Looking at a 2003 Aviator...Should I get it or run??

[nthe10s]

Ok so its actually for my girlfriend....but that just means I get to fix everything so I' m gonna try to cover my butt.

Its a 2003 Aviator AWD with 99k on it. The truck is in pretty good shape. Its black. Has a few dents. Nothing major. Grill is missing a tooth. Interior is nice. Black leather is nice. No nav, no DVD. Otherwise pretty loaded. Think we can get it for $7900. Seems liike an ok price from what I've seen.

#1- It drives nice. I did notice a little hesitation when shifting into second gear. Only did it after it warmed up. Trans issues?

#2- It has a little rough idle. Not bad... Just enough for me to notice. Any thing to worry about here?

#3- Big deal for my girlfriend... The drivers side heated seat is not working. The light doesn't even come on. The a/c works fine. Passenger side both heat and a/c work. Shouldn't be too difficult to fix. Hopefully inexpensive.

#4- Being a 2003. What are everyones thoughts on reliability? Should I run away? I was kinda pushing for a Navigator. Would it be any better?

May be getting this Saturday or Monday ,so pretty soon. I'm open to anyones opinions!

Thanks and sorry for thr long post!

 

[ponkotsu]

Ok so its actually for my girlfriend....but that just means I get to fix everything so I' m gonna try to cover my butt.

Its a 2003 Aviator AWD with 99k on it. The truck is in pretty good shape. Its black. Has a few dents. Nothing major. Grill is missing a tooth. Interior is nice. Black leather is nice. No nav, no DVD. Otherwise pretty loaded. Think we can get it for $7900. Seems liike an ok price from what I've seen.

#1- It drives nice. I did notice a little hesitation when shifting into second gear. Only did it after it warmed up. Trans issues?

#2- It has a little rough idle. Not bad... Just enough for me to notice. Any thing to worry about here?

#3- Big deal for my girlfriend... The drivers side heated seat is not working. The light doesn't even come on. The a/c works fine. Passenger side both heat and a/c work. Shouldn't be too difficult to fix. Hopefully inexpensive.

#4- Being a 2003. What are everyones thoughts on reliability? Should I run away? I was kinda pushing for a Navigator. Would it be any better?

May be getting this Saturday or Monday ,so pretty soon. I'm open to anyones opinions!

Thanks and sorry for thr long post!

Aviators are awesome vehicles. But I wouldn't buy a 2003. They made some improvements to them by 2005, notably the cylinder head cooling problem. I couldn't find a good deal on one here in CO, so I finally found a nice 05 in VA for $5900 and went out there and bought it. I think I see the one your looking at on Craigslist. I wouldn't pay more than 5500 for it. Doesn't have DVD player, rear captains chairs, nav or THX sound. There are too many bargains on them if you have a little patience and are willing to drive a little. As for fixing the seat, nothing is cheap on these things. Almost everything is Aviator only and they didn't make many of them. I might be heading up to denver tomorrow. If I"m in that area and have time maybe I'll take a look at it for you.

 

[nthe10s]

Yep. Thats the one. It does have the rear captains. No A/V upgrades though. I can't seen to find a good deal on an Aviator. They are pretty rare.
The slight rough idle makes me worry about the cylinder head cooling issue.

 

[ponkotsu]

Yep. Thats the one. It does have the rear captains. No A/V upgrades though. I can't seen to find a good deal on an Aviator. They are pretty rare.
The slight rough idle makes me worry about the cylinder head cooling issue.

Look at the Carfax. It had a ton of service. And Carfax of course doesn't show everytime it went in for service. The rough idle could be nothing, or could be burned valves. You will have to go out of CO to get a good deal on an AWD anything. If you search Cars.com you can see tons of Aviators for under 6k, even under 5k. I wouldn't buy one in which the engine wasn't running perfect unless I had it scoped and new exactly what was up with it. I read that many dealers automatically assume they need to replace the heads on 2003's when they take them on trade. If you really like it, take it to the Lincoln dealer and have them check it out for you.

The slow shift in to 2nd tells me the tranny will need rebuilding soon. All explorers need it and the Aviators are even worse because they are strained more due to the weight and power. Seems like almost every Aviator you see for sale says "Just rebuilt tranny".

 

[nthe10s]

It has been maintained as far as I can tell. Lots of normal service records on the carfax. Nothing that says the trans was rebuilt or replaced though. The spark plugs were changed within the last 5k or so I think.. Dont have the carfax in front of me. May have been a try at fixing the rough idle. How often do these things burn valves? I have beat on 4v Mustangs without any issue. Maybe just the weight is enough over time?

And on the trans...not 100% familiar. But have read that there are issues with servos and solenoid packs that can be done with the trans installed. Is this a possibility? Or is a rebuild more likely?

Thanks for the replies !

 

[nthe10s]

On cars.com The lowest priced Aviator with under 100K is $7488 and 2wd. Also 469 miles away...lol. These transmissions have me nervous. Hate to spend $8k and have the trans quit.

 

[ponkotsu]

It has been maintained as far as I can tell. Lots of normal service records on the carfax. Nothing that says the trans was rebuilt or replaced though. The spark plugs were changed within the last 5k or so I think.. Dont have the carfax in front of me. May have been a try at fixing the rough idle. How often do these things burn valves? I have beat on 4v Mustangs without any issue. Maybe just the weight is enough over time?

And on the trans...not 100% familiar. But have read that there are issues with servos and solenoid packs that can be done with the trans installed. Is this a possibility? Or is a rebuild more likely?

Thanks for the replies !

The Mustang engine and Aviator have the same problem with lack of coolant flow in the rear of the cylinder heads. I don't know for sure, but I think they fixed that problem in 2005. Pulling heads on this engine looks like a major job. In the Ford manual it doesn't list it as an "in vehicle" repair. I think the engine has to come out.

The 5R55 transmissions all have the servo bore issue. I had my transmission rebuilt and bronze sleeves installed to fix it. There is a temporary fix that involves removing the servos and replacing the pistons with grooved ones that have orings. If you're going to keep the vehicle, it should be repaired correctly and not bandaided. The temporary fix can be done in the vehicle but looks like a PITA. On the Aviator you will need to drop the cat pip to get access to it. Some have had good luck with the fix, but others haven't. It depends how bad it is before you get to it I think.

 

[ponkotsu]

On cars.com The lowest priced Aviator with under 100K is $7488 and 2wd. Also 469 miles away...lol. These transmissions have me nervous. Hate to spend $8k and have the trans quit.

Mine was an '05 with every option, 1 owner and only 140k. All original and not a dent or bit of rust on it. I had to look for a couple months before I found it. But I wanted an '05 and all the options. I'd consider anything from 90k - 150k in the same category until you look at them. I've seen cars with 200k in great shape and some with 75k that were a total wreck. Totally depends on how it was driven and cared for. I saw an 03 Aviator at a dealer in Denver with 120k miles on it. It was an absolute pile of junk. Filthy. Full of dog hair, cigarette burns. half the buttons broken. Stains in the carpet. Engine sounded like crap. Dents, you name it. When I opened the rear hatch the hinge broke and the glass was just hanging there by one hinge. Took it for a test drive just out of morbid curiosity. It overheated before we got back. They were asking 8k for it. I told the sales guy I'd give him 4k if they threw in another Explorer they had sitting there. He got kind of pissed and walked away.

Like I said, Aviators are very cool and rare vehicles and great to drive. Even with 150k on mine, it's the nicest vehicle I've ever owned. But they are a bit of a white elephant and you need to be prepared for it. I absolutely wouldn't touch one if I couldn't repair it myself. You'd go broke.

 

[nthe10s]

I can probably fix anything that goes wrong with. Just tough to find the time. I do like the Aviators. I just don't want to have to fix it all the time. It would be one thing if it were just my vehicle. It's another being for my girlfriend. Any thoughts on a Navigator? 2003-2004 with a 5.4 4V? lol
Or should we try to find a 2005 Aviator? I like this 2003 because of the black interior. Thats super hard to find! But...I don't care how good it looks if its broke down.

 

[ponkotsu]

I can probably fix anything that goes wrong with. Just tough to find the time. I do like the Aviators. I just don't want to have to fix it all the time. It would be one thing if it were just my vehicle. It's another being for my girlfriend. Any thoughts on a Navigator? 2003-2004 with a 5.4 4V? lol
Or should we try to find a 2005 Aviator? I like this 2003 because of the black interior. Thats super hard to find! But...I don't care how good it looks if its broke down.

I thought about a Navi but just too big. Barely fits in a garage. I'd suggest looking for an 05 or 04. I don't think they have more problems than the Explorer, maybe less, it's just that when you do have problems it's usually double the cost, and boneyard parts are usually not an option. Getting help on them is tough also because nobody has one. Peculiar differences from the Explorer, such as the sway bar bushings being integrated into the rollbar makes it a challenge sometimes. I've only seen one in a boneyard and it was picked clean inside and out. When they are running right, they are incredibly smooth and powervul SUV's. I don't plan on giving mine up for a while. Not sure what I would drive that would make me happier. Fuel mileage isn't great, but not much worse than my wife's 2013 4cyl Equinox. She gets 23 highway and I get 19.

The in dash navigation is a little dated, but works very nice. I'd thought about upgrading to a modern aftermarket unit, but you lose so much functionality I decided not to. If you can find one, the THX sound is amazing. I took mine to a car audio shop asking about upgrading. He said I'd have to spend a min of $2k just to match what I have.

 

[ponkotsu]

I tried to find something definitive about the cylinder head problem but can't. But it does seem like all the complaints surrounded the 04 and 05. Lots of people had to shell out big bucks for cylinder head replacement just out of warranty. If you search Mustang forums you can find there is a known flaw in the design. They even have an aftermarket kit to redirect coolant flow to the rear of the heads. But from what I've been able to deduce, Ford fixed this issue on the 05. I do have an 03 service manual, and there are lots of changes between 03 and 05 that would also indicate they made some big changes.

Here's a very cool video on removing an Aviator engine. They removed the body to get at it. It is definitely possible to remove conventionally however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2SXXS_sg8

 

[nthe10s]

I actually have 2 Mustangs with 4v engines right now. No issues. Way easier to work on in a mustang. Pulling the body is not something that looks fun.
My girlfriend is getting frustrated. I have way more patience when it comes to buying cars. Not sure how long she can hold out! lol

 

[nthe10s]

By the way.. The Aviator is a Kitty Hawk Edition. Thats why it has the black interior. They made like 550 of them.

 

[ponkotsu]

By the way.. The Aviator is a Kitty Hawk Edition. Thats why it has the black interior. They made like 550 of them.

I thought so, but didn't see the emblem. I saw one of those going for about $4k last year. It was sold before I could get to it though.

 

[ponkotsu]

I actually have 2 Mustangs with 4v engines right now. No issues. Way easier to work on in a mustang. Pulling the body is not something that looks fun.
My girlfriend is getting frustrated. I have way more patience when it comes to buying cars. Not sure how long she can hold out! lol

Looks like a decent truck. As long as the engine checks out and you can get a decent price I don't think you will go too wrong. Definitely get the engine checked. The cost of a cylinder head job is more than the value of the truck. Use Edmunds to get the fair market value. KBB is worthless. And yes, it is a very easy truck to work on for the most part.