Looking at 07 Eddie Bauer with 158K Miles Quick Question

[Clapper66]

Hello,

Currently i live in ny and Drive an 04 expedition witch had 165K miles in it, and has the 5.4L V8 witch from what i have hear and read is a very reliable and indestructible motor , but the problem being in ny is i didn't own the vehicle from brand new and it had some rust on it when i bought it 4 years ago it and its now getting worse due to the salt in the winter!

Today i found a what looks like a great deal online on a dark blue Eddie Bauer explore, that the owner claims was a PA vehicle and is rust free, My question is about the high mileage. Currently in our house hold my son drives a 07 Black Eddie Bauer witch we bought 2 years ago with 78K miles on it witch we got for an amazing deal of $10,700, and now had 108K on it and still runs great! this Blue explore for the price seems like a great deal, only thing that is concerning me is the mileage. The owner said the transmission was rebuild 2k miles ago so that should be all fine.

My question is if the 4.0L 12-valve SOHC V-6 in it was well maintained for the current 158K how many miles could one motors go if it is well maintained for now on?


Also if the current motor were to go how much do you think a replacement would cost?(not counting labor to have it put in just the motor)

Thanks

 

[MotorCityFats13]

I know there were design flaws in the 4.6 3V engine before it's roll out in the 2005 MozdaStang these problems were mostly related to overheating but the engineers said lets put a bigger radiator in the car and roll them out anyway.... slightly after my dad retired so I lost my connection on these story's... from my experience the first gen 4.6/5.4 sohc engines were also duds.... my 1999 F-150 had the 5.4 and It didnt hold up to the crazy abuse I threw at it pretty much exploding at 130k miles and trans melting down at 75k miles... some people have better luck than others the 4.0 in your question could last another 75k or could throw a timing chain next week and crush all the valves, it is the dice we throw with complex over head cam engines, would like the think with the lack of power with the 4.0 it could last longer than the average engine but hell my 2nd gen explorers 4.0ohv engine died at 205k but it was not an engine internal issue something rusted out and coolant was pouring from the back of the engine

 

[Clapper66]

well im going to go look at this thinking more about the body more then anything else sine here in NY Road salt in the winter causes cars to rust badly. i for the price i have to look at the pros over my expedition. if its rust free and if i take care of it i can keep the rust off my son has proven that with his 07 it has 108K his truck compared to other explores in Ny its much cleaner under the wheel wells and in all the little spots that cause rust to start. plus driving the explore over my expedition i will get between 4 and 5 mpg more

 

[Flag Gibby]

If the 4.0 motor has been well maintained (ask to see the service records) you could potentially get to 200k miles before you have timing chain guide problems (you should be able to tell if there is any noise in it just by listening to it at idle). A new 4.0 engine would set you back around 3k, but a used low mileage unit would be around 1.5k. As far as fuel economy, you can expect to only get 16 MPG on average which I thought was only about 2 MPG better than the 5.4L. Rust protection wise, yes the 4th gen explorers do have a little better undercoating on them from the factory so they don't rust as fast as the expeditions but you do have some areas that are prone to rust like the bolts in the rear license plate/hatch release area. My biggest thing for any vehicle that sees road salts in the winter is to clean off the undercarriage of the vehicle at least once a month to help it not be covered in layers of salt all winter. Honestly, looking at the condition of the exhaust tubing around the catalytic converters will tell you how much winter driving conditions it has seen during its lifetime so far and how soon you may have to replace everything from the headers on back.