D Hook
Elite Explorer
- Joined
- October 10, 2010
- Messages
- 1,130
- Reaction score
- 98
- City, State
- Omaha, NE
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 06 Explorer Limited V-8
Just purhased a 2002 XLT 4.0 with just over 147K miles on the odometer. Mainly will be used as a daily driver in town, maybe a few out-of-town excursions but not much. Spent the last few days studying up on this forum to get an idea of what to look for and to spot potential head ache$.
I traded a 1994 Mustang GT convertible with only 62k miles on it. I owned it for 10 years,drove it to work daily and only put 45K of those miles on it in that amount of time. I've always owned Fords and have had very good experiences with all of them.
The interior on the XLT is perfect, no rips or tears in the cloth seats, no wear marks on anything, carpet is great. it has some small chips on the hood but nothing seriously wrong. Paint is great, everything seems to work just fine.
The dealer took care of an ABS light that was staying on (bad rear counter) and the Service Engine light (bad DPFE, IIRC) and it seems to run and drive as good as my wife's 07 Expedition. They put new pads on the rear brakes and four new tires so it's ready for winter. I'll probably add a new battery, just to be safe.
I usually try to avoid high mileage vehicles like this for obvious reasons but my wife's Expedition has been a great vehicle so far and I needed an SUV (last winter was BRUTAL with the Mustang!) but not that big so the Explorer seemed like a good choice and the price was right (I'm a cheap *******!). The color is almost identical to her's, just a little darker, and the two are similar enough that she'll pbrobably drive the Explorer more often. She didn't like the Mustang as much because she likes that higher-up feeling of the Expedition and the spoiler on the rear of the Mustang interfered with her rear view.
I found an old registration in the owner's manual that tells who the truck belonged to previously so my wife is going to try to contact her and see what we can find out as to maintanence and major components that have been replaced, if any.
Any advice for a new owner newb?
I've been reading on this forum for about a week now and trying to anticipate any future problems. When I suggested to the service manager that I should get the tranny flushed and filled he seemed undecided in his response, as if to say that it sounded like a good idea but if there is no indication of a problem, why mess with it? I know high mileage vehicles can start to present trouble with the transmission after a flush so I'm inclined to agree, at least until I can see if the previous owner can shed light on the maintanence history. I would be curious to know if the transmission has already exploded or if I may get to enjoy that experience myself.
It appears to have a cold-air intake system that someone installed that I'm thinking about changing back to the stock system but I want to see what the mileage is first. Since this will see mostly in-city miles, I'm probably going to just leave it, if the gas mileage is worth it. Not a big fan of those K&N cone filters though since they seem to let in more dirt than the stock, from what I've read. I prefer to change filters rather than clean and re-oil. I'd be interested in hearing what other owners experiences have been with the CAI equipment.
Anyway, nice to be here. Hope to contribute, once I learn a little more about the vehicle. I've already read some great stuff on here that will come in handy down the road I'm sure.
Thanks!
EDIT: Boy, those info-links sure are annoying. No way to shut those off I suppose.
I traded a 1994 Mustang GT convertible with only 62k miles on it. I owned it for 10 years,drove it to work daily and only put 45K of those miles on it in that amount of time. I've always owned Fords and have had very good experiences with all of them.
The interior on the XLT is perfect, no rips or tears in the cloth seats, no wear marks on anything, carpet is great. it has some small chips on the hood but nothing seriously wrong. Paint is great, everything seems to work just fine.
The dealer took care of an ABS light that was staying on (bad rear counter) and the Service Engine light (bad DPFE, IIRC) and it seems to run and drive as good as my wife's 07 Expedition. They put new pads on the rear brakes and four new tires so it's ready for winter. I'll probably add a new battery, just to be safe.
I usually try to avoid high mileage vehicles like this for obvious reasons but my wife's Expedition has been a great vehicle so far and I needed an SUV (last winter was BRUTAL with the Mustang!) but not that big so the Explorer seemed like a good choice and the price was right (I'm a cheap *******!). The color is almost identical to her's, just a little darker, and the two are similar enough that she'll pbrobably drive the Explorer more often. She didn't like the Mustang as much because she likes that higher-up feeling of the Expedition and the spoiler on the rear of the Mustang interfered with her rear view.
I found an old registration in the owner's manual that tells who the truck belonged to previously so my wife is going to try to contact her and see what we can find out as to maintanence and major components that have been replaced, if any.
Any advice for a new owner newb?
I've been reading on this forum for about a week now and trying to anticipate any future problems. When I suggested to the service manager that I should get the tranny flushed and filled he seemed undecided in his response, as if to say that it sounded like a good idea but if there is no indication of a problem, why mess with it? I know high mileage vehicles can start to present trouble with the transmission after a flush so I'm inclined to agree, at least until I can see if the previous owner can shed light on the maintanence history. I would be curious to know if the transmission has already exploded or if I may get to enjoy that experience myself.
It appears to have a cold-air intake system that someone installed that I'm thinking about changing back to the stock system but I want to see what the mileage is first. Since this will see mostly in-city miles, I'm probably going to just leave it, if the gas mileage is worth it. Not a big fan of those K&N cone filters though since they seem to let in more dirt than the stock, from what I've read. I prefer to change filters rather than clean and re-oil. I'd be interested in hearing what other owners experiences have been with the CAI equipment.
Anyway, nice to be here. Hope to contribute, once I learn a little more about the vehicle. I've already read some great stuff on here that will come in handy down the road I'm sure.
Thanks!
EDIT: Boy, those info-links sure are annoying. No way to shut those off I suppose.
