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Ford Expedition Odometer

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Ford Expedition • Engine problems • Spark plug blow-out • Torque converter • Transfer case • Transmission • Gas cap leaks • Spontaneous combustion • Premature rust • Speedometer • Window track • Spare tire hazard • Windshield seals • Rear view mirrors • Cracks in the floor • Miscellaneous

Leasing your Expedition? Better make sure your odometer is working better than Emmett's. And lest you think this is a minor problem, Daniel points out that in the Expedition's complicated circuitry, the speedometer and the transmission are somehow cononected.

Emmett of Bedford Heights OH writes (2/28/00):
I leased a 1999 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer On March 17,1999. In less then a year I have taken this vehicle back on 9 occasions in which work has been performed, there has been other occasions in which they found nothing to be wrong. On three of those occasions in which work was performed I had to have a loaner car because the work took four to five days.

On 1/27/99 I had the vehicle towed in because of erratic speedometer activities, (the speedometer was racing 40 t0 50 miles faster then what the vehicle was actually traveling) and the odometer was caculating over twice the miles actually being driven. The dealership had my vehicle for four days and stated that all they did was connect a loose connector plug to the PMC computer. I was told that nothing they did could affect the speedometer or the odmeter.

Before this repair my vehicle was calculating an average of 4,000 miles every two months and had calculations of 6,000 miles in a two-month period. For the two months since this repair it has not even calculated 2,000 miles. I often drove the highways with the feeling that I was not traveling as fast as I thought. I would say to my wife, boy this vehicle is smooth, don't even feel like we're doing 70 miles.

I always wondered why I had to do 75 to 80 miles an hour to keep up with the flow of traffic. I would be in the slow lane doing the posted 65 miles an hour and have people passing me and staring. I am a 16 yr. Fire-Medic, entrepreneur of two companies, and would never buy a lease vehicle to put this amount of miles on it. I have a 7-yr-old Nissan with 120,000 miles. I just drove almost 300 mile on 3/4 of a tank. I get 11 miles to the gallon in the Expedition and the gas prices are outrageous.

Neither I nor my wife drives this vehicle on a regular basis. Not to mention that I was hurt rescuing a child from a burning house on April 30, 1999, and had suegery on June 10, 1999 on a fractured ankle. My wife was doing the driving at this time and she is a work, pick-up the kids, back home person. I couldn't believe the amount of miles being put on this vehicle and couldn't figure it out until I saw that odometer caculating miles. The truth is I just accepted it, never even investigated or thought to.

After this event there was still something wrong with the vehicle, turns out to be a torque converter. All these things directly involving the transmission and I being told that there is no way my vehicle can do what I saw it do. No test that has been done confirms this activity so ther's nothing they will do despite the fact that I had the vehicle test-driven with one of their repair representatives in the vehicle.

At 50 miles an hr. it was evident that the vehicle was not traveling at that speed. I was assured by the represenative after talking to his superior and to the Ford representative that they were going to do something about the milage differental. After a few days I was told that they would do nothing and this is when this nightmare began.

I have talking to numerous of indiviuals both with Ford, all refusing to do anything about this situation. As it stands I will be responsible for an exreme over-calculation of miles which I have put on this vehicle.

Daniel, MD, of Tabernacle NJ (1/20/01):
I purchased a 1999 Ford Expedition in August of 1999. In December it began to have recurrent electrical problems. When accelerating the speedometer and odometer would go off and the automatic transmission would then rev to a higher rpm before changing gears. This could happen once a month or 10 times a day. While it was happening there was no way of knowing what speed you were driving at, and the car would handle poorly because of the abnormal gear shifting.

The first time in the shop I got the usual "if we can't reproduce the problem, we can't fix it". The second time I showed up with a VCR tape of the entire incident, forcing them to try something. They said they made a repair.

Now the car will intermittently not shift out of first gear. When accelerating, the speedometer will stick at approx. 10 mph (despite the fact that the car is picking up speed) until it reaches over 4000 rpms, then suddenly the speedometer kicks in, popping up to 40 mph or so and the automatic transmission kicks into second gear with a lunge.

This is just the major problem. The other minor problem is that the drivers side window intermittently will not open. The wipers used to come on whenever they wanted to (one problem they managed to fix)

My concern is that the automobile is unreliable at the very least and potentially very dangerous. If I can't accelerate while getting onto the highway, or God forbid, to avoid an accident then someone could be seriously hurt. Perhaps me or my children. I have contacted Ford. They are useless. They refer me back to the dealer who (1) can't seem to fix the problem and (2) expects me to rent a vehicle when I'm already paying for a vehicle that is under warranty but does not work properly. I spent over $40,000 for this vehicle. Each one of those dollars works just fine, but the vehicle does not.

An update from Daniel as of 8/3/01:

After approx. 1 and 1/2 years it appears that the problem I reported has been fixed. They found that a portion of the transmission had been improperly assembled. I have had no further problems since this last repair.

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