Ford Expedition question

[Camping Coxes]

Hey all you gearheads!  I know Jacqui somewhat well, and I think what you're talking is Greek to her!  I know it is to me, and my DH is quite the gearhead.
 
Jacqui, a friend replaced her Aerostar with an Expy with the smaller motor and loved it, but then they decided to buy a 28 foot trailer after being evacuated during the fires in Arrowhead last year.  They couldn't even get the trailer up the grade to Blue Jay and had to call a friend with a big truck to take it up the mountain to their house.  They traded in the Expy on a Suburban and have had all kinds of transmission problems right away with it (go figure!) that weren't under warranty, even though it was brand new.
 
Most people with the bigger motors on the Expedition seem to feel it's got plenty of power.  
 
I'd ask Paul for you, but he's out of town and will be gone for a few weeks.  If Randy wants to talk with him about it, feel free to E-mail us.  You guys knew what to tell us about sway bars and brake controllers, Paul knows about tow rigs!

[OC Campers]

Hey all you gearheads! I know Jacqui somewhat well, and I think what you're talking is Greek to her! I know it is to me, and my DH is quite the gearhead.
 
Jacqui, a friend replaced her Aerostar with an Expy with the smaller motor and loved it, but then they decided to buy a 28 foot trailer after being evacuated during the fires in Arrowhead last year. They couldn't even get the trailer up the grade to Blue Jay and had to call a friend with a big truck to take it up the mountain to their house. They traded in the Expy on a Suburban and have had all kinds of transmission problems right away with it (go figure!) that weren't under warranty, even though it was brand new.
 
Most people with the bigger motors on the Expedition seem to feel it's got plenty of power.
 
I'd ask Paul for you, but he's out of town and will be gone for a few weeks. If Randy wants to talk with him about it, feel free to E-mail us. You guys knew what to tell us about sway bars and brake controllers, Paul knows about tow rigs!

Thanks Trina.  It isn't all that foreign to me.  I am a car buff.  Unfortunately, when you start talking torque and gear ratios that is a little over my head.  I pass the spark plug issue on to Randy.  We are still on the fence as to what to do.  The Astro is still going strong but it does have 105,000 miles on it.  Our trips are getting a little longer in distance and we are just a little nervous.  Now I have to say in defense of the Astro, it has never left us stranded.  We are definately in no rush to change tow vehicles but I don't want to make a big mistake in buying an expensive used vehicle.
 
Jacqui

[Diplomat]

Jaqui,

We run the Astros at work to the tune of 50,000 miles a year.  We regularily get 200,000 miles out of them.  The major problem we have is that the fuel pumps go out at about 125,000, other than that they are great trucks!  I know that you have taken good care of yours and I would expect that you could easily get another 100,000 out of it.  HTH.

[OC Campers]

Jaqui,
 
We run the Astros at work to the tune of 50,000 miles a year. We regularily get 200,000 miles out of them. The major problem we have is that the fuel pumps go out at about 125,000, other than that they are great trucks! I know that you have taken good care of yours and I would expect that you could easily get another 100,000 out of it. HTH.

We just replaced the fuel pump not too long ago and today the air conditioner went.  It has been a good van.  Unfortunately, our new vehicle dreams keep getting swamped.  Today the air conditioner went out and now the dog is sick.  We have already spent $500 on her at the vet and another $400 will have to be spent next week.  Oh yeah, the television is going too.  When it rains it pours.:mad:
 
Jacqui

[JUST4FUN]

sorry to hear about your misfortuns
with fuel pumps never go below 1/4 tank of gas, the gas "cools" the pump always change the gas filter once a year 12000 miles a pluged gas filter will cause the pump to work harder shortning its life.. Larry

[afp]

For popup use the 4.6 would be fine, but with a hybird or TT the 5.4 would be the better motor. I have a '98 F-150 with the 4.6 and it does a fine job towing the hybird (I believe my trailer weight dry is around 3400 lbs), but my trips are generally no more than an hour drive from the house. If I was to travel more extensively I would have opted for the 5.4.  My biggest complaint with the 4.6 is the constant knock or ping the engine experiences under load.

From a personnal standpoint I would look for a newer body style Expedition, one of the improvements I like was replacing the soild rear axle with an independent suspension.

A great source for information any any light-duty Ford truck is //www.f150online.com  The forum section has plenty of topics.

[JUST4FUN]

If the motor is pinging under a load then the ports are plugged where the EGR goes into the thottel body,this has to be physicly cleaned
by taking the thottel body apart but there is a big diffrence when
it is done no more ping.... Larry
see //www.F150online.com

[Dee4j]

since we are talking about expeditions and there seems to be some experts out there.  
Mine doesn't want to start well, it has lots of cranking power, but doesn't seem to be getting fuel right away. I even tried the "ol push the pedal down once" trick. sometimes it's worse than others but can't relate it to the engine being hot or cold it does it either way. It's under warranty but I know it's going to be one of those waste my time things..They sit in it, it  will start and they'll think I'm nuts :screwy: so I thought maybe some one would have some ideas so I can go in with some knowledge behind me

[JUST4FUN]

Here is some reading  about hard start/ no start
http://www.f150online.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=188419

[Dee4j]

Thanks the link helped alot...that pretyy much sounds like it. Hopefully it's covered under warranty.  The dealers charge too much $$$  :mad:

[JUST4FUN]

glad i could help

[afp]

Larry,

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at the ports.

[JUST4FUN]

The EGR cools the combustion chamber by putting exaust gases back into the chamber when this doesnt happen you will get a ping or whats called detonation or spark knock