Farewell to my Mountaineer :(

[abomb]

I wrecked my Mountaineer on Monday. It was an awful scary horrible experience that I hope to never repeat again or wish upon anybody else. I'm not going to go into lengthy details about what happened, other than I rolled the truck at highway speeds, kicked out the windshield when it was all over to get out, and without divine intervention probably wouldn't be here today.

I bought it used in August 2006, and during the five and a half years I owned it it has been a super reliable truck. It was a 5.0 AWD, it was always sure-footed in rain, dry, and most snowy conditions. It could handle 8" of snow without any problems, but I did get stuck when we got 12" of snow. When I bought it it was missing the front driveshaft, and the transfer case was bad. Got a rebuilt driveshaft (from Napa) and used transfer case (from Evan - MountaineerGreen, great guy) and since then it's been great. It never left me on the side of the road, and the only times it wouldn't start was if the battery was dead (I had a 115v converter that would kill the battery if I left it on too long), once when the starter went out, and once when I lost the keys and it was cheaper for AAA to tow it to my house ($0) than for the AAA locksmith to make a new key ($350).

I will miss the truck a lot.

I'm not too sure what I will replace it with, but I will not be getting another second generation Mountaineer. It was rock solid, but it's propensity to roll over, lack of stability control and curtain airbags and the fact that I now have two kids calls for something with a little more safety equipment and a third row of seats. We've already got anExpedition, the only other stuff I've found meeting my criteria and budget is a 2007+ Mountaineer V8 or a 2007+ Volvo XC90 V8. But replacement isn't a priority right now.

Keep it safe out there everyone!

 

[schiavonske1013]

Wow that was quite a rollover, glad your okay though, trucks are replaceable, people are not.

Stay safe everyone.

 

[Jason c]

Wow! Glad you made it out okay.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Wow. Glad to see that you are OK. For a replacement, possible try an Excursion. That is what I am upgrading to once my 2nd gen dies. Huge, lots of room, and to top it off, the ever reliable 7.3 Diesel. Just a suggestion. Is the motor OK in the ex? or is it all junk pretty much?

 

[JCat]

Glad you are ok. Is that blood on the headliner?
Because I own the same exact vehicle/color/options those pictures were horrific.
I still carry full collision coverage on mine since I like it so much.
Sorry for your loss.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

wow glad your ok

 

[kp02-150]

Glad you're okay.

I hope you'd change your mind about explaining the details, so other people could benefit from your experience and about what circumstances to avoid (if possible).

I had a black 5.0 awd 97 for 10 years, and never felt unsafe in it.

 

[Turdle]

Wow, looks like you went for one heck of a ride. Glad you are ok.

Unless the Mounty got you into this mess in the first place, I would say it protected you well. I hope you thanked her-

 

[guilateen]

Glad you made it out ok.
Piece of advice stay away from the xc90 not a very reliable vehicle and expensive to repair.

 

[4rd Xplora]

Man. Most of us love these trucks but not one of them is worth a life. Your Mounty did its job and you walked away, THAT'S what matters.

 

[abomb]

Hey Guys, thanks for all your well wishes. I feel a ton better.

As for some more details and lessons learned, I had cruise control on, wasn't paying nearly enough attention as I was supposed to be, I looked up and I was about a second away from hitting an 18-wheeler. For some reason it registered in my head that the 18-wheeler was stopped on the highway, so I swerved hard right. Tried to correct and then started flipping, and rolling, and rolling. In retrospect maybe I should have just rear-ended the 18-wheeler because I don't think it was actually stopped, but the real lesson learned is when out on the road to stay focused on driving. It was 100% human error (stupidity), the truck did nothing wrong. This was on a 65 MPH stretch of interstate, I probably had cruise control set around 73-74 and I'm not sure I even hit the brakes.

So lesson learned... pay attention when driving.

 

[abomb]

Wow. Glad to see that you are OK. For a replacement, possible try an Excursion. That is what I am upgrading to once my 2nd gen dies. Huge, lots of room, and to top it off, the ever reliable 7.3 Diesel. Just a suggestion. Is the motor OK in the ex? or is it all junk pretty much?

At one point I thought about an Excursion as my next truck, but we've already got an Expedition, and I'm not sure I could justify going any bigger. Everybody I talk to that has an Excursion swears they will never give them up. I was toying around with getting an Expedition EL for my wife and taking the Expedition as my own, but it's really nice (it's a 2007) and I'd feel bad messing it up with all the stuff I do.

Not sure if the motor is any good, I didn't try starting it. The truck had around 197k when I wrecked it, for the list 50k miles the check engine light kept coming on fifty miles after resetting, coolant mysteriously slowly disappeared, and the engine would occasionally misfire. It was running well enough so I left well enough alone, but it wasn't running perfect. When I got to the yard I had the key fob with me, pushed unlock and all the doors unlocked. Was able to open every door with only a moderate tug, except the driver's rear door which had the handle broken off. I was able to open it from the inside though. The transmission always shifted firm, but I never had the feeling that it was failing. I need to go back there to pull my tags, I'll peek under the hood then.

If anybody wants I will ask insurance what the salvage value is, but I'm not sure there is anything worth saving... even the interior is broken up.

 

[abomb]

Glad you are ok. Is that blood on the headliner?
Because I own the same exact vehicle/color/options those pictures were horrific.
I still carry full collision coverage on mine since I like it so much.
Sorry for your loss.

Yep, that's blood. As I was sideways I could see the blood pouring out of my head. One of the rescue people said there were some pools of it, and I've got some papers that I pulled out that are completely soaked.

My agent almost talked me into cancelling full coverage a year ago. It's only $169/yr for full coverage, so I kept it.

 

[abomb]

I had a black 5.0 awd 97 for 10 years, and never felt unsafe in it.

To be clear, I never felt unsafe in the Mountaineer at all, and this wreck shows it is a safe and well made truck. But, it does highlight that technology has changed a lot in the last 15 years. Maybe some of that technology, like stability control, independent rear suspension, adaptive cruise control, could have prevented an accident or rollover. Maybe technology like curtain airbags could have lessened injury. I'm not knocking the second generation as bad, only that in the last 15 years so much technology has come out that makes more current cars better.

If only in those fifteen years technology could erase human error...

 

[abomb]

Unless the Mounty got you into this mess in the first place, I would say it protected you well. I hope you thanked her-

My stupidity got me into this mess... and I did thank her and said goodbye. But I will be going back this week to pull the tags so I will be sure to thank her again.

 

[abomb]

Piece of advice stay away from the xc90 not a very reliable vehicle and expensive to repair.

Well it's an unfair comparison, even a Toyota Corolla is unreliable compared to a 5.0L Windsor and 4R70W! I do share those concerns about the XC90, parts for European cars are more expensive, always need to be ordered, and if a major part fails like an engine or transmission you can't drive up to the local wrecking yard and pull a transmission for $500.

But other than the Mountaineer and XC90 I'm not sure there is anything with three rows, V8, and 2008 or newer that's right around the $20k mark. But not in a rush to replace the truck, I've got another car that I'll be driving for now. Any other suggestions?

 

[abomb]

Went to look at the truck with the insurance adjuster, he and I pried the hood open. Battery came loose in the engine bay and smashed the power steering reservoir. Some oil leaked out along with transmission fluid, and it looks like the engine shifted around a little (or maybe the rest of the truck shifted around a little).

Insurance valued the truck at $3,781. Not bad considering I paid $3,750 five and a half years ago and added 83k miles in the process.

Keep it safe all!

 

[kp02-150]

To be clear, I never felt unsafe in the Mountaineer at all, and this wreck shows it is a safe and well made truck. But, it does highlight that technology has changed a lot in the last 15 years. Maybe some of that technology, like stability control, independent rear suspension, adaptive cruise control, could have prevented an accident or rollover. Maybe technology like curtain airbags could have lessened injury. I'm not knocking the second generation as bad, only that in the last 15 years so much technology has come out that makes more current cars better.

If only in those fifteen years technology could erase human error...

Appreciate you sharing more details. I'd always wanted to put bigger diameter wheels and lower profile tires on mine while I had it, but after the firestone lawsuit deal, all the big guys like tire rack wouldn't sell + size rims & tires at all, which I thought would help with stability. Was also interested in the explorer express lowering kit.

I went from my mounty to my f150 and it seems to be overly large in parking lots and other tight quarters. That's why I finally went back to the same size with the aviator. Not sure how the excursion suspension would be like, that's kind of why I didn't do a f250.

 

[sport97]

If only in those fifteen years technology could erase human error...

New explorer has adaptive cruise. It "supposedly" slows down/brakes when slower moving traffic is detected in front. Sounds like something that could have potentially helped you out.

Regardless glad to see you are OK, and got a fair price on from the insurance company.