise didn't work and they "explained" the situation to him. ****-poor, if you ask me.

He was visiting my house and asked me to look at his brakes and "help" him change the oil. Brakes were fine, but only ~2 quarts of tar-oil drained out. I'm like, WTF? I put in the 5 quarts and go to pull the dipstick. Can't get it out. Finally work it loose, and find the inside of the dipstick tube was corroded to the point it was trapping the dipstick (plastic, mind you) o-ring sealing surface to the tube.

I chucked a 30 caliber copper bore brush to my drill and cleaned out the top of the tube. We had an unpleasant "chat" about checking the oil. Turns out, he had NEVER checked the oil and had only had the oil changed once the entire 2 years prior.

So, I'd say that engine is very forgiving of neglect, FWIW.

 

In our shop here Ford is trying to tell us the cause of the "spitting out" is cracked coil boots letting water seep in that rear passenger plug and rust it out

 

As far as I can tell, the NTSA(I think that I am missing a HB in there somewhere, but there are too many ABC orginizations today) the spark plug/ water in the coil recall only affects 4000 units. I am not sure how a issue with lack of contact between threads is or could be limited to 4000 units. BTW the website also says it is due to water getting in the right side coil.

 

If you want to find out about what recalls have been done or need to be done, the dealer should be able to access that information via the VIN number.