1999 Ford Expedition Eddie Bower review from North America

Within 6000 miles of ownership the Number four cylinder blew the spark plug out of the head. The mechanic informed me that this was a common problem with this engine. The fix was to remove the head and have the spark plug hole rethreaded. I had bought an aftermarket warranty that claimed it was bumper to bumper from a company called Millennium it cost about $1200. They denied my claim. They said we have “covered parts and non covered parts” if a “non covered” part fails and it comes in contact with a covered part both the parts are not covered. When I read the fine print a head is covered however a sparkplug is not covered. Then after checking the fine print of the agreement it seam that they have part combinations on nearly all the major components of the drive line that have a similar relation. They claim the spark plug failed the damaged the aluminum head. I paid to have the engine replaced! The dealer I took it to Napa Ford in California quoted me around $9600 to change the engine. They did; however repair a damaged seat heater (under warranty) and change the CD changer (also under warranty). The removed the head from the block to diagnose the problem and charged me around $1600 to remove the head for a diagnosis. When I drove the vehicle in they vehicle had no spark plug in the number 4. It was making a loud noise. When the service manager and several mechanics pushed the head less Expedition out of their shop, the service manager commented that the car is a lot quieter now!

I found a shade tree who replaced the engine for $1000. I bought a new engine from a Ford dealership San Bruno Ford. I delivered the engine to the shade tree that lived in a small city 120 miles north of the San Francisco. He took two weeks and I tipped him $150.

At 69000 miles I developed a leak from the transmission. We were on a vacation pulling our 27’ travel trailer. The transmission started leaking in Seattle, WA. I bough a case of transmission fluid and fed the beast a quart about every half tank full of fuel.

I got the beast back to San Francisco and took it to San Bruno Ford and they found the front pump in the transmission had failed. After many argument s with the warranty company they did pay the claim ($4600). They had to remove the transmission to replace the pump.

Now it has 103k miles and I just got a code (I bought a $100 dollar code scanner) indicating I have a misfire in cylinder #4 (again).

We should have bought a Chevrolet Suburban.

We like the look of the car

We like its features.

We have driven around 45k miles pulling a large trailer.

I have used the 4wd many times on snow, sand, and muddy mountain trails.

I am not happy with its mechanical performance.

Altough I have replace nearly everything, I have a second truck the same year as this on with more miles that I bought new and have only replaced spark plugs and brakes once on it.