Ford Expedition build thread.

[Fless]

Nice job disguising the rust with the camouflage!

What rust? LOL

 

[grouch]

Nice job disguising the rust with the camouflage!

That's how I usually paint vehicles. That particular paint job is so good, I thought it was stolen one night when I came home and couldn't see it. It was there, just camouflaged very well.

 

[grouch]

I got a new window regulator as when I got the truck, I notice the window that didn't work had a short piece of cable hanging out. These type regulators fail regularly. I ordered a new one and it came in so I tore the door down to replace it.

Oh joy! No window motor and cable hanging everywhere. Okay, I start to disassemble but there's something odd about it. What's holding the window up?



Gentlemen, before you, you see a piece of PVC conduit holding the window in place. Talk about cheap. If you go to that much trouble, just get the new parts and fix it. I'm heading out to source some bolts as I don't have the size needed to reassemble the door assembly. At least now I know why it wasn't working. A new master switch got the other widows working so this will give me all my windows opening and closing.

 

[grouch]

I've been tracing electrical issues. I had the computer tested and the dash cluster rebuilt. Put everything back together and it would crank okay but the truck wouldn't start. Extended cranking showed oil pressure so the dash is working. I tried shooting some ether into the throttle body and it didn't hit a lick.

Started tracing the wiring today. I found this on the back of my fuse box.



It's so melted I'm going to have to cut it apart. These trucks have problems with the factory fuse boxes getting hot. I hit the bone yard to pull a replacement. I figured I'd pull to just in case. First truck still had one. The next 12 were missing them. Evidently I'm not the first to have this problem.

At least now I know why the truck was so cheap.

 

[grouch]

I finally got the Expedition to start. I rebuilt the "Smart Junction Box" (fuse box but so much more) and fixed the wire on the alternator that nearly burned the truck down.



It looked like a poorly trained monkey had worked on it. The wire just fell out. This was the cause for the melted fuse block as well as the cutting out going down the road.

I also had to replace the ECU (computer) It still has some minor issues but is running great now. The problems now are the cruise control doesn't work, the sunroof is stuck and little things like that.



The old one looked like it had been hammered on anyway.

 

[grouch]

Got finished cleaning the exterior and touching the looks up.


The old headlights were beyond cleaning. Pits, cracks and such I just put new ones in. The fog lamps cleaned up with scratch remover polish.



A couple of cans of Krylon spray gloss black for the wheels and a couple of satin black for the bumper covers and body cladding. Between the fresh paint on the wheels and body plastic, along with the dash cam in the windshield, this things looks like a police unit. It isn't. However, I don't have people cutting me off in traffic, even with the handicap plate in back.

 

[grouch]

Evidently there is a photo file limit here. Here's what it looked like then and looks like now from the back.



This is turning into a really nice driver. I still need to get the cruise control working. The fuse is good and I've swapped two different sets of switches in so I suppose the servo is bad. I got another one out of the bone yard but the cable is different and the electrical plug is different. I try to head down the interstate and cathc myself doing with 80 or 60. Niether is what I want.

 

[grouch]

Finally tracked down the cruise control issue. There is a separate switch that works in conjunction with the brake light switch called the cruise control cut out switch. It's a simple swap, except I couldn't fit under the dash to get a good purchase on the piece. Just a slight twist and out it comes. Unplug a wire and plug the new one in, push it in and twist it back.