My 1998 Ford Expedition with 128K miles went into the Ford Dealer service department June 18th and finally is back home and apears to be fixed. The Service Manager told me that the truck is "old and past it's dependable lifespan." I've always had at least one Ford in my garage and have always kept up on maintinance and repairs, and have been satisfied. I think after hearing the Service Manager say that, the Expedition is going up for sale and a Toyota Sequoia will be going in it's place. I think they are close enough in price and I'm pretty sure Toyota expects their vehicles to have a more than 128K "dependable lifespan." I think they probably could have found to problem and fixed it in less than four months. I would have picked the Ford any day over the Toyota before this, but now I think I'd have to put the Ford a few manufacturers slots down.

 

You are changing brands because of what ONE service manager said? Where do service mangers work? Dealerships. What do dealerships sell? Cars. Whats a tactic to get you to buy a car? Tell you the current one is past its prime, and you should upgrade to a new one. What was the problem with your vehicle, that you needed to leave it with a dealer for 4 months?

 

4 MONTHS TO GET FIXED!?!?!

Sounds like their service department & manager is past their "dependable lifespan"... Holy crap...

 

You have got to be kidding. The dealership had your vehicle for 4 months, I would not have stood for that nor the statement that the service manager said. Not a good enough reason to switch to a ricer brand but definitely enough reason to switch to another dealer. That dealership and service department should be the ones being traded.

 

I have a 4x4 ford ranger with a 4" lift going on 300,000 and never had any engine work due to break downs I just added stufff to enhance the performance. I will always have a ford in my garage I want to make sure I get my money's worth. I think that idiot needs to find another job.

 

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I have had toyota t-100 and now currently a tundra. The t-100 was weak and the body was flimsy, but it was very reliable. 276,000 miles when i sold it with nothing other than regular maintenance.

The tundra however is a different story. First off, brake problems are an issue (TSB), starter problems, car dying while driving, and a rear main seal leak. The brakes is a big issue to me. Many times I have almost rear ended other cars because the brakes are so spongy. When I have weight in the back, it makes the situation 5 times worse. Then there was a time when i was driving on the freeway then the truck just died. Again I almost crashed. I just had to replace the rear main seal 2 weeks ago and I'm contemplating on selling the truck.

Anyways, I was a believer in japanese reliability before, but with all my misfortunes, and having a friend blow up his brand new toyota celica engine, I definately have to say that I do not believe in it anymore. I'm asian btw

 

Mikenodog, you sound like a lot of the other guys around here who say this about Dodge and feel Ford's vehicles are comparable to NASA in quality. See the thread on the Power Wagon. One "fluke" and the company is crap. I personally believe that Toyota's have more reliable engines, BUT, I alway say that anyone driving around in a 250-300k mile Toyota and thinks it's still reliable is just silly. At that mileage anything could go at any time, why would you put faith in the reliability instead of taking precautions like replacing things before they break? OH right, if it went 300k, it must be able to go 700k more! :-p Have a good one, guys

 

I am not sure I would really use NASA as a quality example. LOL

 

Looks to me like he's gotten basically the same answer from several others here on FTE about the crappy dealership knowledge/service he's getting in the Expy forum but fails to change dealerships. He even received some excellent advise from some of the users here on what could be the real reason for his problem. Strange that Mike never respond's to the guys that try helping him out here. He just keeps posting his Expy problems in new threads and different forums.

If the guy wants to go to an "Off-Brand", which seems to be his preference, I do wish he'd go in peace.

 

My wife's '97 Expedition is creeping up on 300,000 hard driven Atlanta, GA miles. Repairs so far; altenator, one rear axle seal, one COP coil, new front rotors, one ball joint, high side a/c hose, and the rest is just regular maintenance stuff. She's driven the crap out of it, even to the point the oil didn't show on the dip stick a few times. The only complaint that I have about the vehicle is the cost of the replacement parts! It does have a "ticking" sound from the engine now that I ain't looking forward to diagnosing and repairing, but until it gets worse, I'll just listen to it.