I am the original owner of a 2003 (build date 08/2002) 4x4 XLT Expedition. It now has 30,000 miles on it and one month left under the 3/36 orginal warranty. I had a bunch of work done to it when it was brand new (rack/pinion, front differential rebuilt, vibrations, brakes, etc.) and have not really had any problems for the past two years now.

The big question is, do I purchase an Extended Warranty? The truck has low miles (30,000) after three years, but is now being used more (about 15,000 per year). My wife and I also own a 2005 Mercury Mariner. We are buying a new home right now and do not want to get stuck with paying a large repair bill down the road, as the new home loan is expensive (southern california). The 7 year / 100,000 mile Premium Care warranty (insurance) is about $2,500 from Ford. Now this is also a large expenditure, but I know a transmission or engine would cost more. We will be keeping the Expedition and Mariner for many more years, as we do not want any car payments.

So, has anyone had any major problems with the 2003 Expedition's or similiar years or models, to help me make this decision? It is hard to predict the future, so any help in helping me predict the future repair cost's would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help / information you can provide.

 

Like most things in life, buying an extended warranty (really is like insurance) is a gamble. You could just deposit the $2500 into a special account and let it accrue interest. Use it if you need it... keep it if you don't!

Having said that, I bought the Ford extended warranty for our Expy. It is the only one to get if you are going to buy one! Should any little thing go wrong, I can just drop the Expy off at the dealer and let them fix it. The Ford warranty also included a rental car if needed. That alone could eat up the $2500 pretty fast.

 

I would get it if I were you. My wife's 03 Expy had a ton of work done too it while still under warranty. It now has a little over 40k on it. Since the warranty has expired I have spent over $1200 on it. Rotors were shot when I got new brakes put on, some door in the heater box stripped out and no heat to my kid in the back seat. etc, etc......

Our Expy = Huge doody pile. I should have gotten the ext. warranty. I took a gamble and got the shaft.


Good luck with your decision.

Jamie

 

I paid $1650 for a 24month 24000 miles extended warranty when I bought my navigator. Knock on wood, nothing major (that I didn't cause) has ever happened.

And a tranny rebuild would run you in the general area of $2000. So figure if that happened, as the worst case scanario, you'd still be out the extra $500 in the warranty. Just flush the tranny fluid more often.

 

Make certain what the beginning point of the ext warranty actually is.

Most are from the in-service date, not the date of purchase of the waranty.

That means that 7/100K warranty is really only a 4/70K at $2500 since you're already at 3/30K.

Clarify this with your seller before committing to any purchase.

Steve

 

I am out of warrenty a few months, and now loosing another idler pulley on engine belt, rear end snapping noise is back (loose spline between 1/2 shaft and bearing unit). I didn't have as many problems as you but I am not also getting random rear window unlatching and power locks firing off. Things a dog, but the size and ride is nice. JR