Excursion - Too many miles?

[vjstangelo]

Hi all. Currently own a 2005 Ford Excursion, V10, with about 120K on the clock. All is stock from Ford.

We currently tow a 25' TT that weighs 4500# dry (probably 6000# loaded). We have taken it out west from VA to Yellowstone 3 times.

My son graduates college this year and we wanted to take him back west this summer since he loves Yellowstone. The round trip is at least 5000 miles, and if anyone has been that way they know it can be desolate for stretches of 60+ miles or more at a time.

Here is my concern. Since the truck has 125K miles and is now 10 years old, would it be wise to make the trip with the current rig?

I know it is a judgement call, but I was looking for experience from others who have made similar trips with vehicles of the same vintage (10 years old with 100K miles).

Thanks.

[AndyW]

I've said this before and I'll say it again - it's really hard to 'wear out' any properly maintained modern vehicle unless you're really beating on it. 120k isn't even close.

What usually happens is people start skimping on maintenance because their truck is getting up there in years and miles and they feel it isn't worth the time/money any more. Then it becomes unreliable.

[fla-gypsy]

No problem if you've kept up with the recommended maintenance

[jerem0621]

Hey Burbman, overall, I have owned three seperate Modular motors. All with 130 plus k on the original COP's (best I can tell, all bought used) ...this V10 has been the only one with these cracks.

The V10 was a construction or service truck before I took ownership. The body was in excellent shape. The only thing I can figure is that it had a lot of idle hours as a foreman truck or something and this contributed to the cracks. But then again..idk.

Same style COP's on my Town Car's 4.6 has 158k on them. When I changed plugs I also changed the boots and the springs. No cracks in the Town Car's COP's

I do agree though...when you start chasing misses in a Modular COP motor and the new boots and springs and spark plugs don't fix it...it is better just to change them all out. I know First hand though..these things can crack. I am not 100% sure of the conditions that contribute to the cracking.
I recommend examining the COP's closely though.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[BurbMan]

jerem0621 wrote:
The COP's are VERY reliable. They typically don't fail.. what usually fails is the boots and springs..

Yes.. that is a CRACK in the body of the COP. I found that 6 of these bad boys had identical cracks.

So the COPs are NOT reliable....I agree with your approach of replacing them all rather than chasing them piece meal....

To the OP, I have 160k on the burb and it runs like brand new. Latest work I did was new ball joints, tie rods and control arm bushings, it brought that back the new-car feel! As others have mentioned, if the truck has been maintained well, I wouldn't hesitate to take it on a road trip.

One thing I did was sign up for the Good Sam Emergency Road Service. If you do have an issue with the truck, they will come and tow the truck to the dealer (or repair shop) and tow the TT to the nearest CG.

I signed up years ago when friends we were traveling with lost the transmission on their Expedition....cost them $500 to have the TT towed off the NJ Pike, and then they had the privilege of dry-camping in the parking lot of the trans shop while work was done.

[vjstangelo]

Again, thanks for the replies.

Plan B has always been we have a Good Sams Towing Plan membership, but often we lack a cell signal way out there. I think that if we pull the trigger and go, I will invest in a cell phone signal booster.

Things I will probably do to the truck:

New Tires;
Service Transmission;
New Plugs;
New Hoses & Belts;
I've been noticing a wiff of antifreeze at times when the heater activates, so have the heater core replaced, it may be weeping;
Maybe change out oil on rear diff.

[Fordlover]

vjstangelo wrote:
Hi all. Currently own a 2005 Ford Excursion, V10, with about 120K on the clock. All is stock from Ford.

We currently tow a 25' TT that weighs 4500# dry (probably 6000# loaded). We have taken it out west from VA to Yellowstone 3 times.

My son graduates college this year and we wanted to take him back west this summer since he loves Yellowstone. The round trip is at least 5000 miles, and if anyone has been that way they know it can be desolate for stretches of 60+ miles or more at a time.

Here is my concern. Since the truck has 125K miles and is now 10 years old, would it be wise to make the trip with the current rig?

I know it is a judgement call, but I was looking for experience from others who have made similar trips with vehicles of the same vintage (10 years old with 100K miles).

Thanks.

My tow rig is 15 years old with similar mileage to yours, and I wouldn't hesitate. We've been to Orlando from Houston towing heavy without issue. Of course I also maintain my vehicles and replace any parts as they wear out (just recently replaced sway bar end links because of deteriorated bushings).

My recommendation would be to have a plan "B" in the event of a breakdown (which is appropriate with any trip, even in a new vehicle) and hit the road.

[carringb]

I wouldn't hesitate with that rig. My V10/4R100 has 402,000 miles with no major problems. I've had some age issues with the cooling system... Burst radiator and some burst heater hoses. I did have a couple COPs fail after 300k so last year I swapped them all out preventatively when I did the plugs. Starter relay goes out about every 100k (easy to bypass when it does). Serpentine belt idler seized on Christmas eve, but I was able to limp to a safe place off the highway on 5-cylinders.

Really, on a 2005 Ex, your biggest problems will probably be front-end wear, as it shares the '99-'04 pickup hardware, which tends to eat ball joints and sometimes unit bearings by that many miles. However, being a V10 you might be able to get some extra life out of those parts vs a diesel.

[jerem0621]

vjstangelo wrote:
Thanks for the good advice. I was planning on bringing to my mechanic to give it the once over, change belts, hoses. Also was planning to have the transmission serviced.

What about the plugs? They are stock but no issues. I was going to have them changed. Should I also have the COP's replaced? Do they have a suggested life?

The COP's are VERY reliable. They typically don't fail.. what usually fails is the boots and springs.. You can source 10 COP boots and springs on Ebay for about $20.00. I did this myself because I had a miss I just couldn't isolate. The Boots came and I planned a weekend swap.. (the V10 is VERY easy to work on)

here is a pic of my bag-o-COP boot's and springs



So the day came for my COP boot replacement and thankfully when I removed the COP's I figured out why I had an intermediate miss that I had ZERO success isolating myself.



Yes.. that is a CRACK in the body of the COP. I found that 6 of these bad boys had identical cracks.

Well, at least I had some spare COP boots now.

I broke down and ordered 10 new COP's from an eBay company called UneekSupply.com. I didn't have $600-$800 for New Motocraft COP's and several users on FTE were running these COP's with great success. I got these coils for about $90.00 for all 10 and I kept the other 4 coils without cracks as backups.

Add me to that list of happy uneeksupply coil customers.. These coils are great! They immediately cured my miss and ran GREAT in my truck with NGK spark plugs, and as far as I know they are in commercial service with the company that bought my dually from me to this day.

Here is what UneekSupply's COP's look like



If you find yourself replacing coils.. no matter what the company is you buy your coils from.. make sure that you pull the boot off and make sure that the spring is seated INSIDE the COP.

Here is a pic of what you will be looking at.. Never-mind the crappy Accell coil (hard $65.00 lesson there) but it does show good contrast. This is looking at the BOTTOM of the COP where the spring and boot will attach.



You will be pulling the OLD spring off of this little copper stud (not sure of the technical name) You will basically destroy the old springs getting them off.. make sure you have replacements on hand. You can replace the boots with local auto parts store boots and springs but they are going to run you about 60-70$ from the parts store.. EBAY's are just as good and cost $20.00 ish for me.

Also, I used some dielectric grease in the bottom of the new coil boots.. this helps seal out the spark plug from water that may get down in the spark plug well.

Anyway, sorry for the long reply. I hope you find something useful here.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[KD4UPL]

I maintain my vehicles as well as I can. My '05 Chevy truck has 192,000 miles on it and I'd jump in it right now and head across the country.
My Dad has a '99 Tahoe with nearly 200,000 miles on it. It just completed about a 5,000 miles run thru the midwest. It did need a fuel pump and alternator along the way however.
Granted, these are Chevys, not Fords. 🙂 just sayin'.
Only you know how well you maintain your vehicles. If yours has been taken care of I don't think there would be any worries with nearly twice the miles.

[dodge_guy]

A few things I would do, a couple of which I will be doing this spring! Replace the fuel pump with a new Ford pump. I will be doing this when I replace my hitch this spring. I do my fluids every 25k miles. The only other thing to consider is the COP's (Coil On Plug) at that mileage a few are ready to die. Either replace all 10 or carry a few spares with you. Other than that I would be good to go!

[K_Charles]

We have an '04 V10 with about 170,000 an it is stock also. I changed the oil and filter in the transmission at about 125,000 and the plugs at about 135,000 I think. Our TT weighs about 8500 lb and I would take it anywhere.

[vjstangelo]

Thanks for the good advice. I was planning on bringing to my mechanic to give it the once over, change belts, hoses. Also was planning to have the transmission serviced.

What about the plugs? They are stock but no issues. I was going to have them changed. Should I also have the COP's replaced? Do they have a suggested life?

[rhagfo]

jerem0621 wrote:
I'm casually looking for a V10 Excursion for my next tow vehicle. So here is my vote..

NO WAY... You need to trade that thing in on a New F350 crew cab gasser...

Then PM me where you traded it in at 🙂

I bought my last V10 with 135k miles and a few issues.. resolved the issues and then drove all over the southeast... driving and towing 🙂

Keep the Ex if it still pleases you... They don't make them like this anymore

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Yep sounds like good advice for Jerem0621!!!!

If you have maintained it correctly, no worries, with the exception of the early Spark Plug issue, these are strong towing engines. I would be worried about the trans a bit more.
Have the transmission serviced now, so you can put some miles on it after the service. Pulling 6,000# for that engine is nothing you should be able to get twice that mileage out of that engine.

[jerem0621]

I'm casually looking for a V10 Excursion for my next tow vehicle. So here is my vote..

NO WAY... You need to trade that thing in on a New F350 crew cab gasser...

Then PM me where you traded it in at 🙂

I bought my last V10 with 135k miles and a few issues.. resolved the issues and then drove all over the southeast... driving and towing 🙂

Keep the Ex if it still pleases you... They don't make them like this anymore

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[fx2tom]

If properly maintained and not abused that thing should make it without issues. As posters above said, get it checked out by a good mechanic, take care of any little issues and then hit the road.